MDT Ep. 84: Medieval True Crime I - Concerning Miraculous Justice for a Mutilated Priest

MDT Ep. 84: Medieval True Crime I - Concerning Miraculous Justice for a Mutilated Priest

Author: Medieval Death Trip November 1, 2020 Duration: 39:47
For our sixth anniversary episode, we kick off a miniseries on medieval true crime, with the account of a particularly brutal assault on a parish priest, with an additional look at medieval treatments for eye wounds, and also learn how a dead man managed to kill the warrior who slayed him. Today's Text: Knox, Ronald, and Shane Leslie, editors and translators. The Miracles of King Henry VI. Cambridge UP, 1923. Guy de Chauliac, Grand Chirurgie. "Description of the Plague." Tr. by William A. Guy. Public Health: A Popular Introduction to Sanitary Science, Henry Renshaw, 1870, pp. 48-50. Google Books. Dasent, G.W., translator. The Orkneyingers Saga. Icelandic Sagas, vol. 3, Eyre and Spottiswood, 1894. Sacred Texts, www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ice/is3/is300.htm. References: Houlbrook, Ceri. "Coining the Coin-Tree: Contextualizing a Contemporary British Custom." Doctoral thesis, University of Manchester, 2014. Manchester University, www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/54558281/FULL_TEXT.PDF. Kelleher, Richard Mark. "Coins, monetisation and re-use in medieval England and Wales: new interpretations made possible by the Portable Antiquities Scheme." Doctoral thesis, vol. 1, Durham University, 2012. Durham e-Theses, etheses.dur.ac.uk/7314/. Millmore, Bridget. "Love Tokens: Engraved Coins, Emotions and the Poor 1700-1856." Doctoral thesis, University of Brighton, 2015. Brighton University, research.brighton.ac.uk/files/4757430/Bridget%20Millmore%20PhD%20Final.pdf. Audio Credits Recording by Freesound.ord user YleArkisto used under Creative Commons Attribution license. "Sudet ulvovat / Wolves howling, small pack, frost snapping" (https://freesound.org/s/243495/)

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: 50

Medieval Death Trip
Podcast Episodes
Concerning the Near-Death Visions of Fursa and Dryhthelm [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:43
This episode we explore two glimpses of the afterlife presented by the Venerable Bede and consider how they relate to the modern conception of the near death experience. Today's Text: Bede. Ecclesiastical History. In The…
The Voyage of the Uí Corra (Part 2) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:43
This episode we finally enter the open ocean with the Uí Corra and their fellow pilgrims as they explore strange new lands, seek out new afterlives and new sects, and boldly go where many other saints and heroes of Irish…
The Voyage of the Uí Corra (Part 1) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:47
In this episode, we embark on another Irish adventure with the first part (of two) of "The Voyage of the Uí Corra," in which we don't actually set sail until final paragraph. Today's Texts "The Voyage of the Hui Corra."…
St. Patrick's Letter to Coroticus [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:23
For this St. Patrick's Day, we finally present the last canonical text written by St. Patrick, his letter to Coroticus, completing the series we began in Episode 68 with the first half of Patrick's Confessio. Today's Tex…
Concerning the Murder and Miracles of Kenelm of Mercia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:22
This episode, we go into more depth with the legend of St. Kenelm (Cynehelm) and his jealous sister Quendrida (Cwenthryth). We also learn what it means to "crab the parson." Today's Text - "The Legend of St. Kenelm." Tra…
Concerning Conjoined Twins, Some Incorruptibles, and Royal Murders [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:09
We continue on from last episode's look at the Green Children of Woolpit with a further consideration of what it meant to wonder at a marvel in the middle ages, with additional illustration of some wondrous things from W…
Concerning the Green Children of Woolpit and Other Prodigies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:59
This Halloween marks our 10th anniversary, and we observe it by hearing the earliest written accounts of one of the most well-known pieces of medieval weird history: the Green Children of Woolpit -- and also hear the oth…
Concerning the Miseries of the Flesh according to Pope Innocent III [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:36
In this episode, we explore the tradition of contemptus mundi with a text all about how horrible it is to be a human being, On the Misery of the Human Condition, written by Pope Innocent III (when he was but Cardinal Lot…