The Medieval Podcast

It’s the spookiest season, which means it’s the perfect time to investigate medieval witches. This week, Danièle speaks with Gemma Hollman, author of Royal Witches, about some of the fifteenth century’s most high profile accusations of witchcraft. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit pa...

When it comes to stories of reinvention and forging new paths, there’s one historian whose body of work stands out. This week, Danièle sat down with Dr. Natalie Zemon Davis over a cup of tea and talked about some of her favourite trailblazers, how she sees Medieval Studies today, and how historians can use their work to bring people together across cultures This podcast is made possible by the gen...

This week, Sandra Alvarez, cofounder of Medievalists.net was back in Toronto, so Danièle sat down with Sandra and Peter Konieczny to talk about how the website got started, and how the field has changed in the decade since. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpod...

It often seems it’s the things that we take for granted that have the biggest impact. One of these things is the way we measure. This week, Danièle speaks with Dr. Emanuele Lugli about the way people used measurement for business, for justice, and for devotion. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, p...

The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada has unveiled a new exhibition: Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa. Danièle took in the exhibition and spoke with Michael Chagnon, the Curator of the museum. They talk about medieval Africa, its connections with the wider world, and what you can see at the Aga Khan Museum. This podcast is made possibl...

This week, Danièle speaks with Boydell and Brewer’s Richard Barber about how the field has changed over the last fifty years, current trends in medieval publishing, and what Richard’s best tips are for up-and-coming authors. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpo...

It may be the most famous medieval movie of all time. This week, Danièle talks with Peter Konieczny about Monty Python and the Holy Grail, its legacy, and some of their favourite moments. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

It’s the most wonderful time of the year - time to go back to school! This week, Danièle takes a quick look at medieval education. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

Beowulf may be one of the world’s most famous poems, but there’s a lot more to its manuscript than this poem alone. This week, Danièle looks into the other content of the Beowulf manuscript, its history, and what makes it both unique and special. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit pat...

The English language is notoriously difficult to learn and to spell. In this episode, Danièle talks about the medieval roots of English and how it got to be so weird. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

It's vacation time and people are looking for places to visit. Danièle is joined by Peter to offer their picks for travel destinations to experience the Middle Ages. We have places in Denmark, England, France, Iceland, Poland and Scotland to tell you about.  This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, plea...

International bestselling author Guy Gavriel Kay is well known for creating literary worlds that often look like the medieval world. It's been called history with a quarter turn to the fantastic. In this episode he talks with Danièle about his latest novel, A Brightness Long Ago. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of...

This week, Danièle shows how useful medieval history can be in helping us survive the imminent zombie apocalypse. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

The Middle Ages are full of amazing tales, both fictional and true. This week, Peter Konieczny joins Danièle to talk about three of their favourite medieval stories. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

Looking for a book to read about the medieval world? Danièle offers her picks for which books about the Middle Ages you should read. It includes ones by Dan Jones, Helen Castor, Peter Frankopan and Ruth Mazo Karras, plus Danièle's choices for primary sources and medieval fiction.  This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of...

This week, Danièle asked her listeners which myths about the Middle Ages really drive them crazy. From the Flat Earth to daily hygiene, here is our attempt to shed light on some of the most common (but wrong!) ideas we have about the Middle Ages. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit pat...

The medieval period is routinely slammed as a time in which people had little to no medical knowledge, but the people of the Middle Ages had a much better understanding of how to heal themselves than modern popular culture would suggest. In this episode, Danièle speaks with Dr. Ilana Krug about the use of honey in medieval military medicine and the time Henry V got an arrow in the face. This podca...

One of the buzzwords in education is gamification - using games to get people more engaged with what they are learning. Those studying history might be using the immersive games from Reacting to the Past, which gets students to work with primary sources and with each other. Danièle is joined by Kyle Lincoln to discuss his work with Reacting to the Past, how he is developing a game based on the Fou...

Love it or hate it, Game of Thrones has had a major impact on people’s perceptions of the Middle Ages. In this episode, Danièle talks with Peter Konieczny about the finale, the future, and saying farewell to this fan favourite. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedieva...

During the medieval period, there was a lot of interest in writing down what was going on in the world for the sake of future generations, but there’s one massive problem with medieval chronicles: people didn’t approach history in the Middle Ages the way we do today. This week, Danièle speaks with Dr. Lane Sobehrad about how medieval people wrote history, and how historians today can do their part...

Sexuality was a huge part of medieval culture, from the rules about how and when to have sex, to the dirty jokes that found their way into religious art. This week, Danièle speaks with Dr. Eleanor Janega about getting medieval in the bedroom. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon...

From the submissive to the scandalous, medieval queens held a huge amount of influence over the politics of the day. In this episode, Danièle speaks with Dr. Helen Castor about queenship, the challenges of studying even the most prominent medieval women, and how their stories still resonate today. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help...

What was torture really like in the Middle Ages? Everyone knows, or thinks they know, that torture was an integral part of medieval life, but many of our beliefs are really myths. Larissa ‘Kat’ Tracy joins Danièle to talk about iron maidens, dungeons, executions and more. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval...

A special episode of The Medieval Podcast to discuss the tragic fire that has left much of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris destroyed. Danièle talks with Peter Konieczny, Editor of Medievalists.net, to recount what we know about the fire, and our own reactions to this sad disaster.  This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of...

Although it seems to be a fundamental contradiction, some medieval conflicts saw bishops braving the battlefield. To find out more about these military men of the cloth, Danièle speaks with Craig Nakashian, author of Warrior Churchmen of Medieval England, 1000-1250: Theory and Reality. This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the j...