Medieval Archives

Cesare Borgia in a Nutshell MadeGlobal’s History in a Nutshell Series aims to give readers a good grounding in a historical topic in a concise, easily digestible and accessible way. Cesare Borgia in a Nutshell outlines the life of one of history’s most controversial figures from his birth through to his murder in 1507 at the age of just 31. This book aims to expose the truth behind the age-old rum...

The Children’s Crusade 1212 In the summer of 1212 a French boy and a German boy had separate visions of freeing the Holy Land from the Muslims. Their quests included over 20,000 medieval children and is known as the Children’s Crusade. Stephan of Cloyes, a French shepard boy, claimed Jesus told him to gather a group of children and free the Holy Land. That same year in Germany, Nichola...

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from the Medieval Archives! Listen now! No intro, no talking just Christmas music inspired by the Middle Ages! Have a safe holiday season and thank you for supporting the Medieval Archives Podcast. Please send any comments, suggestions or topic ideas to podcast@medievalarchives.com If you are enjoying the podcast please considering leaving a rating on iTunes. Rat...

Happy Halloween! The Spanish Inquisition, started in 1478 by Ferdinand and Isabella, was used to rid Spain and the Spanish Territories of heretics. The Spanish Inquisition targeted Catholics who strayed from the Catholic teaches and expanded to Jews, Muslims and non-Catholic Christians. Being convicted by an Inquisition tribunal didn’t also led to death, but it almost guaranteed torture. Tor...

During the first phase of the Hundred Years War a smaller war broke out in France, the Breton War of Succession. Wars of Succession always start the same way, a Nobleman dies without an heir. In this case it was the Duke of Brittany, John the Good, who died childless in 1341. Two men stepped up to claim the duchy and the Civil War raged for 23 years. But in the midst of it all a combat was held th...

Women in the Middle Ages were docile, meek and subservient. Or at least that’s what we were led to believe. But that isn’t always the case. In previous lessons we looked at Black Agnes, the defender of Dunbar Castle and Melisende, the Queen of Jerusalem . Women like Joan of Arc, Isabella, the She-Wolf of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine are examples of powerful women in the Middle Ages....

The Battle of Sluys was the first major battle of the Hundred Years’ War. There were a few battles before it but nothing that compared to the size and ramifications of Sluys. The Hundred Years’ War was a series of wars between England’s Plantagenet Dynasty and France’s House of Valois and lasted 116 years! The main cause of the war was the rightful rulers of France. In 1328...

Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales toward the end of the 14th century. The tales are a story telling contest by a group of pilgrims traveling to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Today we are going to listen to The Pardoner’s Tale, a tale of greed, treachery and betrayal. The Pardoner’s Tale is about three young men who discover their friend has been k...

While browsing a B. Dalton bookstore in 1987 I happened upon a book with a glowing sword on the cover. The description talked of Skull Bearers, trolls, dwarfs, elves and a powerful Sword of Shannara. I was sold! That summer I read the entire Original Shannara trilogy by Terry Brooks. Over the years I would continue to read any book with the name Terry Brooks across the front. The magic of his word...

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. The medieval King responsible for the document is King John of England. He didn’t create it, but it was his turbulent reign that caused the Barons to create the document. King John put his seal on it in June 1215 and then refused to abide by the Magna Carta forcing the Barons to revolt against their king. Their revolt, The First Baron...

We are two weeks away from the beginning of the Richard III re-interment ceremonies. Leicester will be packed with dignitaries, tourist and medievalists to witness the final procession of Richard from Leiscester to Bosworth and back. On the last episode we talked to David Monteith, the Dean of Leicester Cathedral about the Cathedral and the re-interment process. Today on the Medieval Archives. Pod...

Three years ago archaeologists began a dig to discover the lost remains of King Richard III. Unbelievably they found his remains the very first day! It took over a week of careful excavation to uncover and exhume his bones. The bones were sent to the University of Leicester for analysis. After months of testing and DNA analysis the University confirmed on 04 February 2013 that the remains found in...

Season 3 Premiere! What’s in store for Ragnar and company this year? A trip to Wessex, raids, glory? All that and more! Find out on another great episode of Vikings . On this episode of The Vikings Podcast we’ll review and recap the Season 3 premiere episode, Mercenary . Then we’ll look at the history presented in the show and see how it compares to actual history. Mercenary Ragn...

