Ask a Medievalist: Recent Episodes
Ask a Medievalist
SummaryThis episode is dedicated to Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert. May he return to The Colbert Report! No matter what, we know that he will go on to far, far better things than the crumbling edifice that was once known as CBS.
Notes1/ George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series
2/ Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 (and died September 2, 1973). Tolkien’s imagined etymologies are phenomenal.
3/ Jane Yolen’s Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna
4/ David Salo–a UW-Madison Alum and Tolkien linguist
5/ Winnie-the-Pooh lives outside the Hundred Acre Wood (thank you A.A. Milne). The Forest of Arden is the main location for Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Birnum Wood “marches” against Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Scottish play.
6/ Wagner’s Ring Cycle: Der Ring des Nibelungen. He wrote it between 1848-1874. The first opera (Das Rheingold) premiered in 1869, and all four premiered as a cycle in 1876.
7/ We miss you Tom Stoppard (Travesties, 1974).
8/ Übermensch (defined by Nietzsche, ruined by certain WWII Germans)
9/ Nope, we’re still watching Putin teeter!
10/ Wagner is basing his cycle on the Old Norse Edda, the Völsunga Saga, the Thidrekssaga, and the Nibelungenlied.
11/ Giorgia Meloni was elected Prime Minister of Italy in 2022.
12/ Renee Vink, “‘Jewish’ Dwarves: Tolkien and Anti-Semitic Stereotyping,” in Tolkien Studies Vol. 10 (2013): 123-145.
13/ Terry Pratchett is the best! Check out Discworld. Also, here’s a nice thread on the fact he isn’t a TERF.
14/ Just for fun, here’s Jon Stewart’s rant on the goblins in Harry Potter. Enjoy!
15/ Christopher Tolkien’s NYT obituary: “Christopher Tolkien, Keeper of His Father’s Legacy, Dies at 95.”
SynopsisWhat exactly is authority? Where does it come from? How do you get it? Can you move authority from St. Paul, MN to the south side of Chicago? Join Em and Jesse for a wide-ranging chat on the subject.
Notes1/ Of course, many people in addition to women have a hard time getting others (i.e. non-group members) to pay attention to their authority. For example, trans and nonbinary people have a hard time getting anyone to listen to them speaking about their own lived experiences.
2/ I’ve published four novels and a novella since this was recorded, and people actually do think I’m an authority on some topics for some reason.
3/ The story about Aristotle’s phony translators comes from here, I think: https://historyofphilosophy.net/translation-movement
Pseudopigrapha: from pseudo, false, and epigraphe, name or inscription. A falsely attributed text.
U of Michigan’s Galileo text: “After an internal investigation of the findings of Nick Wilding, professor of history at Georgia State University, the library has concluded that its “Galileo manuscript” is in fact a 20th-century forgery. We’re grateful to Professor Wilding for sharing his findings, and are now working to reconsider the manuscript’s role in our collection.” Also, “Wilding concluded that our Galileo manuscript is a 20th-century fake executed by the well-known forger Tobia Nicotra.” (The quotes are from the linked website.)
4/ According to the Virginia Woolf society, the actual quote is: “I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.” (From ch 3 of A Room of One’s Own.)
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (5th/6th century CE))
Pseudo-Pseduo-Dionysius is anyone once thought to be Pseudo-Dionysius but now recognized (by modern scholars) to be someone other than Pseudo-Dionysius. Confused?
5/ Pseudo-Bonaventure (14th century CE) wrote Meditations on the Life of Christ.
6/ I’ve become a bit more familiar with copyright law in the three years(!) since we recorded this, since I’ve published three going on four books of my own since then. A really good example of a point I think past Em is trying to make is Sherlock Holmes, who has recently passed into public domain. He’s a neat character and everyone wanted to play with him (look at the adaptations of recent memory: the Robert Downey Jr. films, the BBC’s Sherlock, the American Elementary). But because of copyright law, this was fairly difficult and confusing until very recently, despite the character’s creator having been dead since 1930. These cases raise many questions of authorship vs ownership and how long someone should really be able to make money on an idea. (Patent Law is, if anything, worse, from what I understand.)
7/ It was a photograph of Prince! Since we recorded this, the Supreme Court sided against Andy Warhol’s estate: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1176881182/supreme-court-sides-against-andy-warhol-foundation-in-copyright-infringement-cas
Girl Talk is awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSoTN8suQ1o
I mention him because there was a really good documentary about copyright called RiP! A Remix Manifesto that discussed his work (including a discussion of it with the head of the copyright office of the Library of Congress).
8/ Just to clarify, “fair use” is kind of a complicated issue. When you are a non-commercial educational podcast (ahem), you can use things (like samples of YouTube performances) without having to pay licensing fees. You can also fairly quote sections of things for criticism, news reporting, and research. You can therefore quote lines from songs or poems in textbooks, but not in novels because they aren’t considered teaching. Parody (hello, Weird Al!) can be a weird gray area, because a parody obviously has to be somewhat transformative but still retain enough of a likeness that people will know what you’re parodying, and on this question hangs a lot of lawsuits. (Not toward Weird Al though, as far as I know. But Margaret Mitchell’s estate did try to sue to block the publication of The Wind Done Gone.)
See also: Why does Ulysses (in Em’s novels) wear so many band T-shirts and occasionally mention songs and artists, but there are zero song lyrics in the books? Because you can’t copyright band names or album/song titles.
Steamboat Willie has actually entered public domain since we recorded this! [So amazing!–Jesse]
Peter Pan actually first appeared in 1902!
Also, sorry, “Peter Pan is a psychopomp” is somehow not a sentence I had on my bingo card. I guess it has lost a bit in its translation to the screen… On the plus side, SIDS rates have dropped dramatically since 1902?
“I can rewrite Macbeth if I want to.” Or a really complex riff on The Bacchae? Em of 2022 did not know what was coming, lol.
9/ Notably, Spivak also quotes primarily women.
The episode on Hrotsvit: Episode 22
10/ For more on Juliana of Cornillion and the Feast of Corpus Christi, see Episode 6.
11/ Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale are HERE. (Also, Chaucer was not, as far as we know, toxic like Joss Whedon!)
12/ Incidentally, violent, in-the-moment reactions to mistreatment by another person are called reactive abuse, and they’re often used by abusers to shift the blame onto their victims. If you are being abused or wondering if you are and want to talk to someone, check out the National Domestic Violence Hotline (https://www.thehotline.org/), or look for local programs. Here in Madison, for instance, we have Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (https://abuseintervention.org/).
SummaryIt’s January, the first month of the year, ruled by the god Janus, who looks both ways. But a week ago it was December, the…tenth month of the year? What the heck was up with Roman calendars? Join Em and Dr. Jesse to explore why this otherwise competent civilization just fell apart when it came to tracking what day it was.
NotesJörg Rüpke, The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the Fasti, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
1/ Rome’s famous AVC (or AUC today), the abbreviation for Ab urbe condita (from the founding of the city), i.e. 753 BCE.
2/ For example, archeology uses “BP” or “Before Present.” Geology and astronomy and similar tend to use variations on “millions of years ago“.
3/ Calends! Nones! Ides!
4/ December is such a mess! For more on December not being the 10th month of the year (maybe ever!)–and/or the possibility of competing new years (one beginning in January and one in March), see Rüpke (p. 6).
5/ Fasti Antiates Maiores, created 60s or 50s BCE (Rüpke, p. 6), from before the Julian reforms in 46 BCE. January is the first month. Here is the original and here is the reconstruction.
6/ Annus confusionis ultimus! (46 BCE) See Rüpke, p. 112.
7/ Gregorian calendar!
8/ England finally officially adopts the Gregorian calendar in 1750. (This was adopted for the whole British Empire, including the colonies in America.)
SynopsisWhen is Hanukkah this year? When is Lupercalia, or Easter, or Midsummer’s Eve? When is your birthday? Figuring out when big events happen is incredibly important, and humans have been doing it for a long time. But while we can see some similarities in the process of calendar evolution, many civilizations had very different ways of conceptualizing and measuring time. Join Em and Dr. Jesse for a discussion of non-Roman calendars!
Notes0/ Check out the Nerd and Tie podcast network! Official announcement here.
1/ A lot of Mayans live in Yucatán in Mexico. Between 1847–1933, the Mayan fought a long and bloody war against the government of Mexico, and for a while controlled an independent state. Eventually they won the right to break up some of the haciendas, making it a fairly successful indigenous land movement. Now in Yucatán, a lot of the land is collectively owned/managed by the Maya.
2/ St Patrick will be coming up in the future! His episode has been recorded.
3/ Sir Capricorn’s name turns out to be Sesame. He is amazing!
4/ Gobekli Tepe (settled roughly 9500 BCE)
5/ Wurdi Youang (Australia)
6/ Warren Field (Scotland)
7/ Hawaii
8/ Yoruba calendar
9/ Babylonian calendar (from the 2nd millennium BCE). See Lis Brack-Bernsen’s “The 360-Day Year in Mesopotamia”
The early astronomical text known as MUL.APIN (from 1000 BCE).
10/ Ancient Egyptian calendar! And some fun artifacts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
11/ Mayan calendar! Very intriguing.
Here is the film 2012 which posits many incorrect things, not just about the Mayan calendar.
SummaryStarting in the middle ages, a rumor spread of a female pope, elected because of her incredible learning, who went undiscovered until she gave birth to a child. At which point, everyone lost their minds. Join Em and Dr. Jesse to learn about the veracity of this tale and the wacky test it (allegedly) engendered. (Ha.)
NotesOur sources:
Thomas F.X. Noble, “Why Pope Joan?” Catholic Historical Review 99.2 (April 2013) 219–238.
Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of Popes. Yale University Press, 2002.
1/ Jean de Mailly, 13th century Dominican chronicler in Metz, makes the first extant mention of Pope Joan in his Chronicle “Diocese of Metz” (Chronica universalis Mettensis) in 1255.
Etienne de Bourbon (also Dominican) adds to Mailly’s account a few years later in On the Seven Gifts of the Spirit.
Dominican Martinus Polonus (Martin Strebsky) writes down the version we all know between 1265–1277 in Chronicle of the Roman Popes and Emperors
2/ “A means of adding verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.” From The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan.
3/ The description of this (definitely fake) ritual is in Duffy, Saints and Sinners, 156–7.
4/ Ember Days
5/ The Straight Dope was an alternative weekly column (in Madison it ran in the Isthmus, I think; also in the Chicago Reader) where readers could ask questions of a guy (gender nondenominational) who was essentially a reference librarian. The nom de plume was Cecil Adams. The column ran 1973–2018. The Pope Joan column is archived here: https://www.straightdope.com/21341608/was-there-once-a-female-pope
6/ Since we recorded this, The Onion has had a renaissance. If you subscribe, you can even get a print version! https://theonion.com/
SummaryAvignon! A city where there is a bridge, and a song about the bridge. And, once, the pope lived there. Why? Let’s talk about this weird century.
Notes1/ Avignon: it has a bridge! And a song about the bridge: “Sur le pont d’Avignon.” The bridge is medieval; the song dates from the fifteenth century: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sur_le_Pont_d%27Avignon
2/ Boniface VIII (Pope 24 December 1294–11 October 1303). He was…something. Definitely check out Dante’s thoughts!
3/ Dr. Jesse: we can all recognize that in the past there have been different times when a third party has interfered in an election…
Em: …
Em: oh my god, we recorded this in April 2024. She was talking about the 2000 election. [A lot has happened in a year. Now it could also be the NYC mayoral race!–Jesse]
4/ The episode on Catherine of Siena is number 6.
Jesse and I went to Siena at one point! I don’t remember if we saw her head. I’m guessing we did? We also saw a horse race, which means we were there on August 16, 2003? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palio_di_Siena [That was a great Palio! There were many, many false starts, and then someone fell (or was pushed/tripped) off their horse during the race, and the neighborhood whose rider fell (or was sabotaged) definitely thought he was sabotaged, and they all stormed the track toward the neighborhood they thought pushed him, and we were standing in between the two groups. –Jesse]
5/ Episode Summary!
Avignon Papacy:
Seven popes resided at Avignon instead of Rome
- Pope Clement V: 1305–1314 (curia moved to Avignon, 9 March 1309)
- Pope John XXII: 1316–1334
- Pope Benedict XII: 1334–1342
- Pope Clement VI: 1342–1352
- Pope Innocent VI: 1352–1362
- Pope Urban V: 1362–1370 (in Rome 1367–1370; returned to Avignon 1370)
- Pope Gregory XI: 1370–1378 (left Avignon to return to Rome on 13 September 1376, returned in January 1377)
WESTERN SCHISM:
| ROME | AVIGNON | PISA | | Urban VI (1378–1389) | Antipope Clement VII (1378–1394) | | Boniface IX (1389–1404) | Antipope Benedict XIII (1394–1423) | | Pope Innocent VII (1404–1406) | | Pope Gregory XII (1406–1415)Voluntarily resigns to end schism | Antipope Alexander V (1409–1410)Antipope John XXIII (1410–1415)Submitted to Martin V in Florence in 1418 and died shortly thereafter. The Medici built him a huge tomb. | | Pope Martin V (1417–1431) |
SynopsisLet’s talk about a few good antipopes. What’s that about, anyway? If they meet, do they both annihilate? How do they sometimes switch places? Join Em and Dr. Jesse as they go over some of the more interesting antipopes of the 11th and 12th centuries.
Notes1/ The board game is Kremlin.
2/ Gregory VII (born c1015, namesake of the reform movement, pope 1073–1085). Gregorian reform!
3/ Investiture Controversy. The big one is roughly 1076–1122, but there are a bunch of investiture struggles.
4/ Henry IV (1050–1106; king of Germany from 1054, of Italy and Burgundy from 1056, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084)
5/ Antipope Clement III (born c1029, Antipope 1080–1100)
6/ Antipope Theodoric (or Sylvester III, but there was an earlier Sylvester III, who was considered an antipope by Theodoric but is not currently listed as one by the Vatican).
7/ Concordat of London 1107 between Henry I of England and Pope Paschal II
8/ Holy Emperor Henry V (born early 1080s-1125; Holy Roman Emperor 1111–1125)
9/ Henry V appoints Antipope Gregory VIII (Antipope 1118–1121, dies 1137)
10/ Concordat of Worms 1122
11/ Pope Innocent II (Pope 1130–1143) is elected by a minority
Antipope Alacletus II (1130–1138) is elected by a majority
12/ Lateran II convened in 1139 by Innocent II
Antipope Victor IV (not to be confused with a later Antipope Victor IV) submits to Innocent II
13/ St Bernard dogs get their name from their original breeding place in Switzerland, which is named for St Bernard of Menthon, not Bernard of Clairvaux!
14/ Lateran III 1179
15/ Ubi Periculum 1274, issued by Pope Gregory X during the Second Council of Lyon, establishes the papal conclave
16/ Actually, Francis was chosen pretty quickly! It just seemed long in our crazy media climate.
17/ Pope Clement V (born c. 1264; Pope 1305–1314) and the Avignon Papacy (1309–1376/7)
18/ Pope Celestine V: the previous pope who resigned! He was pope for a few months in 1294.
19/ Pope Boniface VIII (born c.1230; Pope 1294–1303), famously hated by Dante.
SynopsisWhen did the conclave system get started and why? Following on the heels (uh, vaguely) of our emergency popecast, Em and Dr. Jesse discuss history of papal elections and how the Church got to where it is.
NotesSaints and Sinners: A History of the Popes, by Eamon Duffy. 4th ed. Yale University Press, 2015.
1/ We recorded this in February 2024; Benedict died on the 31st of December, 2022. He was 95. JPII lived to 84 (d. 2005) and Francis was 88. [Benedict XVI was the former head of the Dicastery or Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the formerly known as the Congregation of the Inquisition. –Jesse]
Celestine V (c.1210/15–1296; pope July 5–December 13 1294)
Gregory XII (c1327–1417; pope 1406–1415, resigns to end schism)
Pope John XXIII (1881–1963, pope 1958–1963) called the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).
Pisan Antipope John XXIII (d.1419; pope 1410–1415)
2/ I’m sure some of this background on the various popes and especially Francis is a repeat from last episode. If you took good notes and don’t need a reminder, I’m sorry.
