Human Circus: Journeys in the Medieval World

In their journey to see Timur, Clavijo and the other envoys stop in at Constantinople where we visit artifacts and sacred objects.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Narrative of the embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of Timour at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6, translated by Clements R. Markham. Hakluyt Society, 1859. Embassy to Tamerlane: 1403-1406, translated by Guy le Strange. Routledge, 2005. Lee, A.D. From Rome to Byzantium AD 363 to 565. Edinburgh University Press, 2013. Majesca, George P. Russian Travelers to Constantinople in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. Dumbarton Oaks, 1984. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Necipoğlu, Nevra. Byzantium Between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in the Late Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2009. Norwich, John Julius. The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean. Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 2007. Norwich, John Julius. A History of Venice. Penguin, 2003.  Stephenson, Paul. The Serpent Column: A Cultural Biography. Oxford University Press, 2016. Zarinebaf, Fariba. Mediterranean Encounters: Trade and Pluralism in Early Modern Galata. University of California Press, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a quick break from the Clavijo storyline for some Halloween material. Specifically, this is a story from the Icelandic Eyrbyggja, the Saga of the People of Eyri. In it, a stranger comes to Froda, blood rains down, and the dead rise up.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Gisli Sursson's Saga and the Saga of the People of Eyri, translated by Judy Quinn & Martin S. Regal. Penguin, 2003. Joynes, Andrew. Medieval Ghost Stories: An Anthology of Miracles, Marvels, and Prodigies. Boydell, 2006. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1403, Henry III of Castile sent ambassadors to Timur (Tamerlane), among them a man named Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. In this episode, we cover the context and depart from port near Cadiz, travel the length of the Mediterranean, and visit Lesbos where we spend time with the ruling family and their involvements in Byzantine imperial politics.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Narrative of the embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo to the court of Timour at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6, translated by Clements R. Markham. Hakluyt Society, 1859. Embassy to Tamerlane: 1403-1406, translated by Guy le Strange. Routledge, 2005. Manz, Beatrice Forbes. The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane. Cambridge University Press, 1999. Necipoğlu, Nevra. Byzantium Between the Ottomans and the Latins: Politics and Society in the Late Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2009. Rubiés, Joan-Pau. "Late Medieval Ambassadors and the Practice of Cross Cultural Encounters" 1250-1450," in The 'Book' of Travels: Genre, Ethnology, and Pilgrimage, 1250-1700, edited by Palmira Johnson Brummett. BRILL, 2009. Wright, Christopher. The Gattilusio Lordships and the Aegean World 1355-1462. BRILL, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the conclusion the Ahmad ibn Fadlan series, ibn Fadlan encounters the Rusiyyah, recounts the famous Viking funeral, and is disgusted by a communal wash basin. I also talk about the text itself.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Ahmad ibn Fadlan. Mission to the Volga, translated by James E. Montgomery. New York University Press, 2017. Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated and with an introduction by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. Penguin, 2012. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, edited by Josef W. Meri. Routledge, 2005. Bukharaev, Ravil. Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons. Routledge, 2014. Frye, R.N. and Blake, R.P. "Notes on the Risala of Ibn Fadlan," in The Turks in the Early Islamic World, edited by C. Edmund Bosworth. Routledge, 2017. Hansen, Valerie. The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World and Globalization Began. Simon and Schuster, 2020. Korpela, Jukka Jari. Slaves from the North: Finns and Karelians in the East European Slave Trade, 900 - 1600. BRILL, 2018. Kratchkovsky, I.Y. Among Arabic Manuscripts: Memories of Libraries and Men. BRILL, 2016. Mako, Gerald. The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: A Question Reconsidered. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2011. Montgomery, James E. "Ibn Fadlan’s ‘Mission to the Volga’: An Extraordinary Narrative by a Not-so-extraordinary Writer," an interview with ArabLit.  Peacock, A.C.S. The Great Seljuk Empire. Edinburgh University Press, 2015. Romano, John F. Medieval Travel and Travelers: A Reader. University of Toronto Press, 2020. Vernadsky, George. Kievan Russia. Yale University Press, 1973. Wladyslaw, Duczko. Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe. BRILL, 2004.  Wilson, Joe. Black Banner and White Nights: The 10th-Century Travel Account of Ibn Fadlan. James Madison University, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 10th century traveller, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, settles in among the Bulgars, develops a distaste for their fish-oil based food, and is terrified by events in the sky.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Ahmad ibn Fadlan. Mission to the Volga, translated by James E. Montgomery. New York University Press, 2017. Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated and with an introduction by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. Penguin, 2012. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, edited by Josef W. Meri. Routledge, 2005. Bukharaev, Ravil. Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons. Routledge, 2014. Hansen, Valerie. The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World and Globalization Began. Simon and Schuster, 2020. Korpela, Jukka Jari. Slaves from the North: Finns and Karelians in the East European Slave Trade, 900 - 1600. BRILL, 2018. Mako, Gerald. The Islamization of the Volga Bulghars: A Question Reconsidered. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2011. Romano, John F. Medieval Travel and Travelers: A Reader. University of Toronto Press, 2020. Vernadsky, George. Kievan Russia. Yale University Press, 1973. Wilson, Joe. Black Banner and White Nights: The 10th-Century Travel Account of Ibn Fadlan. James Madison University, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ahmad ibn Fadlan carries on to his cash-poor appointment with the Volga Bulgars. There's talk of funerals, cultural differences, and threats of death. 10th century diplomacy could be hard.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Ahmad ibn Fadlan. Mission to the Volga, translated by James E. Montgomery. New York University Press, 2017. Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated and with an introduction by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. Penguin, 2012. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, edited by Josef W. Meri. Routledge, 2005. Bukharaev, Ravil. Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons. Routledge, 2014. Curta, Florin. Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Hansen, Valerie. The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World and Globalization Began. Simon and Schuster, 2020. Le Strange, Guy. The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem Conquest to the Time of Timur. Cosimo Classics, 2010. Romano, John F. Medieval Travel and Travelers: A Reader. University of Toronto Press, 2020. Vernadsky, George. Kievan Russia. Yale University Press, 1973. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ahmad ibn Fadlan travels from early 10th century Baghdad on a diplomatic mission to the Volga Bulgars. There is a Viking funeral in his future, along with unfamiliar cultures and extremely cold weather. It's not The 13th Warrior, which it loosely inspired, but it is a good story.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Ahmad ibn Fadlan. Mission to the Volga, translated by James E. Montgomery. New York University Press, 2017. Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North, translated and with an introduction by Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone. Penguin, 2012. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, edited by Josef W. Meri. Routledge, 2005. Bukharaev, Ravil. Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons. Routledge, 2014. Le Strange, Guy. The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem Conquest to the Time of Timur. Cosimo Classics, 2010. Romano, John F. Medieval Travel and Travelers: A Reader. University of Toronto Press, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the story of a monk, a sorcerer, a pirate, a woodland outlaw, and a master of disguise. His name is Eustace.The book I mention at the start of the episode is Desmond Cole's The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power. His recent podcast appearance can be found here.The other podcast I mention is Sandy and Nora Talk Politics.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Burgess, Glyn S. Two Medieval Outlaws: Eustace the Monk and Fouke Fitz Waryn. D.S. Brewer, 1997. Davis, Alex. Imagining Inheritance from Chaucer to Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, 2020. Ohlgren, Thomas H. Medieval Outlaws: Twelve Tales in Modern English Translation. Parlor Press, 2005. Seal, Graham. Outlaw Heroes in Myth and History. Anthem Press, 2011. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The conclusion of the Felice Brancacci story. Our ambassador from Florence deals with the Mamluk sultan in Cairo, with sickness, and with a shortage of funds, and he comes home to commission some memorable art at the Brancacci Chapel.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Florence's Embassy to the Sultan of Egypt, translated by Mahnaz Yousefzadeh. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Ashtor, Eliyahu. Levant Trade in the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 2014. Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. Practising Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: Gifts and Material Culture in the Medieval Islamic World. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014 Goldthwaite, Richard A. The Economy of Renaissance Florence. JHU Press, 2009. Najemy, John M. A History of Florence, 1200-1575. John Wiley & Sons, 2008. Shulman, Ken. Anatomy of a Restoration: the Brancacci Chapel. Walker, 1991. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1422, Felice Brancacci set out from Florence to establish trading relations with Mamluk Egypt, and to advocate for his city's currency. This is that story, part one of two.If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here, my Ko-fi is here, and Paypal is here.I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, my website is www.humancircuspodcast.com, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus.Sources: Florence's Embassy to the Sultan of Egypt, translated by Mahnaz Yousefzadeh. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. Practising Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: Gifts and Material Culture in the Medieval Islamic World. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014. Goldthwaite, Richard A. The Economy of Renaissance Florence. JHU Press, 2009. Najemy, John M. A History of Florence, 1200-1575. John Wiley & Sons, 2008. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices