MDT Ep. 32: Election Special 2016!

MDT Ep. 32: Election Special 2016!

Author: Medieval Death Trip November 8, 2016 Duration: 16:50
It's Election Day in the U.S.A., and here's a quick little tale of the election of an 11th-century bishop to take our minds off of the horrible, horrible anxiety of the day!

Step into the strange and vivid world of the Middle Ages with Medieval Death Trip. Each episode is built around a single primary source-a chronicle, a poem, a letter, or a legal record-that reveals something peculiar, grim, or wonderfully unexpected from the period. The chosen texts are the real draw, offering unmediated glimpses into a mindset that can feel both alien and strangely familiar. You’ll hear about bizarre miracles, brutal justice, mystical visions, and the quiet, odd details of daily life that history books often overlook. After presenting the document in full, the host provides context and personal reflections, piecing together what the story might tell us about the people who wrote it and the world they inhabited. This isn’t a dry academic lecture; it’s more like a guided tour through the archives, pointing out the bloodstains and the marginal doodles with equal fascination. The podcast lives in the intersection of several genres, pulling from history, literature, and cultural study to examine how medieval people made sense of their reality. Listening feels like uncovering a series of forgotten artifacts, each one a conversation starter about belief, violence, humor, and humanity. For anyone curious about history’s shadowy corners and the raw, unfiltered voices of the past, this series provides a consistently engaging and thought-provoking journey. The approach is both serious and accessible, treating these centuries-old accounts with respect while never shying away from their inherent strangeness. Tune in for a deep dive into the archives, one unsettling and fascinating story at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Medieval Death Trip
Podcast Episodes
MDT Ep. 46: Concerning the Giant of Mont St. Michel [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:13
This Halloween marks our third anniversary, and we ring in our fourth year with two versions of King Arthur's famous battle with the man-eating giant of Mont St. Michel.
MDT Ep. 45: Concerning Magnus Barefoot vs. Ireland [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:23
This episode we (that is, I) wax autobiographical as we look at our first saga text, an account of the death of King Magnus Barefoot during his attempted conquest of Ireland in 1103. Also, there are some thoughts on the…
MDT Ep. 44: Concerning Turnover of the Kings of Man [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:54
This episode we crack open the Chronicle of Man and the Sudreys to look at the Isle of Man and the rise of the royal house of King Orry, Godred Crovan, and King Magnus Barefoot of Norway is warned in a dream to leave Nor…
MDT Ep. 43: Concerning the Resurrection of Cannibals [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:44
Today we plunge into some hard-core scholasticism, as we hear Thomas Aquinas wrestle with the thorny question: "If all dead bodies are resurrected at the Last Judgment, what happens to the bodies of cannibals, whose bodi…
MDT Ep. 42: Concerning the Exhumation of St. Cuthbert (1827) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:23
We conclude our three-part look at the remains of St. Cuthbert with James Raine's account of his 1827 exhumation of Cuthbert's body and the recovery of some extraordinary early medieval artifacts. Featured Music: Extract…
MDT Ep. 41: Concerning the Examination of Cuthbert's Body (1104) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:50
In Part II of our "Cuthbert's Body" series, we hear Reginald of Durham's description of what was found inside Cuthbert's coffin in the investigation preceding the Cuthbert's translation in 1104, and we consider what inco…
MDT Ep. 40: Fear and Trembling in Durham Cathedral [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:17
This episode is the first in our three-part series looking at encounters with the remains of St. Cuthbert, starting in this installment with a quick look at the discovery that his body had not decayed in 698, eleven year…
MDT Ep. 39: To the Lists! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:03
This episode we're looking at lists: a list about list, a text akin to an early modern police blotter, and a catalogue of scholarly sessions from Kalamazoo, where I'll be heading off to this week!