Medieval History

After the 4th century, the doctrinal disputes on Christianity had political consequences as the Roman state was involved in the governance of the Church. Eventually, pagan worship of any sort within the empire got prohibited. […]

Early Christian communities had limited access to any of its foundational texts and no shared understanding of how to interpret them. However, all this changed when Constantine adopted the Christian faith. […]

Before Christianity got legitimized, defining and enforcing anything like orthodoxy was impossible. Christianity had had no rules, no traditions, no centralized authority. In fact, it was a cult that raised many suspicions. […]

While the Hellenized urban elite Jews were content living under Roman rule, there were urban poor Jews who hoped for a new, autonomous Jewish kingdom under a new leader. […]

There was no fall of Rome, no one moment of definitive decline or rupture. Thus, depending on what one values, on what aspects of antiquity one holds most dear or important, one can draw the lines between ancient and medieval. […]

We use‘medievalist’ is used as a term of abuse; to refer to some practice that has nothing to do with what actually occurred during the Middle Ages. This damages not just the past, but the present. […]

Middle Ages is kind of historical black hole into which everything that is not considered modern can be relegated. It is a malleable container for the things we yearn for and the things we fear. […]