American Medieval

We back. We talk cool medieval hillforts with Roman technology, and the passing of a medieval historian everyone should know about (and read).  Guest Thomas Lecaque is an Associate Professor of History and the Director of the First Year Experience at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, located on Baxoje, Meskwaki and Sauk lands. His primary research area is on religious violence and ap...

Prof. Gabriele and Sara McDougall talk about her new book, a medieval true crime thriller about an alleged sexual assault in medieval France, and how we can know so much about the rich, complicated lives of people who usually don’t appear in our sources. Guest Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and affiliated with the CUNY Graduate Center....

We’re back at the Cloisters (in NYC) in this episode! Prof. Gabriele is joined by Joanne Pillsbury and Julia Perratorre to talk about the exhibition “Creatures of Myth and Imagination” that compares monstrous(?) hybrids from Europe and the Americas. Guests Julia Perratore is Associate Curator, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, where she specializes in the art of southern Europe. Many o...

Prof. Gabriele is joined by the National Book Award winning author M. T. Anderson to talk about his new book Stealing Saint Nick . We talk about the saint, the heist and its cast of characters (freaking Matteo!), and writing good history for teens and adults. Guest M. T. Anderson is a National Book Award-winning author. He’s written stories for adults, picture books for children, adventure novels...

Medieval in the neeeeeeews… This week we talk Bayeux Tapestry, the anti-LLM vibes in our classrooms, and how to ethically use technology in studying the past. Plus no one knows about “Game of Thrones” anymore.  Guest Thomas Lecaque is an Associate Professor of History and the Director of the First Year Experience at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, located on Baxoje, Meskwaki and Sa...

Prof. Gabriele and Stephen Yeager talk about how medieval “aventure” (adventures) have a lot in common with Twitch streams and the epic Dungeon Crawler Carl phenomenon. Who knew?  Guest Stephen Yeager is a professor of English at Concordia University, in Montreal. For information about his teaching and research, visit his faculty webpage .  Credits Host & Executive Producer: Matthew...

Prof. Gabriele and Alex talk about caves. Geologic time. Mystical experiences. Hiding stuff from the fuzz. Plus the idea of total darkness is freaky. Guest Alexander D’Alisera is an interdisciplinary historian of medieval Europe, specializing in caves, stone, ritual, and religion. Currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Boston College, he is working on a book titled Medieval Cave Pe...

In this crossover episode with Tiny Matters , we talk about a new scientific study (and some older studies) of the Turin Shroud. Prof. Gabriele talks about its history and about medieval relics generally, and the Tiny Matters experts talk about DNA testing and other science stuff. Collaboration FTW! Guest Sam Jones, PhD, is the executive producer and co-host of the science podcast Tiny Matters and...

In our 1st episode of its kind, we talk about the Middle Ages [in a “Pigs in Space” voice”] in the news . Prof. Gabriele is joined by David M. Perry and Thomas Lecaque to talk about archeological discoveries, AI slop, “medieval” medicine in the modern world, and fascists’ love for the crusades.  Guest Thomas Lecaque is an Associate Professor of History and the Director of the First Year Exper...

Hey! It’s a great episode, perhaps the best episode because our guest this week [Borat voice] MY WIFE! Rachel Gabriele talks with us about Detroit and how the city tells stories about itself – but also how the overlapping policy, politics, and economics of the city (and its universities) are similar to the Middle Ages. Guest Rachel currently serves in the Provost's Office at Virginia Tech leading...

There was no word for tattoo (in Europe) before the 18th century or so, but people had tattoos. Esther Cuenca talks about how to get at the lives of the 90% of the population who often don’t have sources written for them. Plus Prof. Gabriele tells you about his own tattoo. Guest Esther Liberman Cuenca is Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M University–Victoria and the author of The Maki...

This episode is about stories and what they do. Medievals told them (as we do today, often without knowing it!) that conveyed truth, but not necessarily fact. This is where conspiracy theories come from. Is there hope to defeat them? Yup.  Guest Elise Wang works on the medieval history of modern ideas, like felony (her first book) and conspiracy theories (her second). She is an assistant prof...

