Most of what has been written about medieval life looks at the lives of those “of means.” In this issue, we look at those who didn’t have a strong voice in the historical record (beyond what later historians gave them) and shine a light on how medieval people actually experienced poverty.

From a wealthy, political powerhouse to an impoverished state, we track the slow demise of the Byzantine Empire as it sputtered and collapsed by the mid- fifteenth century. Next, he robbed from the rich and gave to the poor – but did he? We take a closer look at Robin Hood and the ballads surrounding his legend to see if he truly was a protector of the poor. It’s often been thought that poverty only became a political topic in the eighteenth century, but this wasn’t the case. We examine the politics of poverty as far back as the Roman Empire to the sixteenth century and see how attitudes towards it shifted across the medieval period. We try to answer the question, “Why was upward mobility so difficult for the poor in the Middle Ages?” in “Disadvantaged by Design” as we learn about how subsidizing the rich made it virtually impossible for those living in poverty to better their situations. We also look at poor relief and see how the poor were provided for in medieval France through hospitals, charity, and testamentary bequests. Lastly, we pose the question, “How poor were medieval poor?” and challenge scholarship that has always thought that the medieval poor lived a much leaner and harder life than evidenced by the archaeological record and housing standards. Finally, for our non-theme feature, we look at a man who has spent years respectfully photographing dead medieval saints and their relics.

Happy summer! Stay Cool! ☀️⛱ 🌊