Medieval Madness

The English historian James Anthony Froude once said. “Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself”. And it would seem that the Medievals were outstanding in creating torture devices that were both breath-taking in their aesthetic and brutality. So we’ve put together another compilation of some of their most creative methods for producing suffering. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

She was an ordinary peasant girl that changed the course of the 100 Years War. A teenager that became the figurehead of the French army. But who was she really? This is the story of the Maid of Orléans, her faith, her military role, capture and eventual death.

In 1324 Dame Alice Kyteler was the first Irish woman to be accused of witchcraft. Had she really used the dark arts to acquire her wealth or was she just your every day serial killer? In this video we will delve into the deadly story of a woman who became known as the ‘Witch of Kilkenny’. 

In 2016 the English theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking said, “We spend a great deal of time studying history, which, let’s face it, is mostly the history of stupidity”. During the Middle Ages people put their faith in things that we now know to be complete nonsense. Here we are going to take a look at some of those outrageous beliefs. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

In the Middle Ages, the barber-surgeon became the poor-man’s go to doctor. Someone to deal with the more mundane and dirty jobs. Jobs like bloodletting, pulling out teeth, dealing with minor wounds, rashes and burns. But as time went on they gradually became associated with much more skilled but gruesome tasks such as setting limbs, performing surgeries, even delivering babies and amputations. In this video, we continue our ‘day in the life’ series to see what life was like for the Medieval barber-surgeon.

It’s that time of year when we all want to hear a good old fashioned ghost story. In the Middle Ages many of these tales were often loaded with hidden meaning for the listener and tried to explain the unexplainable to their Medieval audience. Some come from the Viking sagas, others were written by members of the church and others have been passed down verbally through families. Many of the monastic ghost stories involve a dead person pleading for help from the living to lessen their suffering in the afterlife. Here are some of those creepy tales about shapeshifters, witches, ghosts and demons that would have gripped listeners more than a thousand years ago. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

Lets travel back in time and look at the life of one Medieval monk, who it turned out became a magician, an outlaw, a mercenary, a pirate and even had a brief stint as Admiral of the French fleet. 

Hated by their contemporaries they earned nicknames like Accursed, Hater of Sunlight and Monster during the Middle Ages. In this video we discuss three individuals who acted with violence, treachery and down right nastiness just because they could. 

In this video, which is part of our day in the life series, we discuss what it was like to be a member of the elite fighting force of the day. Taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, they were so well trained that in battle they were forbidden from retreating unless they were outnumbered three to one and yet so devout that they were considered a monastic order. For almost two centuries they were venerated as devout warriors, gathered from across Europe, who would fight on behalf of God and defend the Holy Land. What could possibly go wrong?

Over thousands of years human beings have spent an inordinate amount of time working out how to kill one another. So, it wasn’t long before they had the idea of using drowning as a form of lethal punishment. And regardless of the beliefs of the Medievals it wasn’t as pain free or as instantaneous as they thought.

They say it is “the oldest profession in the world”. In Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt there were temples dedicated to ‘sacred prostitution’. There are ancient Sumerian records dating back to 2400 BCE that refer to prostitution as an occupation. In this video we continue our “day in the life” series and travel back to 15th century Germany, to see what life was like for one particular prostitute in the exploitative and abusive world inside a Medieval brothel. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

He was the right-hand man of Joan of Arc and the single richest and most powerful nobleman of Anjou. He was a war hero, the Marshall of France. But he has also been described as the most horrific serial killer in French history, a man who inspired the grizzly tale of Bluebeard. In this video we will discuss Gilles de Rais the man who supposedly sold his soul to the Devil and eventually paid the ultimate price.

What did people in the Middle Ages really find funny? It would seem that the same things have been found to be amusing right across the ages. Many of the riddles that the Medievals told have double entendre’s and the jokes are rude with references to sex and bodily functions. No one was exempt from being the target of a Medieval joke; stupid husbands, unfaithful wives, bishops, even royalty.

The Middle Ages is often thought of as a dark period in our history and from that time there are many dark tales. Here we have put together seven of them for you. Some are creepy, others funny but all of them are strange.

Before the Enlightenment the Medievals had no choice but to use their imaginations to make sense of the world around them. Because of the enormous influence that the Church held over their daily lives anything that could not be explained was seen as either sinister or magical. Some of their strange and often ridiculous superstitions are what we will talk about in our video today.

