Well, we finally made it: The Definitive Podcast (jodcast?) on medieval Jewish culture.

After the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews were scattered across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Despite often-brutal repression, many Jews thrived, creating new communities, cultural expressions, and even languages. Despite marginalisation, Jewish women were also key to this evolution, enthusiastically contributing to spiritual and cultural life in dynamic ways. And even though they were a minority almost everywhere, some Jews rose to become major political leaders.

Programming note: WMG will be going on hiatus until the end of Summer. But never fear! We will be back, with "The Norman Conquests" - a globetrotting adventure from Ireland to Palestine, featuring a cast of colourful characters including proud warrior-kings, marauding pirates, and a fearsome empress. Oh, and former frog Joe Mason will be there. Don't say we don't spoil you.

In the meantime, why not join the WMG Discord community, a community of lovely people who love chatting about history. https://discord.gg/ZwHz5JDKky

Taggart voice There's been a murder!

Medieval life was full of murders! People were getting knifed all the time mate. But who was responsible for sorting the guilty from the innocent? What do God and intimate social knowledge have to do with it? And is this all a thinly-veiled excuse for Aran to do his incredible Poirot impression?

For more information, see the University of Cambridge's Medieval Murder Maps:

https://medievalmurdermap.co.uk/

Join the official WMG Discord server!! https://discord.gg/6GzvXdWX23

We've got a lovely two-parter lined up for you guys and it's all about the history of the English language during the Middle Ages! Join us as we follow English from its humble origins as a collection of Germanic dialects spoken by a bunch of illiterate, trousers-wearing mudmen from in 400AD to a real language spoken by relatively normal people who have things like books and kings and their own country, a quirky little place called "England."

For more on some of what we discuss, check out:

• The University of Nottingham's interactive Key to English Place Names website http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/#
• English translations of almost 80% of all extant Anglo-Saxon poetry, courtesy of Dr Ophelia Hostetter of Rutgers University https://oldenglishpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/
• Gildas' "On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain," translated into English by Bert Olton: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1949

Join the official WMG Discord server!! https://discord.gg/6GzvXdWX23

Yarrrrrrrr!!!!!! Where's me BOOTY?!

We all love stories about pirates, whether they're plundering Treasure Islands, fighting an octopus man, or stealing Tom Hanks' job. But did you know that the Middle Ages had pirates? They did! And they were just as swashbuckling, mercenary and unhinged as their later successors.

Set sail with Olivia and Aran on the good ship Podcasting, as they set out to find the secret of medieval piracy! Along the way, they'll meet a vengeful MILF, a queerbaiting sorcerer, and hundreds of venomous snakes.

Further reading:

The Anatomy of Medieval Piracy: https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1163/j.ctv4cbhhw.7.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3A595730f17b4d474b00163f8ee44c264c&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&initiator=search-results&acceptTC=1

Identity in the Medieval Mediterranean World of Merchants and Pirates https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/mediterraneanstu.20.2.0129?read-now=1&seq=13#page_scan_tab_contents

The Romance of Eustace the Monk

Gather round, rockhounds! It's time to journey even further into the past than usual by taking a look at fossils through medieval eyes. Did dragon myths come from dinosaur bones? Did cyclops myths come from elephant bones? Can rocks be Jewish? All these questions and more, answered.....

For more on some of what we discuss, check out:

• Lapis Judaicus or the Jews' stone: The folklore of fossil echinoid spines by Christopher Duffin https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248606245_Lapis_Judaicus_or_the_Jews%27_stone_The_folklore_of_fossil_echinoid_spines
• Unicorns, dragons, monsters and giants: palaeoart before palaeontology by Mark P. Witton http://markwitton-com.blogspot.com/2018/04/unicorns-dragons-monsters-and-giants.html
• Walking on Water: Cosmic Floors in Antiquity and the Middle Ages by Fabio Barry

Join the official WMG Discord server!! https://discord.gg/6GzvXdWX23

Happy New Year to all our Weird Medieval Guys podcast listeners and welcome back to our annual Q&A session! We solicited questions about history and the podcast from our Discord community and answered as many as we could for you. Listen on to hear about why we do silly voices, whether medieval people played drinking games, and more!

Join our Discord server to be part of a wonderful community of weird medieval enthusiasts and for the chance to submit questions next year!

https://discord.gg/6GzvXdWX23

The days have been getting shorter, the nights longer and the wind bitter-er. Even as the winter solstice draws near, the coming months of cold and darkness make spring seem still an eternity away. Making it through winter is never easy, so how did people in the Middle Ages get by? Join Olivia and Aran as they look into how people not only survived but thrived the whole medieval winter through.

For more on some of what we discuss, check out:

• A digitised version of the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry:
  • https://arca.irht.cnrs.fr/iiif/4856/canvas/canvas-2045964/view
• The History of the Snowman by Bob Eckstein:
  • https://archive.org/details/historyofsnowman00ecks/
• Anglo-Saxon poem The Menologium:
  • https://oldenglishpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-menologium/
• Recipes for pottage:
  • https://historydollop.com/2017/01/27/two-peasanty-pottages/
• Nutrition and the Early Medieval Diet by Kathy L Pearson
  • https://www.jstor.org/stable/2865862

Join the official WMG Discord server!! https://discord.gg/6GzvXdWX23

Music used in this episode is a public domain recording of the medieval French Christmas carol "Nowell, nowell Dieu vous garde," available here: https://archive.org/details/lp_nowel-nowel-english-medieval-carols-and_richard-hickox-member-of-the-richard-hicko/disc1/02.07.+Nowell%2C+nowell+Dieu+vous+garde+(Carol).mp3

This week, we're getting in our medieval spaceship and travelling through the medieval cosmos to find out just what medieval people thought about all of that space. We'll discuss some correct ideas they had, plenty of incorrect ones, and also how to use medieval astrology to make sure your medieval horse is in peak physical condition.

For more on some of what we discuss, check out:

• The Stars and Human Sexuality: Some Medieval Scientific Views by Helen Lemay
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/230317
• Robert Grosseteste on Light, Truth and "Experimentum" by Simon Oliver
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/41963724
• Foretelling the Future: Arabic Astrology and English Medicine in the Late Twelfth Century by Roger French
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/235980

Make sure to join the Weird Medieval Guys official Discord server! https://discord.gg/ZwHz5JDKky

Here's a rhetorical question: do you love your pet? Of course you do, but did you know that medieval people did too? The only difference is, these pets had jobs!

In this episode, Olivia and Aran delve into the wacky world of medieval cats and dogs, to explore what contemporary people wrote about them. Spoiler alert: they thought they were cool little guys.

Also discussed: the official WMG dogs Bonnie and Bizzy; whether medieval hunting is like football, and if they had Mormons in late-antique Arabia.

Further Reading:

Carole Rawcliffe, "Town Tykes and Butchers Hounds" https://www.jstor.org/stable/26630015?read-now=1&seq=18#page_scan_tab_contents

Peter Konieczny, "Why cats were hated in medieval Europe" https://www.medievalists.net/2023/05/cats-hated-medieval-europe/#:%7E:text=Cats%20in%20medieval%20Europe%20mostly,this%20view%20of%20felines%20emerged

Edward, Duke of York, "The Master of Game": https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43452/43452-h/43452-h.htm

Some lady called "'Olivia Swarthout' (never heard of her): "Medieval Muslims loved their cats so much" https://weirdmedievalguys.substack.com/p/medieval-muslims-were-so-much-nicer

The Laws of Hywel Dda: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Laws_of_Howel_the_Good

Join the official Weird Medieval Guys Discord: https://discord.gg/ZwHz5JDKky