Canadian Baba Brinkman is a performer - and a scholar of medieval literature. He combined both in a recent one-man show, The Canterbury Tales Remixed, which set the Chaucer’s 14th-century work to original hip-hop songs. Catherine Rampell of the New York Times, has a review.

Scholars and preservationists at the historic site of Jamestown, Virginia, believe they have discovered the remains of one of the country's oldest Protestant churches, the site where Pocahontas was baptized and married.

For eight years, the vast collections of Islamic art at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has been unavailable to the public, but now visitors can enjoy the collection as never before. Holland Cotter of the New York Times has a review.

Take a 16-room "mini-castle" near Austria. Fill it with interesting and unusual contemporary decor, and you have the Hammerhaus. Photographer Andreas Meichsner of The New York Times has a slideshow.

Despite popular belief, Westminster Abbey has not been a popular site for British royal weddings. Only fifteen have taken place there since the 12th century.

In celebration of Passover, Edward Rothstein of the New York Times discusses the reading of the Haggadah represented by the Washington Haggadah, a manuscript from 1478 on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through June 26, 2011. (slide show)

Auction houses have long profited from the 19th century practice of destroying precious painted manuscripts from Iran, India or Turkey by selling pages ripped from the books. Souren Melikian of the New York Times looks at this phenomenon.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Scott Turow, Paul Aiken and James Shapiro ponder the connection between “cultural paywalls,” public playhouses, and the free sharing of creative content on the Internet.

If you enjoy wearing tights, playing a lute, eating turkey legs, and doing it all for paying crowds, you may have Ron Patterson to thank. Patterson, who created Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Southern California in 1963, is credited with having founded the modern Renaissance Fair.

Season of the Witch, the new Nicolas Cage costume drama set in medieval Europe, tells the story of two crusaders and the witch girl they are hired to transport to her doom. Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times has a review.

In recent years, it has become the vogue to learn calligraphy for special occasions. Now the medieval artform of illumination may also see a modern revival. (photos)

In the 8th century, the caliphs of Cordoba, Spain constructed the magnificent great mosque. After their conquest, 13th century Christians rechristened the building a cathedral. Now the two cultures have begun to clash again over tourist signs.

In an article for the New York Times Magazine, Dashka Slater asks the question: "Is jousting the next extreme sport?" The "violent sport" is attracting attention at jousting competitions around the world such as the Gulf Coast International Jousting Championships near Pensacola, Florida.

That traditional jar of pickles on the list table is not just a superstition or a tasty snack. It turns out that, as athletes have long believed, pickle juice is effective at relieving exercise-induced muscle cramps.

At Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, visitors can see the results of a new excavation in a remote corner of southeastern Georgia.

For 400 years, the people of Oberammergau have staged the Passion Play once a decade as a thanksgiving for being spared from the Black plague. Now, a new kind of plague is testing the faith of performers and audiences .

“Uneasy Communion: Jews, Christians and the Altarpieces of Medieval Spain”  opened recently at the Museum of Biblical Art near New York's Lincoln Center. The exhibition takes a historical approach to Jewish contributions to Christian art in the two centuries before they were expelled from Spain by Queen Isabella in 1492.

New Yorkers and visitors to the city will have an unusual opportunity to see the Magna Carta throughout May at the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan.

In October of 2009, Robin Hood fans and foes gathered for the International Association for Robin Hood Studies, a three-day conference at the University of Rochester in New York. The conference "featured a series of events that highlighted Robin Hood’s status as a creature of the media."

The concept of a museum to view art and antiquities was unknown until 16th century Venice when wealthy families designed buildings to showcase Roman statuary. Now the Palazzo Grimani, one of the pioneering museums of the city, has restored and reopened to the public.

Historians have long debated the motives and actions of the medieval crusaders who took the Holy Land by force in the 11th century. New York Times reviewer Eric Ormsby has a review.

At Tell Zeidan in Syria, a few hours' drive from Aleppo, archaeologists believe they will find rich discoveries about the culture that flourished there before the first cities appeared further south. 

A New York Times article by Matthew Fishbane tells the story of the author's trip to Kaifeng in search of remnants of of one China's medieval Jewish communities.

The Lady in the Tower, a new book by Tudor scholar Alison Weir, looks at the last four months in the life of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. Janet Maslin of the New York Times has the review.

Fighting heroically, while looking good and living well, seems to be the theme of an exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156-1868 runs through January 10 , 2009. (photos)

The Battle of Agincourt took place on St. Crispin’s Day, October 25, 1415, and the details of the victory of the English over the French has been debated since that time. In a recent article for the New York Times, James Glanz looks at the controversy which continues to this day.

Scientist Maurizio Seracini believes there is s lost Da Vinci painting hidden inside a wall in Florence’s city hall, and he wants to use high tech techniques to find it. The Battle of Anghiari, the largest painting Leonardo ever undertook, was never completed, but was studied "as an unprecedented study of anatomy and motion."

English historian Catherine Brown, whose documentary Made in Scotland aired recently on British television, claims that haggis "was originally an English dish."

Travelers to Germany who want a special experience might want to consider staying in one of the 50 castles and stately homes serving as hotels. Deborah Kolben of the New York Times looks at the experience of living the life of German nobility. (slideshow)

Negotiations between the Spanish government and Jewish leaders concluded recently with the reburial of more than 100 medieval Jews whose final resting places were disturbed during construction of a school in Toledo, Spain.