During the Middle Ages, it was felt that the people needed to be afraid of the Civil authority and the Church. The only way to keep order was to make sure that the citizens were terrified of any punishment that would be given out if a person was found guilty of a crime. And so, with the use of corporal punishment penalties were harsh. The inventiveness of the techniques and instruments used by the Medievals for both physical torture and punishment were remarkable. Prisoners, usually those from poorer backgrounds might be branded on the forehead, have feet, hands or even their tongues removed, and then they would be sent out into the world to carry on their lives as best they could, while showing the rest of society how they too would suffer if they dared to break the rules.

When the Scots were oppressed, and Scottish fortunes were at their lowest he was the chief inspiration for their resistance. A man who stood up to the King of England, Edward I, emerging from obscurity to gain a spectacular victory over the English, before enduring a crushing defeat and being put to death in the most barbaric way. A national hero who has gained great admiration, this is the story of Sir William Wallace one time Guardian of Scotland.

Almost every night, for the last ten years of her life, Ermine de Reims was systematically battered and tortured by demons. How did a 14th century peasant woman get caught up in a number of religious controversies? Was she possessed? Was she ill? Was she undergoing a divine ‘state of grace’?

In this episode we will find out about the visions experienced by Ermine and the supernatural forces that affected her Medieval daily life.

The town of Falaise, Normandy, Northwest France. The year 1386. The murderer had sneaked into the couples home. The husband, Jonnet the Builder was away helping to erect a nearby church while his wife was down at the nearest stream washing some linen garments. Their child was fast asleep in his crib. Seeing her opportunity the killer crept up to the infant and attacked him, mutilating his face and tearing off his arms. It was not long before the perpetrator was caught and given a speedy trial. Being found guilty of murder she was sentenced to be ‘mangled and maimed’ before being given the death penalty.  Despite being a female the prisoner was dressed in a new white shirt, waistcoat, a pair of drawers and taken to the gallows. Local people brought the prisoners friends and family down to watch the execution in the hope that they would be deterred from pursuing a life of crime like their associate. This killer was also made to wear a human mask as she was in fact, a pig. In today's episode, we look at how the medieval people sentenced animals to death!

Public humiliation was a major part of both corporal and capital punishment during the Middle Ages. In small communities, those being admonished would be well known to everyone else, and having the accused person put on view, usually in the center of a town or village was all part of the punishment. Audience involvement was a key part of the success of the judgment because it only increased the victim’s shame.

This has to be one of the most inhuman forms of punishment ever invented and was the most extreme penalty available in English law for those guilty of high treason, which was considered the most serious attack on the monarch’s authority. Those who were being punished in this way were seen as sub-human and the dishonour, pain and cruelty that they suffered was meant to create a division between themselves and the audience. The message being that a ‘normal’ man would not be made to suffer three deaths. And it was only men that could be put to death in this fashion. It was thought to be too indecent to expose a woman’s body in such a way. Therefore, a woman convicted of treason would either be burned at the stake or beheaded. Which on reflection wasn’t really that much better.

Probably the most common form of execution and the first one that people think about in regard to Medieval executions, hanging was the usual method of capital punishment for the Anglo Saxons. Other means of execution have been implemented but none of them has been so common and used for so many centuries in Europe, as death by hangman. 

In most European countries today, we use the premise that a person is presumed innocent unless they have been proven guilty. At trial, evidence has to be produced so that a jury or a judge can decide on the culpability of the accused. But during the Middle Ages when someone was suspected of a crime, and they were actually innocent it was believed that God would intervene on their behalf. So, they were made to go through a physical trial and the ‘Judgement of God’ would enable them to prove it. It seems illogical to us now, but religion played such an important part in the lives of the Medievals that it is easy to see why they would want to model their justice system on the trials that God had set out in the Bible. It was easier to give judgement over to an omnipotent God rather than rely on fallible human beings.

What exactly was it that the monks saw that night in the sky in 1178?  Could it have been the impact of an asteroid hitting the Moon’s surface? Or a meteorite entering the earth’s atmosphere just at the right moment? Did the Moon really split in half or was it just a shared delusion? In this video we shall talk more about this strange Medieval mystery that has baffled historians and scientists alike for almost 850 years. It should be said that the monks in question were more than willing to take an oath to substantiate what they had seen. Gervase further reported,  “They are prepared to stake their honour on an oath that they have made no addition or falsification in the above narrative”.

Most of us have burned ourselves at one time or another, perhaps on a stove or on a candle, so we know how painful it can be, and can only imagine how it would feel to be completely engulfed in flames. Being scalded with boiling water is no joke either so just imagine being submerged into a whole pot of it. These are just another two of the worst forms of execution in our Medieval punishment videos.

