A podcast exploring the wit and weirdness of medieval texts.
Joined October 2014
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Kormak's Saga comes to its conclusion! Will one man's unrelenting infatuation triumph over a curse? We also talk about recognizing witches' eyes and read between the lines on our protagonists' relationship. It's Ep. 127: Kormak's Saga (Part 4).
bit.ly/MDTEp127
Sea beast spirits! Storms! Slander! All that and a discussion of Norse naming conventions in Ep. 126: Kormak's Saga (Part 3).
bit.ly/MDTEp126
ALT Cover image for Medieval Death Trip Episode 126 featuring sea beasts from Abraham Ortelius' Map of Iceland (1591).
You know how it is: you marry a woman, and then her former fiancé who jilted her shows up at your door demanding her back. It's time to meet the saga's next main character, Bersi the Duelist, in Ep. 125: Kormak's Saga (Part 2). bit.ly/MDTEp125
We're kicking off our first (slightly late) Saga Summer with a tale of love and betrayal, duels and magic. It's Ep. 124: Kormak's Saga (Part 1)!
bit.ly/MDTEp124
For our Patreon patrons, the appendix to Ep. 123 is here, in which we pick up where we left off with Odoric and hear the story of the martyred Franciscans and how Odoric carried their relics to China.
bit.ly/MDTApp123
It's time to take a vacation with Friar Odoric as he sees the sights from the Black Sea down to the Persian Gulf, and passes through the Strait of Hormuz to reach the coast of India, in Ep. 123. bit.ly/MDTEp123
Our patrons get to continue our exploration of medieval epilepsy treatments into the Tudor era with this appendix to Ep. 122, in which we look at the royal blessing of cramp rings.
bit.ly/MDTApp122
ALT Cover image for Appendix 122 featuring a portrait of Queen Mary I.
We wrap up our look at epilepsy by considering the impact of biblical interpretation on medical practice, looking at Anglo-Saxon medical texts, and concluding with an excerpt from the physician who may have been a model for Chaucer's Doctour of Phisik.
bit.ly/MDTEp122
We kick off a two-part series today exploring the understanding and treatment of epilepsy in the middle ages -- though for Part 1, we're mostly looking at classical sources and learning about the Hippocratic tradition. bit.ly/MDTEp121
In our latest episode, we consider the genre of saints' lives and look at one example of a Welsh martyr, who died many years after her martyrdom. It's Ep. 120: "Concerning the Life and Miracles of St. Winefred."
bit.ly/MDTEp120
Just posted: a prelude appendix to our upcoming Ep. 120, about saints' lives. Today, for the holiday, we will be hearing some lives of St. Valentine (who might in fact be two different people).
bit.ly/MDTApp120
ALT A medallion of Claudius Gothicus, ca. 269 C.E., photo by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. (CC BY-SA 2.5) via Wikimedia.
We finish off this detour into the realm of early modern fairies with the 16th-century tale of a sometimes helpful, sometimes mischievous household spirit that haunted the castle of Hudemühlen in Lower Saxony.
bit.ly/MDTEp119
Our Advent Calendar (on Instagram) this year takes the form of a journaling game where day by day you will construct a saint's life for a very unusual individual.
See how to play at medievaldeathtrip.com/lscc20… and find the game on Instagram @medievaldeathtrip or search #MDTAdvent25.
For our Patreon patrons: a Thanksgiving treat in the form of an appendix to Ep. 118, in which we hear more from Sir Walter Scott on the link between fairy folklore and witchcraft in early modern Scotland.
bit.ly/MDTApp118
Finally, after unexpected delays (spelled P-N-E-U-M-O-N-I-A), our eleventh anniversary is here. Join us as we trace the folkloric history of the redcap from the 21st century back into the 12th. It's Ep. 118: "Concerning Redcaps."
bit.ly/MDTEp118
As we plunge into the middle of spooky season, we take a little trip to Hell with the Venerable Bede and then get an infernal FAQ with Gregory the Great. It's Ep. 117: Concerning More 8th-Century Visions of Hell.
bit.ly/MDTEp117
Happy Labor Day weekend -- you can't get any more relaxed than dead! Here is Ep. 116, in which we tour the afterlife with two accounts from the Venerable Bede.
bit.ly/MDTEp116
Our next episode (#116) is coming soon; here is its riddle to puzzle over in the meantime:
"A bristly mother gave me birth, they say, / And now above my verdant food I stay, / My name, too, is a god's, with the first sound away."
For our Patreon supporters, an appendix to Ep. 115 ("The Voyage of the Uí Corra" Part 2) is now available. This time, we visit another strange island on a less saintly journey, following the Red-Rose Knight to the Island of Women, from the Elizabethan book by Richard Johnson.
This episode, we finally enter the open ocean with the Uí Corra and their fellow pilgrims as they explore strange new lands, seek out new afterlives and new sects, and boldly go where many other saints and heroes of Irish legend have gone before.
bit.ly/MDTEp115