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Ruth Johnston
Ruth Johnston
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I have two current projects and more ideas in the works.
Speak Like Rain! will be published in 2017. It is a beginner’s guide to poetry, aimed at upper-...
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Containers | All Things Medieval
So far, I’ve been talking about containers for food. But we do need containers for some other things, things that aren’t wet, things we won’t eat or cook. What did they use in medieval Europe to store...
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All Things Medieval | Informal bits on life in medieval Europe…to amuse my friends, no footnotes…
Islam and the Christian West: in a chronic face-off since 600 AD, and yet we in the West know so little about Islam and its adherents. When I worked on this topic in the past, it became clear to me th...
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Medieval weaving | All Things Medieval
In the early Middle Ages, most weaving was done at home for the family’s own use. By the late period, most weaving was commercial, carried out as a full-time craft by professionals. The key shift was ...
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barrels with straight staves | All Things Medieval
In the Mediterranean regions of Europe, large kiln-fired pottery jars had always been, and continued to be, the standard for storing just about anything. But when the northern regions were settled dur...
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Sack of Jerusalem, 1244 | All Things Medieval
When the Mongols invaded the land of Khwarezmia, south of the Aral Sea, they sent a wave of ferocious refugees who had been the toughest kids on the block until the Mongols showed them up. Bands of Kh...