Historian and host of the Gone Medieval podcast Eleanor Janega ranks the most stylish women’s fashion from the medieval period. From the extravagant houppelande to the humble chemise, Eleanor scores ...

It’s not uncommon for Medieval manuscripts to be bound in animal skins. The hides of deer and goats were used, as were those of boars. But a new analysis of 16 manuscripts held in a French abbey has ...

Science is helping researchers judge books by their covers — and revealing surprising beneficiaries of medieval trading routes in the process. Dozens of rare, fur-covered volumes from 12th and 13th ...

In medieval Europe, some handcrafted books were bound with skin from an unexpected source: seals. A new analysis of ancient DNA found in medieval books from European abbeys reveals that these seals ...

A specimen of Erignathus barbatus. Credit: Ansgar Walk / Wikimedia Commons Left, Romanesque binding from Clairvaux covered with a chemise with hairs on (Médiathèque du Grand Troyes, ms. 35, ca.

Romanesque binding from Clairvaux covered with a chemise with hairs on (Médiathèque du Grand Troyes, ms. 35, ca. 1141−1200), sample EL53. Romanesque binding from Clairvaux covered with a chemise with ...