The Medieval Podcast

In a time and place with a serious lack of pockets and built-in shelving, how and where did people carry and store their everyday stuff? This week, Danièle takes a look at carrying, packing, and moving in the Middle Ages.

You can support the podcast at https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

She?s one of the most well-known figures in history: married to two kings, mother to three, and a powerful duchess in her own right. This week, Danièle speaks with Karen Sullivan about the legendary Eleanor of Aquitaine, her famous - and infamous - relationships, and what makes her such a fascinating subject for historians and fiction writers alike.


Karen Sullivan's book, Eleanor of Aquitaine, as It Was Said: Truth and Tales about the Medieval Queen, is published by University of Chicago Press.

You can support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

Often, the stories we tell about colonization focus on the takeovers themselves, and the circumstances that led up to them. But what happens to the people when the dust settles? How do they manage the clash of two cultures and often two law codes? And how do the stories they tell about themselves and each other help them navigate society? This week, Danièle speaks with Joanna MacGugan about how the justice system worked in Ireland under medieval English rule, how communities shaped justice, and what this meant when a person was faced with capital punishment.

You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, Danièle explores the big medieval news stories of 2023 in conversation with Peter Koniezcny, editor of Medievalists.net.

You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

In the Middle Ages, December meant a celebration of jolly old St. Nicholas along with a host of other sainted figures and important moments in the Christian story. This week, Danièle presents a quick guide to medieval holiday saints and feasts.

You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

In the past few years, trans and genderqueer issues have come to the forefront both in society and in the way scholars are approaching medieval studies. But what do these terms mean? And how do we apply them responsibly to the past? This week, Danièle speaks with Alicia Spencer-Hall and Blake Gutt about trans and genderqueer scholarship in medieval studies.

You can read the open-access book, Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography, edited by Alicia Spencer-Hall and Blake Gutt, at https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/61200

You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, Danièle continues the annual tradition of sharing some of her favourite books of the year, along with the top picks of Peter Konieczny, editor and co-founder of Medievalists.net.

Danièle's list:

Temptation Transformed: The Story of How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple, by Azzan Yadin-Israel

Balthazar: A Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance Art, edited by Kristen Collins and Bryan C. Keene

Vox Clamantis, translation by Robert J. Meindl and Mark T. Riley

Women in the Crusades, by Helen Nicholson

How to Focus: A Monastic Guide for an Age of Distraction, by John Cassian, translation by Jamie Kreiner

Peter's list:

The Donkey and the Boat: Reinterpreting the Mediterranean Economy, 950-1180, by Chris Wickham

The Cosmography and Geography of Africa, by Johannes Leo Africanus, translation by Anthony Ossa-Richardson and Richard Oosterhoff

The Emperor and the Elephant: Christians and Muslims in the Age of Charlemagne, by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby

Inked: Tattooed Soldiers and the Song Empire's Penal-Military Complex, by Elad Alyagon

Meteorological Disasters in Medieval Britain (AD 1000?1500), by Peter J. Brown

In honour of the new discoveries around the Princes in the Tower, Danièle delves into some other mysterious deaths and disappearances in English royal history.

You can support The Medieval Podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

Humans have always been fascinated by the birds and beasts of planet Earth, collecting and compiling information on their habits, habitats, and where they got their names. This week, Danièle speaks with Hana Videen about her contribution to the field: a brand new Old English bestiary.

The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary, by Hana Videen is published by Princeton University Press - https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691260006/the-deorhord

You can support Medievalists.net and check out our shop at https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, Danièle and Peter Konieczny share profound - and profoundly odd - medieval proverbs from one of their favourite books of the Middle Ages: The Well-Laden Ship.

The Well-Laden Ship, by Egbert of Liège, was translated by Robert Gary Babcock as part of the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. You can get details about the book at https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674051270

You can now buy digital maps from Medievalists.net's Patreon Shop - visit it at https://www.patreon.com/medievalists/shop

For a thousand years ? and especially the last two hundred or so ? people have had a love affair with Vikings. But what do we know about the Norse voyages to the Americas? Why are Vikings so fascinating at this historical distance? And how do they fit into modern people?s ideas of identity? This week, Danièle speaks with Martyn Whittock about Vikings and their influence on American culture.

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, guest host Peter Konieczny interviews Danièle about her new book Chivalry and Courtesy: Medieval Manners for a Modern World.

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, in celebration of her first two books becoming available on Patreon, Danièle discusses five ways to become a better medievalist, five minutes at a time.

You can now buy two of Danièle's books on our Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists/shop

In light of the TikTok trend asking, "How often do you think about the Roman Empire?" Danièle discusses how to gently correct misguided assumptions about history in the people we love.

