Category: Podcast

Features Podcast

Ibn Sina and Biruni with S. Frederick Starr – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 266

Experimenting, translating, and philosophizing about physics and metaphysics, biology and geology, two great thinkers from Central Asia stand out both for their achievements, and their completely opposite points of view. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with S. Frederick Starr about the work and the lives of Ibn Sina (aka Avicenna) and Biruni, their contributions to science and culture, and the reason they outright despised each other.

Features Podcast

The Otherworld with Lisa Bitel – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 265

A place of supernatural encounters both incredibly good and spectacularly bad, the Otherworld featured in stories and songs throughout the Middle Ages, especially on the storied isle of Ireland. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Lisa Bitel about what the Otherworld was like, why Otherworldly beings were interested in humankind, and where we find these enchanting stories.

Features Podcast

Latin Words in Ancient and Byzantine Greek, with Eleanor Dickey

Byzantium & Friends, Episode 122: A conversation with Eleanor Dickey on Latin words in ancient and Byzantine Greek. Eleanor has tracked them down and compiled them in a specialized dictionary, where she also offers new arguments about when, how, and why they were borrowed by Greek-speakers. It reaches down to 600 AD, but many of them survived later too, even into modern spoken Greek.

Features Podcast

Bad Chaucer with Tison Pugh – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 264

When it comes to classics of literature, it can feel like there’s a lot of pressure to nod along with the crowd and say that some authors are just brilliant, full stop. But sometimes even great literature isn’t so great. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Tison Pugh about the good, the bad, and the downright ugly in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.

Features Podcast

The Eagle and the Hart with Helen Castor – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 260

Richard II came to the throne as a young child, only to lose it to his cousin Henry IV in 1399. But why did Henry take such drastic action? And what became of the teenage boy who stood up to a crowd of angry peasants and held his own? This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Helen Castor about these rival cousins, the events that shaped them, and how an anointed king could lose his hollow crown.

Features Podcast

Medieval Falconry with Yannis Hadjinicolaou

In the Middle Ages, falconry was one of the most popular pastimes across the known world. More than just a pleasant diversion in the countryside, it was a way to show status, education, sophistication, and leadership. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Yannis Hadjinicolaou about why falconry was so widely beloved, and such a popular metaphor for both love and power.

Features Podcast

Forging a Kingdom in the 11th century with Simon Doubleday – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 256

In the eleventh-century, Iberia was in the process of evolving networks of tiny villages into the powerful kingdoms we recognize from the end of the medieval period – sometimes by any means necessary. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Simon Doubleday about the ways in which Queen Sancha and King Fernando I shaped northern Spain and Portugal.

Features Podcast

Hunting Fake History with Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse – The Medieval Podcast, Episode 253

Ever come across a really amazing historical fact on the internet or in school, and tell it to all your friends, only to find out that it actually isn’t true? This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse (aka the Fake History Hunter) about things that never happened, what it’s like to hunt fake history, and what really grinds her gears.

Features Podcast

Medieval Beards and Baldness with Joseph McAlhany

If we need proof of how wonderful both baldness and beards are, we need only to cast our eyes back to the Middle Ages, where people were writing rhetorical arguments, alliterative poetry, and even learned sermons on the virtues of masculine hair. This week, Danièle speaks with Joseph McAlhany about these hilarious medieval texts, why people wrote them, and how seriously we’re supposed to take them.