Disease and death were never far away in the late medieval world ... The other illustrations are also from the psalter section of the volume. That on folio 156v is set before Psalm 52 ('The fool said ...

An endoscopic camera was used to record images of reused medieval fragments on the inside of book bindings from the 16th and ...

Far from their dour reputation, the Middle Ages were a period of massive social change, burgeoning nationalism, international conflict, terrible natural disaster, climate change, rebellion ...

Narrator: In 762, the city of Baghdad was established by Al-Mansur. The centre was a perfect circle. The round city. By 814, Baghdad was the world's largest city with over one million inhabitants.