A podcast exploring the wit and weirdness of medieval texts
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MDT Ep. 107: Concerning Portents, an Interdiction, Persecutions, Heresy, and a Year of Bloodshed
42:21
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We return to the Melrose Chronicle with a notably nasty run of years from 1205 to 1211. We also consider why people -- medieval and modern -- are so captivated by bad news.Today's Texts:The Chronicle of Melrose. Edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, The Church Historians of England, vol. 4, part 1, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 79-242. Google Books.…
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MDT Ep. 106: Concerning the Hard Work of a Housewife
42:49
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For Mother's Day, we look at a 15th-century tale of a plowman who thinks that -- in terms of daily labor -- his wife has it too easy, and how he learns otherwise.Today's Text"Ballad of a Tyrannical Husband." Reliquiae Antiquae: Scraps From Ancient Manuscripts, Illustrating Chiefly Early English Literature and the English Language, edited by Thomas …
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MDT Ep. 105: Concerning the Voice of the Golem
1:47:59
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We kick of 2024 with a look at humanity's attempts to recreate itself, first with a dip into the legends of the Golem of Prague, and then an extended discussion of the role of AI in the future of medieval studies and particularly this show. Today's Texts:Eleazar of Worms, Commentary on Sefer Yezirah, fol. 15d. In Moshe Idel. Golem: Jewish Magical a…
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MDT Ep. 104: Concerning the Abacus and Succubus of Gerbert d'Aurillac
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We conclude our miniseries comparing the legends to the real life of Gerbert d'Aurillac: mathematician, pope, and alleged magician. Today's variant of the Dark Legend comes from Walter Map, and we follow that with a look at the historical Gerbert's contributions to science. Today's Texts: Map, Walter. De Nugis Curialium. Translated by Montague R. J…
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MDT Ep. 103: "The Demon Pope" by Richard Garnett
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We interrupt our regularly scheduled Gerbert d'Aurillac series with a special Halloween anniversary detour into a Victorian version of his Dark Legend: the 1888 short story, "The Demon Pope," by Richard Garnett. Today's Text Garnett, Richard. "The Demon Pope." The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales. John Lane, 1903, pp. 86-98. Google Books. Music…
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MDT Ep. 102: Concerning the Occult Career of Pope Sylvester II
1:01:47
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We pick up our unfinished thread from the Melrose Chronicle by exploring the "Dark Legend" of Gerbert d'Aurillac, who became Pope Sylvester II allegedly through the assistance of the devil. We'll hear one version of this legend as told by William of Malmesbury, and then examine what we know about the historical Gerbert. Today's Texts: William of Ma…
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MDT Ep. 101: Concerning Danish Devastations, a Devilish Pope, a Deceitful Duke, and English Decline
49:53
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It's back to basics in Ep. 101 as we return to the Chronicle of Melrose to hear about the years surrounding the turnover of the English kingdom from Anglo-Saxon monarchs to Danish ones, including the mystery of the death of King Edmund Ironside and whether or not he was assassinated by a fellow English noble. Today's Texts: The Chronicle of Melrose…
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MDT Ep. 100: Concerning the Litigious Origins of Printing
1:19:33
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For our 100th episode, we look at one of the technologies that marks an endpoint for the middle ages, the printing press, and consider how Johann Gutenberg may be a prototype for today's paranoid tech tycoons and the lawsuits that so often dog them. Today's Texts: Van der Linde's, A. The Haarlem Legend of the Invention of Printing. Translated by J.…
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MDT Ep. 99: A Valentine's Battle for the Kingship of Man
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On Valentine's Day 796 years ago, brother fought brother for the throne of the Isle of Man, as their fathers and uncles had done before them, another entry in the blood and betrayal-filled saga of the house of Crovan. Today, we hear the family conflict that led to that battle and see yet another king installed. In doing so, we'll meet more Godreds,…
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MDT Ep. 98: Concerning the Life of Elgar the Hermit and Divine Dinner Delivery
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On this episode, we get cozy for the holidays with a visit to the humble abode of Elgar, Hermit of Bardsey Island. Just don't mind the visiting spirits or food-delivering eagles. Today's Texts - "Account of Elgar, The Hermit." The Liber Landavensis, Llyfr Teilo, or the Ancient Register of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff. Edited by W.J. Rees, Willi…
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MDT Ep. 97: Concerning Three Witches
1:20:01
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This time on Medieval Death Trip, we celebrate Black Friday weekend with some black magic in our belated Halloween anniversary episode. We look at a couple of quite different medieval witches, a Cornish wildwoman from the Life of St. Samson and the famous Witch of Berkeley, as well as a report of a night-hag from the 18th century. Today's Texts - W…
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MDT Ep. 96: Concerning the Relics and Grave of King Oswald
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This episode we examine the fate of another royal head, that of King Oswald of Northumbria, and the miracles associated with his relics and the dirt from his grave, as reported by the Venerable Bede. Today's Text Bede. Beda's Ecclesiastical History. The Church Historians of England, translated by Joseph Stevenson, 1853. Google Books. References Fow…
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MDT Extra: Letters on the Death of Elizabeth I
15:34
