Be sure to hit your Reload button to see if this page has changed. Last updated: 6/4/99
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The image above is "June," one of the 201 extraordinary paintings created for Les Trés Riches Heures, a fifteenth-century Book of Hours.
Click the image to learn more about this painting and see an enlarged version, or find out more about Les Trés Riches Heures at the Christus Rex online museum.
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Articles, Newsletter, Chat and More
I've written some articles on Medieval and Renaissance history that I hope you'll find interesting. You can read my most recent feature, or check out an archive of past articles. I'd be pleased to know what you think, so feel free to email me -- or, if you'd prefer to remain anonymous and really tell me what you think, use my feedback page.
You can also....
Why Medieval History?
To someone who doesn't love history, a passion for the subject is hard to explain. I am filled with a desire to know what happened in the past, and, more importantly, why. Santayana said that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it -- but it's more than that. What has gone before us speaks to who we are today. We have so much to learn from the past, about what is right and wrong, about why we do the things we do, and about who we are -- as a race and as individuals.
In school, American history captivated me. I knew all about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and wished I could go back in time and meet Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. The spirit of the American Revolution -- a revolution of the mind -- intrigued and delighted me. We are a new nation, filled with new ideas.
But the more I learned, the more I wanted to know about what happened earlier, and earlier. What kind of civilization did our new United States spring from? What struggles and triumphs brought us, the human race, to the modern age?
"St. George and the Dragon" by Vittore Carpaccio, c. 1502-1508, is courtesy of Carol Gerten's Fine Art -- A Virtual Art Museum. Click on the image to go to a larger version, or check out more of Carpaccio's work at CGFA.
It wasn't until after I graduated from college (with a Bachelor's degree in history) that I began exploring further and further into the past. Ancient history fascinated me, and does still -- but something about the medieval era arrested my attention. Perhaps it was the image of the knight in shining armor, the majestic castle, the tourney with banners flying, the imperious lady in her flowing gown. How much of it was true, and how much was misconception I'd gained through popular fiction and film? I soon learned how much was fiction -- and how very much like us the people of the middle ages really were.
But it wasn't until I got on the net that my studies seemed to take off. I'm an enthusiastic amateur, and I cannot claim to be an expert. Yet after six months of exploring medieval history through the web, I begin to feel I have at least a general understanding of the era. And I have learned so much more than in all the four years when I pursued my bachelor's degree. Learning history is, for me, a little like eating potato chips -- I can't stop at one fact, or one story, or one event. The more I learn, the more I want to learn, and the more I understand how little I really know.
I was pleased to discover how much information concerning medieval history is on the web. In fact, there's an enormous amount of info, and after a few weeks of surfing I discovered I had too many bookmarks to count. I started organizing them into categories, and I thought, This stuff might be helpful for other medieval history buffs.
And the rest is (dare I say it?) history.
Well, now you know my story. What's yours? I'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to email me, send me feedback, or drop on over to the chat room to talk to other medieval history buffs.
And keep on adventuring into the past.
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