As we enter the season of elves and Christmas spirits, we follow up on our fairy theme from last episode with a look at the famous 16th-century German hausgeist, Hinzelmann the Kobold -- but don't call him that to his face!

Today's Texts:

Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. E.G. Bohn, 1850. Google Books.

Der vielförmige Hintzelmann oder umbständliche und merckwürdige Erzehlung von einem Geist, so sich auf dem Hause Hudemühlen, und hernach zu Estrup im Lande Lüneburg unter vielfältigen Gestalten. Leipzig, 1704. Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen.

Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Deutsche Sagen. Berlin, 1816. Google Books.

00:00:00 Introduction

00:13:22 "Hinzelmann," translated by Thomas Keightley from the Brothers Grimm

00:48:03 Commentary

00:57:23 Mystery Word: kalamâr

00:58:52 2025 MDT Advent Calendar

01:02:33 Outro

For our eleventh anniversary episode, we follow the fairy path of the redcap, from recent cinema through tabletop gaming, into Victorian folklorists and Romantic balladeers, and finally hunting up their ancestry in medieval manuscripts.

Today's Texts:

"Redcap." Monster Manual III, edited by Greg Collins, John D. Rateliff, and Gary Sarli. Wizards of the Coast, 2004. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/monster-manual-iii/page/n137/mode/2up

Henderson, William. Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders. W. Satchell, Peyton, & Co., 1879. Internet Archive.

Leyden, John. "Lord Soulis." Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. 2, edited by Walter Scott, James Ballantyne, 1803, pp. 353-388. Google Books.

Leland, Charles Godfrey. "Etrusco-Roman Remains in Modern Tuscan Tradition." Congrès International des Traditions Populaires, Première Session, Paris 1889, Société d'Èditions Scientifiques, 1891. Google Books.

Gervase of Tilbury. Otia imperialia: Recreation for an Emperor. Edited and translated by S.E. Banks and J.W. Binns. Clarendon Press, 2002.

Thomas of Walsingham. Historia Anglicana. Edited by Henry Thomas Riley, vol. 1, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1863. Google Books.

Croker, Thomas Crofton. Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. 2nd ed., John Murray, 1838. Google Books.

This episode we continue further with Bede as he relates two more afterlife visions of a more infernal nature, and then we hear Gregory the Great answer some questions about the nature of Hell.

Today's Texts:

Bede. Ecclesiastical History. In The Complete Works of Venerable Bede. Edited and translated by J.A. Giles, vols. II & III, Whittaker and Co., 1843. Google Books.

Gregory the Great. Dialogues. Translated by P.W. (1608), edited by Edmund G. Gardner, Philip G. Warner, 1911. Digital transcription and additional editing by Roger Pearse, 2004, https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Gregory_Dialogues

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:34 Text: Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, Ch. 13-14

00:10:53 Commentary

00:32:11 Text: from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, Bk 4, Ch. 41-44

00:40:04 Commentary. cont.

00:40:35 Mystery Word: Jeffrey's-day

00:43:07 Outro

This episode we explore two glimpses of the afterlife presented by the Venerable Bede and consider how they relate to the modern conception of the near death experience.

Today's Text:

Bede. Ecclesiastical History. In The Complete Works of Venerable Bede. Edited and translated by J.A. Giles, vols. II & III, Whittaker and Co., 1843. Google Books.

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction

00:12:37 Text: The Visions of Fursa from Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica

00:24:05 Commentary

00:29:59 Text: The Vision of Dryhthelm from Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica

00:43:34 Commentary. cont.

01:00:35 Riddle

01:02:09 Outro

This episode we finally enter the open ocean with the Uí Corra and their fellow pilgrims as they explore strange new lands, seek out new afterlives and new sects, and boldly go where many other saints and heroes of Irish legend have gone before.

Today's Texts

"The Voyage of the Hui Corra." Translated by Whitley Stokes. Revue Celtique, vol. 14, 1893, pp. 22-69. Internet Archive.

References

Breatnach, Caoimhín. "The Transmission and Structure of Immram Curaig Ua Corra." Ériu, vol. 53, 2003, pp. 91-107. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30008353

Dumville, David. "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition." Ériu, vol. 27, 1976, pp. 73-94). JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30007669

In this episode, we embark on another Irish adventure with the first part (of two) of "The Voyage of the Uí Corra," in which we don't actually set sail until final paragraph.

Today's Texts

"The Voyage of the Hui Corra." Translated by Whitley Stokes. Revue Celtique, vol. 14, 1893, pp. 22-69. Internet Archive.

References

"Book of Fermoy." Royal Irish Academy, www.ria.ie/collections/manuscripts/irish-language-manuscripts/book-of-fermoy/

Breatnach, Caoimhín. "The Transmission and Structure of Immram Curaig Ua Corra." Ériu, vol. 53, 2003, pp. 91-107. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30008353

Dumville, David. "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition." Ériu, vol. 27, 1976, pp. 73-94). JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30007669

McInerney, Luke. "Conchubhar Mac an Oirchinnigh and the Gaelic scribal tradition of County Clare." The Other Clare: Annual journal of The Shannon Archaeological & Historical Society, vol. 41, 2017, pp. 60-67. Clare Libraries.

