The Middle Ages are mysterious to us today, but life in the Middle Ages was also inherently mysterious. From relics and rituals that could heal and transform to supernatural events and magical occurrences that enticed and were difficult to explain, people in the Middle Ages routinely encountered the enigmatic. Living in the Middle Ages meant living in the midst of mysteries.
So today, medievalists face mysteries on every front. Some days they are presented with the challenge of trying to figure out what things that were mysterious then meant in the context of this foreign past; other days they must try to figure out even everyday things from the medieval world using fragmentary or damaged material. Medievalists must try to