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Medieval History
General History September 26, 2022

Nomads

The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World

Anthony Sattin

Hosted by Maggie Freeman
Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World (W. W. Norton & Company, 2022) by Anthony Sattin tells the remarkable story of how nomads have fostered and refreshed civilization throughout history …

Medieval History

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Interviews with scholars of medieval history about their new books.

General History September 23, 2022

The World the Plague Made

The Black Death and the Rise of Europe

James Belich

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In 1346, a catastrophic plague beset Europe and its neighbours. The Black Death was a human tragedy that abruptly halved entire populations and caused untold suffering, but it also brought …
Writ Large September 16, 2022

On Giovanni Boccaccio’s "The Decameron"

A Discussion with Robert Pogue Harrison

Robert Pogue Harrison

Hosted by Zachary Davis
From roughly 1346 to 1353, Europe was paralyzed by the most fatal pandemic in recorded human history; the bubonic plague. The plague killed more than 60% of the total population …
Medieval History September 14, 2022

Empires of the Normans

Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia

Levi Roach

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Empires of the Normans: Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia (Pegasus, 2022) by Dr. Levi Roach is a tale of ambitious adventures and fierce freebooters, of fortunes made and fortunes …
Japanese Studies September 13, 2022

A Path Into the Mountains

Shugendō and Mount Togakushi

Caleb Swift Carter

Hosted by Raditya Nuradi
Often represented as a tradition of ancient origins, Shugendō has retained a quality of mystery and nostalgia in the public imagination and scholars as the “original” champions of mountain asceticism.  …
Indian Religions September 8, 2022

Goddess Traditions in India

Theological Poems and Philosophical Tales in the Tripurarahasya

Silvia Schwarz Linder

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Silvia Schwarz Linder's Goddess Traditions in India: Theological Poems and Philosophical Tales in the Tripurarahasya (Routledge, 2022) is a study of the Śrīvidyā and Śākta traditions in the context of South …
Japanese Studies September 6, 2022

Celebrating Sorrow

Medieval Tributes to the Tale of Sagoromo

Charo B. D'Etcheverry

Hosted by Jingyi Li
Celebrating Sorrow: Medieval Tributes to the Tale of Sagoromo (Cornell UP, 2022) explores the medieval Japanese fascination with grief in tributes to The Tale of Sagoromo, the classic story of …
Japanese Studies August 30, 2022

Samurai and the Warrior Culture of Japan, 471-1877

A Sourcebook

Thomas Donald Conlan

Hosted by Jingyi Li
In addition to providing excerpts from classic tales of Japan’s warrior past, Samurai and the Warrior Culture of Japan, 471-1877: A Sourcebook (Hackett, 2022) draws on a wide range of …
Media August 23, 2022

Information

A Historical Companion

Ann Blair, Paul Duguid, Anja-Silvia Goeing, and Anthony Grafton

Hosted by Erika Monahan
Information is everywhere. We live in an “Information” Society. We can get more of it faster, quicker, and in more different shapes and sizes than at probably any other time …
Jewish Studies August 19, 2022

The History of Galilee, 47 BCE to 1260 CE

From Josephus and Jesus to the Crusades

Matthew Mark Silver

Hosted by Michael Morales
Galilee, the region where monotheism multiplied, where Christianity came into being, where Judaism reinvented itself, and where Islam won some of its greatest triumphs. Matthew Silver's two volumes--The History of …
Irish Studies August 17, 2022

Beyond Exclusion

Intersections of Ethnicity, Sex, and Society Under English Law in Medieval Ireland

Stephen Hewer

Hosted by Margaret Smith
Beyond Exclusion: Intersections of Ethnicity, Sex, and Society Under English Law in Medieval Ireland (Brepols, 2022) offers a fresh look at the legal status of minorities in English Ireland. Through …
Medieval History August 17, 2022

Weeds and the Carolingians

Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750-900

Paolo Squatriti

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In Weeds and the Carolingians: Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Dr. Paolo Squatriti asks: Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire …
General History August 17, 2022

Inventing the Alphabet

The Origins of Letters from Antiquity to the Present

Johanna Drucker

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Inventing the Alphabet: The Origins of Letters from Antiquity to the Present (University of Chicago Press, 2022) by Dr. Johanna Drucker provides the first account of two-and-a-half millennia of scholarship …
Jewish Studies August 11, 2022

Power and Progress

Joseph Ibn Kaspi and the Meaning of History

Alexander Green

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
The philosopher and biblical commentator Joseph Ibn Kaspi (1280–1345) was a provocative Jewish thinker of the medieval era whose works have generally been overlooked by modern scholars.  Power and Progress …
Military History August 5, 2022

The Castle

A History

John Goodall

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In The Castle: A History (Yale University Press, 2022) Dr. John Goodall presents a vibrant history of the castle in Britain, from the early Middle Ages to the present day …
Writ Large August 3, 2022

On Thomas of Monmouth's "The Life and Passion of William of Norwich"

A Discussion with Rowan Dorin

Rowan Dorin

Hosted by Zachary Davis
There is only one surviving copy of The Life and Passion of William of Norwich, but its story continues to haunt us. When 12th-century monk Thomas of Monmouth learned of …
On Religion August 1, 2022

On the Krampus Conundrum

A Discussion with Madison Tarleton

Madison Tarleton

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Madison Tarleton is a Ph.D. candidate and scholar of Medieval Judaism in Christian Europe, antijudaism and antisemitism. Madison is studying at the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology’s joint PhD …
Military History July 28, 2022

The Medieval Crossbow

A Weapon Fit to Kill a King

Stuart Ellis-Gorman

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
The crossbow is an iconic weapon of the Middle Ages and, alongside the longbow, one of the most effective ranged weapons of the pre-gunpowder era. Unfortunately, despite its general fame …
On Religion July 28, 2022

On the Wanderer's Havamal and the Poetic Edda

A Discussion with Jackson Crawford

Jackson Crawford

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Dr. Jackson W. Crawford is Instructor of Nordic Studies and Coordinator of the Nordic Program at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Crawford is the author and translator of The Wanderer’s Havamal …
Medieval History July 22, 2022

Orthodox Cyprus Under the Latins, 1191-1571

Society, Spirituality, and Identities

Chrysovalantis Kyriacou

Hosted by Evan Zarkadas
Medieval and Renaissance Cyprus was a fascinating place of ethnic, cultural, and religious encounters. Following almost nine centuries of Byzantine rule, Cyprus was conquered by the Crusaders in 1191, becoming …