Geoffrey Chaucer is perhaps medieval England’s most famous writer and poet. Now a new exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford is setting out to give him greater breadth and depth than just The Canterbury Tales. 

To talk more about the ‘Father of English Literature’ with Matt Lewis is its curator Professor Marion Turner.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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By the time the Black Death subsided, between 75 and 200 million people in Afro-Eurasia were dead, entire towns and cities had collapsed, and the earth’s temperature cooled.

In today’s episode of Gone Medieval, guardDr Eleanor Janega speaks to Professor Philip Slavin who has used cutting-edge techniques to consider exactly where and how the worst pandemic the world has ever seen began, and what that reveals about the medieval world.

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Over the previous three episodes in our special series, Gone Medieval has taken a close look at the three main contenders for the throne of England in 1066. From Harold Godwinson who sat on it, to Harold Hardrada who might have seemed the most likely to win it, and William the Conqueror, the hardened Duke of Normandy.

In this episode, Matt Lewis explores the final clash of that seismic year. Who would wear the crown of England by the end of 1066 was still an open question and there was only one place that question could be answered. This is the story of the Battle of Hastings.

This episode was mixed and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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When his cousin King Edward the Confessor died childless, Duke William of Normandy saw the throne of England as his birthright. But one man stood in his way, Harold Godwinson, whom Edward had named as king on his deathbed.

In the third episode of our special series examining the build-up to the Battle of Hastings, Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by Professor Judith A. Green to find out more about the man who would change the course of British and European history.

This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In the second of Gone Medieval’s series looking at the road to the Battle of Hastings, Matt Lewis focuses on another claimant to the English throne. Harald Hardrada was a legendary Viking warrior who sought to rebuild the North Sea Empire to which he believed himself heir. Harald invaded the north of England with 10,000 troops and 300 longships in September 1066. But the mission would not be plain sailing.

Matt finds out more about him from Dr Caitlin Ellis, from the University of Oslo.

This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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The stories of King Arthur are among the great legends of British history. But behind the romance, chivalry and sorcery of it all, there were some pretty sexy shenanigans going on, at least in the early to mid-Medieval versions of the legends. And the good, virtuous King Arthur wasn’t quite so innocent as we might have been led to believe from The Sword in the Stone and the poems of Tennyson.

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega pops across to our History Hit sister podcast Betwixt the Sheets to talk with Dr. Kate Lister and spill the beans on King Arthur.

**Warning: This episode contains strong language and explicit content***

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith and Rob Weinberg.

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How did medieval surgeons, doctors and monks understand the inner workings of the human body? Who performed the first scientific human dissections? How did artists depict human anatomy?

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis finds out more from Dr. Taylor McCall, author of The Art of Anatomy in Medieval Europe, which explores the deep connections between visual and medical culture during the European Middle Ages.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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All this month on Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis uncover the stories of the protagonists and events that led up to the Battle of Hastings. There’s Harold Godwinson, the Anglo Saxon Lord who became the king of a people only recently brought together; Harald Hardrada, a legendary Viking warrior seeking to rebuild the North Sea Empire to which he believes himself heir; and William the Conqueror, descended from pagan Vikings, now the Christian Duke of Normandy. The lives of millions of people for centuries to come will be inextricably linked to their actions in that fateful year of 1066.

In this first episode, Eleanor finds out more about Harold Godwinson from Professor Levi Roach.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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From William Wallace and King Henry VI, to Anne Boleyn and Sir Walter Raleigh, London's iconic Tower of London has held some of history's most notorious figures over its 1000 year history. Host of Gone Medieval podcast Matt Lewis joins Dan to uncover the secrets embedded within the tower's formidable walls. They dive into the deep history of this mighty fortress built by William the Conqueror and tell the stories of the executions, the escapes and the animals that have called the tower home, including a 13th century polar bear who would swim and catch fish in the Thames.

You can find out more about the Tower of London and its notorious prisoners in the History Hit Miscellany book available in bookshops and online.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges, edited by Dougal Patmore and remixed by Joseph Knight

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If your new year's resolutions include getting more exercise, drinking less, or eating well, you might be surprised to know that medieval people were every bit as interested as we are in becoming, being and staying healthy.

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega talks to Professor Carol Rawcliffe about her fascinating research into health and fitness in the late medieval period and what people thought about staying fit and well.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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