Gone Medieval

Today’s episode of Gone Medieval is brought to you by Paradox Interactive, the creators of the game Crusader Kings III . In it, Matt Lewis explores all of the logistics of going on a Medieval crusade and how the first crusade played out. Matt has been losing whole weekends to this game! If you want to experience the grand strategy adventure and delve into the world created by Crusader Kings III, b...

September is Vikings month on Gone Medieval , as Dr. Cat Jarman presents a mini-series about her favourite, specialist subject. Over her next four episodes, Cat will be taking a deep dive into the Viking age, looking at how it all started, how it all ended, and the stories we tell about those people from the north in between. In this first episode, Cat addresses all of the burning questions about...

Outside Medieval London’s city walls, Southwark was a land without rules. It was the place where people went to indulge their love of theatre, watch bear baiting and visit brothels. It was also under the control of the Bishop of Winchester. In this edition of Gone Medieval - originally released as an episode of History Hit’s Betwixt the Sheets podcast - Matt Lewis talks with Dr. Kate Lister, about...

What really happened in Britain after the fall of Rome? How did people adapt to their new lives? How were new identities formed, and eventually kingdoms? And how and when did people convert to Christianity? In today’s Gone Medieval , Dr. Cat Jarman poses these questions to Professor Robin Fleming, who has been extensively researching the period. The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthri...

Few kings have left more of an impression on the English - and then the British - nation as King Henry V, who died on 31 August 1422. The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 wove Henry V’s legend into the fabric of history. To many, he remains a hero, the exemplar of what a warrior-king should be. To others, Henry had a darker side that eclipses any glimmer of glory. To mark the 600th anniversary of his d...

In this episode of Gone Medieval , presenter Dr. Cat Jarman swaps seats and becomes the guest of Dr. Kate Lister’s brilliant podcast from History Hit, Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society . In it, she delves into the topics that they didn’t teach you about in history lessons at school. Today Cat answers everything Kate always wanted to know about sex and relationships in...

England, 1351. In the aftermath of the Pestilence, Gerard Fox - a young knight robbed of his ancestral home, his family name tarnished - sets forth to petition the one man who can restore his lands and reputation. Fox's road entangles him with an enigmatic woman, a priceless relic, and a dark family secret.  In today’s Gone Medieval , Matt Lewis meets #1 New York Times bestselling thriller wr...

The unusual Anchor Church Caves in south Derbyshire were, until quite recently, thought to have been follies cut into the rock in the eighteenth century. But new research has revealed that they could date from the early ninth century - making them probably the oldest intact domestic interiors in the UK. They may well have even been lived in by a king who became a saint. In this episode of Gone Med...

Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, a profound transformation took place in the ways that the English language was spoken and words were pronounced. This “Great Vowel Shift” saw a change in the pronunciation of all Middle English long vowels, resulting in spellings of words that often deviated considerably from how they are pronounced.  In this edition of Gone Medieval , Matt Lew...

Early Medieval Britain was more Roman than we think. The Roman Empire left vast infrastructural resources, not least roads, walls and bridges. Why have they survived so well? And what did the people who lived here immediately after the Romans think of them and do with them? In this episode of Gone Medieval , Dr. Cat Jarman talks to Dr. Mateusz Fafinski about how the infrastructure the Romans left...

How do you go about finding your way around the history of a nation and a national identity? For the barrister and author Dominic Selwood, documents are the perfect window through which to watch a country develop and change. His new book Anatomy of a Nation: A History of British Identity in 50 Documents explores more than 950,000 years of history by examining those documents that tell the story of...

Archaeology has a lot to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the so-called Dark Ages, and every now and then new sites are found in places where we previously knew nothing about the people who once lived there. In today’s Gone Medieval, Dr. Cat Jarman goes to the Ministry of Defence land on Salisbury Plain to visit precisely one such site. There she meets Richard Osgood, senior archae...

From an age in which women’s lives were obscured and poorly recorded, one shines brightly from the darkness. Eleanor of Aquitaine - born 900 years ago - has been the subject of scandal and legend for almost a millennium. Nevertheless, she played a central role in the pivotal events that defined nations and set relationships across Europe for centuries to come.  In this special explainer...