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This extra minisode of Medieval Death Trip offers a bit of historical perspective on the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II by looking back at accounts of the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603. Also, a surprisingly relevant but brief account of the Calendar (New Style) Act of 1750. Text: - Birch, Thomas. Memoirs of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, fr…
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MDT Ep. 95: Concerning Princely Heads and the Bishop's Monkeys
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This episode we return to the Lanercost Chronicle (and a bit of Capgrave's Chronicle) to get some serious history concerning the fall of the last native prince of Wales, before getting some a less serious dinner party anecdote about a couple of monkeys. Much hand-wringing is also given to the appropriate pronunciation of the name Llewellyn/Llywelyn…
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MDT Ep. 94: Helmbrecht v Sheriff: Eve of Justice
1:07:31
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This episode we conclude the story of the peasant lad who spurned a humble farming life to go off live the high life with a robber knight and, as we shall see, did not ultimately get the life he expected. Here is the final part of Meier Helmbrecht. Today's Text Wernher der Gartenaere. Meier Helmbrecht. In Peasant Life in Old German Epics, translate…
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MDT Ep. 93: Helmbrecht Returns, or The Dark Robber Knight
1:13:24
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We continue with Part 2 (of 3) of the 13th-century peasant epic Meier Helmbrecht, in which Helmbrecht returns to his family after a year as squire to a robber knight, and cultures clash accordingly. Today's Text: Wernher der Gartenaere. Meir Helmbrecht. In Peasant Life in Old German Epics, translated by Clair Hayden Bell, Columbia UP, 1931. Archive…
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MDT Ep. 92: Helmbrecht Begins, or How to Become a Robber Knight
49:08
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In this episode we learn how important good hair is to becoming a medieval cattle rustler with part one of the 13th-century poem Meier Helmbrecht. Today's Text: Wernher der Gartenaere. Meir Helmbrecht. In Peasant Life in Old German Epics, translated by Clair Hayden Bell, Columbia UP, 1931. Archive.org.…
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MDT Ep. 91: Concerning Wage Warfare after the Plague
40:39
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This episode, we follow up on a question from Ep. 90 about why the wandering worker Thomas Fuller might have fallen in with a criminal shepherd by looking at a pair of vagrancy and labor laws from the economically disrupted decades following the Black Death: the Statute of Laborers of 1351 and the Commons' Petition against Vagrants of 1376. We also…
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MDT Ep. 90: Medieval True Crime IV: In the Shadow of the Gallows Pole
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We finish off our Medieval True Crime miniseries with a look at two hangings from the year 1484 and explore some of the practices surrounding and meanings of hanging as a mode of execution in medieval Europe. Today's Text Knox, Ronald, and Shane Leslie, editors and translators. The Miracles of King Henry VI. Cambridge UP, 1923. References Merback, …
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In this (belated) episode marking our seventh anniversary, we learn about the infernal realms, straight from the devil's mouth, going from a 11th-century Old English text to the 16th-century stage. We also learn why you shouldn't attack your father with an ax and what demonic possession has in common with e. Coli. Today's Texts: Kemble, John M., ed…
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MDT Ep. 88: Concerning the Plight of the Paterfamilias
41:35
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In this slightly belated Father's Day episode, we return to the snarky wit of Walter Map as he explains why it's so hard to be the man of the house. Today's Text Map, Walter. De Nugis Curialium. Translated by Montague R. James, historical notes by John Edward Lloyd, edited by E. Sidney Hartland, Cymmrodorion Record Series, no. 9, Honourable Society…
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MDT Ep. 87: Medieval True Crime III: Death in the Countryside
54:56
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We return from an unplanned semester hiatus with the third installment of our Medieval True Crime miniseries, continuing to explore the 13th-century coroner's rolls of rural Bedfordshire (plus one item from 14th-century Essex), as well as muse on why murder narratives so monopolize our mysteries and how murder was defined in medieval England. Today…
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MDT Ep. 86: Concerning the Meaning of Stones
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As we kick off the New Year, we take a brief diversion from our Medieval True Crime miniseries to explore the world of precious stones and the extraordinary properties attributed to them through a look at the Lapidary of Marbodus and a couple of other short texts. Today's Texts Shackford, Martha Hale, editor. Legends and Satires from Mediæval Liter…
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MDT Ep. 85: Medieval True Crime II: Concerning Violent Crime in the Coroner's Rolls
48:40
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This episode, we continue our Medieval True Crime series with a trip to late 13th-century Bedfordshire as represented in its Coroner's Rolls, as well as hear some inadvertently lyrical legalese from early 14th-century Northampton. Today's Text: Gross, Charles, editor. Select Cases from the Coroners' Rolls, A.D. 1265-1413, with a Brief Account of th…
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MDT Ep. 84: Medieval True Crime I - Concerning Miraculous Justice for a Mutilated Priest
39:47
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For our sixth anniversary episode, we kick off a miniseries on medieval true crime, with the account of a particularly brutal assault on a parish priest, with an additional look at medieval treatments for eye wounds, and also learn how a dead man managed to kill the warrior who slayed him. Today's Text: Knox, Ronald, and Shane Leslie, editors and t…
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