3/ “Eventually they get found liable for their sayings.” I have no idea what politician that was a dig at. I’m pretty sure that the “mayors of major cities who get more say than the governor” is probably a reference to the mayor of NYC vs the NY governor?
4/ For more on the Ottonian Dynasty!
5/ You can actually still become a married male priest in the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church by: first becoming a pastor in another denomination, getting married there (and a certain amount of time elapsing), and then converting to Catholicism and applying to become a priest. (This requires your wife’s consent, apparently. In case you were wondering if women ever got asked to consent to anything in Christianity. There is one thing.)
You can also become a priest if you’re a widower.
6/ Gregory VII (c1015–1085; pope 1073–1085)
Peter Damian (c1007–1072)
Lateran Council of 769
7/ Pope Paul I (pope 757–767)
Antipope Constantine II (pope 767–769)
Antipope Philip (pope only one day, July 31, 768)
Pope Stephen III (c720–772; pope 768–772)
Pope Adrian I (pope 772–795)
8/ Stephen IX (c1020–1058; pope 1057–1058)
Antipope Benedict X (pope 1058–1059)
Pope Nicholas II (c. 990/95–1061; pope 1058/9–1061)
SynopsisPope Francis, beloved of medievalists, died on April 21, 2025, so we’re here with all you might care to know about the forthcoming conclave (now a film starring Ralph Finnes), the history of conclaves, and why medievalists loved Francis so much, anyway.
Notes1/ Benedict went to Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, I think. It’s in the neighborhood.
2/ Jesse and I decided to try and do any extra notes attached to NEXT episode, so y’all are stuck with only my ramblings down here this time.
3/ Sorry about the sound quality. I messed something up during the recording process. Also I’ve never sat still in my life, apparently. What a way to find out.
4/ Books and films in this episode:
Conclave (2024)
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco (1980)
The Key to the Name of the Rose: including translations of all non-English passages, by Adele J. Haft, Jane G. White, and Robert H. White (1987)
The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
5/ I asked Jesse for clarification about what is meant by someone getting to be pope with a minority of votes. Basically the minority vote-getter (Innocent II) went off and set up as pope anyway, and eventually everyone came around to his way of thinking and made the majority vote-getter (Anacletus II) an antipope. We’ll have a whole episode on antipopes in a couple of weeks when we discuss this in more detail, so keep an eye out.
6/ Hey, Chuck! Sorry. Be less of a fuddy-duddy.
7/ The official job description as posted to LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vaticano_after-receiving-several-messages-of-interest-activity-7322589152439418880-dmNA
SummaryEm and Jesse are back with more medieval meme review. Join us as we discuss martyrdom, marginalia, The Seventh Seal, and the Bayeux Tapestry.
Notes1/ martyrdom of Isaiah:
Martyrdom sword through throat:
2/ St. Sebastian. Artists love him!
Just to be clear, “It’s difficult to assert that there were any gay men before Walt Whitman” is a joke about how historians tend to act. Generally, if you look at the comments on Wikipedia, it can be difficult to assert that people are gay after Whitman too—there was one actor who lived with his partner very openly for thirty years, and on the talk page people were still debating if he should be categorized as gay. This about someone who died in 1993.
The Last Judgement: https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/cappella-sistina/giudizio-universale.html
Rubens’s St. Sebastian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Sebastian_(Rubens)
3/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seventh_Seal
Death was played by a guy named Bengt Ekerot. No one seems to know how tall he was, but Max Von Sydow was apparently about 6’4″.
4/ “Give a shoutout to Sandman…” We recorded this in 2022, long before the allegations against Neil Gaiman became public. We condemn his behavior in the strongest possible terms. [Terrible people can make amazing art that contradicts their own actions in their personal lives. It’s really unsatisfying, but an important (and unfortunate) fact about human nature.–Jesse]
5/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Pictor
6/ David Jenkins was the creator of Our Flag Means Death.
Meredith Brooks, “Bitch.” https://genius.com/Meredith-brooks-bitch-lyrics
7/ The Rothschild Canticles: https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2002755 [scroll down to page 148r]. The book takes its name from Edmond de Rothschild, rather than whoever commissioned it. E. de R. (aka Baron Abraham Edmond Benjamin James de Rothschild, 1845–1935) was indeed a member of the powerful banking family and subject of many anti-Semitic conspiracy theories you are thinking of. Where it came from before that is unclear, at least according to the provenance information provided by Yale.
Citation: MS 404, folio 148 recto.
John Boswell was a Yale scholar who wrote a book called Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe where he argued that the early Church had a ritual called “adelphopoiesis” (brother-making) that was essentially a marriage ceremony for same-sex couples. (This being the thing back before the Church felt like it cared much about who married whom, which is a rather newer thing than they would like to admit.) The rite still happens today—here (https://www.npr.org/2024/04/09/1243606135/a-look-at-the-ancient-practice-that-turned-friends-into-family) is an NPR article about two women who underwent the ritual in 1985. (And history will say they were roommates.) (Except in this case it seems as though they were. Sorry.) (The point being that the rite is perceived somewhat differently today. Or at least by NPR.)
Boswell died in 1994, about a decade after Foucault.
8/
SynopsisMemes. Love or hate them, they’re hard to escape. Let’s do a medieval meme review.
Notes1/ Sorry for the weird sound at the beginning. File errors.
2/ There are whole Bsky accounts like “weird medieval guys“.
3/ Cave Canum
Know thyself
4/ The Book of Dog Names:
Superdog’s name is Krypto
Livre du Chasse (see Episode 29 note 5 for more!)
Here is the Christie’s description for this specific manuscript.
Edward, Duke of York (1373-1415–he died at Agincourt!!!)
“Gentlemen of England now abed”: An (incredibly famous) line from Henry V
“Gallant, springing, brave Plantagenet”: From the scene in Richard III where the two murderers go to kill Clarence, Duke of Gloucester (on RIII’s orders, of course).
Interpolated: to insert between two parts.
RIP Wrigley, bestest girl (2009-2024). Now we have Addison, the best boy.
5/ Here’s a name–age calculator: https://randalolson.com/name-age-calculator/
Interestingly, Jessica has almost the same arc as Tiffany, but Tiffany is definitely a very 1980s neon name and Jessica is not. Is it because of the prominence of a Jessica in Shakespeare’s A Merchant of Venice that makes it clear to us that the name is not a modern invention?
The Tiffany video
6/ If you’re wondering why we mention Carl Gustav and not Charles III, it’s because we recorded this in 2022 when Elizabeth II was still alive. Also, if you’re wondering why Em says “Carl VI Gustav” rather than “Carl XVI Gustav,” the answer is…I have no idea. Sorry.
7/
I don’t know, Jesse. NYT has gone downhill lo these last two years. [ARGH, yes. –Jesse]
8/ Melvil Dui. For some reason we (the world) kept the spelling of his first name but not his last. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvil_Dewey I’m not a Dewey Decimal superfan, but I’ll admit it’s very useful.
9/ I have heard the “don’t use first person pronouns in your essay” rule explained as: it’s your essay, we know it’s your opinion. So just say what it is. [Yes, but you might be quoting other people’s opinions, some of which you like and some of which you don’t! And you have to be able to say “THAT person says X, but I think Y.”–Jesse]
10/ The Oxford Dictionary of African American English: https://www.oed.com/discover/odaae
The Dictionary of American Regional English: https://www.daredictionary.com/
Passing Slang of the Victorian Era: https://archive.org/details/passingenglishof00wareuoft/page/n5/mode/2up
11/ “I will never be detail-oriented enough” J/K guys, in the last two three years since we did this, I’ve become EVEN MORE detail-oriented. I will NEVER STOP.
SynopsisTrade goods weren’t the only things that moved along the Silk Road. Join Em and Jesse as they trace the history of an interesting artistic motif that made it from China all the way to England!
Notes0/ Credit to Hither, Page, by Cat Sebastian, for bringing this topic to my attention.
1/ Previous episodes on trade routes were ep 83 (Old Silk Road, Take Me Home) and 84 (Trans-Saharan Trade).
2/ The Three Hares: this blog (http://www.vikkiyeatesillustration.co.uk/blog/a-brief-explanation-of-the-three-hares-symbol) has many example illustrations!
3/ “Wheel of Dharma, turn turn turn! Tell me the lesson that I must learn!” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmachakra
4/ According to Wikipedia, among vertebrates, natural parthenogenesis is only reported in lizards, snakes, birds, and sharks. (And maybe amphibians and snakes? Whoever wrote this didn’t do a great job.) It has been artificially induced in pigs and mice. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis) I can’t believe I’m writing a note about this.
5/ Taylor Mac’s piece is A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_24-Decade_History_of_Popular_Music Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwnddB4dFYk I wish I lived in New York and could just be weird for a living.
6/ Jesse explains why rabbits are not kosher a little oddly—in order to be kosher, a land animal must have cloven hooves and it must chew its cud. Even if rabbits chewed their cud (they don’t), they don’t have hooves. (The weird part of all this is “ergo, they’re rodents and not suitable for consumption.” That part I can’t explain.)
7/ Rabbit starvation? It looks like the general idea is that because rabbit meat is very low fat and high protein, if you eat only that without other fats in your diet, you can intake so much protein you overwhelm your kidneys and they dump bad stuff into your bloodstream. Also called mal de caribou. Charles Darwin mentions this in The Voyage of the Beagle:
We were here able to buy some biscuit. I had now been several days without tasting anything besides meat: I did not at all dislike this new regimen; but I felt as if it would only have agreed with me with hard exercise. I have heard that patients in England, when desired to confine themselves exclusively to an animal diet, even with the hope of life before their eyes, have hardly been able to endure it. Yet the Gaucho in the Pampas, for months together, touches nothing but beef. But they eat, I observe, a very large proportion of fat, which is of a less animalized nature; and they particularly dislike dry meat, such as that of the Agouti. Dr. Richardson also, has remarked, “that when people have fed for a long time solely upon lean animal food, the desire for fat becomes so insatiable, that they can consume a large quantity of unmixed and even oily fat without nausea:” this appears to me a curious physiological fact. It is, perhaps, from their meat regimen that the Gauchos, like other carnivorous animals, can abstain long from food. I was told that at Tandeel, some troops voluntarily pursued a party of Indians for three days, without eating or drinking. (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/944/pg944-images.html)
8/ The hoopoe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoopoe
9/ Oberammergau was Episode 52.
10/ Swastika from 10,000 BCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezine and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
11/ Triskelion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskelion
Triquitera/trefoil knot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trefoil_knot#In_religion_and_culture
12/ Sicily flag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trefoil_knot#In_religion_and_culture
Isle of Man flag: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Isle_of_Man
13/ Image of the three hares on a late-12th-century or early-13th-century Iranian brass tray: https://www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk/hares/page5.htm (no images are available of the 1281/2 copper coin minted in Iran, possibly for the Mongolian empire)
14/ “The Mongols were basically fine…” as long as you weren’t in China. (Wince)
15/ The three hares motif was popular in synagogues in Germany and Eastern Europe: Khaimovich, Boris. 2011. “On the Semantics of the Motif ‘Three Hares Chasing Each Other in a Circle’ on Jewish Monuments in Eastern Europe.” East European Jewish Affairs 41 (3): 157–80.
16/ English bosses: a “boss” (an architectural feature that protrudes from a ceiling) is in fact etymologically related to “emboss” (“to ornament with raised work”). They both descend from the old French (i.e. 12th century) boce, “hump, swelling, or tumor.” https://www.etymonline.com/word/emboss
This makes sense because the one Em is thinking of (where you press a design into something) is actually “deboss,” which comes from “de”+”emboss” and so is related to both via the transitive property of etymology.
Numerous great pictures of the wide variety of three-hares bosses in England:
https://www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk/hares/haresmen.htm
https://dartmoorexplorations.co.uk/the-three-hares/
17/ Bishop Walter Branscombe, Exeter Cathedral, Devon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Branscombe
CORRECTION: His (painted) cloth is clearly from the East via the Silk Road, but it contains different animal motifs (NOT the three hares specifically). https://www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk/hares/page4.htm
18/ Tinners are tin miners. Not people who put things in tins.
19/ We recorded this episode like two years ago and this T-shirt meme example is so no longer relevant. [All good memes come back around! And these are still around.–Jesse]
20/ Isle of Man motorcycle race is the Isle of Man TT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man_TT From 1927 to 2023 there were 156 fatalities. In 2022, there were six, making it the most deadly year since 1970 (this counts deaths both during practices and during the actual event).
21/ The Isle of Man is a crown dependency. It is self-governing; currently, Charles III is Lord of Mann. The UK will defend the island, but it is a separate international entity in other respects.
Jesse: Oh WOW, did we record this before the Queen died?!
SynopsisIn a first for Ask a Medievalist, Em sits down with Sebastian Nothwell to discuss his approach to writing historical/historical fantasy novels. In the process, they get into everything from Victorian steam power to the effects of the peasants revolt of 1381 on the chartists in the 1830s–50s. You can find Sebastian’s website at https://sebastiannothwell.com/.
Notes1/ British Newspaper Archive: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/
The Dictionary of Victorian London is also a great place for info. It’s composed largely of clippings from newspapers and books of the time, arranged by topic: https://www.victorianlondon.org/index-2012.htm
2/ Victorian Steam Power: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_power_during_the_Industrial_Revolution
3/ The UK shut down the coal plants in September 2024: https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/coal-phaseout-UK/index.html
4/ Buggery Act of 1533 was repealed by the Offenses Against the Person Act of 1837, which nevertheless maintained legal penalties against gay relationships; the last execution for the same was in 1835. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buggery_Act_1533
5/ “Blorbo” means favorite character.
6/ We’ve previously talked about the effects of the plague in episode 2. And we talked a little about the peasant’s revolt in episode 87.
7/ The Chartists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartism
8/ A few relevant novels: A Dream of John Ball: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/357
Wat Tyler, or the Rebellion of 1381: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951p007357378&seq=9
Ivanhoe: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/82
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14568 (but there are many, many translations if you look around; we also discussed this in episode 60.)
9/ The Eglinton Tournament: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eglinton_Tournament
Synopsis“Times are tough, but they could be worse” is the eternal message of our show. This time, we’re talking about persecution and rebellion–how certain groups were oppressed for political purposes in medieval (and early modern, and modern) Europe, and some people and groups who rebelled, in both a personal and more broadly political way. From Boudica to Hrotsvit to Jack Cade, join us to talk about how people in the middle ages took power back from the elites.
Notes1/ Link to Plague episode!
2/ You can tell I’m not a real historian because they would not be allowed to describe the French Revolution as “a messy breakup.”
3/ R. I. Moore, The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe 950–1250, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007.
4/ Jean-Paul Sartre, Anti-Semite and Jew, originally published in 1946, translated by George J. Becker and published in English in 1948. The most famous quote from this essay is “If the Jew did not exist, the anti-Semite would invent him.” It’s a little eerie to go to the Goodreads page in search of quotes and see how many people’s reviews (from the 2017–2020 period) say something like “Wow, this feels eerily relevant for what’s going on right now.” [Unfortunately, I think it’s always relevant!–JN]
5/ Bhabha, Homi K., “Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse.” In The Location of Culture. (London: Routledge, 1994), 85–92.
6/ Geraldine Heng, The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
7/ Boudica! (dies 60 CE) See Episode 58, note 11.
8/ Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (973–no later than 1002). Episode 22 is about her!
9/ Margery Kempe (1373–after 1438) was awesome. See Episode 36 note 17 and Episode 70.
10/ St Francis of Assisi (c.1181–1226). We’ve talked about him a lot! There’s more on his stigmata way back in Episode 4! Also, check him out in Episode 23 (on his Christmas pageant).
11/ Peasants’ Revolt (so called) in 1381.
Justice, Steven. Writing and Rebellion: England in 1381. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
Shakespeare’s version of the Adam/gentleman joke comes from the famous Gravedigger scene in Hamlet V.i:
GRAVEDIGGER: There is no ancient gentlemen but gard’ners, ditchers, and grave-makers. They hold up Adam’s profession.
[Second Gravedigger]: Was he a gentleman?
GRAVEDIGGER: He was the first that ever bore arms.
