Medieval Islamic Coines Found at Cluny Abbey, France

In September 2017, archaeologists of Université Lumière Lyon 2 and CNRS excavating the historic Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, France, uncovered one of medieval Europe's most remarkable monetary treasures, a cache that had remained undisturbed for approximately 850 years. The discovery comprised over 2,200 silver coins minted at Cluny but also 21 gold dinars of Islamic origin, along with precious artifacts including a Roman signet ring. What do these finds tell us?

The early years of Geoffrey de Bouillon - on the job training for the First Crusade

Geoffrey (Godefroi, Godfrey ) de Bouillon, born around 1060, was a member of a prominent noble family in Bouillon, in the Ardennes region (now Belgium, Wallonia, province of Luxembourg), then a part of the Duchy of Lower Lorraine (Lotharingia). What do we know about his origins, childhood and early years?

Forests to Farmland - The Age of Clearance in Medieval Europe

Between about 1050 and 1150, Europe underwent one of its most dramatic environmental and social transformations. Vast forests, wetlands, and marginal lands were cleared to make way for farmland, villages, and monastic estates, reshaping both the landscape and the structures of medieval society. What combination of forces, from climate and technology to institutions and population growth, drove this sweeping “Age of Clearance”?

Abbot Bernard de Clairvaux - Asceticism, Ailment and Growth

In 1112, after living the first 22 years of his life as a member of Burgundian nobility, Bernard de la Fontaine (1090/1091 - 1153) entered the Cistercian monastery at Citeaux, accompanied by many members of his family and friends. In only three years Bernard developed as a remarkable monk. So much that in 1115 he and members of his company were entrusted by Citeaux abbot Stephen Harding with a significant mission: to establish a new Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux. How did Bernard and Clairvaux develop? A tale of hardship.

Muhammad’s Covenants and Medieval Holy Land Pluralism (1050-1300)

Between 1050 and 1300, the Holy Land was shaped by conflict yet also by enduring traditions of coexistence. Early Islamic covenants attributed to the Prophet Muhammad offered Christian communities legal protection and religious freedom, creating a framework of pluralism that persisted despite the upheavals of the Crusades.

Penance, Fear, and Redemption - The Religious Climate That Birthed the First Crusade

The Crusades quickly developed as a mass movement following Pope Urban's call. How and why could they be such a success in an age of fragmented politics and limited communication? A survey on how the effect of medieval Christian beliefs and religious motivations shaped the crusading spirit across Europe.

Sacred Space in Pattern and Paint: Templar Art at Montsaunès and elsewhere

The murals of Montsaunès do not tell sweeping crusade epics but transform the chapel through painted ashlar, rectangular panels filled with geometric patterns (checkerboards/damier, lozenges), rosettes and cosmological motifs (stars, sun-wheels), and consecration crosses. This ornamental program, typical of mid-12th to 13th-century Templar sites, sacralises the space rather than narrates events. 

Comparing Montsaunès with other Templar chapels reveals the diversity of Templar visual culture and invites a broader reflection on how the order shaped sacred space across medieval Europe.

Templar Presence in Switzerland - fact or fiction

The presence of the Knights Templar in what is now Switzerland was never extensive, but it is historically attested. What are the facts?

Assassins and Templars - Faith, Fear and Myth Revisited

Steve Tibble’s Assassins and Templars: A Battle in Myth and Blood revisits two of the most mysterious movements of the medieval world: the Islamic Nizari Isma‘ilis (popularly known as the “Assassins”) and the Christian military order of the Templars. Both groups, he argues, were far less exotic than legend suggests yet far more central to the history of medieval warfare, diplomacy, and ideology. What they shared was their religous background bound by faith and a readiness to die. Some reviews.