The hottest Medieval History Substack posts right now

Universities started as guild-like corporations of students and teachers, where students helped govern, hire, and set terms for instruction rather than being passive customers.
Over centuries, cities and states began funding and regulating universities, shifting governance toward salaried professors, permanent campuses, and different national models like Anglo-American trustee-led systems.
Universities naturally broaden people’s perspectives by bringing together diverse students and ideas, and this collective, community-driven organization mirrors other examples like kibbutzim where people pool resources and govern democratically when markets fall short.

Elephants and some bats carry multiple copies of the TP53 gene, which seems to help them resist cancer and live longer; transplanting that benefit into humans is not currently feasible because those copies are tightly integrated with each species’ immune and DNA regulatory systems.
Medieval Mongol royal women are depicted doing remarkable things—fighting alongside men, wrestling champions like Khutulun, and influential rulers like Manduhai—showing that women could hold significant military and political power.
Early historical records are often censored, altered, or exaggerated, so stories from centuries ago should be treated with skepticism and checked against how records were produced and preserved.

Pre-modern economies were essentially Malthusian: slow technological gains could raise living standards only temporarily because higher incomes typically led to faster population growth that eventually offset those gains.
Random shocks and long-run events—like plagues, good harvests, trade booms, or imperial peace—can produce centuries-long rises, falls, and plateaus in incomes and urbanization even inside a Malthusian system.
Cultural and institutional factors (luxury tastes, marriage customs, infanticide, larger trade zones) can raise average incomes and create long "supercycles," but they do not by themselves produce sustained, compounding living‑standard growth for the broad population.

Paris evolved from a Gaulish settlement to a significant city under various rulers like Clovis I and Charlemagne.
Charlemagne, known as the Father of Europe, made Aachen his permanent capital, shifting attention from Paris.
After Charlemagne's reign, Paris experienced a decline in political significance and development, facing new threats like Viking invasions.

The plague spread rapidly from the Golden Horde to many regions, affecting cities like Constantinople and north Africa. This highlights how diseases can travel far and wide, impacting various cultures.
Historians from that time had different theories about where the plague originated. They often linked it to areas like Ukraine or Russia, showing how people tried to understand illness using the knowledge of their time.
The plague not only impacted humans but also animals, according to one survivor. This suggests that outbreaks can have broader effects on ecosystems and communities.

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Cities concentrate health risks: crowded urban living with poor water and sanitation has historically raised infant mortality and infectious disease compared with rural areas.
Grain-based agriculture enabled cities and states but often worsened health: heavy reliance on wheat and other cereals increased cavities, nutritional deficiencies, and stunting, while diets richer in animal foods supported stronger, healthier bodies.
Modern processed-carb diets repeat old mistakes: ultra-processed, calorie-dense but nutrient-poor foods produce an "overfed but undernourished" population, so increasing whole, nutrient-dense animal and plant foods and reducing processed carbohydrates may improve family and child health.

The chivalric era was not just about knights; it involved a mix of social classes, creating rules and codes that many people could access. This changed over time as power shifted to the upper classes, limiting opportunities for common people.
Many modern views of history, especially around the chivalric age, focus on idealized, romanticized stories rather than the more complex reality of those times. People often find comfort in these tales because they suggest anyone could become a hero.
Our current culture still echoes this cycle of social mobility and power dynamics seen in history. Just like in the past, there are modern systems, like prestigious schools and tech industries, that create similar pathways for success but also come with their own barriers.