The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast

In this episode, producer Reed O’Mara sit down with Georgetown professor Sarah McNamer about her contribution to Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, in which McNamer explores the provenance and purpose of the Bodley Alexander manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 264 [Part A, fols. 3–208]). Namer’s article suggests that the manuscript can be read as a medieval version of a children’...

This episode takes a bird’s eye view of the global medieval world, following the trade and giving of arctic gyrfalcons across vast distances. Caitlin, Sam, Bjørn, and Ragnar discuss the capture and keeping of these rare birds in Scandinavia and their cultural significance in Europe, China and the Islamic world. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com .

In this episode of The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast, the editors of the recent volume Towards an Accessible Academy discuss disability, academia, and medieval studies with several of the authors. Combining interviews with chapter readings, Dr. Alex R. A. Lee and Dr. Hope Doherty-Harrison break down key concepts and consider how they as disabled medievalists do their work, and how we can make...

In this episode, Dr. Polina Ignatova deconstructs the spectrum of diverse roles of St. Christopher in the contemporary societal discourses in Russia. She argues that the public knowledge about St. Christopher is sporadic and unsystematized, resulting in the saint’s image being used by both oppressors and oppressed. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com .

In this episode, Zelda Cahill-Patten and Sofia Holmberg explore the unusual tomb of Alice Chaucer, a wealthy and influential noblewoman living in 15th-century England. Together, Zelda and Sofia unpack clues about Alice’s life as a pious and powerful widow, from her religious practices of bodily discipline, to the books she read, to the striking monument itself. For more information, visit www.mult...

Was there really a medieval “Dark Age”? In this episode, Dr. Natasha Parnian unpacks what happened after the fall of the Sasanian Empire—and why Persian kingship didn’t simply disappear. From Abbasid Baghdad to medieval Iran, ancient ideas of justice, divine glory, and sacred rule reshaped Islamic authority. The Persian king was gone, but his political afterlife was just beginning. For more inform...

In this episode, producer Loren Cantrell chats with Stanford professor Fiona Griffiths about her latest contribution to Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, in which Griffiths revisits the famously complex relationship between Heloise and Abelard. Griffiths situates Heloise’s striking language within the shifting landscape of 12th-century debates on clerical marriage and reform, offering a pow...

How might the study of multiculturalism in the Middle Ages differ across historical period and academic specialization? In this episode, Fordham University master’s students Kristian Powell and Sean Maldonado discuss their experiences studying the early medieval period. They reflect on conversations from their coursework, the importance of professorial/institutional support, and what excites them...

How do pandemics happen? In this episode, historians of medieval medicine Monica H. Green, Winston Black, and Lucy Barnhouse talk with Will Beattie about the genesis of a new open-access teaching module on the Black Death. Our understanding of the late medieval pandemic has been transformed not only because of advances in the biological sciences, but also because historians have recently discovere...

In this episode, we sit down with the five editors of Speculations , the centennial issue of Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies . Comprising 60 short essays that speculate about the possible futures of medieval studies, this issue represents an attempt to disrupt disciplinarity by foregrounding perspectives, methodologies, and geographies from a variety of fields from medieval studies. Born f...

In this episode, editors Sara V. Torres and Nahir I. Otaño Gracia discuss the themed issue of Viator they co-edited entitled "Early Global Insularities." They are joined by three of the contributors to the cluster (Tarren Andrews, Tanvir Ahmed, and Jonathan F. Correa Reyes) for a conversation about both pre-modern discourses of insularity, the lasting legacies of discourses that approach insularit...

The colorful and monumental 14th-century frescoes of Bohemian church interiors have received very little scholarly attention, and many remain completely unknown today. Yet the wall paintings have played major roles in the creation of national(ist) art historical narratives, and they offer a rare chance to examine how medieval frescoes operated within their original architectural contexts. In this...

