Medieval Death Trip

A Podcast Exploring the Wit and Weirdness of Medieval Texts

Page 18 of 21

MDT Episode 17: Concerning the Ill-Gotten Casula

Vestments of Thomas BecketThis episode, we turn to the Chronicle of Battle Abbey to hear a tale of extortion, divine punishment, and ecclesiastical fashion.

This week’s text:

  • The Chronicle of Battel Abbey from 1066 to 1176. Trans. Mark Antony Lower. London: John Russell Smith, 1851. (At Google Books)

With emendations from:

  • Searle, Eleanor, ed. and trans. The Chronicle of Battle Abbey. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1980.

Image: Chasuble and vestments of Thomas Becket, 12th cent. (J.P. Elie, Musées de Sens)

MDT Episode 16: Concerning Coin-Eating and a Demon Child

14th-century medical text from the Bibliotheque MazarineIn 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)

MDT Episode 15: Concerning the Relics of Simon de Montfort

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:

  • Bartlett, Robert. Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?: Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2013.
  • 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.

Reliquary of St Anselm - © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Image: Foot reliquaries of St. Anselm (early 14th cent.). © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY 2.5

MDT Episode 14: Concerning the Death of Simon de Montfort

BL MS Nero D ii f177 - Mutilation of Simon de Montfort,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.

MDT Episode 13: Concerning the Old Chariot Trick

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

BL Add MS 42130 f. 162r

 

MDT Episode 12: Concerning William Rufus, Treason, and Portents of the King’s Death

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.

Pierpont Morgan Library Ms M 638

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)

 

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2025 Medieval Death Trip

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