It was August1453. King Henry VI of England left his pregnant wife Margaret of Anjou at home and travelled from court to the West Country on a judicial visit. Stopping off at Clarendon Palace in Wiltshire the 31-year-old king was, “suddenly…taken and smitten with a frenzy and his wit and reason withdrawn”. What was the terrible and mysterious illness that struck down Henry VI who was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses?  

Death by pressing or crushing has been around for centuries, although the method used has varied greatly from place to place. In general, it meant that some form of heavy weight would be placed on top of a person with the intention of causing their death. Ow. 

"…as a thief therefore you shall be hanged; as a traitor…you shall be drawn and quartered, and your quarters dispersed throughout the kingdom; and as you were outlawed, by our Lord the King and by general consent, and have come back to the court…you shall be beheaded; and because at all times you have been disloyal and a formenter of strife between our Lord the King and our most noble Lady the Queen…you shall be disembowelled, and after that you bowels shall be burned. Confess yourself a traitor and a renegade! And so go to meet your doom. Traitor! Evildoer!! and Convicted!!!"

This was the sentence handed down to Hugh Despenser the Younger in 1326 after a hasty trial. A man responsible for a civil war and the downfall of a king. Today we found out where he went wrong!

The Middle Ages were turbulent times. Constant warfare and disease meant that millions of people died all across the world. Some of the ways that death came upon them can still be recognised today, some are a little more imaginative. These eight ways to die give us an insight into the daily lives of the Medievals, their attitudes and the conditions in which they lived and subsequently died.

The first few months of 793 was a worrying time for the north of England. Great portents of impending disaster were seen across the heavens. On Lindisfarne the monks had to suspend their evening prayers when an astonishing sight was observed in the night sky. Fiery dragons were seen flying through the air, followed by sheets of lightning that rippled out in huge arcs before piercing the ground with giant forks. Just a few weeks later the dragons returned but now they were on the front of Viking longboats. This was the first recorded Viking Raid.

When we think about the Medieval period, we often imagine people not just living in filth, but being happy to do so.  However, the Medievals did wash, bathe and clean their teeth more than we would expect, even if they were unable to achieve the levels of hygiene that we do now. There were medical guides about health and cleanliness and people did their best to keep themselves and their clothes dirt free.

At its heart this tale is a medieval mystery, which sadly involved the death of two children. Innocent boys who found themselves at the mercy of the politics, plotting and greed of two competing royal houses. Henry II of England ascended the throne in 1154 and is considered to be the first Plantagenet king. Essentially two houses descended from the Plantagenets – the House of York and the House of Lancaster. It was the rivalry between these two branches that brought about the Wars of the Roses, a bloody civil war and fight for the English throne that lasted for over 30 years. The war claimed the lives of 12 Princes, 200 nobles, about 100,000 commoners and gentry and wiped out two generations of the lines of Warwick and Somerset. In fact, by the final battle at Bosworth Field in 1485 all the males from both houses were dead, the English Middle Age was over, and a new Tudor Age was ushered in.

Being a queen in the 14th century was a dangerous occupation and no woman knew that better than Joanna I of Naples. She had a talent for ruling; an ability which inevitably threatened the powerful men around her. 

Mediaeval phantoms were commonly referred to as revenants. There are reports of spectres floating through walls, like a transparent sheet or sail floating through the air. Some of the apparitions were described as being much more unhappy and paler than they had been in life and were dressed in ragged clothing. But many seem to be far more palpable than how we imagine a spirit to be today. There are reports of ghosts being grappled with and physically held until a priest could come and hear their confession and enable them to leave their earthly prison. 

It began in Essex as a response to the harsh economic demands of parliament and was one of the most significant uprisings in Europe during the medieval period. A national movement of people that spread as far as York and Scarborough in the northeast and over to Somerset in the southwest of England. Previous uprisings had always been led by noblemen, ambitious to overthrow the out of touch government and seize power for themselves. This time it was different, the so called ‘Peasants Revolt’, was led by a group of commoners, men like Watt Tyler, John Ball and Jack Straw. A group of men and women from all walks of life who wanted to radically change English society rather than seek out personal advancement.