In this episode, MMA podcast producer Loren Cantrell chats with Nancy Wu about her article, "East–West Encounters in the Fourteenth Century: John of Marignolli and the 'Tribute' Horse" (Speculum 100:4). For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com .

In this episode, Logan Quigley (MMA team member) chats with scholar Aaron C. Pattee about the roles and realities of the medieval ministeriales—non-nobles who served in a variety of capacities within the royal palaces, the imperial estates, and the entourages of emperors, kings, and bishops during the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleage...

In this episode, Fordham University master’s student Kristian Powell is joined by his classmate Thomas Warren to discuss the life of Theodore of Tarsus. Theodore was a 7th-century intellectual refugee from Asia Minor who, through a long career as a monk in Rome, was appointed as the Archbishop of Canterbury, influencing the early Anglo-Saxon church immensely. For more information, visit www.multic...

In this episode, Robin Fleming and Sam Leggett discuss their work on an early fifth-century cemetery in the English village of Alton. Using bioarchaeological evidence from bones and teeth, they have made precise discoveries about the diets of individuals buried at Alton, their states of health, and even the ages at which they migrated from wetland ecosystems down tot he drier territory of the Sout...

In this episode, Michael D. Barbezat (Australian Catholic University) and Miles Pattenden (Oxford University) explore the "queer medievalism" of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in the early 1980s. They discuss the Sisters' creation of "gay relics" in San Francisco, USA and Sydney, Australia, highlighting how the Sisters drew on the intellectual traditions of medieval Christianity to repurpose...

In this episode, Margaret Sheble (webmaster/contributing editor for Arthuriana ), Arielle McKee (Outreach Coordinator for The So What ), and Brittany Claytor (Assistant Outreach Coordinator) discuss the origins and importance of the new public humanities journal The So What. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com .

In this episode, Jonathan Correa Reyes speaks with Robin Reich, Alice Grissom, and Benjamin Bertrand to discuss the work of The Medievalist Toolkit , medievalisms, some of the many ways in which the "medieval" seeps into contemporary political and public discourse, and the importance of outreach. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com .

Old Norse translations of Old French romances played a critical role in introducing ideas of courtliness and chivalry and cultivating a shared European literary culture in thirteenth-century Norway. In this episode, scholar of Old Norse studies Mary Catherine O’Connor examines the reasons for translation, how these translations were produced, and a case study of one translated work to consider the...

In this episode, Reed O'Mara chats with co-authors Janet E. Kay, Jordan Wilson, and Rachel Singer about academic approaches to archaeological and genomic evidence from grave sites and their article "Burial Archaeology and the First Plague Pandemic" ( Speculum 100.2), co-written with István Koncz, Merle Eisenberg, Lee Mordechai, and Timothy P. Newfield. For more information, visit www.multicultura...

In 2022, the Getty Museum acquired a mid-15th c. manuscript copy of The Book of the Marvels of the World featuring an illumination program of global locales, launching a publication and exhibition project in partnership with the Morgan Library & Museum. Larisa and Kelin, two members of Team Marvels (along with Elizabeth Morrison, Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the Getty and Joshua O’Driscoll...

Catch up with the producers of the Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast in this forerunner episode to Season 4! Featuring Will Beattie, Jonathan Correa-Reyes, Loren Lee, Reed O'Mara, and Logan Quigley For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com .

In this episode, Will Beattie speaks with the co-editors of a special issue of Speculum: A journal of Medieval Studies (100.1) that coincides with the centennial of the Medieval Academy of America. Together, Roland Betancourt, Karla Mallette, and Will reflect on one hundred years of medieval studies and what the future may hold for the field.

Have you ever Googled something about the Middle Ages? Clicked a link to find out the best medieval books of 2024? If so, then you have probably found yourself on Medievalists.net at some point. In this episode, Reed and Loren interview the site’s co-founder, Peter Konieczny, to find out the history of the media outlet and what goes into building content for it. For more information, visit www.mul...