Medieval Madness

The Middle Ages is often thought of as a dark period in our history and from that time there are many dark tales. Here we have put together seven of them for you. Some are creepy, others funny but all of them are strange. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before the Enlightenment the Medievals had no choice but to use their imaginations to make sense of the world around them. Because of the enormous influence that the Church held over their daily lives anything that could not be explained was seen as either sinister or magical. Some of their strange and often ridiculous superstitions are what we will talk about in our video today. Learn more about...

During the Middle Ages, it was felt that the people needed to be afraid of the Civil authority and the Church. The only way to keep order was to make sure that the citizens were terrified of any punishment that would be given out if a person was found guilty of a crime. And so, with the use of corporal punishment penalties were harsh. The inventiveness of the techniques and instruments used by the...

When the Scots were oppressed, and Scottish fortunes were at their lowest he was the chief inspiration for their resistance. A man who stood up to the King of England, Edward I, emerging from obscurity to gain a spectacular victory over the English, before enduring a crushing defeat and being put to death in the most barbaric way. A national hero who has gained great admiration, this is the story...

Almost every night, for the last ten years of her life, Ermine de Reims was systematically battered and tortured by demons. How did a 14th century peasant woman get caught up in a number of religious controversies? Was she possessed? Was she ill? Was she undergoing a divine ‘state of grace’?In this episode we will find out about the visions experienced by Ermine and the supernatural forces that af...

The town of Falaise, Normandy, Northwest France. The year 1386. The murderer had sneaked into the couples home. The husband, Jonnet the Builder was away helping to erect a nearby church while his wife was down at the nearest stream washing some linen garments. Their child was fast asleep in his crib. Seeing her opportunity the killer crept up to the infant and attacked him, mutilating his face and...

Public humiliation was a major part of both corporal and capital punishment during the Middle Ages. In small communities, those being admonished would be well known to everyone else, and having the accused person put on view, usually in the center of a town or village was all part of the punishment. Audience involvement was a key part of the success of the judgment because it only increased the vi...

This has to be one of the most inhuman forms of punishment ever invented and was the most extreme penalty available in English law for those guilty of high treason, which was considered the most serious attack on the monarch’s authority. Those who were being punished in this way were seen as sub-human and the dishonour, pain and cruelty that they suffered was meant to create a division between the...

Probably the most common form of execution and the first one that people think about in regard to Medieval executions, hanging was the usual method of capital punishment for the Anglo Saxons. Other means of execution have been implemented but none of them has been so common and used for so many centuries in Europe, as death by hangman.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...

In most European countries today, we use the premise that a person is presumed innocent unless they have been proven guilty. At trial, evidence has to be produced so that a jury or a judge can decide on the culpability of the accused. But during the Middle Ages when someone was suspected of a crime, and they were actually innocent it was believed that God would intervene on their behalf. So, they...

What exactly was it that the monks saw that night in the sky in 1178?  Could it have been the impact of an asteroid hitting the Moon’s surface? Or a meteorite entering the earth’s atmosphere just at the right moment? Did the Moon really split in half or was it just a shared delusion? In this video we shall talk more about this strange Medieval mystery that has baffled historians and scientists ali...

Most of us have burned ourselves at one time or another, perhaps on a stove or on a candle, so we know how painful it can be, and can only imagine how it would feel to be completely engulfed in flames. Being scalded with boiling water is no joke either so just imagine being submerged into a whole pot of it. These are just another two of the worst forms of execution in our Medieval punishment video...

It was August1453. King Henry VI of England left his pregnant wife Margaret of Anjou at home and travelled from court to the West Country on a judicial visit. Stopping off at Clarendon Palace in Wiltshire the 31-year-old king was, “suddenly…taken and smitten with a frenzy and his wit and reason withdrawn”. What was the terrible and mysterious illness that struck down Henry VI who was a central fig...

Death by pressing or crushing has been around for centuries, although the method used has varied greatly from place to place. In general, it meant that some form of heavy weight would be placed on top of a person with the intention of causing their death. Ow.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"…as a thief therefore you shall be hanged; as a traitor…you shall be drawn and quartered, and your quarters dispersed throughout the kingdom; and as you were outlawed, by our Lord the King and by general consent, and have come back to the court…you shall be beheaded; and because at all times you have been disloyal and a formenter of strife between our Lord the King and our most noble Lady the Que...

The Middle Ages were turbulent times. Constant warfare and disease meant that millions of people died all across the world. Some of the ways that death came upon them can still be recognised today, some are a little more imaginative. These eight ways to die give us an insight into the daily lives of the Medievals, their attitudes and the conditions in which they lived and subsequently died. Learn...

The first few months of 793 was a worrying time for the north of England. Great portents of impending disaster were seen across the heavens. On Lindisfarne the monks had to suspend their evening prayers when an astonishing sight was observed in the night sky. Fiery dragons were seen flying through the air, followed by sheets of lightning that rippled out in huge arcs before piercing the ground wit...

When we think about the Medieval period, we often imagine people not just living in filth, but being happy to do so.  However, the Medievals did wash, bathe and clean their teeth more than we would expect, even if they were unable to achieve the levels of hygiene that we do now. There were medical guides about health and cleanliness and people did their best to keep themselves and their clothes di...

At its heart this tale is a medieval mystery, which sadly involved the death of two children. Innocent boys who found themselves at the mercy of the politics, plotting and greed of two competing royal houses. Henry II of England ascended the throne in 1154 and is considered to be the first Plantagenet king. Essentially two houses descended from the Plantagenets – the House of York and the House of...

Being a queen in the 14th century was a dangerous occupation and no woman knew that better than Joanna I of Naples. She had a talent for ruling; an ability which inevitably threatened the powerful men around her.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mediaeval phantoms were commonly referred to as revenants. There are reports of spectres floating through walls, like a transparent sheet or sail floating through the air. Some of the apparitions were described as being much more unhappy and paler than they had been in life and were dressed in ragged clothing. But many seem to be far more palpable than how we imagine a spirit to be today. There ar...

It began in Essex as a response to the harsh economic demands of parliament and was one of the most significant uprisings in Europe during the medieval period. A national movement of people that spread as far as York and Scarborough in the northeast and over to Somerset in the southwest of England. Previous uprisings had always been led by noblemen, ambitious to overthrow the out of touch governme...

What exactly happened in Strasbourg during the mysterious dancing plague of 1518? Lets travel back in time and have a look at the Mysterious Dancing Plague of 1518. Welcome to Medieval Madness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is no surprise that the vocation of Medieval executioners is up there as one of the most undesirable jobs in the Middle Ages, along with leech collector and gong farmer. Lawlessness and crime were so widespread across the world. Rape, murder, theft, heresy – every type of sin and debauchery ran unchecked throughout medieval society. Most countries were trying to move away from the idea of crimi...

When we think of crime and punishment in the medieval period, we often think of a chaotic system of judgement, and brutal punishments, that seem out of proportion with the seriousness of the crime. In medieval Europe law and order was harsh. It was assumed that people would only behave well if they feared the penalty of breaking the law. There was a gibbet on the outskirts of most towns in England...