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

For the better part of a millennium, people have been applying the tenets of chivalry to their personal lives in order to give themselves moral and ethical targets to tilt at. But what does it look like to apply medieval ideals to the twenty-first century? And what does it mean to walk the walk of knighthood in a high-tech society? This week, Danièle speaks with CEO and YouTube sensation Jason Kingsley about living a chivalrous life in the modern world.

You can buy Danièle's book, The Five-Minute Medievalist, from Medievalists.net's Patreon Channel. Click here to buy it.

You can check out Les Reverdies de Montréal at https://www.reverdiesmontreal.org/

One of the favourite activities of medieval scholars was to write massive encyclopedias, distilling every last detail of the known world into book form to share with an insatiably curious public. This week, Danièle speaks with Travis Zadeh about a thirteenth-century bestseller written by a scholar named Qazwini, who brought together natural philosophy and what we might now call supernatural philosophy to reveal the workings of the world and the universe.

You can support The Medieval Podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

We know that trees were a fundamental part of early medieval society, technology, and culture, but how did pagan communities preserve and adapt their thinking about trees in the face of increasing Christian missionary activity? This week, Danièle speaks with Michael D.J. Bintley about the evolving role of trees in early medieval England.

You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, Danièle speaks with Kenneth Duggan about capital crime in medieval England, how the community was involved in the justice system, and some of the unexpected events that might happen at a gallows.

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

Myths and conspiracies aside, the real medieval Templars were indeed a formidable fighting force, as well as being financially savvy diplomats at many of the major courts of the time. This week, Danièle speaks with Steve Tibble about the Templars' role in Britain and Ireland, their activities on and off the battlefield, and some of the major political events they were involved with.

Support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, Danièle catches us up on what's been happening lately, and reads some advice written by Dhuoda, a Carolingian woman, for her teenaged son.

You can learn more about the Patreon for Medievalists.net and The Medieval Podcast at https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

In honour of the new Barbie movie, Danièle talks about the games medieval children played, and the toys they played with.

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, Danièle catches up with Peter Konieczny to discuss the new research they came across at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds, as well as some of the amazing historical sites they each visited this summer.

This week, Danièle takes a quick moment out of summer vacation to bring you a (mildly) spicy story from medieval Italy about a jealous husband and his quick-witted wife.

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, Danièle travels to the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds for a chat about life, history, and everything in between with podcast favourite Eleanor Janega in front of a live studio audience.

You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

Everyone knows that the fruit Eve was tempted to eat in the Garden of Eden was an apple - or was it? This week, Danièle speaks with Azzan Yadin-Israel about the original fruit of original sin, how written culture and art worked together to transform it, and why it took centuries to settle on the apple.

You can help support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

Everyone?s heard of Geoffrey Chaucer, but he wasn?t the only poet writing powerful and political verse in fourteenth-century London. This week, Danièle speaks with Eve Salisbury and Georgiana Donavin about John Gower, his poetry, and why we should all get to know him.

You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

He?s a comic book hero. He?s a movie star. He?s Earth?s mightiest Avenger, and a day of the week. He?s the god of thunder? or is he? This week, Danièle speaks with Declan Taggart about Thor.

To listen to ExtraMedieval, please sign up on Medievalists.net's Patreon or through Danièle's website.

This week, Danièle celebrates 200 episodes of The Medieval Podcast. Find out whose episodes listeners voted the most surprising, most entertaining, and most uplifting, as well as who had the best voice and best chemistry with Danièle. Which episode will reign supreme?

Want to get ExtraMedieval? Sign up on the Medievalists.net Patreon at the $3.99 US tier. Visit the Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

During the Late Middle Ages, warfare began to change with the rise of gunpowder weapons. But is every medieval gunpowder recipe actually effective? This week, Danièle speaks with Clifford J. Rogers about his gunpowder experiments at West Point Military Academy, how small variations might affect each recipe, and why a modern military academy needs a medievalist.

It would be great to have you vote and let Danièle know which were your favourite episodes: https://www.danielecybulskie.com/the-medieval-podcast

This week, Danièle speaks with Peter Konieczny from Medievalists.net about the new research they learned about at the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo.

Danièle's course, Calamity and Change: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Century, begins on May 19th - sign up at https://medievalstudies.thinkific.com/courses/calamity-and-change

This week, Danièle introduces Chrétien de Troyes, a thirteenth-century master of Arthurian literature and one of the most influential writers of all time.

Sign up for Danièle's course at https://medievalstudies.thinkific.com/courses/calamity-and-change

In anticipation of the coronation of King Charles III, this week, Danièle goes through all of the medieval English kings in sequence from 1066 to 1509, highlighting some of their best and worst moments.

Sign up for Danièle's course, Calamity and Change: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Century, at https://medievalstudies.thinkific.com/courses/calamity-and-change

This week, Danièle discusses the medieval stories that informed some of the world's most famous plays, as well as the influence William Shakespeare has had on our collective memory of the Middle Ages.

