Medieval History

Medieval History

episodes

Interviews with scholars of medieval history about their new books.

Michelle P. Brown, "Illumino: A History of Medieval Britain in Twelve Illuminated Manuscripts" (Reaktion, 2025)

May 3, 2026

Illumino

Michelle P. Brown

The history of medieval Britain through twelve remarkable illuminated manuscripts. Illumino: A History of Medieval Britain in Twelve Illuminated Manu…

D. Vance Smith, "Atlas’s Bones: The African Foundations of Europe" (U Chicago Press, 2025)

May 2, 2026

Atlas's Bones

D. Vance Smith

A major new look at Africa’s influence on European culture and how colonization remade Africa in the image of a medieval Europe. Virgil. Chaucer.…

Raffaele Danna, "The Craft of Indo-Arabic Numerals: How Practical Arithmetic Shaped Commerce and Mathematics in Western Europe, 1200–1600" (Harvard UP, 2026)

April 28, 2026

The Craft of Indo-Arabic Numerals

Raffaele Danna
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In the thirteenth-century Mediterranean, commerce transformed as merchants shifted from Roman to Indo-Arabic numerals—an alternative that better facil…

Craig Perry, "Slavery and the Jews of Medieval Egypt: A History" (Princeton UP, 2026)

April 23, 2026

Slavery and the Jews of Medieval Egypt

Craig Perry
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Slavery was a key part of pre-modern Islamic society, spanning from soldiers to concubines. And one of the most revealing repositories of evidence we …

Francis Young, "Fairies: A History" (John Wiley & Sons, 2026)

April 21, 2026

Fairies

Francis Young
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Many people think they know what fairies are, what a fairy looks like, and how a fairy is expected to behave. Dr. Francis Young's Fairies: A History (…

Nabil Ali, "Gold from Newton's Apple Tree: Historical Recipes for Natural Inks, Paints, and Dyes" (Princeton UP, 2026)

April 14, 2026

Gold from Newton's Apple Tree

Nabil Ali
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Flowering currant, ivy, Portuguese laurel, and woad might all have grown in a medieval garden, but it would have taken special expertise to extract an…

Rory Naismith, "Offa: King of the Mercians" (Yale UP, 2026)

April 14, 2026

Offa

Rory Naismith
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Offa: King of the Mercians (Yale UP, 2026), Professor Rory Naismith presents an authoritative biography of Offa of Mercia, revealing his importance…

Katherine Harvey, "The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living" (Reaktion, 2026)

April 1, 2026

The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living

Katherine Harvey
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

We often think of medieval medicine as strange, unhygienic and unscientific, but The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living (Reaktion, 2026) by Dr. Katherin…

Elisheva Baumgarten, "Beyond the Elite: Everyday Jewish Lives in Medieval Northern Europe" (Cornell UP, 2026)

March 28, 2026

Beyond the Elite

Elisheva Baumgarten
Hosted by Marc Katz

What can we learn about Jewish history when we stop focusing on great rabbis and turn instead to ordinary people? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz spe…

Gijs Kruijtzer, "Justifying Transgression:  Muslims, Christians, and the Law - 1200 to 1700" (de Gruyter, 2023)

March 25, 2026

Justifying Transgression

Gijs Kruijtzer
Hosted by Amanie Antar

How do people justify what others see as transgression? Taking that question to the Persian-Muslim and Latin-Christian worlds over the period 1200 to …

Craig Perry, "Slavery and the Jews of Medieval Egypt: A History" (Princeton UP, 2026)

March 21, 2026

Slavery and the Jews of Medieval Egypt

Craig Perry
Hosted by Marc Katz

What did slavery actually look like in the everyday lives of Jews in the medieval Middle East? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with histori…

E. T. Dailey, "Radegund: The Trials and Triumphs of a Merovingian Queen" (Oxford UP, 2023)

March 2, 2026

Radegund

E. T. Dailey
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

A princess born to the Thuringian royal house. A captive in war, forced to marry the Frankish king who killed her family. A queen, who renounced her p…

Lynneth Miller Renberg, "Women, Dance and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1640: Negotiating the Steps of Faith" (Boydell & Brewer, 2022)

February 14, 2026

Women, Dance and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1640

Lynneth Miller Renberg
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Women, Dance and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1640: Negotiating the Steps of Faith (Boydell & Brewer, 2022) Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg presents…

Lucy Donkin, "Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages" (Cornell UP, 2022)

February 9, 2026

Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages

Lucy Donkin
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Dr. Lucy Donkin’s Standing on Holy Ground in the Middle Ages (Cornell University Press, 2022) illuminates how the floor surface shaped the ways in whi…

Maureen Miller and N. Şenocak, "A People's Church: Medieval Italy and Christianity, 1050-1300" (Cornell UP, 2023)

February 7, 2026

A People's Church

Agostino Paravicini Bagliani and Neslihan Şenocak
Hosted by Lauren Fonto

A People's Church brings together a distinguished international group of historians to provide a sweeping introduction to Christian religious life and…

Arnoud S. Q. Visser, "On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All" (Princeton UP, 2025)

February 2, 2026

On Pedantry

Arnoud S. Q. Visser
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice Intellectuals have long provoked scorn and irritation, even downr…

Yossef Rapoport, "Becoming Arab: The Formation of Arab Identity in the Medieval Middle East" (Princeton UP, 2025)

January 29, 2026

Becoming Arab

Yossef Rapoport
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Today, much of the Middle East is “Arab”—an identity that now extends across North Africa and up through the Near East to Syria. Yet how did this regi…

Adam Bursi, "Traces of the Prophets: Relics and Sacred Spaces in Early Islam" (Edinburgh UP, 2024)

January 26, 2026

Traces of the Prophets

Adam Bursi
Hosted by Shobhana Xavier

Adam Bursi’s Traces of the Prophets: Relics and Sacred Spaces in Early Islam (Edinburg University Press, 2024) uses writings by early Muslims to map a…

Nena Vandeweerdt, "Women and Work Through a Comparative Lens: Gender and the Urban Labor Markets of Premodern Brabant and Biscay" (Leuven UP, 2025)

January 25, 2026

Women and Work Through a Comparative Lens

Nena Vandeweerdt
Hosted by Mariam Olugbodi

Women and Work Through a Comparative Lens: Gender and the Urban Labor Markets of Premodern Brabant and Biscay explores women's economic roles in late …

Christian Raffensperger, "Authorship, Worldview, and Identity in Medieval Europe" (Routledge, 2022)

January 24, 2026

Authorship, Worldview, and Identity in Medieval Europe

Christian Raffensperger
Hosted by Erika Monahan

What did medieval authors know about their world? Were they parochial and focused on just their monastery, town, or kingdom? Or were they aware of the…