When we think of the Middle Ages, we imagine knights, monasteries and manuscripts bathed in piety. But look closer, and another world emerges — one that breathes, touches and desires.
Our new series, “The Sensual Middle Ages,” explores this hidden world of scent, skin, birth, faith and shame — subjects often forgotten, yet vividly alive in medieval art and literature.
From medieval eroticism to the art of perfume, from rituals of birth to the secrets of medieval toilets, we reveal how sensuous, human and surprisingly modern this era was.
Between parchment and perfume, asceticism and longing, the Middle Ages come alive as never before.
Explore the first articles in our series:
1. Eroticism in the Middle Ages
2. How Did the Middle Ages Smell? – Between Incense, Seduction and Decay
