Medieval History

Medieval History

episodes

Interviews with scholars of medieval history about their new books.

Sean Griffin, "The Liturgical Past in Byzantium and Early Rus" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

May 7, 2024

The Liturgical Past in Byzantium and Early Rus

Sean Griffin
Hosted by Aaron Weinacht

Dr. Sean Griffin's book, The Liturgical Past in Byzantium and Early Rus (Cambridge UP, 2019), takes on the question of the source materials for the Pr…

Lucy Barnhouse, "Hospitals in Communities of the Late Medieval Rhineland" (Amsterdam UP, 2023)

May 7, 2024

Hospitals in Communities of the Late Medieval Rhineland

Lucy Barnhouse
Hosted by Jana Byars

Lucy Barnhouse of Arkansas State University talks with Jana Byars about her new book, Hospitals in Communities of the Late Medieval Rhineland: Houses …

Zahra Ayubi, "Gendered Morality: Classical Islamic Ethics of the Self, Family, and Society" (Columbia UP, 2019)

May 4, 2024

Gendered Morality

Zahra Ayubi
Hosted by Shobhana Xavier

How are notions of justice and equality constructed in Islamic virtue ethics (akhlaq)? How are Islamic virtue ethics gendered, despite their venture i…

Jason Birch, "The Amaraugha and Amaraughaprabodha of Goraksanatha" (Institut Francais de Pondichery, 2024)

April 29, 2024

The Amaraugha and Amaraughaprabodha of Goraksanatha

Jason Birch
Hosted by Kshitij Jain

The Lineage of Immortals (Sanskrit Amaraugha) is the earliest account of a fourfold system of yoga in which a physical practice called Haṭha is taught…

Sheilagh Ogilvie, "The European Guilds: An Economic Analysis" (Princeton UP, 2019)

April 29, 2024

The European Guilds

Sheilagh Ogilvie
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Guilds were prominent in medieval and early modern Europe, but their economic role has seldom been studied. In The European Guilds: An Economic Analys…

John Tolan, "England's Jews: Finance, Violence, and the Crown in the Thirteenth Century" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2023)

April 22, 2024

England's Jews

John Tolan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In 1290, Jews were expelled from England and subsequently largely expunged from English historical memory. Yet for two centuries they occupied importa…

Stephen Morillo, "War and Conflict in the Middle Ages" (Polity Press, 2022)

April 20, 2024

War and Conflict in the Middle Ages

Stephen Morillo
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In War and Conflict in the Middle Ages (Polity, 2022), Dr. Stephen Morillo offers the first global history of armed conflict between 540 and 1500 or a…

Philip Freeman, "Two Lives of Saint Brigid" (Four Courts Press, 2024)

April 17, 2024

Two Lives of Saint Brigid

Philip Freeman
Hosted by Crawford Gribben

St. Brigid is the earliest and best-known of the female saints of Ireland. In the generation after St. Patrick, she established a monastery for men an…

Tzafrir Barzilay, "Poisoned Wells: Accusations, Persecution, and Minorities in Medieval Europe, 1321-1422" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2022)

April 8, 2024

Poisoned Wells

Tzafrir Barzilay
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Between 1348 and 1350, Jews throughout Europe were accused of having caused the spread of the Black Death by poisoning the wells from which the entire…

Elizabeth Coggeshall, "On Amistà: Negotiating Friendship in Dante’s Italy" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

April 8, 2024

On Amistà

Elizabeth Coggeshall
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Although we often think of friendship today as an indisputable value of human social life, for thinkers and writers across late mediaeval Christian so…

Anthony Kaldellis, "The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium" (Oxford UP, 2024)

April 7, 2024

The New Roman Empire

Anthony Kaldellis
Hosted by Evan Zarkadas

In recent decades, the study of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium, has been revolutionized by new approaches and more sophisticated mo…

Translating a Śrī Vidyā Text: The Cidvilāsastava of Amṛtānanda

April 5, 2024

Translating a Śrī Vidyā Text

Brian Campbell
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The Cidvilāsastava of Amṛtānanda (fl. c. 1325-1375) one of the most comprehensive treatments of the esoteric contemplation of ritual found within the …

Paola Tartakoff, "Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and Inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2012)

April 2, 2024

Between Christian and Jew

Paola Tartakoff
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

In 1341 in Aragon, a Jewish convert to Christianity was sentenced to death, only to be pulled from the burning stake and into a formal religious inter…

William Bain, "Political Theology of International Order" (Oxford UP, 2020)

March 26, 2024

Political Theology of International Order

William Bain

Is contemporary international order truly a secular arrangement? Theorists of international relations typically adhere to a narrative that portrays th…

Shakuntala Gawde, "Narrative Analysis of Bhagavata Purana: Selected Episodes from the Tenth Skandha" (Dev Publishers, 2023)

March 21, 2024

Narrative Analysis of Bhagavata Purana

Shakuntala Gawde
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Shakuntala Gawde's book Narrative Analysis of Bhagavata Purana: Selected Episodes from the Tenth Skandha (Dev Publishers, 2023) presents an analytical…

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…