The Canterbury Fails
David Coley and Matt Hussey
Reading marginal, minor, and absolutely unread Old and Middle English poetry, paired with a thematically appropriate cocktail.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 8, 2023 • 27min
Special Episode: The Pastons
Margaret was both a medical and military rockstar. Do not mess with her.
Dec 2, 2023 • 53min
Peri Didaxeon: How to make yourself blind
An Old English barrage of healing recipes--dung! venison! breast milk!--with a cozy medicinal hearth warmer.
Nov 27, 2023 • 26min
Special Episode: Beetles, Buttholes and Bowel Movements
Who'd have thought that the super classy and amazingly sophisticated Marie de France wrote poems on exploding ass and pregnant men?
Nov 18, 2023 • 42min
Complaint Against Fortune: Meh
An anonymous Boethius-lite (TM) prison poem coupled with an opaquely frothy egg creme abomination.
Nov 3, 2023 • 55min
Bede's Death Song: Library Superhero
The short Old English death lyric embedded in an emotional Latin letter about an expiring superstar scholar, coupled with an explosive lemon and anise dropshot.
Oct 21, 2023 • 59min
The Colkelbie Sow: Utter Insanity
A poem so unruly and excessive that it cannot be summarized: unhinged bananas bull goose loony. With a trifecta of Penny cocktails.
Oct 7, 2023 • 58min
Passion of Saint Maurice: Old English Carnage
Ælfric's life (and death) of the saint Maurice and his 6665 friends, plus a potent bitter smoky and sweet masterpiece.
Sep 22, 2023 • 55min
Tale of the Five Beasts: Scots Goodness
A beast fable dream vision mirror of princes with a potent and delicious Scottish cocktail.
Sep 9, 2023 • 52min
Enigmatic Cryptography Incest Riddle
An Old English prose riddle that many or may not be about incest, and a page of secret codes, coupled with a curdled hellscape of coconut, citrus and sulphuric eggy blobs.
May 18, 2023 • 1h 3min
A Very Special Episode Live from the International Congress on Medieval Studies
Recorded live in front of a real audience in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Canterbury Fails had six brilliant guest stars: Brian O'Camb and Mary Kate Hurley on some marginal and doubly obscure Latin-Old English proverbs; Carissa Harris and Noëlle Phillips on a testy fifteenth-century beer ballad; Irina Dumitrescu and Denis Ferhatovic on a very twisted French fabliau. I know. Right? Unbelievable. Also weird drinks, hijinks, minor kinks, and deep thinks.