[Second Gravedigger]: Why, he had none.
GRAVEDIGGER: What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand the scripture? The scripture says Adam digged. Could he dig without arms?
12/ Jack Cade’s Rebellion (1450).
Shakespeare again! 2 Henry VI IV.ii:
Dick: The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
13/ Florence’s Ciompi Revolt (1378–1382).
14/ Defenestrations of Prague. Episode coming soon!
15/ Victor Hugo (1802–1885) wrote Les Misérables (1862) about the 1832 June Rebellion.
16/ We’re about to post this just after the suspect in the murder of a health insurance CEO has been caught, despite extensive sympathy for him from a large portion of the public. The public reaction demonstrates the anger people currently have toward wealthy institutions that cannot be held accountable, an anger that is similar to the anger of some of the people and revolts that we discussed. One of the things we didn’t discuss during this episode is that once anger and vitriol have been stirred up, they become very difficult to control (and there’s a lot of anger going around right now).
Postscript: We got through all that without a the people are revolting joke. Wow.
SummaryThe Ramayana is not the oldest story in the world, but it’s definitely in the running. Composed starting in the 700s BCE, it has been carried to all corners of the earth and translated into many languages and cultures, traveling along several distinct lines of migration, yet it remains largely unknown in the west. In honor of Em’s new novel Troth, join Em and Jesse as they discuss the story and its translations.
Notes0/ You can get Em’s new novel here (https://books2read.com/u/mg68Xz)! Or scoop up a signed copy here (https://xanthippe42.itch.io/troth).
1/ Arsene Lupin was created by Maurice Leblanc in 1905, and The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar came out in 1910. According to my notes from the time, the actual thing I was confused by was the combination of the French “la tenure de veleurs” (a velvet wall hanging) that was adjacent to “le manteau de la cheminee” (a mantlepiece) becoming in English, “a velvet chimney-mantel,” which I don’t think is a thing.
The book also contained the observation, “La justice obéit souvent à ces entraînements de conviction qui font qu’on oblige les événements à se plier à l’explication première qu’on en a donnée.” meaning “Justice [also law officers, I guess] often obeys the training of its beliefs that one obliges the events to bend to the first explanation that one gave.” Which seems to be still true.
2/ Being so long, the text is thought to have been composed over a long period. It is thought that the earliest parts were composed no earlier than about 750 BCE, and the later parts could have been written as recently as the 3rd century CE.
3/ Some non-academic sources of info about partition: Ms. Marvel (Disney+ show, episode 5), Dr. Who (Series 11, episode 6), Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie.
4/ For more on the “300 Ramayanas” controversy, see “Censoring the Ramayana,” Vinay Dharwadker, PMLA 127.3 (May 2012), pp. 433–450. https://doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2012.127.3.433
5/ Earliest manuscript: 6th century BCE (See this article.) Prior to its discovery in 2015, the earliest manuscript was assumed to be from the 4th century BCE, attributed to Valmiki (the putative author of the Ramayana).
6/ Valmiki: the traditional author of the Ramayana. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valmiki
7/ A summary of the story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana#Synopsis
8/ Shakuntala: episode 15
9/ The quote Dr. Jesse reads is from “Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation” in The Collected Essays of A.K. Ramanujan (131–160). (Jesse is paraphrasing p. 134.)
10/ Silk Road, if you missed it, was episode 83 “Old Silk Road, Take Me Home.”
11/ Kannada is a Dravidian language spoken in southwestern India.
12/ The Chakri dynasty: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakri_dynasty
13/ The Ramakien: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramakien
14/ The Ramayana of Valmiki: The Complete English Translation, edited and translated by Robert P. Goldman and Sally J. Sutherland Goldman. Princeton Library of Asian Translations. Princeton University Press, 2021.
15/ The proto-Indo European root for “cat” is maybe *kat-, but the reason all the European words look similar is because they come from the Latin “cattus.” In fact, one etymology blog (https://www.etymologynerd.com/blog/cats-and-kittens) suggests that because the animal was traded a lot, it’s hard to get back beyond a certain point because everyone’s word was the same.
Interestingly, the word “textile” (from the Latin “texere”) and the word “technology” (from Greek “tekhne”) both share the same PIE root: *teks-.
16/ Brief Gilgamesh digression: Utnapishtim is in the section of Gilgamesh where the big G is searching for the key to immortality after Enkidu dies, but the reasons why the flood (which he tells G about) actually happened are kind of opaque. Utnapishtim survived because one of the gods (Ea) leaked the plan to U and told him what to do.
In memory of Wrigley Njus-Kirk, The Best Puppy (May 28, 2009–November 18, 2024), we’re reposting our episode on dogs this week! You can check out the original notes here: http://askamedievalist.com/2021/03/26/episode-29-dyou-like-dags/
We’ll be back with regular episodes next week! Until then, give your puppy a pat and keep it medieval!
SynopsisOne time, Em got drunk and started texting Jesse about the bronze age collapse. This is the result.
Notes1/ Em studied abroad in Tianjin, China. It was very educational. I learned that black vinegar is good for your health, that there are mushrooms called ear mushrooms (wood ear, but I only recognized one character), and that I can explain that my stretched earlobes didn’t hurt in several languages. Also, some beer has a relatively low amount of alcohol in it, and if you put it in the freezer, it will freeze and the bottles will shatter. (Perhaps I should say I learned that my classmates didn’t know this.)
2/ Books about how the Church was awesome and saved civilization: How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahil.
3/ Spoiler: They finished the restoration of Notre Dame in time for the Olympics. (Unusually for us, we recorded this in July 2024—before Biden dropped out of the race, as you can maybe tell from the tenor of some of the commentary.)
4/ To be honest, if the fall of Rome was a simple story, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire wouldn’t be six volumes long, right?
5/ Ramses II: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_II
6/ The Battle of the Delta article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Delta
7/ The Sea Peoples are a famous…myth? Explanation by modern historians of something they didn’t understand? Both of these things? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Peoples
8/ Mycenaean Greece: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycenaean_Greece. We talked about the Mycenaeans in episode 68 note 9
Minoans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_civilization We talked about the Minoans in Episode 2 note 9, episode 68 note 9, and episode 75 notes 12–14.
Cyclades: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycladic_culture We only talked about Cycladic Culture briefly in episode 2 note 9, but we have an upcoming episode on Cycladic art!
9/ We just talked about the Ever Given and the rights of truckers in episode 84 notes 1 and 3! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Given (What a weird coincidence!) Also, see John Oliver talk about trucks and waiting! (Start at the 5 minute mark.)
10/ Actually, to the point about “a hundred years ago, if it rained too much, maybe they just didn’t have corn”–a hundred years ago, corn was actually such a major part of the American diet that pellagra was considered an epidemic! This is because corn does not contain vitamin B3 (niacin), and people in poor, rural areas and institutions ate a largely corn-based diet, since it was cheap compared to other things. It was in about 1926 that Dr. Joseph Goldberger established that adding brewer’s yeast to these diets would prevent pellagra. (Interestingly, the nixtamalization of maize, a traditional process that involves soaking the grain in limewater, introduces niacin!)
10/ Linear A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_A
Cypro-Minoan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypro-Minoan_syllabary
SynopsisWe talked about trade moving across Asia and into Europe, but what about trade going North–South? Like the Silk Road, there was a lot of Trans-Saharan trade going back a long time. Goods like salt, ivory, gold, beads, and metal goods–as well as enslaved people–crossed hostile conditions to travel from as far south as Ghana and Mali to northern Africa and the Middle East, and from there into Europe. Join Em and Jesse as they discuss these lesser-known but incredibly interesting routes.
Notes1/ The Ever Given: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ever_Given (yeah, we recorded this a while ago).
2/ Ducks: The Friendly Floatees Spill! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Floatees_spill
3/ John Oliver talks about trucks and waiting! (Start at the 5 minute mark.)
4/ Sacha Baron Cohen turned out to be a terrible person. Surprising? Not really.
5/ Nintendo was originally founded in 1889. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo
6/ Cannabis discovered in Chinese tombs
7/ Chinese coins in England!
8/ Shoshonean Prayerstone Hypothesis
9/ History of the De Beers Corp: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~lcabral/teaching/debeers3.pdf
10/ History of diamond advertising: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/02/have-you-ever-tried-to-sell-a-diamond/304575/
11/ Somehow over the past two years since we recorded this, the salt/salary thing turned into a throwaway line in Em’s new novel Troth. Never say I don’t learn nothin’ from this.
SynopsisThe Silk Road spanned four thousand years and lasted for centuries–it’s hard to think of anything comparable in scale. From the second century BCE until the mid-15th century, jade, silk, tea, horses, the plague, and more flowed across the Eurasian continent. Join Em and Jesse as they talk about it–and also about Route 66, the origin of the word “tea,” Mongolian horses, and other questionably relevant things.
Notes1/ Route 66 celebrates its centennial in 2026! https://www.route66-centennial.com/ The google doodle was April 30, 2022: https://doodles.google/doodle/celebrating-route-66/ It recognized the day in 1926 that the designation “U.S. 66” was proposed for the route.
2/ Tom Robbins did write a book called Another Roadside Attraction, but the family of clowns was in Villa Incognito. I refuse to link to those books on Wikipedia. You cannot read a summary of a Tom Robbins novel; they must be experienced.
3/ The Green Book: https://www.loc.gov/item/2016298176/
It was inspired by The Jewish Vacation Guide, a book published in 1917 that did a similar thing—list places where road-tripping Jews would be welcome.
The LOC site suggests that after the Civil Rights act of 1964 passed, the kinds of discrimination the book helped people avoid stopped happening and so the guide stopped being published. But I’ve talked to Jews who went on motorcycle road trips across the country and stopped at various establishments in the south in the late 70s and felt they were, in modern parlance, extremely sus, vibes are off, etc. So, like, sundown towns maybe went away but the people’s attitudes did not change as quickly.
4/ It was Turkmenistan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9QYu8LtH2E
The mention of Azerbaijan on Last Week Tonight.
5/ Bongbong Marcos was elected in 2022. We taped this one a while ago.
6/ Podcast episode on textiles: Episode 33 (on women artisans and textiles), Episode 54 note 15 (on the Bayeux Tapestry), and Episode 62 on tapestries.
7/ Mongolian horses: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_horse
They live outdoors in temps that get down to -40 degrees. There are more horses than people in Mongolia right now.
In trying to source the cheese-making story, I have learned that horse’s milk cannot be made into cheese, because the lactose level is too high! So it’s probably not cheese that was made that way, but fermented mare’s milk—airag—which needs to be churned while it’s fermenting.
8/ Famously, people call it “chai” if it arrived in their country by land (for example, India, most of peninsular SE Asia, Russia, Japan) and “tea” if it arrived by boat (e.g., England and all of their colonies). Both of these words come ultimately from the Chinese “tu”, which became “cha” in Mandarin but “ta” and “te” in Min, a group of Chinese languages spoken in Fujian province and Taiwan (among other areas—there are over 70 million speakers! And you’ve never heard of it!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_tea has a nice table with different words in different languages if you’re interested in the linguistics here.
9/ The thing Em says about a Mayan god of zero appears to be incorrect. However, linguistically, in at least one Mayan dialect, yesterday and tomorrow are always expressed as “day minus one” and “day plus one” respectively—today is always zero. (https://baas.aas.org/pub/2021n1i336p03/release/2) The Mayans were a long-lived and pluralistic society and in retrospect it’s not right to say, “The Mayans thought,” because when did they think this? Which group? Today they are still over six million people speaking twenty-eight languages! Their earliest villages were established before 2000 BCE and their last city fell in 1697 CE.
9/ Rabban Bar Sauma (c1220–1294) was a Nestorian (named for Nestorius). We discussed miaphysitism and dyophysitism in Episode 48 (see note 14).
SynopsisJoin Em and Dr. Jesse as they talk about the last two branches of the Mabinogi.
Em’s books can all be found here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C5XX9BH3 (or at many other fine internet sites.)
Notes1/ The previous episodes were: Episode 78 (introduction), and episode 79 (branches 1 and 2). Also, we’re still using The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies (2008, Oxford University press) Link.
2/ People still alive: Pryderi, Cigfa, Manawyden, Rhiannon, Arawn
3/ Bank of England inflation calculator: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator
4/ Branch four: Trigger warnings for sexual assault.
5/ The film in which Bernie walks around by himself (in the US Virgin Islands) is Weekend at Bernie’s II. In the first film, his body is just repeatedly stolen. For some reason it was on TV constantly in 1994 or so. I don’t remember it well but I don’t think I have to in order to assert it has loads of super sketchy voodoo representation. Among other things, I’m sure.
6/ Guards, Guards! is by Terry Pratchett. Did we say that?
SynopsisDid you see a headless (possibly satanic) angel rising from the stage during the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, or Winged Victory? Or did you wonder, as we did, how the two happen to be so similar, when angels in the bible are often described as having six wings, or wheels, or four faces and many eyes, or voices that sound like many people speaking at once? And actually, now that we mention it, why are apples so common in Mediterranean myths? Join Em and Dr. Jesse as we talk through the Olympics closing ceremony, its symbolism, and how the modern Christian imagination is inextricably tied to Greek myth.
Notes1/ Bobby Gibb was technically the first woman to run Boston in 1966. Katherine Switzer ran it in 1967 and the officials’ attempts to eject her produced the photos described.
2/ The apple/evil pun only works in Latin (not Greek). Also, although both the Septuagint and the Vulgate use a generic word for fruit in Genesis, the word for apple (which Latin got from Greek) not only served the Latin pun but brought an accrual of meanings from the Greek world (which, as we discussed in this episode, is presumably why the apple became the de facto fruit in the garden).
3/ Dan Smith’s blog: https://danaturg.blogspot.com/2024/07/dramaturgy-of-paris-olympics-opening.html
4/ The Hymn to Apollo was in episode 46.
SynopsisLast week, the 2024 Summer Olympics started in Paris with an opening ceremony that featured nods to several musicals, a heavy metal band named after Godzilla, a bit of an aria from Carmen, and of course, a tableau of drag queens and gender bent fashionistas referencing Leonardo da Vinci’s 1498 painting The Last Supper. Or perhaps they were referencing Jan van Bijlert’s 1640 work Le Festin des Dieux (The Feast of the Gods). Join Em and Dr. Jesse for a wide-ranging conversation about the history of the games, the video game Assassin’s Creed, camp, kitsch, and Susan Sontag. Oh, no, sorry. That tableau. Spoiler: Jesse had thoughts.
No notes today. Also, Em’s mic sounds bad because like a noob she didn’t check what Audacity was recording with. Sorry for the slightly less than pristine sound quality.
SynopsisThe Mabinogi: what’s it actually about, when you get down to it? Join Em and Jesse as they discuss the first two branches, in which Pwyll meets Arawn, lord of the underworld, and has adventures; in which Pwyll meets Rhiannon and has a lot more adventures than maybe he bargained for; and in which Bendigeidran, Branwen, and Manawyden fight Ireland.
Notes0/ Find links to Old Time Religion here, or buy it directly from Ingram Spark here. If you are seeing this during the month of July 2024, it (and Dionysus in Wisconsin) are currently 75% off at Smashwords.
1/ The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies (2008, Oxford University press)
The Horse in Celtic Culture: Medieval Welsh Perspectives ed. Sioned Davies and Nerys Jones (University of Wales Press, 1997)
2/ Randomly, there’s a fairly well-known professor of graphic design who shares my original surname. I don’t think we’re related.
3/ Branch one major characters:
- Arawn: Lord of Annwn, the underworld
- Pwyll: A guy (okay, he’s the Prince of Dyfed)
- Hafgan: Pwyll fights and defeats him (on behalf of Arawn)
- Rhiannon: the wife of Pwyll (but also very smart and a hero in her own right)
- Pryderi: the son of Pwyll and Rhiannon
4/ For our thoughts on The Green Knight (both story and film), hunt down Episode 60.
5/ Geoffrey of Monmouth (c1095–c1155). Extremely responsible for King Arthur mythos. See episode 60 on The Green Knight!
