In this slightly belated Father's Day episode, we return to the snarky wit of Walter Map as he explains why it's so hard to be the man of the house. Today's Text Map, Walter. De Nugis Curialium. Translated by Montague R. James, historical notes by John Edward Lloyd, edited by E. Sidney Hartland, Cymmrodorion Record Series, no. 9, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1923. References Jones, Kathleen W. "Mother's Day: The Creation, Promotion and Meaning of a New Holiday in the Progressive Era." Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 22, no. 2, Summer 1980, pp. 175-196. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40754605. Audio Credit: Young Frankenstein. Directed by Mel Brooks. 20th Century Fox, 1974.

Medieval Death Trip

MDT Ep. 88: Concerning the Plight of the Paterfamilias

We return from an unplanned semester hiatus with the third installment of our Medieval True Crime miniseries, continuing to explore the 13th-century coroner's rolls of rural Bedfordshire (plus one item from 14th-century Essex), as well as muse on why murder narratives so monopolize our mysteries and how murder was defined in medieval England. Today's Text: Gross, Charles, editor. Select Cases from the Coroners' Rolls, A.D. 1265-1413, with a Brief Account of the History of the Office of Coroner. Bernard Quarithc, 1896. Google Books. References: Green, Thomas A. "Societal Concepts of Criminal Liability for Homicide in Mediaeval England." Speculum, vol. 47, no. 4, Oct. 1972, pp. 669-694. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2856634. Hanawalt, Barbara A. "Violent Death in Fourteenth- and Early Fifteenth-Century England." Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 18, no. 3, July 1976, pp. 297-320. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/178340. Kaste, Martin. "Open Cases: Why One-Third Of Murders In America Go Unresolved." Morning Edition, National Public Radio, 30 Mar. 2015, www.npr.org/2015/03/30/395069137/open-cases-why-one-third-of-murders-in-america-go-unresolved. United States. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics. "FAQ Detail: What is the probability of conviction for felony defendants?" www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?iid=403&ty=qa.

MDT Ep. 87: Medieval True Crime III: Death in the Countryside

As we kick off the New Year, we take a brief diversion from our Medieval True Crime miniseries to explore the world of precious stones and the extraordinary properties attributed to them through a look at the Lapidary of Marbodus and a couple of other short texts. Today's Texts Shackford, Martha Hale, editor. Legends and Satires from Mediæval Literature. Ginn and Company, 1913. Google Books. Marbodus. The Lapidarium of Marbodus. Translated by C.W. King. In C.W. King, Antique Gems, Their Origin, Uses, and Value as Interpreters of Ancient History; and as Illustrative of Ancient Art, John Murray, 1860, pp. 389-417. Google Books. References Doyle, Arthur Conan. "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle." The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Project Gutenberg. Duffin, Christopher John. "Chelidonius: The Swallow Stone." Speculum, vol. 124, no. 1, Apr. 2013, pp. 81-103. JSTOR. Holmes, Urban T. "Mediaeval Gem Stones." Speculum, vol. 9, no. 2, Apr. 1934, pp. 195-204. JSTOR.

MDT Ep. 86: Concerning the Meaning of Stones

This episode, we continue our Medieval True Crime series with a trip to late 13th-century Bedfordshire as represented in its Coroner's Rolls, as well as hear some inadvertently lyrical legalese from early 14th-century Northampton. Today's Text: Gross, Charles, editor. Select Cases from the Coroners' Rolls, A.D. 1265-1413, with a Brief Account of the History of the Office of Coroner. Bernard Quarithc, 1896. Google Books. References: Hanawalt, Barbara A. "Violent Death in Fourteenth- and Early Fifteenth-Century England." Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 18, no. 3, July 1976, pp. 297-320. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/178340. Warrin, Frank L. “Hue and Cry.” The Virginia Quarterly Review, vol. 9, no. 1, 1933, pp. 26–37. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26433779.

