Medieval Death Trip

A Podcast Exploring the Wit and Weirdness of Medieval Texts

Tag: Isidore of Seville

MDT Ep. 97: Concerning Three Witches

AI-generated image by DALL-E from the prompt "medieval illustration of a witch covered in hair holding a trident and scaring two monks in a gloomy forest."

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.”

You can listen to our MDT Christmas playlist over on Spotify for some medieval-ish carols and tunes to get you in the mood for the season!

AI-generated image by DALL-E from the prompt "medieval painting of a hairy witch with a trident scaring a monk in a forest."

MDT Ep. 38: Concerning Men Afflicted by Snakes and Some Serpent-Lore

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.
  • Steele, Robert, editor. Medieval Lore from Bartholomew Anglicus, translated by John Trevisa, Alexander Moring, 1893/1905. Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6493/pg6493.txt.

Image: Snake encounter and world map from the Intellivision game Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

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