ABOVE all other periods in the history of England, that of the weak Richard II. was remarkable for the variety and gaiety of its fashions. The satirists and reformers of the day were zealous and loud in their outcries against the extravagance of the higher classes.
DAN Chaucer, as he is termed by some of our older writers, is the popular representative of the earlier period of English poetry; indeed he may be considered The Poet, par excellence, of the English Middle Ages.
These figures present interesting examples of the female costume among our ancestors in the first half of the twelfth century. Illuminations of the Cottonian Manuscript Nero C. IV.
Coronation spoon of English monarchs.
ECCLESIASTICS OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY. NO class of figures occurs so frequently in the illuminations of our earlier manuscripts, as those of ecclesiastics of different grades; and as the older… Read More
The Cathedral of Chartres, founded in the earliest times of Christianity in the west, is remarkable for the many misfortunes it has sustained.
The figures which form our plate represent Spanish warriors of the latter part of the eleventh century, and are interesting on account of their remarkable resemblance to the Anglo-Norman soldiers on the celebrated Bayeaux Tapestry.
CROSS FROM MOUNT ATHOS. BEFORE the Christian era, Mount Athos was celebrated for the length of its shadow (ingenti tellurem proximus umbra vestit. Stat.), which was said to reach as… Read More
Prudentius is the most important Christian poet of late antiquity. Prudentius was very popular in the Middle Ages. There are more than 300 manuscripts, the oldest one from the 6th century.
The Black Prince. Member of the French-born ruling dynasty Anjou-Plantagenêt which stood from 1154 to 1399 in direct line and until 1485 in the side lines Lancaster and York the… Read More