MDT Ep. 85: Medieval True Crime II: Concerning Violent Crime in the Coroner's Rolls

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/)

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

This episode, we check in once again with 14th-century traveler Odoric of Pordenone as he takes in the many lands between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, including Sri Lanka, Java, Borneo, Vietnam, and some that remain rather mysterious. Today's Texts: Odoric of Pordenone. "The Eastern Parts of the World, Described." Cathay and the Way Thither, translated by Henry Yule, vol. 1, Hakluyt Society, 1866, pp. 43-162. Google Books. Odoricus. "The Voyage of Frier Beatus Ordoricus to Asia Minor, Armenia, Chaldea, Persia, India, China, and Other Remote Parts, &c." The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, edited and translated by Richard Hakluyt, vol. 4, Macmillan 1904, pp. 371-444. Google Books. Audio credits: Recordings by Freesound.org user RTB45 used under Creative Commons Attribution license. --"Borneo Jungle - Day" (https://freesound.org/s/253291/) --"Javanese Angklung Music – Indonesia" (https://freesound.org/s/253962/) --"Javanese Court Gamelan 3 - Indonesia" (https://freesound.org/s/255542/) --"Bali Cremation Ceremony - Prelude" (https://freesound.org/s/149186/) Recording by Kevin Luce used under Creative Commons Attribution license. --"Cham Music and Dances" (https://freesound.org/s/440669/)

MDT Ep. 83: Concerning Island Kingdoms, Bloodsuckers, and Flesh-Eaters

This episode, we examine the persecution of Jews that occurred during the plague years of 1348-1350, including the record of well-poisoning interrogations, the pope's attempt to quell the violence, and a Jewish account of the persecutions and resistance. Today's Texts * "Appendix 2: Examination of the Jews Accused of Poisoning the Wells." The Epidemics of the Middle Ages, by J.F.C. Hecker and translated by B.G. Babington, 3rd ed., Trübner & Co., 1859, pp. 70-74. Google Books. * Clement VI. Bull of 1 Oct. 1348 [Latin text]. Acta Salzburgo-Aquilejensia, edited by Alois Lang, vol. 1, VerlagsBuchhandlung Styria, 1903, pp. 301-302. Google Books. * Joseph ha-Kohen. The Chronicles of Rabbi Joseph Ben Joshua Ben Meir, the Sphardi. Translated by C.H.F. Bialloblotzky, vol. 1, Richard Bentley, 1835. Google Books. Music credit: Hershman, Mordechai, performer. "Rochel Mevake Al Bonaiho." 1921. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-39537/.

MDT Ep. 82: Concerning Plague Persecutions

As life under quarantine begins to enter a new phase, we continue our survey of plague texts, with a grab-bag of selections ranging from Petrarch baring his soul to a surgeon listing failed remedies to some Paris professors issuing pandemic guidelines to keep the country safe, which include by no means consuming olive oil. Today's Texts * Capgrave, John. The Chronicle of England. Edited by Francis Charles Hingeston, Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1858. Google Books. * Dobson, Susanna, translator. The Life of Petrarch. Collected from Memoires pour la vie de Petrarch by Jacques-Francois-Paul-Aldonce De Sade, vol. 2, 7th ed., W. Wilson, 1807. Google Books. * Guy de Chauliac, Grand Chirurgie. "Description of the Plague." Tr. by Anna M. Campbell. Reprinted from Campbell, The Black Death and Men of Learning, pp. 2-3, 1931. * 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. * Petrarch, "Letter to Gherard, May 1349." Translated by Francis Aidan Gasquet in The Black Death of 1348 and 1349, 2nd ed., George Bell and Sons, 1908, pp. 33-34. Google Books. * "Statement of the Faculty of the College of Physicians of Paris." In The Epidemics of the Middle Ages, by J.F.C. Hecker, translated by B.G. Babington, 3rd ed., Trübner & Co., 1859, pp. 47-49. Google Books.

MDT Ep. 81: Concerning More Descriptions of the Plague

We return at last for our first episode of 2020 in the midst of the covid-19 global pandemic. As such, our text for today is the famous description of the bubonic plague as it appeared in Florence in 1348 with which Boccaccio frames his tale collection, the Decameron. Today's Text Boccaccio, Giovanni. Stories of Boccaccio (The Decameron). Translated by Léopold Flameng, G. Barrie, 1881. Google Books. References Keys, Thomas E. “The Plague in Literature.” Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, vol. 32, 1944, pp. 35–56. europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC194297&blobtype=pdf. Kowalski, Todd J., and William A. Agger. "Art Supports New Plague Science." Clinical Infectious Diseases, vol. 48, no. 1, Jan. 2009, pp. 137-138. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40309557. Marafiotio, Martin. "Post-Decameron Plague Treatises and the Boccaccian Innovation of Narrative Prophylaxis." Annali d'Italianistica, vol. 23, 2005, pp. 69-87. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24009628. Martin, Paul M.V., and Estelle Martin-Granel. "2,500-Year Evolution of the Term Epidemic." Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 976-980, doi:10.3201/eid1206.051263. "Mortality Frequency Measures." Centers for Disease Control, Principles of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice, 3rd ed., 12 May 2012, www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson3/section3.html. "Plague." Centers for Disease Control, 19 Nov. 2019, www.cdc.gov/plague/index.html.