Six hundred years ago Anti-Pope John XXIII called the Council of Constance. It was an ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church and began in November 1414. The main purpose of the Council was to end the Western Schism. In 1414 three Popes ruled the Catholic Church, Anti-Popes John XXIII and Benedict XIII and Pope Gregory XII. There were two other issues the Council addressed as we...

Journalist and author Ian Macgill found his writing passion traveling through the jungles of South America. As a young man Ian was awarded the Winston Churchill fellowship and traveled through South America studying ancient sites. His adventures in South America would make a great book as well! After his travels he returned to Britain and began his career as a journalist. Ian now owns and operates...

Gilles de Rais, an esteemed knight and the Marshall of France, who fought alongside Joan of Arc. Then he turned to the occult and tried to deal with the devil. Gilles isn’t remembered as a hero of France, instead he is remembered as a gruesome child murderer. On today’s episode we are going to look at Gilles de Rais, a knight who fought alongside Joan of Arc and was her trusted adviser...

I wanted to get out a quick update to let you know about the VIKINGS Season 2 Blu-ray giveaway! It’s easy to enter and you could take home a great prize! Head over to https://www.medievalarchives.com/vikingsgiveaway to enter the contest. One lucky player will win a copy of VIKINGS Season 2 on Blu-ray Listen to the episode now The Blu-Ray version includes all 10 original episodes plus: 10 ext...

Award-winning journalist, best selling author and Historian Dan Jones joins the Medieval Archives Podcast to talk all things Plantagenets! His first book on the subject The Plantagents: The Kings Who made England covers the first two centuries of Plantagenet Kings from Henry II to Richard II. In his latest book Wars of the Roses ( Hollow Crown , UK Title), Dan chronicles the last century of the Pl...

Jan Hus was a Czech or more accurately for his time, a Bohemian priest, philosopher and religious reformer who shock up the catholic church in the 15th century. We’ll look at his life, his ideas about religion and the catholic church and the wars fought in his name. I have shelves and shelves of medieval history books and almost all of them handle the history of Jan Hus and the Hussite Wars...

Few authors can capture the atmosphere of the middle ages as well as Bernard Cornwell. A master storyteller Bernard has written over 50 books! I first discovered Bernard Cornwell in the early 2000s when I was browsing at a local bookstore. A book titled The Archer’s Tale caught my attention and the main character was an archer fighting in the Hundred Years’ War. SOLD! Now I own all Ber...

In June 1314 Scotland faced off against England in a battle that would be remembered through the ages. Outnumbered more than 2-1 the Scots banded together to fight the mighty English. The Battle of Bannockburn started out with an epic confrontation between King Robert the Bruce and the English knight Henry de Bohun. The outcome of that single combat would foretell the outcome of the battle. Bannoc...

For everyone living today the Kingdom of Scotland has been apart of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. But the two kingdoms weren’t always united. In fact they have only been unified for 300 years. Prior to the 1707 Treaty of Union, Scotland was an independent nation. Travel back even farther, to the late 13th, early 14th century England led by Edward I, the ‘Hammer of the Scots&#821...

Defender of the City of God is a new book by award winning author Sharan Newman. It examines the First Crusade, the Crusader state of Jerusalem and Queen Melisande. Sharan also writes fiction novels based in the Middle Ages, including a series of Medieval mysteries. In this lesson we talk with Sharan about her background, her books, both fiction and non-fiction, her writing style and her love of t...

Jacques de Molay the 23rd and final Grand Master of The Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, better know as The Knights Templar. The Knights Templar formed in 1119 and quickly rose in power and wealth. With help from the church they were able to amass a fortune in money and property. They were fierce warriors of God that set out to protect the Holy Land and Christian pilgrims....

In the Middle Ages torture was used for a variety of reasons, to gain information, to purify heretics and to punish criminals. In this lesson of the Medieval Archives Podcast we are going to explore medieval torture and the devices used by medieval torturers. Devices of pain, torment and mutilation used by the Church to punish heretics and blasphemers. You’ll even find out which Pope issued...