What exactly happened in Strasbourg during the mysterious dancing plague of 1518? Lets travel back in time and have a look at the Mysterious Dancing Plague of 1518. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

It is no surprise that the vocation of Medieval executioners is up there as one of the most undesirable jobs in the Middle Ages, along with leech collector and gong farmer. Lawlessness and crime were so widespread across the world. Rape, murder, theft, heresy – every type of sin and debauchery ran unchecked throughout medieval society. Most countries were trying to move away from the idea of criminal prosecutions being a private matter. The authorities developed new legal procedures whereby they could arrest suspects without waiting for an accusation from the victim. This meant that they could investigate, question and secure a confession from the accused, and once found guilty, for most people justice was swift, brutal and without mercy. With most criminals evading arrest an example had to be made of those who were caught, and what better deterrent than a public execution?

When we think of crime and punishment in the medieval period, we often think of a chaotic system of judgement, and brutal punishments, that seem out of proportion with the seriousness of the crime. In medieval Europe law and order was harsh. It was assumed that people would only behave well if they feared the penalty of breaking the law. There was a gibbet on the outskirts of most towns in England. There, criminals would be hanged, their bodies left to rot for many weeks as a stark warning as to the reality of breaking the law. In todays episode, we look at what it would be like to be a criminal in the middle ages!

During the early medieval era imprisonment was not really a thing. It was more common to either fine, mutilate or execute criminals. But in turbulent times of war, it was often necessary to hold political prisoners who could be used for negotiation and inducement. Even so, only the most high-level captives would actually be held hostage for long periods of time. Incarcerating common criminals was just not worth the effort or the expense. Today, we're going to learn about The Oubliette, a medieval torture of unspeakable horror.

We often think that jobs during the Middle Ages were quite different than those that exist today, but actually many of them are connected. Some even have the same titles now as then.

The attitude towards love, sex and marriage went through some interesting changes during the medieval period. Probably due to the prevalence of religion, especially Christianity becoming such an important part of life. One impression that we often associate with medieval sexuality is that of complete repression. A world where a group of people, namely priests and other clerics, who don’t have sex, tell the people who are having sex how they should and shouldn’t be having it, and even what their thoughts regarding sex should be.

The Medievals had three types of hospitals. The first, known as the leprosaria, for those afflicted with leprosy. The second were those erected for the general use of pilgrims and sick travellers and the third were intended to give shelter to the elderly. A lot were a mixture of the three types, and all were used to look after the needs of the poor, where the inmates would receive care and possibly some rudimentary forms of treatment. Only the rich would have been able to afford the expertise of a trained physician or surgeon, and they would have been treated in their own homes. Poor-sick people would have used the skills of local healers and herbalists as well as the domestic cures passed on to them from female relatives.

The disease known as the plague has been stalking humanity for over 5,000 years, and there have been many outbreaks. In fact, there have been three pandemics caused by the bacillus bacterium Yersinia Pestis. The first was in the 6th century. It devastated the Byzantine Empire and was known as The Plague of Justinian. The third began in China in the mid-19th century and quickly spread throughout the world. But it is the plague that began in 1346 which killed more than 50 million people in just seven years that we refer to as the ‘Black Death’. The Middle Ages was a time of superstition, religious fanaticism and ignorance and so they thought it was the end of the world. In reality it was the largest pandemic in the history of humanity.

In the Middle Ages how much leisure time a person had would depend heavily upon their social status. Because they had such a favoured position in life, and many servants to fulfill their every need, medieval royalty had lots of free time that they could just fritter away. They could also afford to pay for the best activities for themselves, and for any guests who they needed to entertain.

Even in the 21st century, many people are still afraid to visit the dentist, as it can be an unpleasant experience. Try to imagine it in the Middle Ages without anesthetic and with no sophisticated dental tools. Any affliction of the teeth meant a trip to the barber surgeon, who was the go-to medical practitioner at the time, or even the blacksmith if no barber was available. It is a common misconception that dental care was poor during the Middle Ages, a lack of medicine and unhygienic conditions made the era a perfect environment for disease and ill health. Surprisingly though, there is a lot of historical evidence to show us that Medieval people actually made great efforts to look after their teeth and gums. Lets travel back in time, and look at dentistry in the middle ages!

Let’s be honest, daily life for a medieval serf in England, and many other European countries wasn’t much fun. The feudal system meant that peasants were bound by law to work for the nobility, who owned the land they lived on. The outside working day started at dawn, which meant that during the summer months it could be as early as 3am. And it didn’t end until dusk. Work in the fields was back breaking and included reaping, sowing, ploughing and haymaking depending on the time of year. As well as helping her husband with the farming, women were also responsible for the preparation of all meals. They took care of any children and livestock such as chickens and tended the vegetable plot as well as foraging for berries and herbs. Weaving, spinning and the mending of clothes were also part of a womans work. And children were also expected to join in. When all was done there was very little time for leisure activities given their work schedules, but medieval peasants would grab some fun whenever they could.

