The Fire at Louvain

The Fire at Louvain

Author: D Field April 28, 2024 Duration: 39:11
In the late-summer of 1914, a city burns and its university library with it. Unusually for this podcast, the story takes us into WWI, but there are medieval connections to the story of Louvain (Leuven) and what happened when the German army came to town. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Bazydlo, Angela. “Manuscript lost in WWI fire turns up in Clark Archives.” https://clarknow.clarku.edu/2021/08/30/manuscript-lost-in-wwi-fire-turns-up-in-clark-archives/ Battles, Matthew. Library: An Unquiet History. W. W. Norton & Company, 2011. Battles, Matthew. “Knowledge on Fire.” The American Scholar 72, no. 3 (2003): 35–51. Bouwman, André. “Book burning in Louvain, 1914.” https://www.leidenspecialcollectionsblog.nl/articles/book-burning-in-louvain-1914 Delannoy, Paul. “The Library at the University of Louvain,” The Nineteenth Century, Vol. LXXVII - No. 59, p. 1061 May 1915. Derez, Mark. “The Flames of Louvain: a Library as a Cultural Icon and a Political Vehicle,” What do we lose when we lose a library? Proceedings of the conference held at the KU Leuven 9-11 September 2015. Gusejnova, Dina. “Librarians as Agents of German Foreign Policy and the Cultural Consequences of the First World War.” The Historical Journal 66, no. 4 (2023): 864–86. Kipling, Rudyard. “In Aid of Recruiting.” https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/readers-guide/rg_speeches_29.htm Kramer, Alan. Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War. Oxford University Press, 2008. Matin, A. Michael. “‘The Hun is at the Gate!’: Historicizing Kipling's Militaristic Rhetoric, From the Imperial Periphery to the National Center: Part Two: The French, Russian, and German Threats to Great Britain.” Studies in the Novel 31, no. 4 (1999): 432–70. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29533357. Ovenden, Richard. Burning the Books. Harvard University Press, 2020. Ovenden, Richard. “One of Europe’s Great Libraries Didn’t Stand a Chance… In Either of the World Wars.” https://lithub.com/one-of-europes-great-libraries-didnt-stand-a-chance-in-either-of-the-world-wars/    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Step away from the dry textbook version of the Middle Ages and into the footsteps of those who actually walked it. Human Circus: Journeys in the Medieval World, hosted by D Field, is a narrative history series built around the voyages of real people. Each episode follows a specific traveler-whether a merchant on the Silk Road, a Franciscan friar venturing to the Mongol court, or an ambassador navigating Ottoman politics-placing their personal experiences within the sweep of larger events. You’ll hear how these individual journeys, driven by faith, trade, diplomacy, or sheer adventure, wove together a surprisingly interconnected world long before modern globalization. The podcast digs into the cultural exchanges and dramatic encounters that defined an era, all through the lens of movement and human connection. It’s about listening to history unfold as a story, where the vast and often abstract medieval world becomes immediate and personal through the voices of those who traversed it. Tune in for a deeply researched yet vividly told exploration of places, societies, and the figures who moved between them, reminding us that the past was never static.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Human Circus: Journeys in the Medieval World
Podcast Episodes
Fernao Mendes Pinto 7: A Traveller's Guide to Ming China [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:25
Pinto's story continues, and the Portuguese traveller makes his way across China as a prisoner, describing some its towns, cities, and countryside as he goes. His China, which he may not have actually visited himself, is…
Fernao Mendes Pinto 6: Grave Robbery and Leeches [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:43
Our Portuguese adventurer resumes his piratical ways and runs into trouble on the coast of China. He and de Faria find silver in abundance, but also shipwreck, poverty, and leeches. If you like what you hear and want to…
The Medieval Winter and Other Seasons Since [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:59
Not a Christmas episode, but a winter one: winter in various Old English sources and winter now. Happy New Year and thanks for listening! If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon i…
Fernao Mendes Pinto 5: Revenge and a Little Piracy Too [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:41
Pinto and his colleagues embark on a quest for revenge against a certain pirate, and in the process indulge in quite a bit of piracy themselves along the coasts of Champa and Hainan. Ships are seized, silks are stolen, a…
Medieval Halloween: Signs in the Sky, Strange Children, etc [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:01
From William of Newburgh's 12th-century chronicle, "History of English Affairs," these stories aren't really about Halloween, but they do feel a little Halloween-ish. There's no Michael Myers, zombies, or vampires, but t…
Fernao Mendes Pinto 3: Melaka and the Embarrassed Envoy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:04
The story of the 16th-century Portuguese traveller, writer, soldier, envoy, and so much more, takes us to Malaysia, to the city of Malacca (Melaka), and to diplomatic missions among nearby rulers. If you like what you he…
Fernao Mendes Pinto 2: The Red Sea and the Siege of Diu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:49
Pinto visits the "Land of Prester John," faces trouble on the Red Sea, and brushes up against the 1538 Siege of Diu. He takes part in combat along the Indian coast, grumbles as to his lot in life, and is whisked about by…
Fernao Mendes Pinto 1: From Lisbon, Poverty, and Pirates [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:02
Fernão Mendes Pinto, respected by many of his contemporaries for the expertise knowledge which he'd gained through his travels, absolutely synonymous for others with lies and exaggerations. From humble beginnings and vag…
Medieval Lives 7: Long Distance Relationships [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:46
With all the medieval travel featured on the podcast—the trips across the Mediterranean, the Asian Steppe, and the Indian Ocean—of course we focus on the travellers themselves, the people actually making those trips, but…