Was Richard the Lionheart really England’s greatest medieval hero? Or is he one of history’s most successful myths, more heroic in legend than in life?

Over eight centuries, Richard has handled Excalibur, been celebrated in medieval romance, reinvented in novels and films, and even transformed into a character in Assassin’s Creed.

Matt Lewis is joined by Dr. Heather Blurton to dig into the myths of Richard the Lionheart and ask why they endured and what they reveal about the societies that needed Richard to be larger than life.

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King Henry II

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King John: Worst Medieval Monarch?

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Gone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producers are Joseph Knight and Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What's the best cure for a hangover? What's the most effective way to curse your enemies? How do you keep demonic powers at bay?

The medieval Celtic world was filled with magic which became absorbed and restructured within a Christian worldview, as saints, prayers, and sacred objects replaced earlier supernatural beings, incantations, charms and talismans. 

Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by Dr. Brigid Ehrmantraut to find out how people in the medieval Celtic world coherently integrated magic into their daily lives. 

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Lizard Shampoo, Potions and Remedies

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Prophecies of Merlin

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Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producers are Joseph Knight and Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What makes an Archbishop one of the most hated figures in British history? And does Thomas Arundel truly deserve to be branded the greatest villain of 15th-century Britain?

Matt Lewis and Professor Chris Given-Wilson explore the life, power, and legacy of a man whose influence reached deep into the politics, religion, and royal struggles of late medieval England, and ask whether he was truly a villain or a far more complex figure than history has remembered.

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Richard II vs. Henry IV

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Plantagenets at War: A Fight for the Throne

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Gone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?!"

These words supposedly uttered by a King over 800 years ago set in motion a chain of gruesome events, and sparked cult-like devotion across the world.

Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis consider Becket's meteoric rise in status to becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury, his increasingly fractious relationship with King Henry II, the vicious murder itself and finally, how the cult of St Thomas of Canterbury spread across the European continent. 

But how did Thomas Becket first rise to power and prominence? Professor Michael Staunton joins Eleanor to unwrap the enigma and get to the heart of who Thomas Becket was, and whether his fate was truly inescapable.

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Henry II & Thomas Becket: A Doomed Friendship

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The Murder of Thomas Becket

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The Cult of Becket

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Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis. Audio editors are Ella Blaxill and Amy Haddow, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega dive into the chaos of the late Middle Ages; from the Great Famine and the Little Ice Age to plague, peasant revolts, papal schism and deposed kings, they explore how the 14th and 15th centuries rocked Europe’s political, social and religious foundations. Along the way, they ask what really separates the “high” from the “late” Middle Ages, how far disasters undermined faith in monarchy and the Church, and whether these tidy labels make sense once you look beyond Europe.

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Why the Early Middle Ages Matter

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What are the High Middle Ages?

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Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the most powerful warlords in medieval Europe were women?

From wine country to empire, Burgundy’s Duchesses brokered marriages, bullied rivals, made kings and emperors, and ruled vast lands in their own right. Dr Eleanor Janega is joined by Susan Abernethy to uncover the formidable women behind one of Europe’s wealthiest, most sophisticated courts.

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The Two Hundred Years War

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The Real Eleanor of Aquitaine

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Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega. Audio editor is Tim Arstall, the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when a kidnapped teenager returns to the land of his captors to change it forever? Dr Eleanor Janega and James Hawes romp through medieval Ireland, as St Patrick’s mission unfolds against an Ireland of raiding Vikings, clashing warlords and coastal towns under siege, culminating in the thunderous showdown at the Battle of Clontarf. Dive into an age of monasteries, longships and Gaelic resilience to unpick a thousand years of Irish history.

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Castle and Conquests of Ireland

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Supernatural Medieval Ireland

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Gone Medieval is presented by Dr Eleanor Janega. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if one of the most famous stories in English history never happened? What if King Harold did not march his exhausted troops 200 miles before the Battle of Hastings?

Matt Lewis is joined by Professor Tom Licence whose explosive research argues that King Harold’s legendary march never happened, revealing a far more sophisticated Anglo-Saxon military strategy than always thought. So how did Harold get to Hastings? And how does this discovery change our understanding of the Norman Conquest? 

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Harold Godwinson

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Battle of Hastings

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Gone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when Vikings stop raiding and start laying siege to a mighty rock fortress on the Clyde?

Matt Lewis is joined by Todd Ferguson to uncover the four-month Viking siege of Dumbarton in 870, exploring why this Brittonic stronghold mattered so much, how its fall reshaped Strathclyde, and how these events fed into the long, messy road towards a more unified Scotland

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The Viking Great Army in Britain

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What Caused the Viking Age?

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Gone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producers are Rob Weinberg and Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if everything you think you know about medieval Croatia is wrong?

Dr Eleanor Janega is joined by Professor Florin Curta to uncover how Dalmatia’s coastal cities defied “Dark Age” collapse, why Slavic identity may have been a political invention, and how frontiers became homelands in a zone contested by Franks, Byzantines, Venetians and Hungarians. Discover the extraordinary archives, churches and cultures that made medieval Croatia uniquely complex.

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The Hussite Wars: Crusades Against Bohemia

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Teutonic Knights

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Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega. Audio editor is Tim Arstall, the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.