New Books Network Podcast

Game Studies December 7, 2023

Playing the Middle Ages

Pitfalls and Potential in Modern Games

Robert Houghton

Hosted by Rudolf Thomas Inderst

The Middle Ages have provided rich source material for physical and digital games from Dungeons and Dragons to Assassin's Creed. Playing the Middle Ages: Pitfalls and Potential in Modern Games …

Medieval History December 6, 2023

The Keys to Bread and Wine

Faith, Nature, and Infrastructure in Late Medieval Valencia

Abigail Agresta

Hosted by Benjamin Phillips

How did medieval people think about the environments in which they lived? In a world shaped by God, how did they treat environments marked by religious difference? The Keys to …

Religion December 3, 2023

Sacred Foundations

The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State

Anna M. Grzymała-Busse

Hosted by Piotr Kosicki

In Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State (Princeton University Press, 2023), political scientist Anna Grzymała-Busse corrects a long-standing distortion in the study of state formation …

Medieval History November 30, 2023

The Power of Protocol

Diplomatics and the Dynamics of Papal Government, c. 400 – c.1600

D. L. d'Avray

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Listen:

The Power of Protocol: Diplomatics and the Dynamics of Papal Government, c. 400 – c.1600 (Cambridge University Press, 2023) by Dr. David d’Avray asks: How did the papacy govern European …

Jewish Studies November 27, 2023

Hasdai Crescas: Collected Writings

Roslyn Weiss

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Today I talked to Roslyn Weiss, editor of Hasdai Crescas: Collected Writings (Library of the Jewish People, 2023). Hasdai Crescas spent his life in public service - as a rabbi and …

Medieval History November 26, 2023

Radegund

The Trials and Triumphs of a Merovingian Queen

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 position, received consecration …

Indian Ocean World November 25, 2023

Africanism

Blacks in the Medieval Arab Imaginary

Nader Kadhem

Hosted by Ahmed Almaazmi

Anti-blackness has until recently been a taboo topic within Arab society. This began to change when Nader Kadhem, a prominent Arab and Muslim thinker from Bahrain, published the first in-depth …

Medieval History November 24, 2023

International Law in Europe, 700–1200

Jenny Benham

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Was there international law in the Middle Ages? Using treaties as its main source, International Law in Europe, 700-1200 (Manchester University Press, 2022) by Dr. Jenny Benham examines the extent …

Early Modern History November 24, 2023

Love Spells and Lost Treasure

Service Magic in England from the Later Middle Ages to the Early Modern Era

Tabitha Stanmore

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Magic is ubiquitous across the world and throughout history. Yet if witchcraft is acknowledged as a persistent presence in the medieval and early modern eras, practical magic by contrast – …

General History November 18, 2023

Fake History

101 Things That Never Happened

Jo Teeuwisse

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

Fake news about the past is fake history. Did Hugo Boss design the Nazi uniforms? Did medieval people think the world was flat? Did Napoleon shoot the nose off the …

Jewish Studies November 15, 2023

Sepher Yosippon

A Tenth-Century History of Ancient Israel

Steven B. Bowman

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Today I talked to Steven B. Bowman about his book Sepher Yosippon: A Tenth-Century History of Ancient Israel (Wayne State UP, 2022). Sepher Yosippon was written in Hebrew by a medieval historian …

Medieval History November 14, 2023

Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, and Women in Tenth-Century England

Rebecca Hardie

Hosted by Becky Straple-Sovers

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Æthelflæd (c. 870–918), political leader, military strategist, and administrator of law, is one of the most important ruling women in English history. Despite her multifaceted roles and family legacy, however …

Military History November 12, 2023

Battle for the Island Kingdom

The Struggle for England's Destiny 1000-1066

Don Hollway

Hosted by AJ Woodhams

In a saga reminiscent of Game of Thrones and Battle for the Island Kingdom: The Struggle for England's Destiny 1000-1066 (Osprey, 2023) reveals the life-and-death struggle for power which changed the …

Medieval History November 4, 2023

Belisarius & Antonina

Love and War in the Age of Justinian

David Alan Parnell

Hosted by Evan Zarkadas

Belisarius and Antonina were titans in the Roman world some 1,500 years ago. Belisarius was the most well-known general of his age, victor over the Persians, conqueror of the Vandals …

Asian Review of Books November 2, 2023

The Caliph and the Imam

The Making of Sunnism and Shiism

Toby Matthiesen

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

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It was common during the years of the U.S. invasion of Iraq to talk about the Sunni-Shia split—and how the sectarian violence was the result of a “centuries-long hatred” between …

Music November 1, 2023

Song, Landscape, and Identity in Medieval Northern France

Toward an Environmental History

Jennifer Saltzstein

Hosted by Áine Palmer

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Song, Landscape, and Identity in Medieval Northern France: Toward an Environmental History (Oxford University Press, 2023) investigates how northern French vernacular poets and musicians writing in the late middle ages …

General History October 31, 2023

Witchcraft

A History in Thirteen Trials

Marion Gibson

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Listen:

Witchfinder General, Salem, Malleus Maleficarum. The world of witch-hunts and witch trials sounds archaic and fanciful, these terms relics of an unenlightened, brutal age. However, we often hear ‘witch-hunt’ in …

Comics and Graphic Novels October 29, 2023

Medievalist Comics and the American Century

Chris Bishop

Hosted by Elizabeth Woock

In Medievalist Comics and the American Century (UP of Mississippi, 2016), Chris Bishop surveys the medievalist comic, its stories, characters, settings, and themes drawn from the European Middle Ages. Hal Foster's …

Islamic Studies October 27, 2023

The Rise of Critical Islam

10th-13th Century Legal Debate

Youcef L. Soufi

Hosted by Shehnaz Haqqani

Youcef Soufi's book The Rise of Critical Islam: 10th-13th Century Legal Debate (Oxford University Press, 2023) is a fascinating and engaging exploration of the history of critique in Islamic legal and …

Christian Studies October 22, 2023

A Storm of Images

Iconoclasm and Religious Reformation in the Byzantine World

Philip Jenkins

Hosted by Crawford Gribben

In the eighth century, the Byzantine Empire began a campaign to remove or suppress sacred images that depicted Christ, the Virgin, or other holy figures, whether in paintings, mosaics, murals …