Danièle's class on 'Calamity and Change: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Century' begins May 19th - please visit https://medievalstudies.thinkific.com/courses/calamity-and-change to sign up.

Not every saint gets a contemporary biography, let alone two, but fifteenth-century French saint Colette is among them. This week, Danièle speaks with Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski about Saint Colette, her two very different biographies, and her remarkable life as a reformer on the road.

You can sign up for ExtraMedieal with Danièle Cybulskie at https://www.danielecybulskie.com/extramedieval

During the Middle Ages, one figure began to consistently symbolize the renowned wealth and wisdom of African kingdoms in European art: Balthazar. This week, Danièle speaks with Bryan Keene about this wise king, his evolution in medieval art, and his continuing impact in modern culture.

You can support this Podcast on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

They've been our helpers, protectors, and best friends for thousands of years, but what did people in the Middle Ages think about our canine companions? This week, Danièle shares some medieval writers' thoughts about dogs.

You can support this podcast and sign up for ExtraMedieval on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, Danièle shares letters written by some of the most iconic women of the Middle Ages, including Empress Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Christine de Pizan.


To subscribe and listen to ExtraMedieval, please visit https://www.danielecybulskie.com/extramedieval

This week, Danièle speaks with Eleanor Janega about medieval womanhood, the ideal feminine body in the Middle Ages, and how past perceptions of women?s roles are still affecting society today.

You can learn more about the conference Easter in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages at https://www.afterconstantine.com/post/easter-in-late-antiquity-and-the-middle-ages-conference-program

This week, Danièle previews her new podcast ExtraMedieval in a crossover episode covering The Feast of the Swan, medieval guide dogs, and how modern research on animals can help us think more deeply about the Middle Ages.

You can sign up to get ExtraMedieval on the Medievalists.net Patreon at the $3.99 tier - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

From supplying food and medical treatment, to lending emotional and financial support, to occasionally engaging in combat, women were to be found in and around every major conflict of the Middle Ages. This week, Danièle speaks with Helen J. Nicholson about the role of women in the most famous clashes of the medieval period: the crusades.

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

We know that many people were unfree serfs in the Middle Ages, but what does serfdom actually mean? This week, Danièle speaks with Mark Bailey about medieval serfs, their place in society, and the true catalyst for the decline and fall of serfdom in England.

We know that women in the Middle Ages worked and contributed in vital ways to their families and communities, but where do we find the evidence? And what can it tell us? This week, Danièle speaks with Sarah Ifft Decker about women?s work in medieval Catalonia, how we can trace it, and how it differed from city to city and faith to faith.

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

In the Middle Ages, swans could be found everywhere from ponds, lakes, and moats, to shields, tombs, and stories. This week, Danièle speaks with Natalie Goodison about how these beautiful birds have made a lasting impact on Western culture in wide-ranging and unexpected ways.

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

This week, Danièle (with the help of her new puppy) introduces some of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages, along with their iconography, so you can spot them in medieval art.

You can also support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

Unfiltered, opinionated, and joyful, the Wife of Bath stands out from Chaucer's Canterbury crowd, interjecting, interrupting, and endearing herself to readers for over six centuries. This week, Danièle speaks with Marion Turner about the literary life and legacy of this unforgettable character.

The creator and host of The Medieval Podcast is Danièle Cybulskie. Click here to visit her website at www.danielecybulskie.com or follow her on Twitter @5MinMedievalist

You can also help support the podcast and Medievalists.net through our Patreon ? go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists to learn more.

On January 1, 1404, a Florentine named Gregorio Dati wrote down his good intentions in his "secret ledger" to keep himself accountable. This week, Danièle revisits Dati's New Year's resolutions and the life of this colourful medieval silk merchant.

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, Peter Konieczny from Medievalists.net joins Danièle to talk about their favourite medieval books of 2022.

Danièle has updated her website - check it out at https://www.danielecybulskie.com/

You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to https://www.patreon.com/medievalists

To see the tangled knots of medieval interpersonal and international relationships, we need look no further than two of the most powerful, long-lasting, and entwined dynasties of the Middle Ages. This week, Danièle speaks with Catherine Hanley about two hundred years of rule by the houses of Plantagenet and Capet.

The Middle Ages was a time in which people were closely tied to plants and their environment, deeply aware of their potential as a source of food, healing and beauty. Islamic gardens were especially known for their creativity and innovation. This week, Danièle speaks with D. Fairchild Ruggles about their cultural significance and the ingenious ways they were cultivated.

In the mid-1990s, a little movie called Braveheart introduced a whole new generation to Scotland's fight for freedom in the Middle Ages. This week, Danièle speaks with Iain MacInnes about Scotland's Wars of Independence, why a sovereign kingdom had to fight for independence in the first place, and why the story doesn't end with the Battle of Bannockburn.