In this episode of Medieval Death Trip, we acknowledge the recent passing of neurologist Oliver Sacks and horror writer/director Wes Craven with stories of compulsive behavior and monstrous encounters from the Lanercost Chronicle.
This week’s text:
- The Chronicle of Lanercost: 1272–1346. Trans. Sir Herbert Maxwell. Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons, 1913. (Available at archive.org.)
References:
- Beecroft, Nicholas, Laura Bach, Nigel Tunstall, and Robert Howard. “An Unusual Case of Pica.” International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 13 (1998): 638-641.
- Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: and Other Clinical Tales. Audible, Inc., 2011. (Available from Audible.)
Image: 14th-century medical manuscript from the Bibliotheque Mazarine (via Sexy Codicology)
In this episode, we wrap up the Melrose Chronicle‘s account of Simon de Montfort with a look at the miracle stories attached to his relics.
This episode’s texts:
- The Melrose Chronicle. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. IV, Part I. Ed. and trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeley’s, 1856. [Available at Google Books.]
- “Miracles of Simon de Montfort.” Trans. George Walter Prothero. The Life of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1877. [Available at Google Books.]
- Translation of the Dictum of Kenilworth at the National Archives.
References:
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Bartlett, Robert. Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?: Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2013.
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Heffernan, Thomas J. “‘God hathe schewed ffor him many grete miracules’: Political Canonization and the Miracula of Simon de Montfort.” Art and Context in Late Medieval English Narrative: Essays in Honor of Robert Worth Frank, Jr. Ed. Robert R. Edwards. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1994. 177-192.
Image: Foot reliquaries of St. Anselm (early 14th cent.). © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY 2.5
In this episode, we continue the tale of Simon de Montfort’s struggle against King Henry III, with a look at two depictions of his final battle and death.
This episode’s texts:
- The Melrose Chronicle. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. IV, Part I. Ed. and trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeley’s, 1856. [Available at Google Books.]
- College of Arms MS 3/23. In Laborderie, Olivier de; J.R. Maddicott, and D.A. Carpenter. “The Last Hours of Simon de Montfort: A New Account.” The English Historical Review 115.461 (Apr. 2000): 378-412.
References:
Image: BL MS Nero D ii – Detail from f. 177v – The Mutilation of Simon de Montfort.
The Trip goes on after an unexpected summer detour. This episode we celebrate the underdog blockbuster of the season, Mad Max: Fury Road, with a medieval story of vehicular deception during the Second Baron’s War.
This episode’s texts:
- The Melrose Chronicle. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. IV, Part I. Ed. and trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeley’s, 1856. [Available at Google Books.]
- “Sitteth alle stille ant herkneth to me [or, A Song of Lewes]” at TEAMS Middle English Text Series.
References:
Image: BL Add MS 42130 (The Luttrell Psalter) f. 162r
We’re back from our unplanned end-of-term hiatus. In this episode of Medieval Death Trip, we hear the Warenne Chronicle‘s account of how as King of England, William Rufus dealt with rebels and how his own death was foretold in signs and visions.
This episode’s texts:
- The Warenne (Hyde) Chronicle. Ed. and trans. Elisabeth M.C. van Houts and Rosalind C. Love. Oxford: Clarendon, 2013.
References:
- Barlow, Frank. William Rufus. Yale English Monarchs. New Haven: Yale UP, 2000. First published by Methuen London, Ltd. in 1983.
- Eadmer. Eadmer’s History of Recent Events in England. [Historia Novorum in Anglia.] Trans. Geoffrey Bosanquet. Philadelphia: Dufour, 1965.
Image: Detail from the Morgan Bible (Pierpont Morgan Library, Ms M. 638)
[Editor’s note: Apologies for the late episode — recording was completed a bit overschedule last week (and has last week’s date), but editing ended up taking even longer. Your patience is appreciated!]
In this episode we finally cut to the core of the story Thomas of Monmouth tells about the murder of William of Norwich. While Thomas thinks he’s telling the story of how William was murdered by Jewish citizens of Norwich, his actual text reveals quite plainly how mass hysteria and xenophobia drove such accusations.
This episode’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.]
References:
- Bennet, Gillian. “Towards a Revaluation of the Legend of ‘Saint’ William of Norwich and its Place in the Blood Libel Legend.” Folklore 116.2 (Aug. 2005): 119-139.
- Cohen, Jeffery Jerome. “The Flow of Blood in Medieval Norwich.” Speculum 79.1 (Jan. 2004): 26-65.
- Langmuir, Gavin I. “Thomas of Monmouth: Detector of Ritual Murder.” Speculum 59.4 (Oct. 1984): 820-846.
- McCulloh, John M. “Jewish Ritual Murder: William of Norwich, Thomas of Monmouth, and the Early Dissemination of the Myth.” Speculum 72.3 (July 1997): 698-740.
Images:
In this episode of Medieval Death Trip, we acknowledge the recent passing of neurologist Oliver Sacks and horror writer/director Wes Craven with stories of compulsive behavior and monstrous encounters from the Lanercost Chronicle.
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