The Ghost Knight
This week on The Medieval Podcast, it’s story time, with a tale that crosses over between fabliau and courtly love: The Ghost Knight. Danièle shares the story of how a knight manages to win his lady with a little supernatural sleight-of-hand.
The Story of The Buddha, as told in Medieval Europe
A curious case of a medieval story which crosses religious boundaries is the life of Josaphat, a Christian saint whose origins appear to be not Christian at all. His life story is the life story of the Buddha.
A Quick Guide to Medieval Literature
In medieval Europe one can find many examples of literature – from tales of knights and chivalry to plays performed in the middle of towns.
The Demon’s Knight and the Unforgiving Bishop
The 12th-century writer Walter Map pushes the limits of this struggle between justice and forgiveness in the story of a knight who pledges himself to a demon, and the bishop who couldn’t forgive.
The Arabian Nights: Medieval Fantasy and Modern Forgery
The Arabian Nights is probably the medieval Arabic book best known in the west, full of ripping yarns and vivid characters that have influenced film, music, and literature for centuries.
The Story of the Dog whose Eyes led to Adultery
Once upon a time, there was a knight who was called away on business, and in what might be the heaviest bit of foreshadowing ever, said…
The Pulse: A Medieval Lie-Detector?
Although there was quite a lot that medieval people hadn’t yet discovered about the human body, their keenness of their observation shouldn’t be underestimated.
Three funny tales from the 14th century
This week on The Medieval Podcst, Danièle shares three funny tales by Franco Sacchetti, written to entertain Italians during the tough times they experienced in the fourteenth century.
Cannibalism in the Icelandic Sagas: a bad habit or an ancient magical practice?
In Icelandic sagas, giants are described as awkward, evil and uncivilized, and curiously their diet mainly consists of two elements: horse meat and human flesh.
Growing mad: plant being and the medieval human in Sir Orfeo
In the Middle English Breton Lay Sir Orfeo, the eponymous hero describes his wife’s madness as her becoming “wyld and wode” (wild and wooden).
Calling All Corpses: An Examination of the Treatment of the Dead in Old English Literature
This dissertation examines various genres of Old English literature to identify times when authors discuss corpses and to what end these discussions led.
The Politics of Misadventure at Camelot
A third of the way through La mort le roi Artu (c.1230), an early thirteenth-century Old French prose romance that concludes the Lancelot Grail Cycle, ‘the greatest misadventure in the world’ takes place at Camelot, the court of King Arthur of Logres.
Carnival vs. Lent: A Food Fight of Epic Silliness
During Lent, medieval Christians were meant to live simply and eat simply, with an emphasis on seafood instead of red meat and treats. And this, friends, is where the fun begins.
Animate Ivory: Animality, Materiality, and Pygmalion’s Statue
Ovid’s Pygmalion story brings together craft, creation, and animation in the metamorphosis of an ivory statue into an ivory-white woman.
Teaching Tolkien’s Translations of Medieval Literature: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Orfeo, and Pearl
J.R.R. Tolkien, the medievalist who became the father of modern fantasy literature, translated many poems out of Old English, Old Norse and Middle English into carefully versified modern English.
Four Medieval Love Stories You May Not Know About
Four tales from the Middle Ages about love.
A Guide to Arthurian Literature
This week is all about King Arthur and his Knights on The Medieval Podcast.
Yonec: A tale of courtly love
We’re going back to the Lais of Marie de France, as Danièle tells the story of Yonec. It has all the hallmarks of a classic medieval romance: adultery, magic, spying, revenge, and women being blamed for wrecking everything.
Christine de Pizan
This week, Danièle explores the life and writings of one of the most outspoken women of the Middle Ages: Christine de Pizan.
Lanval: A Tale of a Knight of the Round Table
Listen to the story of Lanval, a knight of the Round Table who is loved by a mysterious lady of the Otherworld – for better and for worse.
Rare medieval manuscript fragments discovered in Scotland
A medieval scholar has discovered manuscript fragments of a twelfth century poem that were kept inside the binding of a sixteenth century book from an archive in Scotland
The Werewolf’s Wife: The She-Wolves in Medieval Literature
Whereas the werewolves grieve over their fate, the she-wolves use the power of metamorphosis to deal with those who get in their way, turning this whole wolf thing to their advantage.
‘Now Flying over the Hell-mouth’: The Gap Between St Guðlac and Nordic Volcano Imagery
This investigation into the effects of landscape and place on apocalyptic literature contrasts the portrayal of demonic flights over a hell-mouth with Norse volcanic imagery.
Censorship and Intolerance in Medieval England
This dissertation proposes that the roots of formal print censorship in England are to be found in earlier forms of intolerance which sought to enforce conformity and that censorship is not distinct from intolerance, but rather is another form of intolerance.