Medieval history holds surprises that most people never learn about. The era was governed by bizarre laws and unexpected traditions that shaped everything from fashion to justice. Popular ...

Beth Skwarecki is Lifehacker’s Senior Health Editor, and holds certifications as a personal trainer and weightlifting coach. She has been writing about health for over 10 years. What was life like in ...

The medieval period often gets painted as a thousand years of darkness, filth, and ignorance. Popular culture loves to show us dirty peasants wallowing in mud, superstitious fools who thought the ...

The idea that medieval people routinely emptied chamber pots straight into the street as their primary method of waste ...

From lost silver coins to fossilised faeces, medieval cesspits have become some of the richest archives of everyday life in the Middle Ages ...

But even in the late Middle Ages, when life expectancy was considerably lower, youth was a flexible category that could expand well into the late 20s and even 30s. So what were the defining ...

In medieval and Renaissance society and culture, celestial events were not mere spectacles in the sky. Rather, they were omens, predictors of the future, and windows into the workings of the universe.

Since the dawn of humanity, dogs and humans have lived side by side as friends, companions, and fellow hunters. Pet dogs have been depicted in prehistoric cave paintings, on the walls of ancient ...