14th century England was a dark time, and a time of change in Britain. In a hour-long, online documentary, historian Michael Wood investigates changes in medieval life by following the family of peasant Christina Cok.

In 12th century Scotland, the "tolbooth or praetorium was the office from which the provost and baillies organised the running of the newly-created burgh." Now archaeologists believe they have found the remains of the tolbooth in St. Andrews.

How did the shipping of huge amounts of gold and silver from the New World contribute to the collapse of the Spanish Empire? Learn about that and how the Medicis evolved from a criminal gang into international bankers and the richest family in Italy in the PBS series "Ascent of Money" presented by Professor Niall Ferguson.

"What you're looking at is how somebody managed their savings, taking some out and putting some back in probably over a number of years," said Philip Crummy from the Colchester Archaeological Trust about the recent discovery of over 1200 Roman coins in two clay pots.

Planet Money, which features podcasts about modern economics and news of the economy, recently offered an edition focused on medieval economics, particularly feudalism and guilds.

Trondheim, once known as Bymarka, was the center of religious life in medieval Norway. Now the discovery of more than 500 charcoal pits in the area proves that the city was an industrial center as well.

Looking for the perfect summer vacation? Why not plan a truly period trip to the City of Acre. Robyn Young and Tom Hall of BBC History offer travel trips.

Common wisdom about 16th century Ireland, namely that it was a backwater, is being challeneged by a new study by PhD student Susan Flavin. She has looked at imports from England to Ireland between 1503 and 1600 and contradicts the common assumption.

In 1086, William the Conqueror undertook the daunting task of cataloging his estates and possesions in England. The results are known as the Domesday Book. Now author John McDonald is using modern economic analysis to evaluate the productivity of the Wiltshire estates.

Researchers at the university of Warwick in England believe that life in medieval England was not the bleak, muddy image that is often seen in the movie as and on TV.

"Our state is less strong because money which should navigate and multiply lies dead, converted into vanities,"  said the rulers of Venice, who enforced laws designed to curb the spending habits of the rich. These sumptuary laws are the subject of an article by Sarah Dunant on the BBC News Magazine blog.

During the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272), fines were paid to the king in installments, in exchange for a specified concession. Now these roles are available to view online thanks to the Henry III Fine Roles Project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Oxford University's Bodleian Library, famous for its medieval holdings, will be moving the bulk of its collections to a new storage facility in South Marston, England.

A new website, PASE Domesday, allows users to search William the Conqueror's 1086 Domesday book by person and village. The results can be seen in tabular or map form.

The 15th century met the 21st recently when York, England's Company of Merchant Adventurers announced that it will share the secrets of its famous guildhall in Fossgate on a Facebook website.

In a recent story for NPR's All Things Considered, Madeleine Brand discusses new theories about the Dark Ages, the medieval spice trade, and the Black Plague with Chana Joffe-Walt and Adam Davidson.

A cigar-shaped, silver ingot dating to the 10th century has been discovered in Shenstone, England. The ingot, thought to be Scandinavian in origin, is believed to have been used as currency.

"Almost everything that has happened [in the United States] over the last year has happened in some deviation before in the period that I study, which is essentially the equivalent of 2008 for the Roman Empire," said said Kim Bowes, Cornell assistant professor of classical archaeology at a recent lecture.

In an article for Der Spiegel Parag Khanna, director of the Global Governance Program at the New America Foundation in Washington discusses how the current transition process toward global governance began in the rise of Europe's city states during the Middle Ages.

How did the modern currency system develop? Ann Althouse of the University of Wisconsin Law School and Douglas Rushkoff, author of Life Inc., discuss the medieval origins of money in a short video from The New York Times.

The Medieval Academy of America is a web site devoted to scholarly research of the medieval period. They offer a magazine, Speculum, which has been published since at least 1975. There is a searchable index of articles if you are interested in a particular subject.

A team of researchers from England's Reading University are studying the credit crunch -- not the recent one, but the "medieval credit crunch" from the time of England's King Edward I.

"Growing up in North Carolina, I always knew we had a huge group of Scotch-Irish settlers in the Piedmont of the Carolinas, but I didn't understand their ancestry. Were they from Scotland or Ireland?" Jennifer Hudson Taylor looks for an answer on her blog.

A pottery workshop for the mass production of oil lamps dating to the 2nd century C.E. has been discovered near Modena, Italy. The complex created pottery lamps which bear the brand name stamped on the bottom. (photo)

LiveScience columnist Heather Whipps writes a weekly column on world-changing events. A recent article discusses how the Spice Trade brought East and West together.

A research paper entitled "Post festum. Solid gold among the Swedes from the end of the Migration Period solidi import to the beginning of the Viking raids" was read at this year's Medieval Academy of America in Minneapolis, 12 April 2003.