MDT Ep. 80: Concerning Boccaccio’s Description of the Plague

This Christmas Eve episode, we return to the Gesta Regum Anglorum of William of Malmesbury, to learn hear some legends of Saxony, including some overly boisterous Christmas revelers cursed to continue their revels for a whole year without rest. Today's Text: William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J.A. Giles, translated by John Sharpe and J.A. Giles, George Bell & Sons, 1895. References Hecker, J.F.C. The Epidemics of the Middle Ages. Translated by B.G. Babington, 3rd ed., Trübner & Co., 1859. McDougall, Sara. "Bastard Priests: Illegitimacy and Ordination in Medieval Europe." Speculum, vol. 94, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 138-172. Thomas, Edith M. "The Christmas Dancers: A Legend of Saxony." The Century, vol. 59, no. 2, Dec. 1899, pp. 165-173.

MDT Ep. 79: Concerning Cursed Christmas Carolers and an Unlikely Bishop

This episode, we explore a character analysis of an unpopular leader, as William of Malmesbury explains how the virtues of William Rufus transformed into his greatest vices. Along the way, we also learn why pointy shoes are indicators of moral degradation. Today's Texts: William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J.A. Giles, translated by John Sharpe and J.A. Giles, George Bell & Sons, 1895. Orderic Vitalis. The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy. Vol. 2. Translated by Thomas Forester, Henry G. Bohn, 1854.

MDT Ep. 78: Concerning the Character of William Rufus and Some Scandalous Shoes

This Halloween, we celebrate our fifth anniversary with five terrifying tales of demonic activity from the Lanercost Chronicle. Today's Text: The Chronicle of Lanercost: 1272–1346. Translated by Herbert Maxwell, James Maclehose and Sons, 1913.

MDT Ep. 77: Concerning Some Demons of the Lanercost Chronicle (and a Revenant)

We return from our hiatus with an exploration of life in Tudor grammar school classroom, as described in a compilation of translation exercises composed for his students by a master of the Magdalen School, Oxford. Today's Text: Nelson, William, editor. A Fifteenth Century Schoolbook: From a Manuscript in the British Museum (MS. Arundel 249). Oxford, 1956. https://archive.org/details/fifteenthcentury00nelsuoft.

MDT Ep. 76: Concerning a Glimpse into 15th-Century School Life

As a treat to all of our listeners while the regular show is on vacation for July, here's the commentary track I made for the 1981 film Dragonslayer. This was originally released this past winter just to our Patreon supporters, but now everyone can get have chance to enjoy it. Note that this includes a long introduction featuring a reading of the legend of St. George and the Dragon. If you want to jump straight to the actual commentary synced to the film, you'll need to skip ahead to around the 18-minute mark of the file.

MDT Vacation Bonus: Dragonslayer Film Commentary

This episode we encounter another saintly curse, this time at the hands of St. Maughold, the patron saint of the Isle of Man, and on our way to that miracle story, we catch up on the trials and tribulations of the Manx dynasty of Godred Crovan since we last saw them in Ep. 44. As a bonus, we'll also hear the origin story of St. Maughold, a.k.a. MacCuil the bandit, a.k.a., Cyclops, as recorded in Muirchu's Life of St. Patrick. Today's Texts: The Chronicle of Man and the Sudreys. Edited by P.A. Munch, translated by Alexander Goss, vol. 1, The Manx Society, 1874. Google Books. Muirchu. Life of St. Patrick. St. Patrick: His Writings and Life, edited and translated by Newport J.D. White, Macmillan, 1920. References: Kinvig, R.H. The Isle of Man: A Social, Cultural, and Political History. Charles E. Tuttle, 1975. Mood, A.W. The Folk-Lore of the Isle of Man. Brown & Son, 1891. Sacred-texts.com.

MDT Ep. 75: Concerning More Challenges to the Throne of Man

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Medieval Death Trip

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