On this episode, we’re back with Thomas of Monmouth’s The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich to hear a tale of fire, fratricide, and fetters.
Today’s Text:
- The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich, written by Thomas of Monmouth and translated by Augustus Jessopp and M.R. James. London: Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1896. [Available on Google Books.]
Credits:
- This episode features original music by Chris Lane and a modified version of a recording by John Sayles.
Image:
Detail from of French bible, ca. 1200. Moulins BM, MS 0001 f. 316.
On this episode, get a different version of the story of Edgar’s love for the married Aelfthryth, this time in a blending of history with courtly romance from Gaimar’s L’Estoire des Engleis.
Today’s Text:
- Gaimar. Gaimar. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. 2, Part 2. Ed. and Trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeleys, 1854. [Available through Google Books.]
- William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Ed. J.A. Giles. Trans. John Sharpe and J.A. Giles. London: George Bell & Sons, 1895. [Available at Google Books.]
- Bartholomaeus Anglicus. De proprietatibus rerum. Ed. Robert Steele. Trans. John Trevisa. At The Medieval Bestiary.
References:
- Gransden, Antonia. Historical Writing in England. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1974.
- Bell, A. “Gaimar and the Edgar-Ælfðryð Story.” Modern Language Review 21.3 (July 1926): 278-287.
- Bell, Alexander. “Gaimar as Pioneer.” Romania 97 (1976): 462-80.
- Press, A.R. “The Precocious Courtesy of Geoffrey Gaimar.” Court and Poet. Ed. Glyn S. Burgess. Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1981. 267-276.
Image: Museum Meermanno, MMW, 10 B 25, Folio 37r (via The Medieval Bestiary)
On this episode, we take one more step backwards in history from last time and look at some scandalous behavior from King Edgar the Peaceful as described by William of Malmesbury.
Today’s Text:
- William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Ed. J.A. Giles. Trans. John Sharpe and J.A. Giles. London: George Bell & Sons, 1895. (Available at Google Books.
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Trans. E.E.C. Gomme. London: George Bell and Sons, 1909. [Available through Google Books.]
- Herodotus. The Histories. Trans. Aubrey de Sélincourt. Rev. by John M. Marincola. New York: Penguin, 1972.
References:
- Gransden, Antonia. Historical Writing in England. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1974.
Image: Manuscript leaf of William of Malmebury’s traveling copy of his Gesta Pontificum Anglorum in his own hand. (Oxford Magdalen MS lat. 172.)
On this episode, we look at one moment in history from three different sources — the deaths of King Edgar and his short-reigned heir, Edward the Martyr. Stay tuned to the very end for the new riddle!
Today’s Texts:
- The Melrose Chronicle. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. IV, Part I. Ed. and Trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeley’s, 1856. 347-384. [Available through Google Books.]
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Trans. E.E.C. Gomme. London: George Bell and Sons, 1909. [Available through Google Books.]
- William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Ed. J.A. Giles. Trans. John Sharpe and J.A. Giles. London: George Bell & Sons, 1895. [Available through Google Books].
Image: The Murder of Edward the Martyr, from British Library MS Royal 2 B VII, f.245.
It’s our (shortly after) Mother’s Day episode, in which we learn from Edward the Confessor how not to treat one’s mother and investigate a connection between The Song of Roland and radioactive wastelands.
Today’s Text:
- Annals of the Church of Winchester. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. IV, Part I. Ed. and Trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeley’s, 1856. 347-384. (Available at Google Books.)
References:
- Burgess, Glyn S., trans. The Song of Roland. New York: Penguin, 1990.
- Holmes, Urban T., Jr. “Chernubles de Munigre.” Speculum 16.2 (Apr. 1941): 244-245.
- Stafford, Pauline. Queen Emma and Queen Edith: Queenship and Women’s Power in Eleventh-Century England. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.
Image: Queen Emma flees with Edward and Alfred to her brother in Normandy, detail from Cambridge University Library MS EE 3.59 f. 4v. [Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-NC 3.0).]
This episode, we return to the Lanercost Chronicle for some examples of clergy behaving in some unclergylike ways, with a particular look at the decline and fall of clerical marriage in the medieval church.
This Episode’s Texts:
-
The Chronicle of Lanercost: 1272–1346. Trans. Sir Herbert Maxwell. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1913. (Available at
archive.org.)
-
Ordericus Vitalis.
The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normady. Vol. 4. Trans. Thomas Forester. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1856. (Available at
Google Books.)
References:
- Brooke, C.N.L. “Gregorian Reform in Action: Clerical Marriage in England, 1050-1200.” Cambridge Historical Journal 12.1 (1956): 1-21.
- Frazee, Charles A. “The Origins of Clerical Celibacy in the Western Church.” Church History 57 Supplement: Centennial Issue (1988): 108-126. Reprinted from Church History 41 (1972): 149-167.
- McLaughlin, Megan. “The Bishop in the Bedroom: Witnessing Episcopal Sexuality in an Age of Reform.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 19.1 (Jan. 2010): 17-34.
Image: Detail depicting the sin of adultery from British Library MS Royal 6 E VI f. 61.
Recent Comments