6/ The early modern Irish “Children of Lir“:
Different from “The Children of LLYR” (from the Mabinogion) and not related to Shakespeare’s King Lear
7/ The actual children of Llyr (from the Mabinogion):
- Brân the Blessed / Bendigeidfran
- Branwen
- Manawyden
8/ The Gundestrup caldron: this cauldron is clearly ceremonial (not for everyday use), but cauldrons generally are very communal and demonstrate the importance of being a good host
9/ A torc is a stiff metal neck ring (aka really iconic jewelry from the Bronze age through the Middle Ages, found throughout Europe from the Balkans through Celtic regions)
SynopsisPaul: Look, it’s a school of whales.
Ringo: They look a little bit old for school.
Paul: University then.
Ringo: University of Wales.
(From Yellow Submarine, 1968)
Ever wonder what Wales is, on a mythological level? That strange country of Michael Sheen with a dragon on the flag! And jokes about leeks in Henry V. The most well-known Welsh myths are collected in a book called The Mabinogi, which has solidly medieval origins. Join Em and Jesse as they discuss where the book came from and what we know about it.
Notes0/ You can get Old Time Religion here.
1/ Spoiler: It was not January when the episode went out.
2/ Edition we recommend:
Sioned Davies, tr. The Mabinogion. Oxford: OUP, 2008. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-mabinogion-9780199218783
3/ If you speak Welsh, I’m just really sorry.
4/ Lady Charlotte Guest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Charlotte_Guest
5/ House of Legends: See episodes 59, 61, and 63.
6/ Geoffrey of Monmouth: see episode 60 on The Green Knight. We’ve recorded some other episodes on King Arthur, but apparently they’re not out yet.
7/ Possible authors:
- Unknown! No names are attached to these stories.
- However, Andrew Breeze has argued (controversially!) that Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd (c.1100-1136) may be the author of the four stories that compose the Four Branches. She is a famous noblewoman who led a revolt and was executed after being captured in battle. She’s often compared to Boudica (dies 60/61 CE). See Andrew Breeze, Medieval Welsh Literature (Four Courts Press, 1997).
8/ Mari Lwyd–essentially a hobby horse but using a (horse’s) skull. Really interesting, look it up for pictures!
9/ The prototypical Welsh word with a “w” as a vowel is “cwm,” which is a hollow at the head of a valley. Go forth and win at Scrabble.
10/ Brave weatherperson saying “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch”
SummaryHere comes the parade, want some beads?
Okay, so carnival is a prelude to Lent, which is an extremely solemn time in Catholic tradition. So why is it the way that it is in so many places? Let’s talk about it.
Notes1/ It’s late, but it’s ~~up before the end of Lent.~~ lol sob
2/ carnem levare: Latin for putting away (not eating) meat.
3/ The dialog is:
Aziraphale: Did you ever meet him?
Crowley: Yes…seemed a very bright young man. I showed him all the kingdoms of the world.
Aziraphale: Why?
Crowley: He’s a carpenter from Galilee. His travel opportunities are limited.
(From s1e03)
4/ https://www.comicmix.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/pancakes4.jpg pancakes
5/ John Bossy, Christianity in the West: 1400–1700.
6/ Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World.
7/ By “the countries [UK and the Netherlands] have some connections,” Em means that during the Glorious Revolution, William III (of Orange) and Mary II were invited to rule England, because they’d run out of endogenous rulers owing to having kicked James II/VI out. (They were invited because Mary was James’s eldest surviving child, and they reigned as co-monarchs, which honestly seems like a very rational move to me.)
8/ Peter Bruegel the Elder: The Fight between Carnival and Lent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fight_Between_Carnival_and_Lent
Jan Miense Molenaer (1610–1668): The Battle between Carnival and Lent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Miense_Molenaer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Between_Carnival_and_Lent
Molenaer shared his studio with his wife, Judith Leyster, who was also an awesome painter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Leyster
Hieronymus Bosch: Ship of Fools
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Fools_(painting)
The poem mentioned was written is by Jacop (Jacob) van Oestvoren who wrote “De Blauwe Schuit” (“The Blue Boat”) in 1413
9/ Joseph Roach, Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance
SynopsisIf you’re one of those people who thinks about the Roman Empire a lot because aqueducts are really cool, you’re going to love this. Join Em and Jesse as they discuss the irrigation of the Chengdu Plain, the plumbing of Tenochtitlan, and water management at Machu Picchu. Then we round out our “the middle ages didn’t constantly smell awful” series with a discussion of the history of perfume.
Notes1/ Various news articles about water pollution:
Cuyahoga River fires (yes, plural): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuyahoga-river-caught-fire-least-dozen-times-no-one-cared-until-1969-180972444/
Chicago River story: https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2023/9/28/23895006/trump-tower-chicago-river-pollution-attorney-general-kwame-raoul
2/ John Snow proved that the Broad Street Pump was carrying disease in 1854: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7150208/
Germ theory of disease was actually first proposed in 1546 but not widely accepted in Europe until the end of the 1880s. THE 1880s!
For more on Girolamo Fracastoro see: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-physician-who-presaged-the-germ-theory-of-disease-nearly-500-years-ago/
3/ The Irrigation of the Chengdu Plain: the Dujiangyan irrigation system is a UNESCO heritage site! https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1001/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dujiangyan
4/ Tenochtitlan plumbing: the Chapultepec aqueduct! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapultepec_aqueduct
5/ The Incan plumbing:
An article from UW-Madison (Go Badgers!!): https://ancientengrtech.wisc.edu/machu-picchu/machu-picchu-water-management/
6/ For the record, although there were people in the area of Venice from around the 10th century BCE on, the dedication of the first church, symbolically recognized as the founding of the city, was 421 CE. (There was a Roman city there before, of course.) Tenochtitlan, on the other hand, was founded around 1325 CE (with, again, some wiggle room).
7/ The tallest building in Des Moines, IA, is 801 Grand, which is 45 storeys high. [Sorry Des Moines!!! You are awesome.]
8/ Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression, was published from 1977–2005. In vol. 12 (1996), they did publish an article entitled “Linguistic and Blasphemous Aspects of Bavarian Micturition and American Toilet Names” by the editor, Reinhold Aman. However, the journal is now offline.
He, uh. Really hated the Clintons.
9/ QI bits: I can’t find them. [I think you might need BBC iPlayer or a VPN or similar.–Jesse]
10/ The Ted Chiang short story is “Tower of Babylon,” which is collected in Stories of Your Life and Others. It’s really good!
11/ UW–Madison and building better potatoes: https://pasdept.wisc.edu/2019/10/07/new-potato-helps-farmers-weather-the-frost/
UW Machu Picchu project is part of UW-Madison’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Ancient Engineering Technologies project:
https://ancientengrtech.wisc.edu/machu-picchu/
12/ Pomander: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomander
13/ Wow, coming on hard with the perfume facts there, Em.
Recreating perfumes! https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/may-be-what-cleopatra-smelled-180972854/
An example of a glass perfume bottle (1st century CE): https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/239779
14/ National Theatre’s Antony and Cleopatra with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo is the best.
https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/antony-and-cleopatra/
Some photos Jesse took of old pipes on Knossos:
SummaryAfter a brief discussion of how people brushed their teeth, we move on to the question of where the water they used came from. And yeah, Rome had aqueducts–but so did a lot of places! And the Romans didn’t even build the aqueducts they did have–they took them from the Etruscans! Who may have gotten the idea from the Minoans! Also we talk about China, Harappa, and the Inca. You don’t want to miss this amazing smorgasbord of plumbing knowledge.
Notes1/ This discussion of dentistry is very weird to listen to; as I [Em] am editing this episode, I’m also preparing to get some dental work and…let’s just say we all appreciate being born after Novocain became a thing. [Ooooo, yes. I agree.–Jesse]
2/ St. Apollonia–see episode 10 (Icons and Iconography) note 37 and episode 28 (Food) note 29.
3/ A broken jaw wired together with gold thread: the jaw of a Byzantine warrior (14th century) was broken and healed after being wired together (probably with gold thread). Hippocrates had suggested this method in the 5th century BCE, but there’s not a lot of archeological evidence of this type of surgery. https://www.livescience.com/byzantine-warrior-fractured-jaw
4/ Our Flag Means Death is set around 1717–1720. The “acts of grace” Blackbeard takes advantage of were a 1717–1719 thing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1717%E2%80%931718_Acts_of_Grace), and IRL Blackbeard died in 1718. Also, Stede dresses like a gentleman of that era (banyans! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan_(clothing))
5/ First toothbrush: China, 600s CE. Here’s a history of toothbrush evolution in China! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22883376/
6/ Various tooth abrasives:
- Pumice
- Ash
- charcoal
- Eggshells
- Walnut shells
- Crushed bones
- Oyster shells
7/ The compound in coffee and tea that sticks to your teeth is tannin. When you brush your teeth with baking soda, I believe it forms a new compound—sodium tannate, and then it will leave your teeth alone! That’s why baking soda is a whitener. But it tastes NASTY.
8/ Trotula (12th century): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trota_of_Salerno
9/ Lead: plumbum in Latin. Pretty clear line from there to plumber.
10/ Indus Valley / Harappa:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitation_of_the_Indus_Valley_Civilisation
https://www.harappa.com/blog/mohenjo-daro-street-drains
Jansen, “Water Supply and Sewage Disposal at Mohenjo-Daro” in World Archaeology 21.2 (Oct 1989), 177-192.
11/ Shelves in the closet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKE2S-lHhRY
12/ The Minoans:
Jesse has seen the plumbing at the palace at Knossos and spent a lot of time taking pictures of it. It’s still there and truly incredible!
A.N. Angelakis “Hydro-technologies in the Minoan Era”
https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/water-harvesting-and-distribution-systems-of-the-minoan-civilization
13/ Linear A:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_A
(The other one is Linear B, aka Mycinean Greek. We didn’t name things too creatively I guess.)
14/ For more on Crete and the Minoans, see episodes: 2 note 9 and 68 note 9.
15/ The Etruscans:
https://novoscriptorium.com/2020/01/09/etruscan-hydro-technologies/
16/ The Cloaca Maxima in Roma:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitation_in_ancient_Rome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloaca_Maxima
SummaryWhen Em was a kid, she was told that knights in shining armor didn’t bathe, that Elizabeth I had bathed only three times in her life, and various other assertions. But we know that soap is not a modern invention–the word itself comes from the Latin, and no less than Pliny the Elder discusses how to make it from tallow and ashes. So what constitutes bathing? Were people before the year 1900 CE just terribly smelly all the time? And what were bathrooms–and plumbing–like around the world? Join Em and Jesse for a far-ranging discussion of cleanliness, won’t you?
Notes0/ Em’s new novel, Old Time Religion, can be ordered here. Dionysus in Wisconsin is here.
1/ This episode was apparently recorded in April of 2022. Amusingly, the novel I was working on is NOT either of the novels that have been published! It was TWO AND A HALF novels BEFORE Dionysus. 2022 was wild.
2/ William Alcott’s tract Thoughts on Bathing:
Catalog entry: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011604824
Full text!: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044014202691&seq=5
I think Em says 1939, she meant 1839.
3/ The most famous portrait of someone in a bath is, in my mind, The Death of Marat, by Jacques-Louis David, which is SOLIDLY 18th century. But there are others, from earlier.
(Also, who doesn’t love JLD? He’s amazing.)
4/ York Medieval interactive Viking attraction: https://www.jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorvik_Viking_Centre
5/ Nope, this is from a letter that Queen Elizabeth I wrote to George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, who is better known for being Lord Chamberlain and the patron of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (Shakespeare’s Company) after his father Henry, also Lord Chamberlain and patron of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, died. He was apparently having a great time at Bath, and the Queen wrote him: “[I] can not but wonder, considering the great number of pails of water that I hear have been poured upon you, that you are not rather drowned than otherwise. But I trust all shall be for your better means to health.” Here is a link to the letter. (Berkeley Castle Muniments Select Letter 8). The letter is also available in Katherine Duncan-Jones, ‘Elizabeth I and her “Good George” unpublished letters’, in P. Beal and G. Ioppolo (eds.), Elizabeth I and the Culture of Writing (British Library, 2007), 29–41.
6/ Monty Python scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi8vXOUi-eI
Dennis the peasant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2c-X8HiBng
7/ The process of making soap is called SAPONIFICATION. Sometimes this happens to bodies that get buried in certain environments. The word soap came to Latin (saponem) from a proto-Fresian dialect (I don’t think we have that word, just a reconstruction of it) and thence to many other languages, including savon (French), xa bong (Vietnamese), sebon (Welsh), soap (English), sabuu (Thai–I don’t know for sure it’s related but I’d be willing to place a bet)…
8/ Natron is hydrated sodium carbonate (https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history-technology/mummies-pigments-and-pretzels)
9/ Books for travelers Em alludes to:
H. M. L. S., A Few Words of Advice on Travelling and Its Requirements Addressed to Ladies with short vocabulary in French and German, London: Thomas Cook and Son, 1876 (2nd ed.) https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/CHgBAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
Anglo-Indian, Indian Outfits & Establishments: Practical Guide for Persons about to Reside in India: detailing the articles which should be taken out, and the requirements of home life and management there. London: L. Upcott Gill, 1882. https://archive.org/details/indianoutfitsest00angliala/page/n3/mode/2up
F. A. Steel and G. Gardiner, The Complete Indian Housekeeper & Cook: Giving the duties of mistress and servants, the general management of the house, and practical recipes for cooking in all its branches. London: William Heinemann, 1909. https://archive.org/details/b21528640/page/n7/mode/2up
10/ Polar plunge:
Wim Hof: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof
It’s madness if you ask me. [-Em]
11/ I Henry IV scene: I think this is II.i.15, which is actually about fleas not lice! Same idea though. –Jesse
12/ A truly disturbing fact: most lice now have become impervious to the anti-lice shampoos we used to use when we were kids. [Oh god!! –Jesse]
13/ For example, Bolton Strid (or “the Strid”) is a small, fairly calm-appearing waterway that has claimed a lot of lives. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bolton-strid
14/ There’s a long section on bathing in Matrix, by Lauren Groff.
15/ Mr Darcy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBaspD6Aq9E
16/ Inca baths: https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2019/02/27/researchers-reveal-inca-bath-complex-structure/
https://www.livescience.com/64845-inca-ceremonial-baths-archaeology.html
17/ Em was being a bit flippant about how long Japan’s written history goes back. The earliest written work recounting Japanese history (in Classical Chinese) was the Tennok and the Kokki, written in 620 CE. Neither survives. The Kojiki was the oldest account of Japan’s history (or it’s semi-historical, anyway) that still survives, and it dates from the early 700s. The first work to unambiguously mention Japan was the Book of Han, which was a Chinese book dating from 111 CE that covers history from 206 BCE to 23 CE.
18/ I know WAY MORE about the history of the 1970s now. Anyway, in his excellent autobiography, On the Move, Oliver Sacks mentions going to a bathhouse with a friend in San Francisco in 1978. Uncharacteristically, he doesn’t say anything more about the bathhouse itself.
Another fun fact, here at UW the pool at the Red Gym was men-only and swimsuit-optional until 1973. NINETEEN SEVENTY-THREE. A group of female students who forced their way into the pool (nude) forced the university to reconsider their policy.
19/ Greece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXt0VCPKfQ4
20/ Brooklyn 99 is the best. REST IN POWER Captain Holt: Andre Braugher (1962–2023) (https://www.npr.org/2023/12/19/1220282449/remembering-andre-braugher-star-of-homicide-and-brooklyn-nine-nine)
21/ Shanxi province excavations: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5111981/Luxurious-2-300-year-old-imperial-bathrooms-China.html
22/ Editing this, it is once again winter and I [Em] would happily move into a sauna for the next five months if available.
SynopsisAre you travelling for Thanksgiving? Believe it or not, “travel” as a thing is not a modern creation. In the middle ages, people visited many remote and far-flung places and brought back notes (and delicious noodles). Join Em and Jesse for travel talk, including Lord Elgin, Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, Zheng He, Margery Kemp, and more.
Notes0/ The actual postcard:
I found it in a copy of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks. I was definitely not reading that when the postcard arrived, so…I don’t know how it was saved.
