In this episode of Gone Medieval, presenter Dr. Cat Jarman swaps seats and becomes the guest of Dr. Kate Lister’s brilliant podcast from History Hit, Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. In it, she delves into the topics that they didn’t teach you about in history lessons at school.

Today Cat answers everything Kate always wanted to know about sex and relationships in the Viking age - and it’s quite an eye-opener!

*WARNING! There is adult language and discussions of sexual assault in this episode.*

The Senior Producers were Charlotte Long and Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Sophie Long with Rob Weinberg. 

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.

England, 1351. In the aftermath of the Pestilence, Gerard Fox - a young knight robbed of his ancestral home, his family name tarnished - sets forth to petition the one man who can restore his lands and reputation. Fox's road entangles him with an enigmatic woman, a priceless relic, and a dark family secret. 

In today’s Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis meets #1 New York Times bestselling thriller writer Boyd Morrison who has teamed up with his sister Beth Morrison - senior curator of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum - to find out about their first historical fiction novel together, a fast-paced adventure titled The Lawless Land.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.

The unusual Anchor Church Caves in south Derbyshire were, until quite recently, thought to have been follies cut into the rock in the eighteenth century. But new research has revealed that they could date from the early ninth century - making them probably the oldest intact domestic interiors in the UK. They may well have even been lived in by a king who became a saint.

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Cat Jarman talks to Professor Edmund Simons who been making use of innovative methods to date and understand better this and other Medieval cave dwellings.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, a profound transformation took place in the ways that the English language was spoken and words were pronounced. This “Great Vowel Shift” saw a change in the pronunciation of all Middle English long vowels, resulting in spellings of words that often deviated considerably from how they are pronounced. 

In this edition of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Simon Roper - who makes videos about linguistics for YouTube - about the developments that led to the English language changing forever.  

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Early Medieval Britain was more Roman than we think. The Roman Empire left vast infrastructural resources, not least roads, walls and bridges. Why have they survived so well? And what did the people who lived here immediately after the Romans think of them and do with them?

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Cat Jarman talks to Dr. Mateusz Fafinski about how the infrastructure the Romans left behind was used and adapted in the early Medieval period.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

How do you go about finding your way around the history of a nation and a national identity? For the barrister and author Dominic Selwood, documents are the perfect window through which to watch a country develop and change. His new book Anatomy of a Nation: A History of British Identity in 50 Documents explores more than 950,000 years of history by examining those documents that tell the story of what has made Britain unique.

In this podcast, Matt Lewis talks to Dominic Selwood particularly about the Medieval documents he’s chosen, including the Magna Carta, Joan of Arc’s letter to King Henry VI, and the emergence of the stories of King Arthur.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Archaeology has a lot to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the so-called Dark Ages, and every now and then new sites are found in places where we previously knew nothing about the people who once lived there.

In today’s Gone Medieval, Dr. Cat Jarman goes to the Ministry of Defence land on Salisbury Plain to visit precisely one such site. There she meets Richard Osgood, senior archaeologist for the MoD who is excavating a seventh-century cemetery as part of Operation Nightingale which gives excavation opportunities to injured service personnel and veterans as part of their rehabilitation.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Seyi AdaobI and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.

From an age in which women’s lives were obscured and poorly recorded, one shines brightly from the darkness. Eleanor of Aquitaine - born 900 years ago - has been the subject of scandal and legend for almost a millennium. Nevertheless, she played a central role in the pivotal events that defined nations and set relationships across Europe for centuries to come. 

In this special explainer episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis recounts an incredible life, separating the myths from the facts to get to the real Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was mixed and edited by Rob Weinberg. 

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.

The first of Greenland’s Viking settlements were established in the tenth century. But by the fifteenth century, they had all but vanished, their fate confounding generations of archaeologists. But new research has revealed that it was the trade in walrus ivory that was behind both their prosperity and decline.

In this edition of Gone Medieval, Dr. Cat Jarman talks to Professor James Barrett, to discuss an enterprise that traversed East and West, but ultimately crashed as stocks ran out and elephant ivory became more accessible.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Parish churches were at the heart of English social life in the Middle Ages. But how did they come into existence? Who staffed them? And how were the buildings used? 

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Professor Nicholas Orme, whose new book Going to Church in Medieval England was shortlisted for the 2022 Wolfson History Prize, the UK’s most prestigious history writing award. Together, they explore how worship touched everyone’s lives, what happened in the daily and weekly services, and how churches marked festivals and the great events of life.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

For more Gone Medieval content, subscribe to our Medieval Mondays newsletter here. 

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

To download, go to Android or Apple store.