The first of Greenland’s Viking settlements were established in the tenth century. But by the fifteenth century, they had all but vanished, their fate confounding generations of archaeologists. But new research has revealed that it was the trade in walrus ivory that was behind both their prosperity and decline. In this edition of Gone Medieval , Dr. Cat Jarman talks to Professor James Barrett...

Parish churches were at the heart of English social life in the Middle Ages. But how did they come into existence? Who staffed them? And how were the buildings used?  In this episode of Gone Medieval , Matt Lewis talks to Professor Nicholas Orme, whose new book Going to Church in Medieval England was shortlisted for the 2022 Wolfson History Prize, the UK’s most prestigious history writing awa...

Trees have been universally important to humanity throughout history - not only as the source of fruits and nuts, but also wood for tools, weapons and buildings, and fuel for transport. So integral were trees to early Medieval society that their names were used for places throughout England - such as Acton (oak settlement) or Ashby (ash farm). In this edition of  Gone Medieval,  Dr. Cat...

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were a time when the close friendship or petty feuding between monarchs could determine the course of history. The Capetians of France and the Angevins of England waged war, made peace, and intermarried. The lands under English control once reached to within a few miles of Paris, and those ruled by the French, at their peak, crossed the Channel and encompassed...

Few early medieval gods are as well-known and as popular as Thor. He’s currently thrilling moviegoers worldwide with his new outing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Love and Thunder . But behind the countless films and works of fiction, what’s the real origin story for Thor? How was he worshipped? And how has he secured such an enduring place in popular culture? In this episode o...

Gardens and gardening are aspects of medieval life that rarely get much attention. But it was a period when those with a little more land created gardens for leisure and pleasure, a place in which to stroll or entertain friends. In this edition of Gone Medieval , Matt Lewis heads to Prebendal Manor in Northamptonshire, a unique house and garden steeped in history dating back to King Cnut. There, M...

Alfred the Great - King of the West Saxons and later King of all the English not under Scandinavian rule - is the only English King to be given the title “the Great”. So why did he become such a legend that to become a British citizen you now have to answer questions about him? In this episode of Gone Medieval , Dr. Cat Jarman talks to historian, TV producer and publisher Justin Pollard, whose boo...

When we think of fairy tales, we think of imprisoned maidens, turreted towers, magic spinning wheels, wicked witches and demonic dwarves and dragons. Much of the iconography of these stories, particularly those from Europe, dates back to Medieval times. Some of them, such as the story of Hansel and Gretel, are even rooted in specific events. In today’s edition of  Gone Medieval , Matt Lewis m...

All Saints’ Church in the village of Brixworth, Northamptonshire is one of the oldest, largest and most complete Anglo-Saxon churches in England. Founded in the eighth century, it has been described as “the finest Romanesque church north of the Alps.” In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Cat Jarman takes a fascinating tour around All Saints’ Church in the company of archaeologist Professor Mark H...

Richard III is one of Shakespeare’s most controversial plays, often cited as the basis for the King’s reputation as a scheming murderer. But what do the Bard’s history plays tell us about the period they are set in and how that era was viewed in Shakespeare’s time? Are there allusions to Elizabethan figures in Richard III that Shakespeare knew his viewers would understand? In this edition of Gone...

Norwich Castle was designed by William the Conqueror to be a royal palace. But no Norman kings ever lived in it. Instead it became a gaol and then - in the Victorian era - a museum, which is today packed with archaeological finds that lift the lid on life in Anglo-Saxon East Anglia. In this edition of Gone Medieval, Dr. Cat Jarman takes an exclusive tour of Norwich Castle with Dr. Tim Pestell and...

An extraordinary discovery has been unearthed by archaeologists working alongside the HS2 rail project. The find, made at an undisclosed location near Wendover in the Chilterns, consists of a 5th-6th century burial site that has been described as one of the most important post-Roman, early medieval discoveries of our lifetime. It offers the chance to see more clearly a part of British history that...