1/ Anyway, in the UK a “subway” means a pedestrian tunnel under a street. (cough)
2/ Lord Elgin: Boo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bruce,_7th_Earl_of_Elgin
It’s actually weird that this one, with more complaining about the British Museum, is coming directly after our episode about the British Museum. We didn’t plan that. We just slag off the British Museum from time to time. [We do!–Jesse]
There is apparently some debate about the legality of Lord Elgin’s firman (a royal mandate allowing him to do the things he did).
He did all this in the early 1800s, and he had considerable trouble getting his booty back to the UK. Some pieces took upward of ten years to arrive. Also, Byron was horrified and wrote the following lines:
Dull is the eye that will not weep to see
Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed
By British hands, which it had best behoved
To guard those relics ne’er to be restored.
Curst be the hour when from their isle they roved,
And once again thy hapless bosom gored,
And snatch’d thy shrinking gods to northern climes abhorred!
No one better than Byron for a slam poem. [Much, much applause!–Jesse]
The marbles were purchased by the British gov’t in 1816 for 35,000 GBP. (Elgin had estimated their value at 75k, which is actually what he spent to bring them back to the UK, so he took a bath on the whole deal.) This would be approximately £2,795,511.37 (about 3.5 million USD) in today’s money, which is a lot but not an astronomical sum. [Welp, I’m glad he roasted!–Jesse]
4/ What the heck, let’s link to James Acaster again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x73PkUvArJY
5/ Also, quick shout out to the QI bit about the Parthenon, why not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdvD4Fhc_K8
6/ Netscape guy James Clark repatriates stuff: https://news.artnet.com/news/netscape-founder-returns-looted-cambodian-antiquities-2059851
For more on museums, see episode 72.
7/ Famous travelers include:
Ibn Battuta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Battuta
Marco Polo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo
Zheng He https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He
Margery Kemp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margery_Kempe
8/ Travel in the Roman empire: https://orbis.stanford.edu/
9/ The episode on graffiti was episode 69 (the part about the Vikings was right at the end—see note 20).
10/ The Rus’ come up a bit in Michael Chabon’s Gentlemen of the Road. I think there was a substantial Jewish population there at one point. But maybe I made that up.
11/ Venice lion
12/ Vikings in Vineland
Not to be confused with the Thomas Pynchon book of the same name.
13/ The Azores and mitochondrial mouse DNA!
14/ The Azores on medieval maps:
Medici or or Laurentian Atlas (Genoese cartographer)
Catalan Atlas (Majorcan Jewish Cartographer, Abraham Cresques)
Guillem Soler (Majorcan Cartographer)
15/ The Derbyshire man illumination in the Domesday book
16/ The Ipswich man
17/ Henry VIII’s warship’s crew
18/ Tang Dynasty murals
19/ John Hawkwood (1323–1394) was in episode 63 note 7 and episode 64 note 10.
20/ Xi Jing (1091–1153), a Chinese traveler who visited Korea in 1123. Here’s a translated edition of his account of his travels from University of Hawaii Press.
21/ Adam de la Halle
The May Day episode was episode 31.
Here is a whole site from Berkeley devoted to Ibn Battuta’s travels.
22/ Em ranted about Barthes’s essay (from Mythologies) in episode 3 note 3.
23/ The Anne Boleyn series with Jodie Turner-Smith as Anne Boleyn
Bridgerton (series)
SynopsisWe’ve all seen that scene in Indiana Jones where he’s clutching an artifact and shouting, “It belongs in a museum!” But nowadays in 2023, we tend to temper that idea–museums are fun, but who gets to hold a particular object, why, and for how long is a point of contention. Join Em and Jesse as they discuss one of the world’s oldest and largest museums, the British Museum. With a collection of over eight million objects, you know there’s some controversial stuff in there. We’ll also discuss other recent British Museum-related controversies, the illegal antiquities market, the differences between Lord Elgin and the city of Elgin, IL, and more.
Notes1/ “Wake Up Thai People” Cold War map: https://transnationalhistory.net/doing/2020/04/12/a-tale-of-two-nations-the-creations-of-iran-and-thailand/
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2017/12/22/cold-war-maps-to-wake-up-southeast-asian-buddhists/
2/ Article about the Met’s “aggressive” collection policy.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/mar/20/new-york-metropolitan-museum-collection-artifacts-theft
https://www.icij.org/investigations/hidden-treasures/more-than-1000-artifacts-in-metropolitan-museum-of-art-catalog-linked-to-alleged-looting-and-trafficking-figures/
3/ I think “all art is counterfit” is a minor plot point of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?
4/ Article about Met sending back Nepali statue: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/mar/20/new-york-metropolitan-museum-collection-artifacts-theft
5/ Article about illegal Cambodian statues at the Met: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/24/arts/cambodia-met-museum-looted-antiquities.html (not the one I remember seeing, but a much newer one)
6/ Article about illegal Gilgamesh tablets: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hobby-lobby-forfeits-rare-gilgamesh-tablet-smuggled-iraq-180978314/
7/ Article about guy sending back Cambodian statues: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/arts/design/james-clark-cambodian-antiquities.html
Also this: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/arts/design/lindemann-cambodia-khmer-statues-looting.html#:~:text=A%20family%20of%20billionaire%20art,American%20officials%20said%20on%20Tuesday.
8/ Elgin marbles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles
https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/contested-objects-collection/parthenon-sculptures
Versus Elgin, IL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin,_Illinois There is an adorable Doctor Who-themed cafe there. [Yes! Blue Box Cafe is so good!–JN]
9/ Memes:
The British Museum after it’s been decolonized
The guy putting the leaning tower of Pisa in his backpack
10/ The acts:
British Museum Act 1963: Also https://observer.com/2023/02/the-uk-has-a-60-year-old-law-prohibiting-repatriation-of-art-is-that-about-to-change/
National Heritage Act of 1983
11/ Sarah / Saartje Baartman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Baartman
The Suzan-Lori Parks play Venus: https://www.amazon.com/Venus-Suzan-Lori-Parks/dp/1559361352
The Kim Kardashian photos were recreated in Paste magazine, by the photographer who originally took them (Jean-Paul Goude). The original model was Carolina Beaumont.
12/ Kara Walker’s Sugar Baby. We also discussed it in episode 10 (note 16 and 24), episode 17 (note 1), and episode 42 (note 7).
https://creativetime.org/projects/karawalker/
13/ Venus de Milo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_de_Milo
See Lorenza Böttner’s Venus de Milo: http://lebastart.com/en/2018/11/lorenza-bottner-fall-flight/
14/ Favorite translation of the Odyssey: Fitzgerald, but I hear the new one by Emily Wilson is good. Favorite Gilgamesh is Stephen Mitchell, but Maria Headley is working on one and I am all a-twitter about it.
15/ Yilin Wang’s website: https://yilinwang.com/qiu-jin-british-museum/
Qiu Jin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qiu_Jin
https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/chinas-hidden-century/qiu-jin
16/ James Acaster’s Finders Keepers, Shut Up: https://youtu.be/x73PkUvArJY?si=5VrEBLpnKY0CqG1g
17/ Prince photo court case: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/the-supreme-court-ruling-lynn-goldsmith-andy-warhol-foundation-2304684
18/ Lichtenstein documentary: WHAAM! BLAM! Roy Lichtenstein and the Art of Appropriation: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/whaam-blam-roy-lichtenstein-documentary-2268088
19/ Copyright case about AI: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/21/arts/design/copyright-ai-artwork.html
SynopsisEm and Jesse talk about Italian sumptuary laws, which unlike the British ones, were more aimed at women. Then they talk about fashion “dos” of the middle ages.
Notes1/ So, the difference between having a title and being part of the peerage is this. In America, when you earn a lot of money, you get to be part of a special club where you are allowed to accumulate “social dollars” (rizz, street cred, social capital, whatever) and then spend it to get stuff you want (meet Taylor Swift, drive an F1 car, sit at the 50 yard line at the Superb Owl, shoot yourself into outer space). We don’t have a real “nobility” here, we have the rich and famous and everyone else. In the UK, you can be rich but you can’t buy your way into the peerage. And this is why the British class system is the way it is (rigid). Peers make the laws (remember that the House of Lords still exists). When I say baronets and knights aren’t noble, I mean they’re not peers. (This gets very complex, because some titles are hereditary and some are not, the king can write special things into your letters patent, etc. But the bottom line is James I started using the title baronet as a way of getting rich merchants to give the crown money in exchange for being able to be called Sir and pull rank on a limited number of knights.) Or at least I think this is how things are.
2/ It’s like the set up to an Onion article, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Patrick Stewart called upon to raise troops for British invasion of France…
3/ Fourth Lateran Council in 1215: this council did a lot of famous stuff. Very important!
4/ Married saints: St Therese of the Little Flower (Lisieux) was not married. But her parents are the only (to date) married couple to be canonized: Sts Louis and Zelie Martin. St Catherine of Sweden is the daughter of St Bridget of Sweden (c1303–1373).
5/ Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood.
6/ Medieval slashed sleeves–see some awesome medieval and early modern slashing here!
Diane Owen Hughes “Sumptuary Law and Social Relations in Renaissance Italy” in Disputes and Settlements: Law and Human Relations in the West ed. John Bossy; 69–99.
7/ There’s a Frog and Toad story where Toad winds up finding a bunch of buttons and sewing them onto his coat. The story about the illegal buttons reminded me of it.
Our Flag Means Death, s1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prQDst-tAJ8
8/ Allison Fizzard, “Shoes, Boots, Leggings, and Cloaks: The Augustinian Canons and Dress in Later Medieval England” from the Journal of British Studies 46(2), 245–262.
Jesse and I went to Rome once and played “identify the order” based on the vestments of various monks and nuns in the Vatican. [Still 100% possible!–Jesse]
9/ No shade to community theater; I know ya’ll work hard. [The real backbone of the theatrical community!–Jesse]
10/ Buttons for ornamentation: you can actually get suit coats with ornamental buttons on the cuffs. It makes me feel happier to know this has a medieval origin, because it does feel like a cheaper choice by the manufacturer. [It was the cheaper choice in the Middle Ages too, but it was meant to look fancy!–Jesse]
11/ As mentioned in the last episode, Em did a reading and a panel about historical accuracy in fantasy writing about the middle ages; they’re on youtube:
Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDSlNulRx6s
Panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcjyH749eH8
SynopsisJust in time for Paris Fashion Week, join Em and Jesse for an exciting discussion of sumptuary laws and the medieval origins of prohibitions against wearing white, as well as a few digressions about John Waters films and Blackadder.
Notes0/ Rainbow Space Magic Con: https://www.rainbowspacemagic.org/
1/ Serial Mom: (warning for violence) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnGHB-kI2ZM
2/ If you’re interested in the history of weddings, I suggest Carol Wallace’s All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding, Penguin Books, 2004.
3/ Margery Kemp: see episodes 6, 7, 8, 9, 36, and 49. Jeez, it’s like we never STOP talking about her. We should call this the Margery Kemp Power Hour.
4/ Mary C. Erler, “Margery Kempe’s White Clothes.” Medium Aevum 62 (March 1993): 78-83.
Jesse Njus, “Margery Kemp and the Spectatorship of Medieval Drama,” Fifteenth Century Studies 38 (2013): 123–51.
5/ “Tide Pods: the universal currency” is a random thing my husband said in his sleep one time that will now forever live in my head. And, hopefully, yours.
6/ We talked about the plague in EPISODE TWO. Go check it out.
7/ To clarify, England was England in 1363—but it wasn’t the UK. Scotland didn’t join until later (after 1603 when James I took the throne, and then formally with the Act of Union in 1707).
8/ The rolls of Parliament: https://www.british-history.ac.uk (Unfortunately, I think library access is needed to log on–check your local library’s access!)
Edward III: October 1363: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/parliament-rolls-medieval/october-1363
Edward IV: April 1463: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/parliament-rolls-medieval/april-1463
Side note, remember that at this point, the king had some soldiers, but if he was fighting a war he’d call upon his lords (the dukes and earls and such) to bring men to fight. Armies were kind of a distributed thing. So he needed the country to have money so the wealthy could bring soldiers to come fight.
9/ Henry IV took the throne in 1399 and his son became Henry V in 1413. I am suddenly understanding the jokes about Henry V not speaking French very well in the play of that title in a different, more political light.
10/ Blackadder: Here is the clip where they talk about the robe: https://twitter.com/pitchblacksteed/status/1294974184183996416?lang=en
Here is another clip where the robe (and collars) are clearly visible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD2iYSKHHzo
11/ In 1363, 100 GBP would be about 76,777.23 GBP in 2023 dollars. Five hundred GBP is 383,886.16 GBP today. Straight inflation isn’t always a good way to track buying power, because the price of goods and services vary significantly over time (think about the price of college in the year 2000 vs the price of a pizza compared to the price of both now). But this calculation does give some sense of how much money 500 GBP a year was. In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy has 10,000 pounds a year—about 800,000 pounds today, give or take. No wonder Mrs. Bennett loses her mind when he proposes.
Anyway, you can check out the calculator here: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator
12/ Marginalia of shoes: https://www.tumblr.com/cuties-in-codices/727178156069552128/shoes-in-ehrenspiegel-des-hauses-%C3%B6sterreich?source=share (this is actually from 1555, but you see what I mean)
13/ The plays are (surprisingly, maybe), Henry VI, parts 1 (http://shakespeare.mit.edu/1henryvi/index.html), 2 (http://shakespeare.mit.edu/2henryvi/index.html), and 3 (http://shakespeare.mit.edu/3henryvi/index.html). There’s also an Edward IV in two parts by a chap named Thomas Heywood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_IV_(play)).
[Edward IV also famously appears in Richard III.–JN]
14/ Ermine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoat
Sable: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sable
15/ Wives and children of nobility are generally addressed as “lady” and “lord,” depending on rank and whether or not the father has any subsidiary titles. So in a household of the Duke of Buckingham, who has a family surname of Castleman and no subsidiary titles, the duke himself will be formally addressed as “Your Grace” when he goes somewhere for tea, or announced at the ball as “His Grace the Duke of Buckingham.” His wife will be “Her Grace the Duchess of Buckingham” on invitations and “Your Grace” when she goes to tea. The son will be “The Lord Charlie Castleman” on invitations and “Lord Charlie” at tea parties, and the duke’s daughter will be “The Lady Ariella Castleman” when announced at the ball and “Lady Ariella” at tea. If she marries a commoner or someone beneath her in rank (the son of a baronet, earl, viscount, or baron), she may choose to retain the title Lady Ariella. Interestingly, the daughters of dukes rank between the eldest son and the younger ones in terms of precedence.
FOR AN EXHAUSTIVE EXPLANATION OF THIS, SEE https://www.chinet.com/~laura/html/titles12.html.
16/ The stuffing of clothing/wearing of padding in order to attain the fashionable shape is something I kind of wish hadn’t gone away. It persisted all the way up until the 1920s, when women’s clothing suddenly abandoned the majority of the underpinnings that had been necessary (corset, bum roll, petticoats, hoops or cages, etc.). Now women are largely expected to change their bodies in order to attain a fashionable silhouette instead of the clothes doing it. Unfortunate.
17/ We discussed Mankind in episode 1(!!!) note 23.
18/ We discussed female silk workers in episode 33 (the notes for the episode include sources for more info on women silk workers).
19/ We talked about Judenhutte in episode 10 (notes 31 and 39), episode 25 (note 14), episode 41 (note 7), episode 45 (note 10), and episode 61 (note 2). Also see Sara Lipton, Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography, Metropolitan, 2014. Link.
SynopsisWhat got written illicitly on the walls back before 79 CE? It turns out a lot of stuff! Join Em and Jesse as they discuss the graffiti of Pompeii and also stuff Vikings wrote their names on.
Em’s book: Amazon, all other sites.
