Dark ages

Vikings in popular culture are often viewed as the brutes of the Dark Ages, robbing, raping and pillaging people and goods. However, an analysis of their personal lives shows a much different side. Family life was important to Norse men, and every proper, upstanding Viking aimed to marry and have…

Apparently WTF images were popular in the Medieval times.

Many history enthusiasts probably know that the Middle ages that were sometimes referred to as 'Dark ages' were not so dark. In fact, these were the times when people started building castles - majestic and complex buildings, intended to be a safe retreat in the case of attack. Normans were the leading castle-builders of the period, having started building their constructions on the forts left by the Romans.

Unique among the territories of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, Britain succeeded in holding back and even reversing the tide of Germanic conquest for nearly two centuries. This was an…

Idylls of the King: Illustrations by Gustave Doré, 1868 » Ciel Bleu Media

Giuseppe Rava Giuseppe Rava was born in Faenza in 1963. He is a self-taught artist. He has graciously put up most of these works on his website, while the rest I found online in blogs.

Maile armour; 11th AD; Seljuk Turk; Norman mercenary

During the dark ages - a historic period following the decline of the Roman Empire and before the European Renaissance Art began reflecting the various conflict, violence and disease related tribulations affecting civilization. As the Renaissance developed these unique Artistic traditions continued to flourish but with new dark direction.

It is no surprise that the medieval period was filled with all kinds of undesirable jobs. There were leech collectors, cesspool cleaners, serfs, and gong farmers, to name a few. But one vocation that was, perhaps, one of the toughest, was the job of the medieval executioner.