Stephen Hopkins has been thinking about Hell for a long time, and so have medieval Christians. But only one of them grew up in Ohio. Plus there are 2 killer puns towards the end that I’m very proud of. Guest Stephen Hopkins is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Virginia. He teaches Old English and Old Norse languages and literatures, as well as courses on the his...

Sicily isn’t just cannoli (but it is, and they’re great). In the Middle Ages, this was an island filled with Latin Christians, Greek Christians, Muslims, and Jews — and one that kept right on chugging as the centerpoint (almost literally) of the Mediterranean. We talk about how people moved, didn’t, got along, and didn’t.  Guest Sarah Davis-Secord is Professor of History and Associate Dean fo...

Monstrification. Prof. Gabriele talks with Surekha Davies about Star Trek and how that led to a career studying monsters in the European imagination, plus how embracing wonder helps historians (and people generally) understand the world.  Guest Surekha Davies is a historian of science, speaker, and historical monster consultant. She’s the author most recently of Humans: A Monstrous History (U...

The medieval F-word. Ada Kuskowski and Prof. Gabriele talk about “Feudalism” and how it’s a term that’s more about modernity than the Middle Ages. It’s Adam Smith’s fault. Guest Ada Kuskowski is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania. Her book Vernacular Law: Writing and the Reinvention of Customary Law in Medieval France was published in 2022, and he...

Imagine walking down the street and seeing a fox arguing with a wolf, or some dudes on a cart talking about the end of the world. That’s (part of) medieval drama, baby. Prof. Gabriele and Andrew Albin talk about how street theater, both in the medieval world and performed today, can be liberatory. Guest Andrew Albin is Professor of English and Medieval Studies at Fordham University. His scholarshi...

Matt and Hannah talk opera and how it uses the Middle Ages, because there is A LOT of medievalism in opera - far beyond the stereotypes we have in our head about Wagner. There’s something in the water that helps us think not just about the medieval world, but our own. Take that Chalamet.  Guest Hannah Weaver is an assistant professor of medieval literature at Columbia University. She's the au...

This episode we talk about Roger Bacon, maybe not perfect for Instagram but not far off. There’s some medieval science (and using data to understand the medieval world), some alchemy, and some antichrist. Peter Thiel even gets a mention, but only briefly.  Guest Jennifer Jahner is a Professor of English at Caltech, where she has worked since 2012. Trained in literature, she has migrated over...

Michael and Matt talk about wars between England and France. There were a lot of them, or maybe there was just one. Plus we talk about humility in doing the work of history and how telling stories is really good for making people understand things.  Guest Michael Livingston , PhD, FRHistS, Col (UMSC), is an award-winning historian and author who frequently lectures on military history and hos...

Although our guest doesn’t still skateboard (much), he does have a great new book on the history of a gesture - to turn away from grief/ shame. What does it mean to bear witness in the medieval and modern worlds? Guest Benjamin A. Saltzman is associate professor of English at the University of Chicago, where he coedits the journal Modern Philology . Saltzman is the author of the books Bonds of Sec...

In this episode, Kathleen and Matt talk about vast early North America and all the peoples who inhabited it during (what Europeans call) the Middle Ages. There were cities, and then there weren’t. And the not having cities was better in a lot of ways, so we don’t need to cling to 19th-century stories about what’s “civilized” and what isn’t. Guests Kathleen DuVal is the author of the Pulitzer Prize...

There’s something just amazing about being able to reconstruct a person ’s life in the deep past, from say 5,000 years ago. Matt and Patrick talk in this episode about how being a medievalist helps think about our shared humanity and why history is so freakin’ exciting.  Guest Patrick Wyman is a historian and the host of the history podcast “ Tides of History ” and now the new show “ Past Liv...

I think this might be a food podcast now because we talked a lot about cake. But also in this episode we talk about archives, how podcasts can demystify the medieval world, and how everyone should be welcomed into studying the Middle Ages. Guests Reed O'Mara is a PhD candidate in the joint art history program between Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art and is currently...

It’s the Matthew and Matthew show! In this episode, we talk about frictions - about how art can help us think differently about the Middle Ages, as well as our own futures. Plus we talk about Doritos. Guest Matthew Vernon is a medievalist at UC Davis. He’s the author of The Black Middle Ages: Race and the Construction of the Middle Ages , and if you want a peek into his new work, check out  h...