We continue on from last episode’s look at the Green Children of Woolpit with a further consideration of what it meant to wonder at a marvel in the middle ages, with additional illustration of some wondrous things from William of Malmesbury.
Today’s Texts
Gervase of Tilbury. Otia Imperialia. Edited and translated by S.E. Banks and J.W. Binns, Clarendon Press, 2002.
Isidore of Seville. The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Translated by Stephen A. Barney, W.J. Lewis, J.A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof with Muriel Hall, Cambridge UP, 2006.
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
Bynum, Caroline Walker. “Wonder.” Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion. Zone Books, 1992.
Audio Credits
“Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel.” In “22 Short Films about Springfield,” The Simpsons, season 7, episode 21, written by Richard Appel et al., 14 April 1996.
“The Boy Who Knew Too Much.” The Simpsons, season 5, episode 20, written by John Swartzwelder, 5 May 1994.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Directed by Mel Stuart, screenplay by Roald Dahl, Paramount Pictures, 1971.
This time on Medieval Death Trip, we celebrate Black Friday weekend with some black magic in our belated Halloween anniversary episode. We look at a couple of quite different medieval witches, a Cornish wildwoman from the Life of St. Samson and the famous Witch of Berkeley, as well as a report of a night-hag from the 18th century.
Today’s Texts
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.
The Liber Landavensis, Llyfr Teilo, or the Ancient Register of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff. Edited by W.J. Rees, William Rees, 1840. Google Books.
Burnett, George. Specimens of English Prose-Writers from the Earliest Times to the Close of the Seventeenth Century, with Sketches Biographical and Literary, Including an Account of Books as Well as of Their Authors; with Occasional Criticisms, etc. Vol. I, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1807. Google Books.
Sprenger, James, and Henry Kramer. Malleus Maleficarum. Originally published 1486. Translated by Montague Summers, 1928. Sacred-Texts.com.
References
Bailey, Michael D. “From Sorcery to Witchcraft: Clerical Conceptions of Magic in the Later Middle Ages.” Speculum, vol. 76, no. 4, Oct. 2001, pp. 960-990. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2903617.
Marzella, Francesco. “Hirsuta et cornuta cum lancea trisulcata: Three Stories of Witchcraft and Magic in Twelfth-Century Britain.” Civilizations of the Supernatural: Witchcraft, Ritual, and Religious Experience in Late Antique, Medieval, and Renaissance Traditions, edited by Fabrizio Conti, Trivent Medieval, 2020.
Isidore of Seville. The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Translated by Stephen A. Barney, W.J. Lewis, J.A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof with Muriel Hall, Cambridge UP, 2006.
Gordon, Stephen. Supernatural Encounters: Demons and the Restless Dead in Medieval England, c. 1050-1450. Taylor & Francis, 2019. Google Books.
Audio Clips
The Tragedy of Macbeth. Directed by Joel Coen. Apple Studios, 2021.
The Witch. Directed by Robert Eggers. A24, 2015.
The Witches. Directed by Nicholas Roeg. Warner Bros., 1990.
The Blair Witch Project. Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. Artisan Entertainment, 1993.
Suspiria. Directed by Dario Argento. Produzioni Atlas Consorziate, 1977.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. EMI Films, 1975.
The Wizard of Oz. Directed by Victor Fleming. MGM, 1939.
Clash of the Titans. Directed by Desmond Davis. United Artists, 1981.
Young Frankenstein. Directed by Mel Brooks. 20th Century Fox, 1974.
Additional Music Credit: Ludwig van Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, composed in 1807 (the same year Burnett published his Specimens of English Prose Writers), and performed by the Musopen Symphony (CC-PD).
Image: Images generated by the DALL-E2 AI from the prompts “medieval painting of a hairy witch with a trident scaring a monk in a forest” and “medieval illustration of a witch covered in hair holding a trident and scaring two monks in a gloomy forest.”
This episode we slither into spring with several tales of serpent shenanigans as well as science (or it’s medieval equivalent).
This Episode’s Texts:
Isidore of Seville. The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Translated by Stephen A. Barney, W.J. Lewis, J.A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof with Muriel Hall, Cambridge UP, 2006.
The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich, written by Thomas of Monmouth and translated by Augustus Jessopp and M.R. James. Cambridge UP, 1896. [Available on Google Books.]
Richard de Fournival. Master Richard’s Bestiary of Love and Response. Translated by Jeanette Beer, U of California P, 1986.
Simeon of Durham. Simeon’s History of the Church of Durham, Church Historians of England, edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, vol. 3, part 2, Seeley’s, 1855, pp. 619-711. Google Books.
Symeon of Durham. Libellus de exordio atque procursu istius, hoc est Dunhelmensis, ecclesie: Tract on the Origin and Progress of this the Church of Durham. Edited and translated by David Rollason, Oxford UP, 2000.
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