NotesBooks!Ancient Graffiti in Context ed. Baird and Taylor: https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Graffiti-Context-Routledge-Studies-ebook/dp/B004OBZWDG
Medieval Graffiti: The Lost Voices of England’s Churches by Matthew Champion
https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Graffiti-Voices-Englands-Churches/dp/009196041X
Graffiti in Antiquity by Peter Keegan https://www.amazon.com/Graffiti-Antiquity-Peter-Keegan-ebook/dp/B09M62F91Y
SPQR by Mary Beard
https://www.amazon.com/SPQR-History-Ancient-Mary-Beard/dp/1631492225
Pompeii by Mary Beard
https://www.amazon.com/Pompeii-Life-Roman-Mary-Beard/dp/1846684714
NOTES1/ Shout out to the Straat Museum in Amsterdam, which is an amazing Street Art Museum.
https://straatmuseum.com/en
Museum of the City of New York’s “City as Canvas” exhibit: https://www.mcny.org/cityascanvas
2/ The Outlaws: it’s super funny and on prime. Check it out.
Some articles on Banksy’s getting painted over: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/nov/12/banksy-artwork-deliberately-destroyed-by-christopher-walken-in-bbc-comedy-show-finale
Stephen Merchant explains the Banksy scene: https://www.tvinsider.com/1036548/the-outlaws-season-1-stephen-merchant-prime-video-banksy/
3/ Artists’ warehouse story: The 21 graffiti artists from the 5Pointz building in Queens will receive $6.75 million in damages from developer G&M Realty for the 45 murals G&M destroyed in 2013.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/nyregion/graffiti-artists-5pointz.html
4/ French petroglyphs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/france-chauvet-cave-makes-grand-debut-180954582/
5/ Wall art/street art in Richmond, VA (known as RVA):
Ghost signs: https://rvaghostsigns-blog.tumblr.com
RVA Street Art Festival: https://www.rvastreetart.com/2022-festival
RVA Mural Walks: https://wouldilietoyoumuralwalks.com
Google “RVA Street art” for some more great examples!
6/ Beatles’ song: “If I Needed Someone” (lyric: “Carve your number on my wall/and maybe you will get a call from me…”
7/ Life of Brian: Romani ite domum. (Although the movie says the locative is correct, they actually use the accusative, which is, in fact, correct.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIAdHEwiAy8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_ite_domum
8/ My children also draw on walls.
9/ See above for Beard’s books.
Pompeii graffiti: https://web.archive.org/web/20131001070703/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/10336768/What-can-we-learn-from-Roman-graffiti.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/reading-the-writing-on-pompeiis-walls-1969367/
Bawdy graffiti: https://kashgar.com.au/blogs/history/the-bawdy-graffiti-of-pompeii-and-herculaneu
10/ Fullers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulling
11/ Ostraca: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracon (ostracon is singular; ostraca is plural)
12/ See above for Keegan’s book.
13/ Mills, Mary Beth. “Attack of the Widow Ghosts: Gender, Death, and Modernity in Northeast Thailand.” Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia. Aihwa Ong and Michael G. Peletz, eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995: 244-273.
14/ Episodes on obscenity: 65 and 66
15/ We talked about the innkeeper adulterating their beer in episode 8 (note 26) and episode 27.
16/ The Alexamenos Worships His God graffito: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexamenos_graffito
17/ If you are interested in medieval church graffiti, check out the Norfolk Medieval Graffiti Survey: http://www.medieval-graffiti.co.uk/
18/ Hexafoil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexafoil
19/ Orkney Islands article: http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/maeshrunes.htm
20/ Viking graffiti at the Hagia Sophia:
https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/expeditions-and-raids/viking-graffiti/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian_Guard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_inscriptions_in_Hagia_Sophia
21/ “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board.” It’s from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
Summary Let’s talk about psychedelics in ritual practice. From Hunter S. Thompson’s pilgrimage across the desert to the human sacrifices of the Incan empire in the sixteenth century to the use of opium during the late bronze age, people have been altering their mental states in religious contexts almost since the dawn of civilization. Join … Continue reading "Episode 68: Bat Country (Drugs, pt 2)"
Synopsis In honor of the publication of Em’s debut novel, Dionysus in Wisconsin, Em and Jesse talk about Dionysus (the god), and then about drug use in ancient religious rituals. Notes 1/ Order book here (or from non-Amazon sites here). (Incredibly well reviewed! Buy one now!!) 2/ Sparagmos: your vocabulary term for the day, kids. … Continue reading "Episode 67: Dionysus and Drugs, part 1"
SynopsisAre butts the most medieval of body parts? From the Wild Man to Chaucer to good old Michelangelo, let’s pontificate about the posterior.
Do you need more of a pitch than that?
Notes0/ Preorder Em’s book: a little obscene, only a few butts.
1/ Warning for…talking about butts, I guess.
2/ The Wild Man: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_man
3/ York Minster Cathedral: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Minster
The monkey burial: Window n25 (bottom of left window–the bier is covered in green cloth and there is a monkey who has grabbed hold and is hanging off of it). Here is a close up of the detail.
The legend of the mocker(s) who attempt to stop the Virgin’s funeral procession was well known in medieval Europe, although the name Fergus seems to be specific to York. See the notes at the bottom of the linked page for the lost York Play.
Here is a depiction in medieval art with a summary of the legend: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RYV
Here is the an article by Stephen J. Shoemaker ” ‘Let Us Go and Burn Her Body’: The Image of the Jews in the Early Dormition Traditions” in Church History 68.4 (Dec. 1999), 775–823. Shoemaker also wrote a book The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption
4/ Gargoyles and grotesques: Michael Camille Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art.
5/ Michael Camille “Dr Witkowski’s Anus: French Doctors, German Homosexuals and the Obscene in Medieval Church Art,” in Medieval Obscenities (ed Nicola F. McDonald), 17–38. (We discuss a number of images from this essay, including 2.2.)
6/ Borges Cathedral: http://en.posztukiwania.pl/2017/09/26/details-from-behind/
7/ Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(Leonardo)
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel pettiness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNeHaAmjkIQ
8/ Barbara Newman quote: “[F]or us, the secular is the normative, unmarked default category, while the sacred is the marked, asymmetrical Other. In the Middle Ages it was the reverse” (viii). Barbara Newman, Medieval Crossover: Reading the Secular against the Sacred (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013).
9/ Marginalia butt faces (just as examples!)
10/ Episode 23, note 9
11/ Henry Medwall, c.1461–1501?
A play: Fulgens and Lucrece B: “Nay, we shall nede no horse ne Mule/ but let us just [joust] at fart pryke in cule”(p. 328, lns. 1164–65). (Presumably they are trussed up around poles and brooms that serve as the spear.) I’ve cited page and line from Medieval Drama: An Anthology edited by Greg Walker.
Peter Meredith, ” ‘Fart Pryke in Cule’ and Cock-Fighting” Middle English Theater, vol. 6 (1984), 30–39.
12/ Dante, canto 21 (line 139)
Butt trumpet illustrations
13/ Roman de la Rose (Wikipedia)
See our previous episode, note 11, for more on female illuminator Jeanne de Montbaston who illuminated a manuscript of the Roman de la Rose (and for links to examples of her “obscene” work on this manuscript, BNF25526).
Alastair Minnis “From Coilles to Bel Chose: Discourses of Obscenity in Jean de Meun and Chaucer,” Medieval Obscenities (ed. Nicola F. McDonald), 156–178.
14/ The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale
15/ Miller’s Prologue and Tale
SummaryA long time ago, people were pure at heart. Of course, sex happened occasionally, but no one took off their clothes for it–that would be gauche. Then James Joyce wrote a book called Ulysses and things started to go downhill. In 1933, a judge named John M. Woolsey ruled in a case called United States v. One Book Called Ulysses that Ulysses was not obscene, and since then we have lost all moral compass. Right?
Well, not exactly. Join Em and Jesse as they journey through the mystifying world of book bannings, what constitutes art and obscenity, and finally come to focus on such ridiculous Medieval things as phallus trees and vulva pilgrimage badges.
Notes0/ Dionysus in Wisconsin Amazon link! And Goodreads link! This is the song I’m playing in the background–“St. Peter’s Bones,” by Girlyman.
1/ Yeah, we record in advance. Quite a bit in advance. Also, there were more book bannings (and more public) in 2022. Anyway they have been terrible AND they made John Green sad. So you know it’s bad.
2/ Ted Cruz limericks here (link to HuffPo)–or Google Ted Cruz Nantucket limericks and see what comes up
3/ “It was all very odd.” The motto of 2021.
4/ Kurt Vonnegut letter: (link to an essay about the letter)
5/ PEN America’s site that collects lists of banned books, including ALA’s lists of banned books: link here
Ok so. As I recall, the ALA (and other professional bodies) doesn’t really endorse the idea of segregating books by age. But also, if you are saying to yourself, well, bookstores and such are more progressive, let me tell you about the erotica dungeon on Amazon. Basically, people who wrote erotic novels find their books don’t come up in search results, not ranked on Amazon, etc., making it hard to get noticed. They could very easily do that with any genre they want. And authors would have no say in the matter. The books may be available, but if you can’t get a copy…
6/ This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006). It’s definitely streaming somewhere–check it out!
7/ Jesse is of course referring to Thud!, by Sir Terry Pratchett, in which two characters, who are investigating a theft from an art museum, have the following conversation:
“Tawnee says what she does is Art, Sarge. And she wears more clothes than a lot of the women on the walls around here, so why be sniffy about it?”
“Yeah, but…” Fred Colon hesitated here. He knew in his heart that spinning upside down around a pole wearing a costume you could floss with definitely was not Art, and being painted lying on a bed wearing nothing but a smile and a small bunch of grapes was good solid Art, but putting your finger on why this was the case was a bit tricky.
“No urns,” he said at last.
“What urns?” said Nobby.
“Nude women are only Art if there’s an urn in it,” said Fred Colon. This sounded a bit weak even to him, so he added: “Or a plinth. Both is best, o’course. It’s a secret sign, see, that they put in to say that it’s Art and okay to look at.”
“What about a potted plant?”
“That’s okay if it’s in an urn.”
8/ Billy Connolly on Graham Norton: https://youtu.be/iBefd6lT-aA
Bonus discussion question: has widespread censorship of nudity and “trigger” words on social media made us a more prudish society?
9/ The one non-NC-17 film I can name with male frontal nudity is Walk Hard. I don’t see a lot of films though. Also it is very incidental.
10/ Mikhail Baktine, Rabelais and his world. See also episode 44 notes 4 and 5
Pro tip: giving birth is absolutely terrifying, it’s true. (Both of my children were from my womb untimely ripped. It was strangely chill for all that.)
11/ Phallus tree: episode 12, note 28. See the image here on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phallus_tree
Massa Marittima (Check under “Main Sights”)
Marginalia: Bibliotek National, BNF25526, folio 160 recto and folio 106 verso.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6000369q/f325.item
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6000369q/f218.item#
Jeanne de Montbaston et son mari, Richard. She continued to work after he died. See some of her work here: https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/person/105F5P
12/ The episode on illumination: Episode 32, especially note 10
13/ Badges (just Google “obscene medieval pilgrim badges” and look at the images!):
- Pilgrims
- Phalloi
- Woman riding phallus
- Phallus caught by lion
- Phalloi on ship
- Vulvas on palanquin
- Vulvas going hunting
- Vulvas as pilgrim
- Vulva and phallus are pilgrims
- Sheila na gig
- Link to Kiki’s sheila na gigs: https://www.instagram.com/p/ChFph7LKPTq/?hl=en
14/ Medieval Obscenities, ed. by Nicola McDonald
Georgia Rhodes, “Decoding the Sheela-Na-Gig,” Feminist Formations, vol. 22, no. 2 (summer 2010), 167–194.
15/ Quick mentions at the end of:
- Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues
- Georgia O’Keefe
- Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party
- Kent Monkman
- The Gorilla Girls and also HERE
1/ EB White was a rather nice, shy guy who wrote for the New Yorker and hid from his admirers. TH White was a weirdo who lived on the edge of the woods in the UK. EB White is the White of Strunk & White. https://xkcd.com/923/
2/ it would be more accurate to say Em “hangs around” the book space. There’s no working going on. But this is true: 50% of all books sold are romance novels (to the tune of $1.44 billion per year). The other 50% are all the other genres. Think about that.
3/ Ramon of Llull (c.1232–c. 1315)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Llull
The Book of the Order of Chivalry, a new translation by Noel Fallows
https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781843838494/the-book-of-the-order-of-chivalry/
4/ For the Green Knight, see episode 60.
5/ Tristan und Isolde. We will have an upcoming episode on Wagner (and Tolkien), too!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_and_Iseult
6/ “This is the medieval version of trying to go viral on TikTok.” I think we can stop there. That’s either the best or worst thing I’ll ever say.
7/ For more on the Bayeux Tapestry, see episode 54 note 15, episode 58 note 5, and episode 62 note 15.
The Bayeux Tapestry links:
https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry
Chivalry by Maurice Keen https://www.amazon.com/Chivalry-Maurice-Keen/dp/B002L4N66S
8/ Council of Clermont, called by Pope Innocent II in 1130 (not to be confused with the more famous Council of Clermont called by Urban II in 1095 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Clermont)
Pope John XXII lifted the ban in 1316.
9/ For more on sins and the Inferno, see episode 8.
10/ Sir John Hawkwood (c.1323–1394)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hawkwood
To clarify, Florence actually created a fresco of the monument they wanted to build him but…couldn’t afford, I guess? An image of the fresco is on his Wikipedia page.
11/ Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale: https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/knights-tale-0
Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale (adult rated!): https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/millers-prologue-and-tale
12/ I can’t believe I have to do this, but just in case we have a bunch of Gen Alpha listeners (who permitted this?), here’s the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade clip: https://youtu.be/A0TalLrtZ24
13/ The Lady of Shalott (1832, by Tennyson): the most boring poem for your forensics poetry competition. Suck on it, pre-Raphaelities. Sorry Jesse, I’ll take that out. [Lolz!–JN] Poem link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45359/the-lady-of-shalott-1832
14/ Elaine (of Astolat, aka the Lady of Shalott): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_of_Astolat
Not the same Elaine (of Corbenic) who is the mother of Galahad by Lancelot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_of_Corbenic I combined them in the episode!!
15/ Once and Future: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_%26_Future
16/ For more on Gawain and the Green Knight and Morgan le Fay, see (recent) episode 60.
SummaryEarly on, a friend of the podcast asked if we were going to cover chivalry. Because really, when you think of the Middle Ages, this is it, right? Knights in very shiny armor on beautiful horses charging into battle, swords drawn! Knights getting scarves from their ladies! Knights holding vigils and praying in front of the holy grail. Today, three years later, Em and Jesse are finally going to get down to brass tacks on the topic. Who wrote the book on chivalry and what did it say? Did people ever really behave like this, or was it an unreachable ideal? And, of course, Chaucer forever. Join us, won’t you?
Notes1/ Colin Firth rescuing a woman from a nondescript office job…Bridget Jones?? [Lol!]
2/ Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Huntsman
3/ England Before 1066: see episodes 53, 54, and 56.
4/ Maurice Keen Chivalry
Richard Kaeuper Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe
5/ Crusades: We haven’t really covered these yet! We should do that. But we discuss the infamous Albigensian Crusade in Episode 48 (see note 27).
6/ Macbeth “unseam’d him from the nave to the chops, / And fix’d his head upon our battlements” (I.ii.22–23)
Henry V The opening of IV.vii discusses the slaughter of the boys watching the supplies.
7/ John Hawkwood (1323–1394) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hawkwood
Terry Jones, Chaucer’s Knight.
8/ Andrzej Tadeusz Bonaventura Bciuszko. Sorry. https://www.nps.gov/thko/learn/historyculture/kosciuszkobio.htm
9/ Baron von Steuben (1730–1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_von_Steuben
10/ Known to every Illinois schoolchild, Kasimir Pulaski (1745–1779).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_Pulaski
11/ Hundred Years War (1337–1453) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War
Battle of Crecy (1346) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crécy
Battle of Agincourt (1415) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt
12/ Sir Geoffrey Luttrell being helped by his wife and daughter-in-law (image from the Luttrell Psalter, mid-14th-century British Library MS Additional 42130 folio 202v)
13/ Chrétien de Troyes (flourished 1160–1191)
Perceval
14/ Against the King’s Peace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_(law)
15/ The Three Estates (those who pray [clergy], those who work [peasants], those who fight [knights/nobility]) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estates_of_the_realm
16/ Étienne de Fougères (d. 1178) writes a Livre des Manières about knights and chivalry. French wikipedia site: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Étienne_de_Fougères
17/ Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_of_Clairvaux
18/ Ordene de chevalerie anonymous Old French poem c1220.
