Medieval History

Medieval History

episodes

Interviews with scholars of medieval history about their new books.

Ada Maria Kuskowski, "Vernacular Law; Writing and the Reinvention of Customary Law in Medieval France" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

March 16, 2024

Vernacular Law

Ada Maria Kuskowski
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Custom was fundamental to mediaeval legal practice. Whether in a property dispute or a trial for murder, the aggrieved and accused would go to lay cou…

Eva De Clercq, ed. and trans., "The Life of Padma" (Harvard UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

The Life of Padma, Volume 2

Eva De Clercq, ed. and trans.
Hosted by Kshitij Jain

The Life of Padma, or the Paümacariu, is a richly expressive Jain retelling in the Apabhramsha language of the famous Ramayana tale. It was written by…

Michael Johnston, "The Middle English Book: Scribes and Readers, 1350-1500" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 24, 2024

The Middle English Book

Michael Johnston

Michael Johnston's The Middle English Book: Scribes and Readers, 1350-1500 (Oxford UP, 2023) addresses a series of questions about the copying and cir…

Ruth Ahnert and Sebastian E. Ahnert, "Tudor Networks of Power" (Oxford UP, 2023)

February 21, 2024

Tudor Networks of Power

Ruth Ahnert and Sebastian E. Ahnert
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Tudor Networks of Power (Oxford University Press, 2023) by Dr. Ruth Ahnert & Dr. Sebastian Ahnert is the product of a groundbreaking collaboration bet…

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

February 17, 2024

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…

Anthony Kaldellis, "Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium" (Harvard UP, 2019)

February 13, 2024

Romanland

Anthony Kaldellis
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Though commonly used today to identify a polity that lasted for over a millennium, the label “Byzantine empire” is an anachronism imposed by more rece…

Laura Flannigan, "Royal Justice and the Making of the Tudor Commonwealth, 1485–1547" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

February 13, 2024

Royal Justice and the Making of the Tudor Commonwealth, 1485–1547

Laura Flannigan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The dawn of the Tudor regime is one of most recognisable periods of English history. Yet the focus on its monarchs' private lives and ministers' const…

Beatrice Heuser, "War: A Genealogy of Western Ideas and Practices" (Oxford UP, 2022)

February 3, 2024

War

Beatrice Heuser

War is often thought of mainly the concern of professional soldiers and maybe politicians as well. However, philosophers and theorists of varying type…

Stephen Harris, "Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path: Santideva on Virtue and Well-Being" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

January 26, 2024

Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path

Stephen Harris

Santideva's 8th-century Mahayana Buddhist classic, "The Guide to the Practices of Awakening" (Bodhicaryavatara), has been a source of philosophical in…

Nicholas Morton, "The Crusader States and their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099-1187" (Oxford UP, 2020)

January 22, 2024

The Crusader States and their Neighbours

Nicholas Morton
Hosted by Maggie Freeman

Nicholas Morton’s The Crusader States and their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099-1187 (Oxford UP, 2020) explores the military history of the medie…

Brian Gastle et al., "The Lover's Confession: A Translation of John Gower's Confessio Amantis" (Medieval Institute Press, 2023)

January 21, 2024

The Lover's Confession

Brian Gastle, Catherine Carter, and Andrew Galloway
Hosted by Nikki Roulo

John Gower’s "Confessio Amantis" ("The Lover’s Confession") is one of the most important English works of the fourteenth century. Within its frame of …

Karen C. Pinto, "Medieval Islamic Maps: An Exploration" (U Chicago Press, 2016)

January 16, 2024

Medieval Islamic Maps

Karen C. Pinto
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

The history of Islamic mapping is one of the new frontiers in the history of cartography. Medieval Islamic Maps: An Exploration (University of Chicago…

Elizabeth Eva Leach, "Medieval Sex Lives: The Sounds of Courtly Intimacy on the Francophone Borders" (Cornell UP, 2023)

January 6, 2024

Medieval Sex Lives

Elizabeth Eva Leach
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How was music important to medieval society? In Medieval Sex Lives: The Sounds of Courtly Intimacy on the Francophone Borders (Cornell UP, 2023), Prof…

Virginia Chieffo Raguin, "The Illuminated Window: Stories Across Time" (Reaktion Books, 2023)

January 5, 2024

The Illuminated Window

Virginia Chieffo Raguin
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The Illuminated Window: Stories Across Times (Reaktion, 2023) is a unique journey through stained-glass installations that spans both time and place. …

Martyn Whittock, "American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America" (Pegasus Books, 2023)

January 5, 2024

American Vikings

Martyn Whittock
Hosted by Crawford Gribben

A vivid and illuminating new history--separate fact from fiction, myth from legend--exploring the early Vikings settlements in North America. Vikings…

Matthieu Felt, "Meanings of Antiquity: Myth Interpretation in Premodern Japan" (Harvard UP, 2023)

December 29, 2023

Meanings of Antiquity

Matthieu Felt
Hosted by Jingyi Li

Meanings of Antiquity: Myth Interpretation in Premodern Japan (Harvard UP, 2023) is the first dedicated study of how the oldest Japanese myths, record…

David M. Freidenreich, "Jewish Muslims: How Christians Imagined Islam as the Enemy" (U California Press, 2023)

December 21, 2023

Jewish Muslims

David M. Freidenreich

Uncovering the hidden history of Islamophobia and its surprising connections to the long-standing hatred of Jews. Hatred of Jews and hatred of Musl…

Peter Brown, "Journeys of the Mind: A Life in History" (Princeton UP, 2023)

December 14, 2023

Journeys of the Mind

Peter Brown
Hosted by Piotr Kosicki

Over the past seven decades, Peter Brown has transformed our collective understanding of the late Roman Empire and the European Middle Ages alike, est…

Jonathan Sumption, "Triumph and Illusion: The Hundred Years War, Vol. 5" (Faber & Faber, 2023)

December 14, 2023

Triumph and Illusion

Jonathan Sumption
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Triumph and Illusion (Faber & Faber, 2023) is the final volume of Jonathan Sumption's epic history of the Hundred Years War. It tells the story of the…

Christian Raffensperger and Donald Ostrowski, "The Ruling Families of Rus: Clan, Family and Kingdom" (Reaktion Books, 2023)

December 12, 2023

The Ruling Families of Rus

Christian Raffensperger and Donald Ostrowski
Hosted by Erika Monahan

In the current context, where Vladimir Putin justifies his war against Ukraine by insisting on an inevitable, unbroken teleology that binds Kyiv to Mo…