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Dispelling Some Myths: Animals roamed Medieval streets

Tastes Of History

8 hours ago

Dispelling Some Myths: Animals roamed Medieval streets

Despite the best efforts of historians, the internet is still awash with misconceptions about the Middle Ages. Many of these ideas were...

Dispelling Some Myths: Medieval ignorance is bliss?

Tastes Of History

Nov 27

Dispelling Some Myths: Medieval ignorance is bliss?

Debunking the idea that people in the Middle Ages were ignorant and uneducated.

Dispelling Some Myths: the “two finger salute”

Tastes Of History

Oct 25

Dispelling Some Myths: the “two finger salute”

Dispelling the myth of the two-finger salute or V-sign originated in the Medieval period.

Tastes Of History

Oct 2

Dispelling Some Myths: Rotten teeth

Despite the best efforts of historians, the internet is still awash with misconceptions about the Middle Ages. Many of these ideas were...

Tastes Of History

Sep 25

About History: “By hook or by crook”

In the September edition of BBC History magazine Anatoly Liberman, professor at the University of Minnesota and author of An Analytic...

Tastes Of History

Mar 29

The Recipes: a Mediæval Joust

After several years of wishing we could be involved a chance encounter while “pirating” in Scarborough has led to Tastes Of History’s...

Tastes Of History

Oct 5, 2023

Dispelling Some Myths: Robin Hood

The legend Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw [1] originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featuring in popular...

Dispelling Some Myths: Divorce by combat

Tastes Of History

Jul 19, 2023

Dispelling Some Myths: Divorce by combat

It is highly unlikely that Mediæval divorce was ever settled by combat. Yet a handful of sources do mention judicial duels fought between...

A Brief History of Food: The Mediæval Kitchen

Tastes Of History

Oct 31, 2022

A Brief History of Food: The Mediæval Kitchen

Possibly the most significant year in English history, 1066, saw the end of Anglo-Saxon England and start of the reigns of first the...

Tastes Of History

Oct 17, 2022

About History: Spectacles

One of the most curious objects in the Royal Armouries collection is the ‘horned helmet’, a bizarre headpiece commissioned in AD 1511 by...

Tastes Of History

Aug 23, 2022

Bosworth Field: a King's Recipes

This year (2022) Tastes Of History was delighted to return to the Bosworth Medieval Festival at the brilliant Bosworth Battlefield...

Tastes Of History

Aug 20, 2022

The Forme of Cury

The Forme of Cury (‘The Method of Cooking’ [1]) is an extensive 14th-century collection of medieval English recipes. Although the...

Dispelling Some Myths: Would Mediaeval archers really shoot 12 arrows a minute?

Tastes Of History

Dec 7, 2021

Dispelling Some Myths: Would Mediaeval archers really shoot 12 arrows a minute?

‘Welsh & English longbowman used a single-piece longbow to deliver arrows that could penetrate contemporary plate armour and mail. The...

Tastes Of History

May 17, 2021

Dispelling Some Myths: "Blood Grooves"

There is a persistent myth about the function of a sword's fuller that it 'releases the vacuum' when the blade is thrust into a person....

Dispelling Some Myths: Dirty water? Drink beer!

Tastes Of History

Apr 29, 2021

Dispelling Some Myths: Dirty water? Drink beer!

For some reason it is often stated on popular television programmes that Mediæval Europeans drank lots of wine, ale or beer all day,...

Tastes Of History

Apr 23, 2021

Celebrating St George's Day

Today marks the 457th birthday of William Shakespeare (1564-1616). As he is famously thought to have been born and died on the same date,...

Dispelling Some Myths: Mediæval Peasants ate Bland Food

Tastes Of History

Apr 15, 2021

Dispelling Some Myths: Mediæval Peasants ate Bland Food

The first thing to note is that what people ate was heavily dependent on where they lived and at what time. For example, Europe covers a...

Tastes Of History

Aug 22, 2020

Bosworth Medieval Festival: The Recipes

Like us you were probably as disappointed as we were when Bosworth Medieval Festival had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus...

Dispelling Some Myths: Spiral Staircases

Tastes Of History

Jun 20, 2020

Dispelling Some Myths: Spiral Staircases

In an effort to continually improve our knowledge we came across 'History…The Interesting Bits!', a blog by Sharon Bennett Connolly. In...

Dispelling Some Myths: Mediæval Murder Holes

Tastes Of History

Jun 20, 2020

Dispelling Some Myths: Mediæval Murder Holes

Look up whilst you are visiting castles and you will often see voids in the overhead masonry associated with the defence of the...

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Welcome to
Tastes Of History's Blog