Shaw, John. "What Alexander Carmichael Did Not Print: The 'Cliar Sheanchain', 'Clanranald's Fool' and Related Traditions." Béaloideas, Iml. 70, 2002, pp. 99-126. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20520795

Thompson, Chris, and Isolde Carmody. "Rowing Around Immráma 03: Immrám Uí Corra." Story Archaeology: Conversations on Irish Mythology, 5 July 2014, storyarchaeology.com/rowing-around-immrama-03-immram-ui-corra/

For this St. Patrick's Day, we finally present the last canonical text written by St. Patrick, his letter to Coroticus, completing the series we began in Episode 68 with the first half of Patrick's Confessio.

Today's Texts

Patrick. Epistola ad Coroticum. St. Patrick: His Writings and Life, edited and translated by Newport J.D. White, Macmillan, 1920, pp. 52-60. Google Books.

References

Kelly, David. "St Patrick's Writings: Confessio and Epistola." Saint Patrick's Confessio, Royal Irish Academy, 2011, www.confessio.ie/more/article_kelly#.

Audio Credit: Father Ted, "The Old Grey Whistle Theft," season 2, episode 4, written by Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, 29 March 1996.

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction

00:08:10 Text: Patrick, Epistola ad Coroticum

00:21:00 Commentary

00:24:07 Mystery Word: húrla-hárla

00:25:11 Outro

This episode, we go into more depth with the legend of St. Kenelm (Cynehelm) and his jealous sister Quendrida (Cwenthryth). We also learn what it means to "crab the parson."

Today's Text

- "The Legend of St. Kenelm." Translated by John Amphlett in A Short History of Clent, Parker and Co., 1890, pp. 177-193. Google Books.

References

- Brand, John. Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Chiefly Illustrating the Origin of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions, edited, revised, and expanded by Henry Ellis, vol 1, Henry G. Bohn, 1859. Google Books.

- Cross, Tom Peete. "Witchcraft in North Carolina." Studies in Philology, vol. 16, no. 3, Jul. 1919, pp. 217-287. Google Books.

- Rollason, D. W. "The Cults of Murdered Royal Saints in Anglo-Saxon England." Anglo-Saxon England, vol. 11, 1983, pp. 1-22. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44510759

- Weiskott, Eric. "Saint Kenelm, Illustrated." Erikweiskott.com, 21 Nov. 2016, ericweiskott.com/2016/11/21/saint-kenelm-illustrated/

- Whitelock, Dorothy, editor and translator. "From the Report of the Legates to Pope Hadrian (786)." English Historical Documents: ca. 500-1042, vol. 1, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1955, pp. 770-774. Archive.org.

Image Credit: Detail of Kenelm with a bird at his ear from Bodleian Library, MS Douce 368 f. 80r (12th cent.).

Audio Credit: "6 Morceaux, Op. 85 - 3. Cavatina." Composed by Joachim Raff, performed by Benjamin Intartaglia. Musopen. Used under CC-BY 3.0 license.

Chapters

00:00:00: Introduction

00:09:01: Text: The Legend of St. Kenelm

00:24:03: Commentary

00:36:43: Brand and Ellis on "Crabbing the Parson" (1859)

00:42:21: Commentary

00:43:40: Riddle

00:44:53: Outro

We continue on from last episode's look at the Green Children of Woolpit with a further consideration of what it meant to wonder at a marvel in the middle ages, with additional illustration of some wondrous things from William of Malmesbury.

Today's Texts

- Gervase of Tilbury. Otia Imperialia. Edited and translated by S.E. Banks and J.W. Binns, Clarendon Press, 2002.

- Isidore of Seville. The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Translated by Stephen A. Barney, W.J. Lewis, J.A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof with Muriel Hall, Cambridge UP, 2006.

- William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J.A. Giles, translated by John Sharpe and J.A. Giles, George Bell & Sons, 1895. Google Books.

Chapters

00:00:00: Introduction

00:09:48: Text: from Gervase of Tilbury's Otia Imperialia

00:13:29: Commentary

00:16:23: Text: from Isidore of Seville's Etymologies

00:21:02: Commentary

00:23:05: Text: from William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum

00:39:32: Commentary

00:43:23: Text: from Caroline Walker Bynum's "Wonder"

00:48:08: Commentary

00:48:26: Mystery Word: glop

00:54:15: Outro

This Halloween marks our 10th anniversary, and we observe it by hearing the earliest written accounts of one of the most well-known pieces of medieval weird history: the Green Children of Woolpit -- and also hear the other less famous prodigies their story was originally presented alongside.

Today's Texts:

Radulphi de Coggeshall. Chronicon Anglicanum. Edited by Joseph Stevenson, Longman & Co., 1875. Google Books.

William of Newburgh. The History of William of Newburgh. The Church Historians of England, vol. IV, part II, translated by Joseph Stevenson, Seeleys, 1856, pp. 395–670. Google Books.

Chapters

00:00:00: Introduction

00:06:32: Text: from Ralph of Coggeshall's Chronicon Anglicanum

00:15:36: Commentary

00:24:31: Text: Ch. 27 & 28 from William of Newburgh's Historia rerum Anglicarum

00:35:10: Commentary

00:58:25: Riddle

01:01:13: Outro