That's So Medieval

Although today we often think of theatre as a high-status activity that only the cultured and elite participate in, the medieval reality was far different. Plays in the Middle Ages was a pastime performed to, and by, ordinary people. Although it had its roots in the Church, it grew to become a rich and varied experience that was very different from the rigid shape of much modern theatre. In today'...

One of the few places where everyone can easily see a bit of the medieval in the modern world is in architecture. Even if you've never taken a class on medieval art, you probably have a sense of what architecture feels medieval and evokes a history of castles and cathedrals. Odds are, you walk by a building that looks a bit medieval every day and never really think about it. In today's epi...

If you’ve never seen a work of medieval art, then you probably assume that art in the period was all flat and bland and focused exclusively on upholding the power of the Church.  It is true that visual art in the Middle Ages looked very different from that of the Renaissance and of the modern world, but that doesn’t mean that it has nothing to offer us as modern audiences. In fact,  experiencing ...

If you know anything about medieval education then you probably know that the idea of the university comes out of the culture of medieval Europe. While this is absolutely true, and an important step in the development of the modern world, there is more to medieval education than just the rise of the university. In the Central Middle Ages, an institution arose called the cathedral school that foste...

When you think of the Middle Ages, you probably imagine a chaotic period without any kind of real form of law. Yet while medieval Europe may not have had the same kinds of legal systems that we live under today, it was still a period where dramatic transformations and evolutions took place in the practice of law. One form of this was a kind of church law that influenced every aspect of medieval li...

In this episode, Benjamin sits down with Robin Reich to talk about the medieval Church and its relationship with medicine. How did medieval people go about finding medical care? What role did infamous treatments like bloodletting play in their lives? How was the Church involved in medicine and how did it give rise to the practices of medicine (and sometimes wellness) that we see in the world today...

In this episode, Benjamin sits down with John Ott and Anna Trumbore Jones to talk about the history of the medieval clergy. Who were the clergy? What did they do? How did they influence the lives of ordinary people in the Middle Ages? Drs. Ott and Jones help to unravel these questions as experts in the field who have recently completed a book on the subject, The Medieval Clergy 800-1250: A Sourceb...

In the first episode of That's So Medieval, Benjamin Bertrand introduces listeners to himself and the show. Focusing on the history of the medieval church and its connections to the modern world, That's So Medieval is a twelve-part series that will dive deep into topics in medieval religious history. The goal of the series is to highlight the ways in which the medieval church, and the medieval wor...