Media-eval: A Medieval Pop Culture Podcast

Is it a Lady? Is she a hawk? Why not both?

A hawk, a wolf, and a bishop meet in a medieval Italian city—and Sarah is joined by living history reenactor Ari Ryan Ailin, aka “The Turnip of Terror,” to discuss 1985 film Ladyhawke. Join us as we get into synth scores, strange helmets, possibly stranger bishops’ croziers, French presence in late medieval Sicily, and what Caroline Walker Bynum has called the “werewolf Renaissance of the 12th century.”

Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

Find Ari Ryan Ailin on Twitter @turnipterror and online at theturnipofterror.com

Red, Black, and Periwinkle Deaths! Digressions Galore! Upside-down crosses! David Baxter of Thank You Five Podcast joins Sarah to discuss Vincent Price film The Masque of the Red Death (1964). Celebrate Halloween with us as we get into medieval horror, plague, and the real history of Satanism.

Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

Find David’s podcast Thank You Five on Twitter @thankyoufivepod

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What if a movie was about two men falling in love and restoring each others honor?

It would be called The Eagle and of all the movies that fail the Ifft Decker test, it would fail it the most.

Medieval art historian Maeve Doyle returns to talk with Sarah about The Secret of Kells (2009), a gorgeous reimagining of the creation of the Book of Kells. Join us to learn about medieval visual culture, book production, and the real medieval origins of the film’s heroic cat Pangur Ban.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Producer Carmen, Sarah’s own heroic cat companion. She will be very much missed.

Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

Find Maeve on Twitter: @mediumaeveum

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Medieval Iberia September on Media-eval continues! Want to hear what two historians of medieval Barcelona think about Netflix miniseries Cathedral of the Sea? Join Sarah and fellow medieval historian Marie Kelleher as we delve into the Jewish community of Barcelona, host desecration, and legal history - and remind listeners once again that the ius primae noctis wasn’t a real thing.

CW: The series includes graphic representations of brutality (especially against women) and rape. We engage in critical discussions of the choices made related to this in the series and in the book on which it was based.

Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

Check out Marie’s work: https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14735.html

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This September, universities are back up and running - and Media-eval will be featuring conversations between specialists of the medieval Iberian Peninsula! In this episode, Sarah and fellow medieval historian Dana Wessell Lightfoot explore interfaith contact and conflict in The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay, a novel set in a world inspired by medieval al-Andalus. Join us as we delve into the real-life inspirations for characters and the question of convivencia in the medieval Iberian Peninsula.

Read both of our work in the award-winning edited volume, Women and Community in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496205117/

Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

Find Dana on Twitter @DrDameHistory

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Sarah and guest Rachel Aanstad (Twelfth Night Podcast) tackle another example of Disney medievalism - 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Join us as we get into medievalism in architecture, religious references, and the history of the wicked stepmother.

CW: Discussions of ableist, racist/anti-Semitic, and misogynist tropes

Book Recommendation: Christians Klapisch-Zuber, Women, Family, and Ritual in Renaissance Italy: https://bookshop.org/books/women-family-and-ritual-in-renaissance-italy/9780226439266

Check out Rachel’s work on Twelfth Night Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1528559147 


Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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With help from guest Erica Desautels, Sarah argues a) that The Little Mermaid DEFINITELY takes place in the late 17th century and is therefore a legitimate subject for this podcast and b) that it is clearly the best Disney movie. Join Sarah and Erica as we get into fish consumption, French cooking, costumes and material culture, and why contracts mattered in the medieval Mediterranean. 



Want to learn more about medieval contracts and notarial culture? Check out: 
Daniel Lord Smail, Imaginary Cartographies: Possession and Identity in Late Medieval Marseille (1999)

Laurie Nussdorfer, Brokers of Public Trust: Notaries in Early Modern Rome (2009)


Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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Sarah is joined by fellow medievalist Marita (Miti) von Weissenberg to discuss the encounters between Vikings and indigenous peoples as seen in Pathfinder (2007). We delve into white savior narratives, trading vs. raiding, and, of course, shirtless Karl Urban.

Thanks to our guest’s expertise, we have an excellent array of recommendations!

Primary Texts:

The Vinland Sagas, trans. Keneva Kunz, intro. and notes by Gísli Digurdsson. New York: Penguin Books, 2008 

Tim Frandy, Translation of Inari Sámi Folklore by Koskimies and Itkonen: https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/5591.htm

Scholarship:

Neil Price, Children of Ash and Elm. A History of the Vikings. New York: Basic Books, 2020

Anders Winroth, Vikings, Merchants, and Missionaries. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012

Anders Winroth, The Age of the Vikings. Princeton: University of Princeton Press, 2014

Yvette Running Horse Collin, “The Relationship between the indigenous peoples of the Americas and the Horse: Deconstructing a Eurocentric Myth” (University of Alaska Fairbanks, PhD dissertation, 2017) 

Kristina D. Stelter, The Horse and the Norse: Reconstructing the Equine in Viking Iceland (University of Glasgow, MLitt dissertation, 2014)

A Movie to Watch Instead:

"Original Pathfinder" from 1987: https://youtu.be/CZuWDiyddMQ with English dubbing 

Social Media:

Twitter @mediaevalpod

E-mail: [email protected]

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Find Miti on Twitter @MvonWeissenberg

Sarah tricked Ollie into playing a video game and watching a movie. He then forgot he doesn't host the podcast anymore. Together they discuss the search for the "Apple of Eden" and whether or not a secret order can be secret if they keep announcing themselves to the world.

P.S Ollie swears quite badly while talking about Columbus