Well, we finally made it: The Definitive Podcast (jodcast?) on medieval Jewish culture. After the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews were scattered across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Despite often-brutal repression, many Jews thrived, creating new communities, cultural expressions, and even languages. Despite marginalisation, Jewish women were also key to this evolution, enthusiastically contributing to spiritual and cultural life in dynamic ways. And even though they were a mi...
Apr 07, 2025•2 hr 11 min•Ep. 44
Taggart voice There's been a murder! Medieval life was full of murders! People were getting knifed all the time mate. But who was responsible for sorting the guilty from the innocent? What do God and intimate social knowledge have to do with it? And is this all a thinly-veiled excuse for Aran to do his incredible Poirot impression? For more information, see the University of Cambridge's Medieval Murder Maps: https://medievalmurdermap.co.uk/...
Mar 17, 2025•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 43
Join the official WMG Discord server!! https://discord.gg/6GzvXdWX23
Mar 03, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 42
We've got a lovely two-parter lined up for you guys and it's all about the history of the English language during the Middle Ages! Join us as we follow English from its humble origins as a collection of Germanic dialects spoken by a bunch of illiterate, trousers-wearing mudmen from in 400AD to a real language spoken by relatively normal people who have things like books and kings and their own country, a quirky little place called "England." For more on some of what we discuss, check out: The Un...
Feb 15, 2025•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 41
Yarrrrrrrr!!!!!! Where's me BOOTY?! We all love stories about pirates, whether they're plundering Treasure Islands, fighting an octopus man, or stealing Tom Hanks' job. But did you know that the Middle Ages had pirates? They did! And they were just as swashbuckling, mercenary and unhinged as their later successors. Set sail with Olivia and Aran on the good ship Podcasting , as they set out to find the secret of medieval piracy! Along the way, they'll meet a vengeful MILF, a queerbaiting sorcerer...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 40
Gather round, rockhounds! It's time to journey even further into the past than usual by taking a look at fossils through medieval eyes. Did dragon myths come from dinosaur bones? Did cyclops myths come from elephant bones? Can rocks be Jewish? All these questions and more, answered..... For more on some of what we discuss, check out: Lapis Judaicus or the Jews' stone: The folklore of fossil echinoid spines by Christopher Duffin https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248606245_Lapis_Judaicus_or...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 39
Happy New Year to all our Weird Medieval Guys podcast listeners and welcome back to our annual Q&A session! We solicited questions about history and the podcast from our Discord community and answered as many as we could for you. Listen on to hear about why we do silly voices, whether medieval people played drinking games, and more! Join our Discord server to be part of a wonderful community of weird medieval enthusiasts and for the chance to submit questions next year! https://discord.gg/6G...
Jan 04, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 38
The days have been getting shorter, the nights longer and the wind bitter-er. Even as the winter solstice draws near, the coming months of cold and darkness make spring seem still an eternity away. Making it through winter is never easy, so how did people in the Middle Ages get by? Join Olivia and Aran as they look into how people not only survived but thrived the whole medieval winter through. For more on some of what we discuss, check out: A digitised version of the Très Riches Heures du Duc d...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 37
This week, we're getting in our medieval spaceship and travelling through the medieval cosmos to find out just what medieval people thought about all of that space. We'll discuss some correct ideas they had, plenty of incorrect ones, and also how to use medieval astrology to make sure your medieval horse is in peak physical condition. For more on some of what we discuss, check out: The Stars and Human Sexuality: Some Medieval Scientific Views by Helen Lemay https://www.jstor.org/stable/230317 Ro...
Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 36
Here's a rhetorical question: do you love your pet? Of course you do, but did you know that medieval people did too? The only difference is, these pets had jobs! In this episode, Olivia and Aran delve into the wacky world of medieval cats and dogs, to explore what contemporary people wrote about them. Spoiler alert: they thought they were cool little guys. Also discussed: the official WMG dogs Bonnie and Bizzy; whether medieval hunting is like football, and if they had Mormons in late-antique Ar...
Nov 23, 2024•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 35
Oh my god the Weird Medieval Guys Podcast™ has gone cottagecore! You know what clothes are, you love wearing clothes. But someone has to make them, and in the Middle Ages, they didn't have industrial-scale fast fashion sweatshops. So who made them then? Well, sit back and enjoy as Olivia spins a yarn about the medieval textile industry. It's got everything you want in a Weird Medieval Guys Podcast™ episode: gender! industrial relations! dismemberment! Ewe won't want to miss this one... Don’t for...
