Medieval Archives

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' was trying to b...

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 a papa...

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was the most powerful Crusader State in the Middle Ages. Melisende, the daughter of King Baldwin II, would rule Jerusalem after the death of her father. A power struggle with her husband, Fulk V, led to a divided Kingdom. Finally in 1143 she became the sole ruler of Jerusalem, but still faced concerns of the Muslims invading and her son Baldwin III coming of age. Queen Mel...

03 February 2014 marks the 1,000th anniversary of the death of King Sweyn Forkbeard. Once Forkbeard became the King of Denmark and Norway he started raiding England. After the English massacred thousands of Danes on St. Brice's Day Forkbeard increased his raids until he was able to overthrow the sitting King. Sweyn would never have a chance to rule England, he died shortly after becoming King. Som...

January 2014 marks the 1,200th anniversary of the death of Charlemagne. He started his reign at the age of 26 as the King of the Franks. By the time of his death in 814 he was the Holy Roman Emperor and ruled the majority of continental Europe. Join us today as we examine the life of Charlemagne. We'll look at his military exploits, how he was able to grow his empire and become the first Holy Roma...

For 4000 years China has been an innovative society, starting with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. In the Middle Ages China invented item after item that revolutionized the world for centuries to come. Some of them we still use today! Things that we take for granted; paper money, kites, folding umbrellas and playing cards, just to name a few. Join us as we examine the inventions from Medieval...

2013 is coming to a close. That means it's time for a year in review wrap up of the year's medieval events and we have a special guest, Peter from Medievalists.net! We discuss 10 of the top medieval stories of 2013. You can find the write up for the Top 10 Stories on Medievalists.net (http://www.medievalists.net/2013/12/26/top-10-medieval-news-stories-of-2013/) Listen to the episode now Got questi...

The Hundred Years' War raged for over 100 years and divided England and France like never before. Today on the Medieval Archives Podcast we look at a battle during the last phase of the Hundred Years' War, The Battle of Agincourt. King Henry V of England, vastly outnumbered fought for his Kingdom and his life. Find out how he lead a weary band of men against insurmountable odds. Will Henry survive...

October is a battle weary month in the Middle Ages with no fewer than six major battles! This month we are going to discuss a couple of the battles. In this episode we are going to look at the Battle of Tours in 732. The Battle of Tours pitted the Frankish Christian army led by Charles Martel against the Muslim army led by Adbul Rahman. It was a battle that would define the future of Europe. Charl...

Listen to the episode now People in the Middle Ages had their share of diseases. But unlike today they didn't have vaccinations or antibiotics to help them out. Today we are going to look at medieval diseases and the cures that did or in most cases did not work. We'll see if getting sick in the middle ages meant certain death. We'll also look at some cures for everyday occurrences like nasal conge...

French King Louis VIII who as a young Prince invaded England with the support of the English barons with the hope of taking the throne from King John. He would rise to King in France and take part in the Albigensian Crusade to gain back his lands in Southern France. In this episode we'll look at his invasion of England, participation in the crusades, his rise to King of France and his untimely dea...

What if all the fairy tales we know and love came from one 15-year-old medieval girl? That is the premise of Andrea Cefalo's novel, The Fairytale Keeper. Today on the Medieval Archives Podcast we talk to Andrea about her books, how she came up with the idea and her love of the middle ages. We also discuss her second book in the series The Fairest of Them All and the Kickstarter campaign she starte...

How do you become a historian? I get asked that questions a lot. So today I'll answer it. We will look at 7 steps you can take to begin your journey through history. We'll also look at some of the jobs you can get as a historian. The list may surprise you. If you're a... MAP#39 - 7 Steps To Become a Historian is a post from: Medieval Archives The post MAP#39 - 7 Steps To Become a Historian appeare...

I was first introduced to archaeology as a kid and up on the movie screen was a whip carrying, fedora wearing relic hunter. When Indiana Jones wasn't fighting Nazis or running for his life he was on a quest to gather ancient artifacts. Today on the Medieval Archives Podcast we are going to examine real life archaeology, not the fictional portrayal. Since the discovery of Richard III in the Leicest...

Dr. Samuel Stokes joins the Podcast for an interview about his music and medieval influences. For his doctorate dissertation in Music Theory, he composed a symphony inspired by Eustace the Monk, the 13th century pirate. In episode 3 of the Medieval Archives Podcast I covered Eustace the Monk. In this episode Dr. Stokes and I discuss his love of music and how it turned into wiritng songs, musicals...

The Pope, the Bishop of Rome, successor of Saint Peter and leader of the Catholic Church. Pious men aspire to the chair and humbly accept the position. At least that's what we'd like to believe. But not all popes were righteous men, some weren't even Christian!  In this episode of the Medieval Archives Podcast we are going to look at some of the worst Popes of the Middle Ages. I play a music clip...

Welcome to the premiere episode of the Vikings Podcast! I’ve put together a brief episode to introduce the actors and the characters they play. There are a few sound clips from the show and the show format is discussed. Vikings premieres on 03 March 2013 on The History Channel USA & Canada. Find the podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vikings-podcast/id611038251?mt=2 Vik...

The medieval-verse was all abuzz the last couple of weeks about an exciting archaeology find. Back in August 2012 the University of Leicester started a search for the lost remains of King Richard III. Richard was killed during the Battle of Bosworth, the final major battle of the Wars of the Roses. King Richard's death is significant for a few reasons. He was the last King of England to die in bat...

It's that time of year again. The full moon is out and the night gets a little spookier. But have no fear, we are here to help you make it through the Halloween season. And what better way than to talk about flesh eating zombies! Now I haven't gone completely mad. We will look at two examples of how the dead walked the earth in medieval times and a historian who recorded numerous episodes of the u...

Sarah Gristwood, the acclaimed author, joins us for an interview about her new book Blood Sisters: The Hidden Lives of the Women Behind the Wars of the Roses. Most of the history of the Wars of the Roses is written through the eyes of the kings and men who fought the battles. In Blood Sisters, Sarah takes a look at the influence and impact of the women involved. It is a fascinating book which offe...

I'm excited to have Peter and Sandra on from Medievalists.net. We covered all sorts of topics, including their love for other historical periods and the state of history programming on television. We even managed to get a Honey Boo Boo reference in, yikes! (I apologize now for including that link...) I guess it's safe to say we had a great time during the interview. I hope you enjoy it as well. A...

The Middle Ages conjures images of wise, warrior Kings and beautiful Queens. Well this episode we are going to shatter that image! Get ready to dive into the crazy world of insane kings and diabolical madmen. Years of inbreeding the royal blood is bound to have an effect sooner or later. We'll investigate kings, queens and counts that went bat crazy during their reigns. Thanks for listening and su...