The poem is about Prince Hugh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_II_of_Saint-Omer
19/ Saladin (1137–1193) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin
20/ Quote from the Ordene de chevalerie is from Keen’s Chivalry p. 7
21/ Please instead insert King Charles into this joke.
22/ Carpet considerations.
SummaryThe other day, I asked a friend, “Hey, what do normal people put on their walls?” The answer…is tapestries. Cold, stony castle? Tapestries. Small, plain cathedral? Tapestries. A house of some sort? Probably also tapestries. In this episode, Em and Dr. Jesse talk over how tapestries are made, famous tapestries from around the world, and the use of color in Medieval society. Join us!
Notes1/ For more on textiles, see episode 33 (on women artisans) and episode 54 note 15 (on the Bayeux Tapestry).
2/ Rather than getting caught up on horizontal vs vertical terminology, just keep in mind that the warp is what goes on the loom and the weft is the part you weave with.
3/ Tang Dynasty (618–907CE) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_dynasty
Zhu Kerou (fl.12th century). See her famous “Butterfly and Camellia” silk tapestry here: https://thenewhistoria.org/schema/zhu-kerou/
4/ Uyghurs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghurs
5/ The medieval Andes! Huari tapestry images from a museum exhibition.
Huari / Wari: fl. 500/600–1000 CE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wari_culture
6/ Greek painting of sculptures is called polychromy.
https://youtu.be/86PD8o6xe_4
The MET in NYC has recently decided to get on board with this and now has an exhibit about polychromy (which they’re touting like it’s a new discovery ).
7/ Check out the Bayeux Tapestry close up! https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry
8/ The Barnes Museum in Philadelphia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Foundation (discusses the legal challenges and controversy of the museum’s move)
9/ The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at the Musée de Cluny (see episode 29, note 24 and episode 30, note 21).
10/ The hunting of the unicorn tapestries at The Cloisters in NYC.
11/ Raphael (1483–1520): not just a ninja turtle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael
12/ Pieter van Aelst (c.1495–c.1560). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_van_Aelst_III
13/ Mathilda episodes: episode 58 (Long Live the Queen)
14/ Episodes on England before 1066: episodes 53 (England Before the Norman Invasion) and 54 (More England, More Normans).
15/ The Bayeux Tapestry links:
https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry
16/ Beowulf episode here: episode 56
17/ Em’s newsletter.
SummaryIt’s wintertime in the Northern hemisphere! Snow is, of course, eternal, but did you ever wonder how far back the tradition of making snowpeople goes? Jesse did. Join us as we trace the history of snowpeople in Europe/the UK as far back as we can.
Notes1/ Marginal illustration in a Book of Hours from c1380 (Ms KA36, fol. 78 verso, Brussels) now in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Actual picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Koninklijke_Bibliotheek_Book_of_Hours_snowman_illustration.jpg
2/ For more on the Judenhut or Judenhutte see episode 45, note 10, episode 10, notes 31 and 39; episode 25, note 14; and episode 41, note 7. Also see Sara Lipton, Dark Mirror: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Jewish Iconography, Metropolitan, 2014. Link.
3/ Mary Dillwyn is incredibly important to early photography. Here is her awesome c1853 snowman photo. Also here (museum collection).
4/ Tournai 1422–23 snow figures! See the articles in note 5 for more.
5/ Arras 1434–35: the Danse Macabre Snowmen
See Sophie Oosterwijk‘s ‘The snows of yesteryear’: the medieval Danse Macabre snowmen of Arras (Atrecht) (First published in French as ‘Les bonhommes de neige d’Arras (Atrecht)’, Bulletin de liaison de l’association Danses macabres d’Europe, 46 (2013), 4–6, 2013.)
6/ The Miracle of 1511! Wikipedia article here. Atlas Obscura article here.
See Herman Pleij, “Urban Elites in Search of a Culture: The Brussels Snow Festival of 1511” in Vol. 21, No. 3, New Historicisms, New Histories, and Others (Spring, 1990), pp. 629–647.
7/ Brussels poet Jan Smeken wrote a ballad about the snowmen. See the articles in note 6 for more!
8/ Fun fact: one time I (Em) walked through the red light district in Brussels with my mother.
9/ Manneken Pis. A very famous statue!
Jeanneke Pis. A less famous statue.
10/ “Mais où sont les neiges d’antan?” is from “Ballade des dames du temps jadis” by François Villon (c.1431–after 1463)
“Ou sont les Neigedens d’antan?” is also a joke from Catch-22, which has a character named “Snowden.”
11/ Switzerland’s exploding snowman
SynopsisOnce upon a time there was a guy named Gawain, and someone made a movie about him! And he got to be played by Dev Patel, which is pretty great when you get down to it. And then we covered it! In which Em reveals that she watches way too much historical costuming YouTube, Jesse gives a coherent literary critique, and then we talk about cinematography and death. Oh, there’s a bunch about the actual Arthurian legends, too. And if you listen to the end, you can hear a short clip of Em singing. (Is that an inducement? Hmm.)
Notes1/ To be fair, a lot of the podcasts I’ve listened to are about horror movies, so I’m never going to actually watch them. Shout out to Random Number Generator Horror Podcast Number 9.
2/ The Green Knight a 2021 film written (adapted?) and directed by David Lowery based on the late-14th-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The film stars Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, and more. It was released theatrically by A24.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Knight_(film)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9243804/
3/ Geoffrey of Monmouth (flourishes in the first half of the 12th century) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_of_Monmouth
A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth edited by Joshua Byron Smith and Georgia Henley https://brill.com/display/title/39588 (Published by Brill, so get it via ILL from your local library.)
4/ Prophecies of Merlin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophetiae_Merlini
5/ The “later work” Em mentions is the Prose Merlin.
The Middle English Prose Merlin was written in the mid-15th-century, just before Malory wrote his super famous version, making the Prose Merlin the earliest (extant) prose Arthur story. It’s largely based on French sources, including the Old French Vulgate Cycle (which is written in prose) and Robert de Boron’s Old French poem Merlin (of which only fragments remain). https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/conlee-prose-merlin-introduction
Robert de Boron flourished in the large-12th century and early 13th century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_de_Boron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(Robert_de_Boron_poem)
The Old French prose source is from the early 13th century and is known as the Vulgate Cycle (or the “The Pseudo-Map Cycle” and the “Lancelot-Grail Cycle”). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancelot-Grail
6/ The Lady of the Lake is a fascinating character. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake
7/ Marie de France (flourished 1160 to 1215). See episode 19 note 13 and episode 29 note 26.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de_France
8/ Chrétien de Troyes (flourished second half of 12th century)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrétien_de_Troyes
9/ Thomas Malory (c1400–c1470) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malory
Le Morte d’Arthur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Morte_d%27Arthur was completed c1470 and published by William Caxton in 1485! Caxton’s published version was the earliest extant version of Malory’s work until 1934, when a manuscript was discovered at Winchester College. That manuscript is now in the British Library and is the earliest (and only) manuscript of Malory’s work. It’s known as BL Add MS 59678 or the WInchester Manuscript. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/thomas-malorys-le-morte-darthur
10/ It sounds like we’re making this stuff about Cotton up, but it is true.
We also talked about Cotton in episode 39 note 8 and episode 56 note 2. Here is more info on the Cotton collection: https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/cotton-manuscripts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_library
11/ Gawain characters: This got confusing! Jesse talks about Morgause (Queen of Orkney), and then switches to Morgan (and then back to Morgause). Basically, both women have always been ambiguous, but Morgause is maybe seen worse in the modern era than she was in the Middle Ages!
Morgan le Fay: sister of Morgause and others https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_le_Fay
Gawain: our hero(?) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gawain
Mordred: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordred
Morgause: Queen of Orkney (wife of King Lot), mother of Gawain and Mordred https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgause
Here’s the poem in translation! https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/text/weston-sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight
Here’s the original: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/Gawain?rgn=main;view=fulltext (divided into Passus I, II, III, IV)
12/ Christian virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance (the cardinal virtues), and faith, hope, and charity (theological virtues).
13/ In retrospect, I think some of these characters have names in the credits, although not mostly mentioned in the movie.
14/ St. Winifred 7th century Welsh martyr. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Winifred
15/ Em’s newsletter can be found by clicking here. The song in the background is George Harrison’s “The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.” His version is better, go here and listen to it.
SynopsisFamous eels:
1/ “Those are the shrieking eels. You don’t believe me? Just wait. They always grow louder when they’re about to feed on human flesh.” (Name that movie.)
2/ Mark Oliver Everett
3/ Medieval eel rents!
The medieval church, famously, had a lot of restrictions on what people could eat and when—during Lent, on Fridays, and other fast days as well. Join Em and Jesse as they discuss some of the ways people got around these laws, including…eels! Medieval people LOVED eels. You could pay your rent in them. You could eat them. You could…well, that might be a list of all the things you could do with eels, but they were certainly beloved. So let’s talk about this little-known but apparently delicious delicacy.
Notes1/ For reference, the referenced 3-year-old is now 5. We are a little behind.
2/ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/science/moray-eels-eat-land.html
Side note: I don’t think anyone knows how eels have sex.
3/ https://www.facebook.com/sheddaquarium
4/ Moray eels: actually 200 species in 15 genera. The one I describe is the green eel, which grows up to 8.2 feet in length.
5/ Episodes that involve heretics: 8 (hell and damnation), 9 (heretics and saints), 48 (Meet the Cathars), 49 (Where’s Waldensians?). Arguably also 47 (Gnosticism).
6/ https://twitter.com/greenleejw
He got written up in Time, too: https://time.com/5886487/eels-history-conservation/
Link to Eel Rent Website (with map): https://historiacartarum.org/eel-rents-project/english-eel-rents-10th-17th-centuries/
Map alone: https://cornell.carto.com/u/jwgreenlee/builder/31e4bb99-f02b-431a-a4e2-aa83a043e53a/embed
7/ The smell of dried squid, and—especially—the smell of nuoc mam being made are things I will never forget.
To be fair, they weren’t selling squid by the stick—they just had them attached to sticks to bike them around.
8/ Henry I died of a surfeit of lampreys. I heard this on QI and therefore it is true, forever and ever amen.
9/ Surprise! Our episode on Mathildas came out two weeks ago—episode 58! And yet we apparently taped this two years ago. What planning!
10/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnacle_goose I guess it’s a thing.
11/ Eel ships 2019: https://www.hermitagemoorings.com/2020/02/20/eel-barge-korneliske-ykes-ii-visit-2019/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV-_rLOvLI8
The only good reason to have water inside your ship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvwTv1t_Mss
12/ “They are Brexiting right now.” Jesse, how many PMs have they been through since we recorded this? At least three, not including May. [And a head of lettuce! I think I said this when Boris Johnson was having so much trouble “finishing” Brexit.–JN]
13/ Here is the Surprised Eel Historian’s Twitter thread on the maps: https://twitter.com/greenleejw/status/1421144699897790471
The mapmakers:
Pieter van den Keere (1571–c. 1646) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_van_den_Keere
John Norden (c.1547–1625) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Norden
Norden’s map of London (1593): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Norden#/media/File:London_-_John_Norden’s_map_of_1593.jpg
The Visscher Panorama: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visscher_panorama created by Claes Visscher (1586–1652) c1600 and first published in 1618 in Amsterdam.
Pieter van den Keere engraved John Norden’s map of London (1593). Visscher was Dutch, and it’s possible he never visited London. His map might be based on others, including Norden’s, since Norden’s engraver (van den Keere) was Visscher’s publisher’s brother-in-law. Repeat: Pieter van den Keere was Visscher’s publisher’s brother-in-law. Interestingly the publisher had been to London (it could potentially be his work?). The publisher is Jodocus Hondius (1563–1612).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodocus_Hondius
14/ Turnips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la-L4hFWVxU
And yet more turnips (poor video quality, sorry): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD2iYSKHHzo
Summary A lot of stuff about Richards II and III for a podcast that’s supposed to be about queens. Also Mathildas, Boudica, and why Black Panther is more historically accurate than Wonder Woman. Notes 1/ Richard III’s body was eventually found under a car park. I swear we talked about this at some point. “Was … Continue reading "Episode 58: Long Live the Queen"
Synopsis As a memorial to Elizabeth II, Em and Jesse discuss famous queens throughout history and mostly in the UK, including drag queens, the borough of Queens, Lady Jane Grey, Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anne, Victoria, and Elizabeth II. Also Sophie of Hanover, Wills and Kate, Prince Harry and Meghan, and I think … Continue reading "Episode 57: Dancing Queens (pt 1)"
Synopsis Bro! You knew it was coming! Grab your replica Sutton Hoo helmet and get ready, it’s Beowulf o’clock. Annotations 1/ Spoiler alert: it wasn’t published as episode 50. [But that’s ok! 🙂 –Jesse] 2/ We talked about Cotton in episode 39 note 8. Here is more info on the Cotton collection: https://www.bl.uk/collection-guides/cotton-manuscripts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_library 3/ … Continue reading "Episode 56: THE BEOWULFENING"
Summary Summertime, and the living is Medieval. But really, what was summer like in the Middle Ages? We talk about the Medieval Climate Anomaly, the (not at all Medieval) Little Ice Age, the volcano on Santorini, Medieval vacation tendencies, the Tres Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry, and the Olympics. Also, Firesign Theatre references! … Continue reading "Episode 55: In the Summertime, When the Weather is Medieval"
Synopsis Part two of the run up to the arrival of Queen Matilda and that other guy…what was his name…William the Conqueror. Yeah. Him. Includes Danelaw, Danegeld, surprising connections to Hamlet, an explanation of whether Aethelred the Unready was really unready, and of course a discussion of Eric the Viking! Annotations 1/ We have obviously linked … Continue reading "Episode: 54: More England, More Normans"
Synopsis As good students of history, you already know that all-important date in British history: 1066, aka the Norman Invasion. But what happened in England before then? From the Romans through to Alfred the Great, join Em and Jesse as they talk about a whole bunch of kings, kingdoms, Vikings, and Monty Python. Annotations 1/ … Continue reading "Episode #53: England Before the Norman Invasion"
Synopsis What do you get when you combine Monty Python, Mel Brooks, and the Passion of Christ? I don’t know, but it’s been going on for 390 years at this point. In this episode, Em and Jesse discuss what Jesse did on her summer vacation (or part of it): a trip to see the passion … Continue reading "Episode 52: Heut’ kommt die Jesse zu Oberammergau"
Summary Ever see an Indiana Jones movie? For more on relic theft, see Patrick J. Geary’s Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages. Annotations and Corrections 1/ The episode where we talked about St. Nicholas was episode 23 (a Christmas episode). The oil is kind of said to be myrrh, but it’s … Continue reading "Episode 51: The Relic (not the 1997 Creature Feature set in the Field Museum in Chicago)"
Synopsis The last of the major proto-protestant heresies we’re going to examine is the Hussites, who were led by Jan Hus. And then we’re going to quick talk about the man, the myth, the machine, Martin Luther. The first rule of Medieval Studies is “Don’t talk about Luther.” [Also the second and third rules.–Jesse] But … Continue reading "Episode 50: The Heretical Hussites (feat. Martin Luther)"
Synopsis Let’s talk about the Waldensians, the Lollards, and some revolting peasants. Wait. Oh well–Anyway, we talk a lot about how the Pope gave all the Franciscans’ stuff back to them and forced them to own stuff, some Shakespeare, and a lot of heresies. Notes 1/ RI Moore, The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority … Continue reading "Episode 49: Where’s Waldensians?"