Nov 10, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 34
Infernal covenants, black sabbaths and missing infants; dark deeds are afoot in the forests of medieval Europe... or are they? It's a Halloween Spooktacular! When the Devil transforms Joe Mason into an angry amphibian, Olivia and Aran must venture deep into the woods* to find a witch who can restore his humanity. But first, they have to figure out what medieval people actually believed about witches. Spoiler alert: it's not what you think! Along the way, we'll meet magical detectives, pious necr...
Oct 25, 2024•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 33
Olivia and Aran are back with another zinger as they begin to start to somewhat unpack some of the absolutely insane customs and beliefs that made up the Norse pagan world view! Check out Snorri Sturlson's Prose Edda here: https://sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/index.htm And join the official WMG discord here: https://discord.gg/ZwHz5JDKky The music used in this episode is from Ísmús, an online Icelandic song and culture archive. The intro song, Óðinn gramur ása reið, can be found here: https://www.is...
Oct 14, 2024•2 hr 11 min•Ep. 32
In the mid-12th century, a mysterious letter was circulating the courts of Christian Europe. Its supposed author was Prester John, a powerful, immortal Christian king who purported to rule a fantastical empire in India. Prester John was never real. But who wrote the letter and why? And why did Europeans spend centuries searching for him despite abundant evidence that the whole story was nonsense? To answer these questions, Olivia and Aran will set out on a globe-trotting adventure, from the yurt...
Sep 29, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 31
Unfortunately, Aran and Olivia are still recovering from one heck of a summer! Regular WMG pod episodes will resume in two weeks' time. In the interim, please enjoy another dump of outtakes that we have pieced together in order to give you all a glimpse into the depths of your two hosts' sick, twisted minds.....
Sep 13, 2024•38 min•Ep. 30
Several weeks after Joan of Arc led the battle to lift the siege at Orleans, she was already famous across Europe. However, it was perhaps how her story ended that cemented her status as a hero of worldwide and eternal renown. Our series on the Hundred Years' War concludes here, with a final episode about Joan of Arc's capture, trial, fate, and legacy....
Sep 03, 2024•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 29
As we continue our series on the Hundred Years' War, Armagnac cause has never seemed so hopeless. An Englishman sits on the French throne, the Scottish army has been crushed, and now the Armagnac stronghold of Orléans is about to fall. That is, until the emergence of the most unlikely hero: a charismatic peasant girl, who claims to speak to angels. In this episode, we chart the rise of Joan of Arc, from a normal working-class life in north-west France, to the self-appointed saviour of the nation...
Jul 27, 2024•58 min•Ep. 28
Our series on the Hundred Years' War continues with a deep dive into the events of the conflict and the consequences of a century of violence and death across Europe. Join Olivia and Aran as they discuss how the Black Death, rapid military and social developments, and a million succession crises almost brought France to the brink of defeat by the English. Until, somewhere in northeastern France, in a sleepy village called Domrémy, a young woman begins to have visions.... Join us in two weeks' ti...
Jul 13, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 27
A new, three-part epic kicks off in this episode of Weird Medieval Guys, covering the Hundred Years War, the apocalyptic conflict which forged the modern nations of England, France and Scotland. In this episode, Olivia and Aran chart the prelude to the conflict: the Scottish Wars of Independence. After the unexpected, heirless death of King Alexander III, Scotland is plunged into a crisis that threatens to turn into a full-scale civil war. But machinations in Paris and London will transform this...
Jun 28, 2024•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 26
The European football championships have kicked off, so it's time to talk sports! Join Olivia and Aran as they crack open a cold one or several and take a look at the long history of football in Europe, as well as the almost-as-long history of football hooliganism. In doing so, we will try to understand why there have been so many attempts to ban the sport....that is to say, why every attempt to do so has failed! For more on some of what we discuss, check out: Quest for excitement : sport and le...
