On Medieval Death Trip, we feature a selected medieval text (often historical, occasionally literary) that touches on the odd, the gruesome, the unexpected, and similarly curious incidents, images, or ideas. In addition to presenting the text itself, each episode features commentary and musings upon that text.
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We inaugurate our first "Saga Summer" a bit late this year, but starting with an early poet's saga, a tale of love and betrayal, duels and magic. This is Part 1 (of 4) of Kormak's Saga. Today's Texts: The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald. Translated by W.G. Collingwood and J. Stefansson. Viking Club Translation Series, no. 1., Wm Holmes, Ltd., 1902. Google Books. Kormáks saga. Icelandic Saga Database, edited by Sveinbjorn Thordarson, 2007. https://www.sagadb.org/kormaks_saga.is. Egil's Saga. Translated by W.C. Green, 1893. Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Egil's Saga. Translated by Hermann Pál
As vacation season kicks off, we revisit 14th-century traveler Friar Odoric at the very start of his journey, as he crosses from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf, passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and makes shore in India. Today's Texts: Odoric of Friuli. "The Eastern Parts of the World Described, By Friar Odoric the Bohemian, of Friuli, in the Province of Saint Anthony." In Cathay and the Way Thither, edited by Henry Yule, vol. 1, Hakluyt Society, 1866. Google Books. "Viaggio del Beato Frate Odorico di Porto Maggiore Del Friuli." Edited by Ramusio, Delle Navigationi et Viaggi, vol. 2, Ven
We complete our look at epilepsy in the Middle Ages by considering how religion and medicine intersect in surviving medical texts and how classical learning was reintroduced by looking at the example of John of Gaddesden, possibly the model for Chaucer's Doctour of Phisik. Today's Texts: John of Gaddesden. "John of Gaddesden on Epilepsy." Edited by William G. Lennox, translated by Adrian P. English, Annals of Medical History, vol. 1, no. 3, May 1939, pp. 283-307. Semantic Scholar. Origen. Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, translated by John Patrick, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9, edited by
This episode we begin a two-part exploration into the understanding and treatment of epilepsy in the middle ages. But to get to the medieval, we have to start with its ancient antecedents, so here in Part 1, we look at texts produced by the Hippocratic school and its later followers. Today's Texts: Lucretius. On the Nature of Things. Translated by John Selby Watson and John Mason Good, George Bell & Sons, 1893. Internet Archive. Wilson, J.V. Kinnier, and E. H. Reynolds, translators. "Translation and Analysis of a Cuneiform Text Forming Part of a Babylonian Treatise on Epilepsy," Medical Histor
As a follow-up to our 2025 saint's-life generating Advent Calendar game, we hear an actual medieval saint's life and discuss how we get some of our saintly terminology. You'll also find out where you can get a downloadable version of the Advent Calendar game! Today's Texts: "Life of St. Winefred." Lives of the Cambro British Saints, of the Fifth and Immediate Succeeding Centuries, from Ancient Welsh & Latin MSS. in the British Museum and Elsewhere, with English Translations, an Explanatory Notes, edited and translated by W. J. Rees, Welsh MSS. Society, 1853, pp. 515-529. Google Books. "The Mir
In this prelude appendix to our episode on saint's lives, we hear versions of the life of St. Valentine from three different medieval sources. Today's Texts: First English edition of the Nuremberg chronicle: being the Liber chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann Schedel. Edited and translated by Kosta Hadavas, U of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, 2023, https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/3SXNV3NHBQLFQ8J [used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.] Jacobus de Voragine. "Life of S. Valentine." In The Golden Legend, or Lives of the Saints. Translated by William Caxt
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
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.
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#Grego
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 De
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, D
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,"
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. - Cr
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 Engl
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.
