Sparks Commentary

“No scutage nor aid [i.e. forms of medieval taxation] shall be imposed on our kingdom, unless by common counsel of our kingdom [which is the...

The Italian philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas is appreciated by more than just  Catholics . He is also venerated by some  Protestant groups , ...

The  Scottish   philosopher   Duns Scotus  got a bad rap after his death. The English word “dunce” comes from the name of “Duns Scotus.” ...

Moses ben Maimon (better known as Maimonides ) was one of the most important philosophers of the Middle Ages . He was a  Jewish   philosophe...

The medieval period is often seen as “backwards” today – and to some extent, this really is true. But this era also had some great science, ...

There’s a reason that 1066 is the best remembered year in  British history . In that year, the Normans invaded England . They are the last p...

During the  Dark Ages , there were a number of invasions of what is today  “England.”  Some of them were before the state of  England  was c...

In the year 793, the Vikings attacked a monastery on the English island of Lindisfarne . It was the beginning of the Viking invasion of Engl...

During the Middle Ages , the  Muslim world  helped to keep  Greek philosophy  alive. In the wake of the Roman Empire’s fall in the fifth cen...

“I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurre...

“ Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah . And those with him are firm with the disbelievers and compassionate with one another.” – English tran...

“ ˹He is˺ Allah! There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him , the Lord of the Mighty Throne.” – English translation of  The Quran, Surah...

The Early Middle Ages are today remembered as the  “Dark Ages.”  The art historian Kenneth Clark made this argument in his landmark docum...

Also known as the “Eastern Roman Empire,” which lasted about a thousand years longer than the better-known “Western Roman Empire.” The R...

“The great revolutions that had happened, in manners and in property, had paved the way, by imperceptible yet sure degrees, for as great a r...

The greatest outbreak of disease in recorded human history (the Black Death) … It is still the greatest outbreak of disease in recorded ...

To say that the relationship between  Islam  and  the West  is sometimes troubled would be something of an understatement. Since the  rise...

The term “Dark Ages” usually refers to the Early Middle Ages, if it is used at all … People once used the term “Dark Ages” to refer to ...

“No freemen shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed , nor will we go upon him nor send upon him, exce...