Jun 16, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 25
It's time to get continental because on this episode of the Weird Medieval Guys podcast, we're heading to the Holy Roman Empire! When Voltaire famously said that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire, he probably didn't think that his words would haunt history classrooms and conversations centuries in the future. Unfortunately they did, and so we are left to deal with the legacy of this smarmy soundbite. Join Olivia and Aran as they unpack what on earth this crazy, crazy t...
May 31, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 24
Oh no! You've become unstuck in time and now you're in 15th century England with no idea what to do or how to avoid a miserable life as a social pariah who speaks an unrecognisable language and is ignorant to the rules and structure of the world around you! There has to be a better way! Or is there? Join Olivia and Aran as they journey back to medieval times to figure out the best way to get by. Should you become a monk or a nun? Have a go at blacksmithing? Or try to wow the village rubes with m...
May 17, 2024•1 hr 58 min•Ep. 23
It's grim up north... Why did a five-hundred-year-old Viking colony in Greenland suddenly disappear, with no trace or record? In this episode, Olivia, Aran, and local archaeologist Joe Mason assemble to try and solve one of the most enduring mysteries in medieval history. It's a quest that will take them out of the libertarian "paradise" of 11th century, to the freezing walrus-infested shores of Greenland, and beyond - to the promised land of Vinland. Along the way they'll encounter Native Ameri...
May 03, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 22
Yes, you heard us right!! Join Olivia and Aran as they defend their most dubious claim to date, which is definitely not just an excuse to step beyond our usual remit and talk about the wild, delightful world that was Edo Period Japan! We explore why Edo Japan was so cut off from the world and the effects this had on its society, plus some of the cultural developments that took place along the way. Also discussed are The legend of the tanuki and the train https://www.proquest.com/docview/10369269...
Apr 19, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 21
Journey across space and time with Olivia and Aran this week as we head to medieval Wales, home of one of history's finest bardic traditions. But what was a bard, what did they do, and why did Wales have so darn many of them? Give the episode a listen to learn all this and more! Also discussed are sand worms, long houses, and why foxes are better than babes. For more on some of what we discuss, check out: English translations of Dafydd ap Gwilym's poetry https://dafyddapgwilym.net/eng/3win.php Y...
Mar 22, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 20
Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo... Spring is just around the corner in the northern hemisphere, so it's time to learn some animal facts! Turns out, medieval people had all sorts of strange beliefs about wildlife both real and imagined. So, join Olivia, Aran, and beloved naturalist Sir David Attenborough* as they take you to meet fruit-rustling hedgehogs, homicidal pelicans, immortal eagles, and the most tender lovers in the animal kingdom: bears. Also discussed: the existential ...
Mar 08, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 19
Anyone who's anyone in the Middle Ages needs their own coat of arms, but it's not as simple as just throwing some snazzy shapes and cool animals on a shield and calling it a day. Join Olivia and Aran as they walk you through how to make your very own authentically (or inauthentically) medieval coat of arms, as well as a little bit of background on how and why these cool emblems became a quintessential part of medieval visual communication. Also discussed are short king representation, why leopar...
Feb 24, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 18
Weird Medieval Guys is back! And it's gone woke!!!!!! We all know medieval women didn't have it so good. Endlessly discriminated against in law, demeaned in culture and ignored in the histories. So, did anyone take issue with that? Turns out, yes! This week Olivia and Aran take you through the cultural milieu that produced Christine de Pizan, the poet / political scientist / gender polemnicist who revolutionized fourteenth-century debate and was (maybe?) the world's first feminist. Also discusse...
Feb 09, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 17
The year is 1453 and the Ottomans are at the gates of the great city of Constantinople. For centuries, they have been laying siege to this city; for centuries their efforts have failed. But this time, everything is going to be different. Constantinople is going to fall. How did history lead them there, though? And how exactly are the events of the siege going to play out? Olivia and Aran wrap up their magnificent two-part overview of Constantinople with an exploration of how the Ottoman Turks ca...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 16
After nearly half a year adrift on the seas of medieval history, it is finally time for Olivia and Aran to wash ashore on the hospitable shores of a little town called CONSTANTINOPLE. Join us for part 1 of 2 about the great medieval megalopolis as we explore the city from its prehistoric foundation to its siege by Catholic crusaders. And be sure to stay tuned for part 2, the incredible story of the Ottoman siege! Also discussed are worm biology, the elusive water sheep, and the viking urge to in...
Jan 12, 2024•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 15
