Medieval Death Trip

A Podcast Exploring the Wit and Weirdness of Medieval Texts

Concerning the Green Children of Woolpit and Other Prodigies

Cover image of a merman from British Library Add. MS 62925, the Rutland Salter.

This Halloween marks our 10th anniversary, and we observe it by hearing the earliest written accounts of one of the most well-known pieces of medieval weird history: the Green Children of Woolpit — and also hear the other less famous prodigies their story was originally presented alongside.

Today’s Texts:

  • Radulphi de Coggeshall. Chronicon Anglicanum. Edited by Joseph Stevenson, Longman & Co., 1875. Google Books.
  • William of Newburgh. The History of William of Newburgh. The Church Historians of England, vol. IV, part II, translated by Joseph Stevenson, Seeleys, 1856, pp. 395–670. Google Books.

References:

  • Clark, John. “The Green Children: A Cautionary Tale.” 1999. Academia.edu.
  • Clark, John. “‘Small, Vulnerable ETs”: The Green Children of Woolpit.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 33, no. 2, July 2006, pp. 209-229. JSTOR.
  • Dutton, Paul Edward. “An Incident: The Strange Case of the Green Children.” Micro Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023, pp. 11-53.
  • Lunan, Duncan. “Children from the Sky.” Duncanlunan.com, 2013, https://www.duncanlunan.com/childrenfromthesky.asp
  • Yglesias, Matthew. “The Bizarre Myth that Ancient Greeks Couldn’t See Blue.” Slow Boring, 4 April 2022, www.slowboring.com/p/greeks-blue

Concerning the Miseries of the Flesh according to Pope Innocent III

Detail from a 15th century French Book of Hours, Morgan Library MS M.1080 fol. 107r.

In this episode, we explore the tradition of contemptus mundi with a text all about how horrible it is to be a human being, On the Misery of the Human Condition, written by Pope Innocent III (when he was but Cardinal Lotario di Segni).

Today’s Texts:

References:

  • Lothario Dei Segni [Pope Innocent III]. On the Misery of the Human Condition. Edited by Donald R. Howard, translated by Margaret Mary Dietz. Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1969. Archive.org.
  • Moore, John C. “Innocent III’s De Miseria Humanae Conditionis: A Speculum Curiae?” The Catholic Historical Review, vol. 67, no. 4, Oct. 1981, pp. 553-564. JSTOR.

Image: Detail from a 15th century French Book of Hours, Morgan Library MS M.1080 fol. 107r.

MDT Ep. 108: Concerning the End of the Interdict and a Vexatious Prophet

Cover image for Episode 108 featuring a detail of the prophet Nathan admonishing King David from British Library Royal MS 2 B VII, f. 58.

We continue from our last episode into the years 1212-1214 in the Melrose Chronicle, where we come to the end of the interdict, and perhaps the prophesized end of King John’s true sovereignty. Along the way, we also cover some of the more common ecclesiastical offices and check the accuracy of the chronicle’s battlefield accounting.

Today’s Texts:

  • The Chronicle of Melrose. Edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, The Church Historians of England, vol. 4, part 1, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 79-242. Google Books.
  • Ranulf Higden. Polychronicon. Vol. 8. Edited by Joseph Rawson Lumby, translated by John Trevisa, Longman and Co., 1882. Google Books.
  • Roger of Wendover. Flowers of History. Vol. 2. Translated by J.A. Giles, Henry G. Bohn, 1849. Google Books.

References:

Image: Detail of the prophet Nathan admonishing King David from BL Royal MS. 2 B VII f.58 (“The Queen Mary Psalter”)

MDT Ep. 107: Concerning Portents, an Interdiction, Persecutions, Heresy, and a Year of Bloodshed

Detail of Amauricians being burned at the stake in 1209 from Toulouse Bibliothèque Municipale MS 512, fol. 251 (15th cent.)

We return to the Melrose Chronicle with a notably nasty run of years from 1205 to 1211. We also consider why people — medieval and modern — are so captivated by bad news.

Today’s Texts:

The Chronicle of Melrose. Edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, The Church Historians of England, vol. 4, part 1, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 79-242. Google Books.

References:

  • Baumeister, Roy F., Ellen Bratslavsky, Catrin Finkenauer, and Kathleen D. Vohs. “Bad is Stronger than Good.” Review of General Psychology, vol. 5, no. 4, Dec. 2001, pp. 323-370, doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323
  • Robertson, Claire E., Nicolas Pröllochs, Karou Schwarzenegger, et al. “Negativity Drives Online News Consumption.” Nature Human  Behavior,  vol. 7, 16 March 2023, pp. 812–822, doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01538-4
  • Rozin, Paul, and Edward B. Royzman. “Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion.” Personality and Social Psychology Review, vol. 5, no. 4, 2001, pp. 296-320, doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0504_2
  • Trussler, Marc, and Stuart Soroka. “Consumer Demand for Cynical and Negative News Frames.” The International Journal of Press/Politics, vol. 19, no. 3, 2013, pp. 360-379, doi.org/10.1177/1940161214524832

Image: Detail of Amauricians being burned at the stake in 1209 from Toulouse Bibliothèque Municipale MS 512, fol. 251 (15th cent.)

MDT Ep. 106: Concerning the Hard Work of a Housewife

For Mother’s Day, we look at a 15th-century tale of a plowman who thinks that — in terms of daily labor — his wife has it too easy, and how he learns otherwise.

Today’s Texts

References

Image: Manuscript detail of flax breaking and striking with a swingle. (via Trame di Storia Handmade)

Audio Credit: Fiddle tune, “Frosty Morning” performed by Henry Reed (1966), from the Library of Congress.

This episode was recorded on site at the 2024 International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University. Behold, my humble recording booth:

Photo of makeshift reverb dampening.

MDT Ep. 105: Concerning the Voice of the Golem

We kick of 2024 with a look at humanity’s attempts to recreate itself, first with a dip into the legends of the Golem of Prague, and then an extended discussion of the role of AI in the future of medieval studies and particularly this show.

Today’s Texts:

  • Eleazar of Worms, Commentary on Sefer Yezirah, fol. 15d. In Moshe Idel. Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid. State University of New York Press, 1990.
  • Letter from Christoph Arnold to Johann Christoph Wagenseil, printed in Wagenseil’s Sota, Hoc est: Liber Mischnicus De Uxore Adulterii Suspecta, Altdorf,1674, pp. 1152-1234. Munich Digitization Center, digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb11215591
  • [Anonymous golem-making text from MS Cambridge, Add. 647, fol. 18a.] In Moshe Idel. Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid. State University of New York Press, 1990.
  • Phillippson, Gustav. “Der Golem.” Schoschanim: Ein Blick indie Vergangenheit. M. Poppelauer’s Buchhandlung, 1871, pp. 77-81. Google Books.
  • Tendlau, Abraham M. “Der Golem des Hogh-Rabbi-Löb.” Das Buch der Sagen und Legenden jüdischer Vorzeit, J. F. Cast’schen, 1842, pp. 16-18. Google Books.
  • Tendlau, Adam. “Der Golem des Hoch-Rabbi-Löb.” 1842. In Hans Ludwig Held, Das Gespenst Des Golem, Allgemeine Verlagsanstalt München, 1927, pp 41-44. Google Books.
  • William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J.A. Giles, translated by John Sharpe and J.A. Giles, George Bell & Sons, 1895. Google Books.

References:

Image by DALL-E 2.

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