Medieval Death Trip

A Podcast Exploring the Wit and Weirdness of Medieval Texts

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.

Medieval Death Trip’s Christmas Playlist

December 9, 2023 / / 0 Comments
Image of two hurdy-gurdy players from

If you’re looking to get in a medievalish Christmas mood, check out the “MDT Christmas” playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5EmlXCdeLV3HPmspb0I9AX?si=306a5306cd9e401e

The playlist features both authentic medieval tunes as well as pieces that feel medieval in spirit.

Note: I have actually curated and organized the playlist as a sequence, which helps avoid repeats. Shuffle it at your own risk (of hearing “Coventry Carol” five times in a row).

Image: detail of two hurdy-gurdy players from El Escorial Ms. T.j.I, f.160.

MDT Ep. 104: Concerning the Abacus and Succubus of Gerbert d’Aurillac

Detail of an astronomer holding an armillary sphere, from British Library Royal MS 20 B XX, f. 3 (via Wikimedia Commons)

We conclude our miniseries comparing the legends to the real life of Gerbert d’Aurillac: mathematician, pope, and alleged magician. Today’s variant of the Dark Legend comes from Walter Map, and we follow that with a look at the historical Gerbert’s contributions to science.

Today’s Texts:

Map, Walter. De Nugis Curialium. Translated by Montague R. James, historical notes by John Edward Lloyd, edited by E. Sidney Hartland, Cymmrodorion Record Series, no. 9, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1923.

Gerbert d’Aurillac. The Letters of Gerbert with His Papal Privileges as Sylvester II, translated and edited by Harriet Pratt Lattin, Columbia UP, 1961.

References:

Abelard, Peter. Dialectica. Part 4. The Logic Museum, 25 May 2014, www.logicmuseum.com/wiki/Authors/Abelard/dialectica/Pars_4

Allen, Roland. “Gerbert, Pope Sylvester II.” The English Historical Review, vol. 7, no. 28, Oct. 1892, pp. 625-668. Google Books.

Brown, Nancy Marie. The Abacus and the Cross: The Story of the Pope Who Brought the Light of Science to the Dark Ages. Basic Books, 2010.

Mann, Horace K. “Sylvester II” In The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, vol. 5, B. Herder, 1910, pp. 1-120. Google Books.

Image: Detail of an astronomer holding an armillary sphere, from British Library Royal MS 20 B XX, f. 3 (via Wikimedia Commons)

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