The Medieval Podcast

This week, Danièle speaks with Dr. Valerie Hansen to get a global perspective on the Middle Ages at the turn of the millennium, including how cultures were connecting in the year 1000, what goods people were trading, and just how far the trade routes went. Dr. Hanson's new book is The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World and Globalization Began. The sponsor for this week’s episode is Skillshare – you sign up for a two-month free trial by going to www.medievalists.net/skillshare You can also help support the podcast and Medievalists.net through our Patreon – go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists to learn more.

This week’s episode is about one of the places where art and memory, serious messages and playful doodles intersect: graffiti. Danièle interviews Matthew Champion to find out about what sort of images you can find on the walls of a medieval church, just who was tagging, and a little bit about pandemic graffiti. You can learn more about Matthew's work by visiting his website http://www.mjc-associates.co.uk/ or follow him on Twitter @mjc_associates The sponsor for this week’s episode is Skillshare – you sign up for a two-month free trial by going to www.medievalists.net/skillshare You can also help support the podcast and Medievalists.net through our Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists to learn more.

We know for a fact that the medieval world was diverse, we know for a fact that civilizations outside of the major European nations were interesting, but at the moment, Medieval Studies is still a very white field. So why does this matter, especially in the current moment? Because black history matters. Black scholarship matters. And black lives matter.

This week, Danièle speaks with Dr. Emma Levitt about tournaments and the joust in the Middle Ages. Dr. Levitt tells us all about how to score a joust, how the tournament changed over time, and how jousting was used to mend fences during the Wars of the Roses.

This week, Danièle tells the story of one of her favourite queens, Isabella of France, who went from being a child bride to storming England and toppling an anointed king.

This week, Danièle takes on five common myths about medieval peasants.

This week Danièle talks about castles: what they were like, what they were for, and where we get some of the everyday words we use to describe them.

This week Danièle shares three funny tales by Franco Sacchetti, written to entertain Italians during the tough times they experienced in the fourteenth century.

This week Peter Konieczny joins Danièle to talk about some dates and events that historians have used to define the beginning and the end of the Middle Ages, and the mysterious few centuries that some people actually believe didn’t exist.

This week Peter Konieczny joins Danièle to talk about medieval movies, bringing you some classic favourites to help you escape to the medieval world.