In this episode, we explore the tradition of contemptus mundi with a text all about how horrible it is to be a human being, On the Misery of the Human Condition, written by Pope Innocent III (when he was but Cardinal Lotario di Segni). Today's Texts: Lotario dei Contie di Segni [Pope Innocent III]. De miseria condicionis humane. The Latin Library, https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/innocent1.html References: Lothario Dei Segni [Pope Innocent III]. On the Misery of the Human Condition. Edited by Donald R. Howard, translated by Margaret Mary Dietz. Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1969. Archive.org. Moore, J
We continue from our last episode into the years 1212-1214 in the Melrose Chronicle, where we come to the end of the interdict, and perhaps the prophesized end of King John's true sovereignty. Along the way, we also cover some of the more common ecclesiastical offices and check the accuracy of the chronicle's battlefield accounting. Today's Texts: The Chronicle of Melrose. Edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, The Church Historians of England, vol. 4, part 1, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 79-242. Google Books. Ranulf Higden. Polychronicon. Vol. 8. Edited by Joseph Rawson Lumby, translated by John T
We return to the Melrose Chronicle with a notably nasty run of years from 1205 to 1211. We also consider why people -- medieval and modern -- are so captivated by bad news. Today's Texts: The Chronicle of Melrose. Edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, The Church Historians of England, vol. 4, part 1, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 79-242. Google Books.
For Mother's Day, we look at a 15th-century tale of a plowman who thinks that -- in terms of daily labor -- his wife has it too easy, and how he learns otherwise. Today's Text "Ballad of a Tyrannical Husband." Reliquiae Antiquae: Scraps From Ancient Manuscripts, Illustrating Chiefly Early English Literature and the English Language, edited by Thomas Wright and James Orchard Halliwell, vol. 2, John Russell Smith, 1845, pp. 196-99. Google Books. Accessed 8 Oct. 2018. "Ballad of a Tyrannical Husband." Edited by Eve Salisbury, TEAMS Middle English Texts Series, d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/salis
We kick of 2024 with a look at humanity's attempts to recreate itself, first with a dip into the legends of the Golem of Prague, and then an extended discussion of the role of AI in the future of medieval studies and particularly this show. Today's Texts: Eleazar of Worms, Commentary on Sefer Yezirah, fol. 15d. In Moshe Idel. Golem: Jewish Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid. State University of New York Press, 1990. Letter from Christoph Arnold to Johann Christoph Wagenseil, printed in Wagenseil's Sota, Hoc est: Liber Mischnicus De Uxore Adulterii Suspecta, Altdorf, 1
We conclude our miniseries comparing the legends to the real life of Gerbert d'Aurillac: mathematician, pope, and alleged magician. Today's variant of the Dark Legend comes from Walter Map, and we follow that with a look at the historical Gerbert's contributions to science. Today's Texts: Map, Walter. De Nugis Curialium. Translated by Montague R. James, historical notes by John Edward Lloyd, edited by E. Sidney Hartland, Cymmrodorion Record Series, no. 9, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1923. Gerbert d'Aurillac. The Letters of Gerbert with His Papal Privileges as Sylvester II, translated a
We interrupt our regularly scheduled Gerbert d'Aurillac series with a special Halloween anniversary detour into a Victorian version of his Dark Legend: the 1888 short story, "The Demon Pope," by Richard Garnett. Today's Text Garnett, Richard. "The Demon Pope." The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales. John Lane, 1903, pp. 86-98. Google Books. Music Credit: "Mephisto Polka," by Franz Liszt (1882-3), performed by Sofja Gülbadamova used under a CC-BY 3.0 license (MusOpen).
We pick up our unfinished thread from the Melrose Chronicle by exploring the "Dark Legend" of Gerbert d'Aurillac, who became Pope Sylvester II allegedly through the assistance of the devil. We'll hear one version of this legend as told by William of Malmesbury, and then examine what we know about the historical Gerbert. Today's Texts: 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. Gerbert d'Aurillac. "Letter 51." The Letters of Gerbert with His Papal Privileges as Sylvester II, tr
It's back to basics in Ep. 101 as we return to the Chronicle of Melrose to hear about the years surrounding the turnover of the English kingdom from Anglo-Saxon monarchs to Danish ones, including the mystery of the death of King Edmund Ironside and whether or not he was assassinated by a fellow English noble. Today's Texts: The Chronicle of Melrose. Edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, The Church Historians of England, vol. 4, part 1, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 79-242. Google Books. John of Worcester [erroneously identified as Florence of Worcester]. The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester. Edit
