Have you ever heard the story of the medieval monk who tried to fly? His name was Eilmer of Malmesbury, and he was quite the ...

Lesser known than some other beloved tales of larger-than-life heroes such as Gilgamesh, Beowulf and King Arthur, the Song of Wade is a case study in what happens when stories aren’t written down. The ...

Add Popular Science (opens in a new tab) More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results.

Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. Sometimes, a great find is hiding right beneath one’s nose in ...

King Arthur’s lasting renown is one for the books. But a statistical spotlight now shines on medieval European literature’s round table of lost and forgotten stories. An international team used a ...

The material on the covers of books from a French abbey was too hairy to have come from calves or other local mammals. Researchers identified its more distant origin. By Jack Tamisiea Medieval scribes ...

Using CT scanning on 16th-century books, researchers uncovered bits of parchment salvaged from handwritten manuscripts. By Katherine Kornei Even in medieval times, recycling was in vogue: Bits of ...

To modern eyes, many medieval beliefs sound unbelievable — even absurd. Illness was blamed on sin, bad air, or demonic forces rather than bacteria. Bloodletting was prescribed as a cure for everything ...