Media-eval: A Medieval Pop Culture Podcast

Sarah and fellow medieval historian - and expert on nuns - Annalena Müller discuss Paul Verhoeven’s 2021 film Benedetta. Join us as we tackle what the film got right, what it got wrong, and what it tells us about sensationalism, religion, and sex - medieval and modern. 


CW: The film includes some scenes which raise issues of abuse and consent within a relationship, which we discuss.

Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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Sarah and music historian Charles Hughes tackle the medieval trend that swept the nation in April 202: bardcore. Join us as we explore bardcore in the context of musical nostalgia, plague and pandemic, and the real medieval troubadour tradition.

Social Media:

Find Charles on Twitter: @CharlesLHughes2

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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Sarah and fellow medievalist Lucy Barnhouse delve into the medievalism of Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe and its 1997 BBC/A&E miniseries adaptation. Join us as we explore one of the few representations of medieval Jews, as well as questions about witchcraft, Saxon-Norman conflict, and how the Knights Templar were not in fact the Inquisition.

Social Media:

Hear more from Lucy on Footnoting History: https://www.footnotinghistory.com/home/category/lucy; on Twitter @HistoryFootnote

Find Lucy on Twitter: @singingscholar

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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Media-eval’s resident Doctor Who expert Elizabeth Bonnemann returns to discuss 1989 serial Battlefield. Join Sarah and Elizabeth as we meet the 7th Doctor and best-ever companion Ace and grapple with how the series handles Arthuriana-meets-aliens.

Social Media:

Find Elizabeth on Twitter: @lizziestrider

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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Ever want to listen to two fans of a book series recap a show and get increasingly annoyed/joyous and sometimes angry as they do it? Well now you can!

Join us for 3 hours of talk about the first season of the Wheel of Time tv show on Amazon Prime. What did it get right? What did it get wrong? We talk about it all!

Sarah and guest Molly Likovich get into CW’s Reign, aka Gossip Girl meets 16th-century France. Join us as we talk about some of the strangest choices made in a historical adaptation—from the invented illegitimate son of the King of France to the Forever 21-inspired costumes—as well as the real stories of Mary, Queen of Scots, François II, and Catherine de’Medici.

CW: Discussions of sexual assault

Social Media:

Find Molly on Twitter: @magicalmolly

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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TikTok celebrity and fellow medievalist Mireille Pardon is back to talk with Sarah about medieval misinformation and conspiracy theories on TikTok as we do a deep dive into Momllennial’s “Rome didn’t exist” theory. Join us for an extended debunking and a foray into the wide array of sources historians use to study the medieval past!

Book Recommendation:

The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000, by Chris Wickham

Social Media:

Find Mireille on TikTok and Twitter: @pardon_mi

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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It's Christmas so we decided to talk about the most Christmas-y of all movies- The Green Knight.

We talk about pretension, confusion and whether Barry Keoghan is attractive or not.

Its a long episode but then again, its a movie that lasts for several years, or feels like it does at least!

This is the one where Sarah gets unreasonably infuriated about the Magna Carta and Anglo-American exceptionalism - but also gets the chance to talk about King John’s troubles with Pope Innocent III. Elizabeth Bonnemann is back to talk Doctor Who serial “The King’s Demons,” where two Time Lords battle it out over (allegedly) the future of democracy in England, 1215.

Social Media:

Find Elizabeth on Twitter: @lizziestrider

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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Media-eval ventures into the Discworld! Sarah and guest Bridget Kennedy discuss two of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, Wyrd Sisters and Small Gods. Join us as we get into the Inquisition, witch persecution, and medievalism in the Discworld series.

Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

Rate, review, and subscribe!