Throughout history, there have always been people who belong to the LGBTQ community. In Antiquity same-sex relations were common, and it was acceptable for men to have both male and female lovers outside of marriage. Regarded as a way of controlling the population, Plato compared the acceptance of homosexuality to democracy and its repression to tyranny. Both the terms heterosexuality and homosexuality were not created until the 19th century, and there was no understanding of these terms in the Middle Ages. No one in medieval Europe would have referred to themselves or anyone else as ‘gay’, ‘straight’, ‘lesbian’, ‘transgender’ or ‘bisexual’. There was only normal and abnormal sexual behaviour, and what was normal was decided by the Christian Church at that time. For the most part, there aren’t many historical resources during the Middle Ages about same sex relationships between women, although any sort of sex that did not result in conception was known as sodomy. In fact, the church was antagonistic to any form of sexual expression at all.

Just as they do now many people in the Middle Ages journeyed for business, pleasure, and religious reasons. But unlike today people had just two options when travelling in the medieval world. They could either go by land or sea. In today's episode, we look at 4 Modes of Transport in the Middle Ages. Welcome to Medieval Madness!

The elite women of ancient Greece and Rome regularly used cosmetics, a custom that was adopted from the ancient Egyptians. During the Middle Ages the tradition continued only among the nobility, as most of the peasant classes didn’t have the money for such luxuries. Of course, in medieval times the church kept a watchful eye over everything, and this included the makeup habits of its female parishioners. Adding makeup to one’s face was thought to question the workmanship of God’s vision. And early in the period [any English] “woman who wore makeup was seen as an incarnation of Satan”, as the use of cosmetics was only found in brothels. In today's episode, we look at Disturbing Health & Beauty Fads of the Middle Ages.

It seems that students of the modern world and their reputation for drunken debauchery aren't too dissimilar to students of the medieval world. Lets travel back in time and learn about learning in the middle ages. Welcome to Medieval Madness!

A lot has been written about the medieval period and a lot of it generally portrays the people as being unsophisticated, cruel, and ignorant. Superstition was a dominating force that filled peoples lives. Violence, death, and disease skulked around every corner, waiting to pounce. 
But there are also many misconceptions about the Middle Ages making it one of the most fascinating periods in history. Here are five things that you probably didn’t know about the Middle Ages. It may not be all that you believed.

We previously looked at the diet of a medieval peasant, so in todays episode we're going to explore the diet of the upper classes of the middle ages! What did the medieval upper classes actually eat?!

In the Middle Ages most people never saw a doctor. Peasants would normally visit a cunning woman or a monk who would provide them with some sort of herbal remedy as well as prayer. The few physicians that were available would only treat the rich. Naturally, people didn't tend to have quite as high of a life expectancy as we do these days. In this video, we're going to look into some of the many reasons why.

The smock, hose, kirtle, dress, belt, surcoat, girdle, cape, hood, and bonnet are just some examples of the more standard medieval clothing. However, fashion trends did sometimes get a little ridiculous too. So, strap your gucci boxers tight as we travel back in time to look at fashion during the middle ages. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

Unicorns, centaurs, griffins, manticores, mermaids and dragons. These are all medieval monsters we learned about in a previous episode. Today we're going to travel a little further afield in the middle ages, to learn about beasts such as the ones described as, “ugly folk without heads” with their “mouths round like a horseshoe, in the middle of their chest”. Welcome to Medieval Madness!

European maps from the Middle Ages are full of strange lands, legendary races and fabulous monsters.  Only the Church with the help of God was able to provide protection against these horrors. The medieval world was hard to understand, and the people believed that their souls were always in danger of being stolen away by all sorts of spiritual creatures. In todays episode of Medieval Madness, we have a look at a few of those creatures!

 Saint Augustine’s ideal of the unbreakable marriage dominated the Middle Ages. By the late medieval period the marriage vows contained the phrase ‘till death do us part’, emphasizing the seriousness of the commitment that was being made. And it certainly was serious! In today's episode of Medieval Madness, we will be exploring divorce in the middle ages, as well as taking a look at the story behind Ridley Scott's newest film The Last Duel, starring Adam Driver, Matt Damon and Jodie Comer.

During the medieval period lucky jesters were the ones who were employed by nobles or royalty to perform at court. But he or she wasn’t just an entertainer, they were part of the social fabric of a region, whilst court jesters were valued with great privileges. Today in Medieval Madness, we look at the life of a Medieval Jester.