Synopsis So, say you like what Christianity has to offer generally. That Jesus kid seems like he has a good head on his shoulders. But theologically, you have a problem. Maybe you’re a Gnostic and think they’re wrong about the spiritual vs physical world. Maybe you think more women should be allowed to participate in … Continue reading "Episode #48: Meet the Cathars"
Synopsis Manichaeism: The number one major world religion you’ve never heard of. In order to understand it and its prophet, Mani, we need to understand Gnosticism, a complex and subtle philosophy regarded as a heresy by the Christians. The short version is, “[i]n the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of … Continue reading "Episode 47: There’s GNO Business Like Show Business"
Synopsis After an unexpected late-season hiatus, we’re back with an episode on musical forms! We’ve got the earliest hymns, the maddest madrigals, tuning and temperament, at least three different types of chant, and a song so recursive it will summon Douglas Hofstadter if you play it into a mirror in a dark room. Annotations 1/ … Continue reading "Episode 46: The Well-Tempered Podcast"
Summary More on the Feast of Fools and the Kalends, with some digressions about Roman Emperor Claudius and labyrinths. Annotations For most of the Feast of Fools and Herod info from this episode, see Max Harris, Sacred Folly: A New History of the Feast of Fools https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Folly-History-Feast-Fools/dp/0801479495 1/ The Kalends (or calends, hence calendar :)) … Continue reading "Episode 45: Fool Me Twice"
Summary Christmas, a season for overeating, arguing with your parents about politics, and…wearing masks? Join Em and Jesse as they talk about topsy turvy Medieval holidays like the Feast of Fools! Also we talk a little about the Purge film/TV franchise, Rabelais, and Foucault. Sorry to the two people who follow us who are not … Continue reading "Episode 44: Upside Down and Inside Out"
Summary More on music! (Shoutout to episode 40/music part 1, which came out a while ago now.) We talk about dulcimers and gitterns, viols and tabors, Jew’s harps and gamelans, and Jesse’s favorite–the bagpipe. Also tuning, temperament, aaaand a little Monty Python. Annotations 1/ The Early Instrument Database at Case Western Reserve University, Ross Duffin. … Continue reading "Episode 43: Our Bagpipes Go to Eleven"
Summary Do you want some candy, little girl? Of course you do, it’s delicious. But what was candy a thousand years ago? Turns out at least some of it was kind of similar to what we get today. Annotations Some book recommendations: Steven Epstein, An Economic and Social History of Later Medieval Europe, 1000–1500. Sidney … Continue reading "Episode 42: Candy Is Dandy"
Summary It’s spooky season! Witches have been around–and feared–since the Middle Ages. We discuss their history, unexpected ties to Judaism, and their little (or large and wolfy) dogs, too. Annotations 1/ See also: Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett. Book 1 of the collected Sandman (I think they get summoned in issue 2) by Neil Gaiman. … Continue reading "Episode 41: I’ll Get You, My Pretty"
Summary You may have heard someone say that music is in their bones, but is it really? Answer: Yes! (If you are a Neanderthal, anyway.) In fact, the earliest instrument we have found, dating from 50-60,000 years ago, is a flute made from the bone of a cave bear. In this episode, we’ll discuss instruments … Continue reading "Episode 40: To Be Played at Maximum Volume"
Summary What was the one weird habit of the Ptolemys that librarians hated? What trick did early indexers use for organizing collections? And what major library lost some really important documents–and tried to keep it a secret? From Alexandria to the Medieval monastery, let’s talk about the evolution of libraries over the course of a … Continue reading "Episode 39: Où est la bibliothèque?"
Summary “When I was in library school, we never discussed outright conquest as a method of collection development.” In which we discuss books (and other recordkeeping methods), the growth of reading in conjunction with the consolidation of manuscripts, and also Em is a nerd about classification systems. Sources Paul Saenger “Silent Reading: Its Impact on … Continue reading "Episode 38: Take a Look, It’s in a Book (or a scroll, or a tablet, or…)"
Summary The 1560 painting “Children’s Games,” painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Question: What did kids do before Gameboy? Answer: Everything. Annotations Important works: Nicholas Orme’s Medieval Children. Barbara Hanawalt’s The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England. Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Children’s Games. 1/ Bringing Up Bebe, by Pamela Druckerman, is the book … Continue reading "Episode 37: Child’s Play"
Summary So you lived through birth…now what? Despite the popular image of the Middle Ages putting children to work the instant they were capable of holding a tool, Medieval childhood was actually pretty similar to modern childhood. No iPads, but people bought cute clothes for their kids, lots of different types of toys, sent them … Continue reading "Episode 36: Sweet Child of Mine"
Summary Join Em and Dr. Jesse as we play a little game we like to call, “How Early in History Could Em Have Had Children and Survive?” The answer may surprise you! We also cover Mary’s girdle, (some of) the life and times of Dr. James Barry and Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, childbirth-related saints, the masculinization … Continue reading "Episode 35: The Extremely Risky Behavior Literally All of Your Ancestors Engaged In"
Synopsis We’ve just spent the month of June watching innumerable students progress across the stage in their long gowns. Where does the tradition of wearing black robes, mortarboards, and stoles/hoods as academic regalia come from? Hint: it’s the Middle Ages! Join Em and Jesse as we discuss the origins of universities (and some of the … Continue reading "Episode #34: Gaudeamus Itigur–Universities and Academics"
Summary Part two of women as artisans. Join Em and Jesse as they discuss more about the work women did in the Middle Ages, including quite a lot about guilds and textiles, including spinning, embroidery, quilting, and silkworking. Find out which guilds accepted women, how were they treated, to what extent were they involved in … Continue reading "Episode 33: Ooh, Crafty Lady"
Summary Em and Jesse reminisce about libraries they have known, discuss scriptoria and book-making before the printing press, and talk about women who worked in various Medieval professional guilds, how they got there, and what they did with their money. Annotations and Corrections Recommended text for this episode: Reassessing the Roles of Women as ‘Makers’ … Continue reading "Episode 32: You Better Work, Beeyatch"
Summary From Groundhog Day to Hocktide to May Day to Midsummer to Mother’s Day, there are a ton of spring holidays! Join Em and Jesse as we discuss St. George and Medieval dragons, Saint Walpurga and Walpurgisnacht, Pagan syncretism, and a whole lot more. With some digressions about brunch. Annotations and Corrections 1/ Groundhog Day … Continue reading "Episode 31: May Day, May Day!"
Summary Cats are tiny lions that live in your home. But how long have they lived with humans? Have they always had the position of respect they enjoy now? Also, what’s up with racoons? Em and Jesse discuss cats in the Middle Ages (and also other animals kept as pets, including squirrels, monkeys, and birds). … Continue reading "Episode 30: Felis Catus Is Your Taxonomic Nomenclature"
Synopsis Dogs have long been reputed to be man’s best friend. But how long is “long”? The answer is close to 10,000 years (at least). Join Em and Jesse as they look back at the intertwined history of humanity and canine-ity, from Odysseus’s dog Argos to Hachiko, who waited ten years for his owner to … Continue reading "Episode 29: D’You Like Dags?"
Summary Hungry? Grab a snack and join Em and Jesse for a discussion of food in the Middle Ages–what did a well-equipped kitchen contain? What kind of dishes were cooked, with what ingredients? And who did the cooking and baking? With some digressions on international variations of hand pies and sandwiches, Wisconsin fish fries, and … Continue reading "Episode 28: Food"
Summary Welcome to season 2! Grab your favorite potation and join Em and Jesse for a tour of the history of alcohol, from monkeys getting drunk on fermented apples, to the earliest written recipe for beer, to rules surrounding the making and serving of drinks in the Middle Ages. With some fun digressions on the … Continue reading "Episode 27: Drinks"
Summary “Wuv… twue wuv…will follow you fowever…” Interested in a brief history of Valentine’s Day? You’re in luck. From the question of who was the historical saint to when the day became associated with romance, Em and Jesse start with ancient Roman fertility festivals like Lupercalia and trace the rituals forward through to references in … Continue reading "Episode #26: Valentine’s Day"
Synopsis Jews in space? No, Jews on stage. What was the world like for Jewish actors during the Middle Ages? Well, it was a bit of a mixed bag, honestly. Yes, there were times and places where Jewish life was severely proscribed, but there were also places where Jewish actors and playwrights were celebrated for … Continue reading "Episode 25: Jews on Stage"
Synopsis Em and Jesse discuss physical performance spaces, from Greek amphitheaters to pageant carts to prosceniums, and the changes theaters have seen over time. There’s a lot of Renaissance stuff in here, including an interesting discussion of the various theaters Shakespeare would have premiered plays–the Globe and the Rose–with some interesting digressions about the Blues … Continue reading "Episode 24: Stages in the Middle Ages"
Synopsis Let’s talk about possible pagan origins for everyone’s favorite late-December excuse to eat a lot of pie. In addition, Em and Jesse discuss the surprisingly capitalist early traditions associated with St. Nicholas and the various strange beings who accompany Santa in different countries, from Pere Fouettard (who whips bad children in France) to the … Continue reading "Episode 23: Christmas Time Is Here, By Golly"
Summary Em and Jesse discuss the life and plays of Hrotsvit, the strong voice of Gandersheim and the first named playwright in western Europe. Small content warning, we do discuss rape in this episode, but not explicitly. Annotations and Corrections 1/ For those too young to remember Benny Hill, this is what Em is talking … Continue reading "Episode 22: The Strong Voice of Gandersheim"
Summary If you’ve ever pondered how “time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana,” then this episode is for you. Join Jesse and Em as they discuss physical comedy and the origins of the commedia dell’arte, its French cousin the comedie francaise, and the Japanese comedic Kyogen style. With a lot of digressions … Continue reading "Episode 21: Watch Out for That Banana Peel"
Summary We got all your vampire subtypes: sparkling, British, and thirsty for the blood of the living. We got a couple of different types of ghosts, including hungry ghosts and dybbuks. And we got discussions of ghost stories that appear in both Noh drama and Chinese opera. All that, and we also talk about Buffy … Continue reading "Episode 20: Vampires, Ghosts, and Other Things That Go Bump in the Night"
Synopsis From Bisclavret to Remus Lupin, werewolves have been portrayed in fiction for centuries–and portrayed both positively and negatively, by Jews and Christians alike. Join Em and Jessie as they discuss Medieval legends about these amazing beasts. And also a little bit about golems, kappas, and zombies/revenants, plus other creepy facts. Annotations and Corrections 1/ … Continue reading "Episode 19: A Few Good Werewolves"
Summary Halloween! A time of candy, Pagan ritual, sexy bus driver costumes, and syncretism. How much of this holiday has been handed down to us from the middle ages, and how much is modern? Join Em and Jesse for an exciting discussion of the medieval version of All Hallows’ Eve, with some fun digressions on … Continue reading "Episode 18: Halloween: A Not-So-Spooky History"
Synopsis Dance dramas are theatrical presentations that use dance (and sometimes words, but mostly dance) to tell a story. Em and Jesse look at dance dramas from around the world, from Mesoamerica before and after the Spanish invasion to Japan. With a number of digressions involving Prince, Irish step dancing, Alvin Ailey, and the movie … Continue reading "Episode 17: Dance Like Nobody’s Watching"
Summary Puppets are actually a pretty medieval art form–and not just for kids. These puppets do and say things that would have been politically risky for the humans controlling them to say, and also they are real works of art. Join us as we look puppetry traditions of Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey, and Egypt. With … Continue reading "Episode 16: Much Ado About Puppets"
Summary In which Em and Jess discuss the important theoretical contributions of Tropic Thunder and Blazing Saddles to performance studies, thereby illustrating the important differences between performance, theatre, and ritual and vital questions about their respective origins. Also, Jess calls Socrates evil, and then Em and Jess decolonize medieval theatre beginning with India and China. … Continue reading "Episode 15: The Not-Evolution of Theatre"
Summary “One night in Bangkok makes a hard man tremble.” Weird concept musicals by Abba members aside, Asia is a place that many in the West have a fairly Orientalist relationship with, seeing it as both exotic and primitive. In today’s episode, we explore that relationship; starting with the French “restoration” of Angkor Wat, we … Continue reading "Episode 14: Decolonization and Asia"
Summary In the words of the great philosopher Toto, “I bless the RAINS down in AFRICA.” [This song plays every year at the Saturday night dance at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, otherwise known as Kalamazoo. Very medieval. –Jesse] We explore Africa from a decolonizing viewpoint, including words of wisdom from deceased UW–Madison professor … Continue reading "Episode 13: Decolonizing Africa"
Summary Welcome to part two of our series on decolonization. This week, Em and Jesse discuss what the Middle Ages looked like in the Americas before the arrival of colonizers. We take brief looks at the Mayan, Aztec, Mississipian, and Moche civilizations and a few of their many achievements. With some fun digressions about the … Continue reading "Episode 12: The Americas Before Colonization"
Summary “Pulling down statues isn’t erasing history….erasing history is the fact that you live on land stolen from a people you can’t name.” Em and Jesse dive into the theory and practice of decolonization–what does it mean, what are post-colonial studies, and how can we put this knowledge into practice, reforming our views of our … Continue reading "Episode 11: Decolonization: Theory and Practice"
Summary In which we discuss iconography (the study of icons), primarily so we can talk about the protests relating to/attempting to tear down the Robert E. Lee (and other major Confederate) statue(s) in Richmond, VA. But there’s also some good stuff on Medieval iconography, Kehinde Wiley, GB Trudeau, and Beyoncé. Notes, Corrections, Annotations 1/ For … Continue reading "Episode 10: Icons and Iconography"
Summary If heretics go directly to hell, and saints go directly to heaven, what happens if you burn as a heretic someone who later turns out to be a saint? Em and Jesse talk about Dante, sainthood and the inquisitio process, and finally look at the cases of two female saints, one of whom was … Continue reading "Episode 9: Heretics and Saints"
Summary Come with us into Hell. We’ll accompany Dante and Virgil as they pass through the nine circles and out into purgatory and heaven. On the way, we’ll chat about Margery Kemp and Julian of Norwich, Hellboy, D&D, Giotto’s Scrovengi Chapel, and the tendency of ogliarchs to use philanthropy to try and make people like … Continue reading "Episode 8: Hell and Damnation"
Summary What is the purpose of sin, and why is it allowed? Why does Hell exist? When people go to Hell, do they stay there forever, and is there any way of getting them out? Em and Jesse take a look at the Medieval personification of God’s love and how several major female mystics tackled … Continue reading "Episode 7: Love and Hell"
Summary From the feast of Corpus Christi to the mystical marriage between St. Catherine of Siena and Jesus Himself, Em and Jesse dive into the world of Medieval mysticism and affective piety, exploring the ways in which women were able to co-opt the stereotypes of men into positive portrayals of female piety. Brief content note–there’s … Continue reading "Episode 6: Mysticism and Motherhood"
Summary Em and Jesse begin a journey into the world of Medieval mysticism with a discussion of hermits and anchorites/anchoresses. With some interesting discussions of cats, Michel Foucault, Plato, and Siddhartha Gautama. Annotations, Notes, and Corrections 0/ There are some sound issues in this episode–I (Em) recorded in what sounds like a cave, and Jesse’s … Continue reading "Episode 5: Hermits and Anchoresses"
Summary Em and Jesse continue their discussion of Passover and Easter, including the Venerable Bede’s take on Easter’s pagan origins, blood libel, and some long digressions about monasteries, Pope Francis, Saint Francis, and Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Annotations, Citations, and Corrections 1/ [1:44] Miriam: We actually didn’t talk about her at all in the first … Continue reading "Episode 4: Passover and Easter, pt. 2"
Summary Em and Jesse retell the story of Passover, and then discuss the story of the crucifixion in the New Testament and how the two dovetail. In the process, they cover Medieval traditions surrounding Easter week in a wide-ranging discussion that also touches on Gilgamesh, the harrowing of hell, and Peeps. Citations, Annotations, and Corrections … Continue reading "Episode 3: Passover and Easter, part 1"
“Death and famine stalk the land like two great stalking things.” — Blackadder Summary It’s the Black Death, the original plague! Em and Jesse discuss the outbreaks of plague that bookended the Middle Ages–the Plague of Justinian (around 540 CE) and the better-known outbreak that spread across Asia into Western Europe and eventually hit the … Continue reading "Episode 2: Plague"
Summary: Em and Jesse discuss the inspiration behind the podcast and try to answer a few questions: What are the Middle Ages? How are they different from the Dark Age? Where did the name “Middle Ages” come from? Why study the Middle Ages? Also, Jesse makes controversial claims about Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus. Notes, Corrections, … Continue reading "Episode 1: An Introduction to the Middle Ages"