Strange “hairy” covers of books in medieval Europe were made from seal skin obtained from Viking descendants, a new study has found.

Archaeologists believe they have found the site of a 12th Century monastery near Downpatrick, County Down, that was destroyed ...

Victoria Westover’s Final Vows takes you behind the habits and into the daily lives of nuns of the Cistercian order. With ...

Books with furry covers are indicative of medieval monks’ role in international trade, researchers said. Lévêque, et al (2025) Royal Society Open Science At the end of the ninth century, a group of ...

The Cistercian monks described seals as the "sea calf," and there is no existing written record of the purchase or any use of sealskin at Clairvaux Abbey. The use of sealskin in bindings appears ...

The Great Campston estate has medieval origins and was one of17 monastic granges belonging to the Cistercian Abbey of Abbey Dore. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, in 1536, it was granted ...

Aubazine Abbey, a jewel of medieval Cistercian heritage nestled in the heart of Corrèze (Nouvelle-Aquitaine region), is about to be restored to its original splendor. The famous Chanel fashion ...

But that’s all changed with the recent revamp of L’Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay, a former 12th-century Cistercian abbey that’s been transformed by hospitality company Paris Society, the group behind many ...