The original family name of brassicas was Cruciferae, which derived from the flower petal pattern thought by medieval Europeans to resemble a crucifix.

For most medieval Europeans, it was a humble brew compared with common southern drinks and cooking ingredients, such as wine, lemons and olive oil.

But they were also farmers and herders at home and no less sophisticated in arts and invention than other medieval Europeans.

Some medieval Europeans believed narwhal tusks to be the horns from the legendary unicorn.

The first of these works is the source of the durable myth that medieval Europeans believed the Earth was flat.

Chivalry (for medieval Europeans) and noblesse oblige (for modern ones) had both reined in rich people's tendency to use the poor.

So if the earth isn't flat, then no one (including medieval Europeans) could know that it is.

The Egyptians, the Greeks, the medieval Europeans had their architecture, so the analogy went.

There is, it turns out, a good reason dragons are plundering the livestock of medieval Europeans.

Bragmanni were a mythical race of people thought by medieval Europeans to live on the fringes of the known world.