Medieval Witches

It is nearly Halloween, the pointy hats and broomsticks are out, and none of it is medieval. To set the record straight, I invited Ana Inés Aldazabal, a specialist in medieval witches who is finishing her PhD at the University of Edinburgh. We talk about sorceresses, mystics, summoners, heresy and the slow arrival of the witch stereotype. We tell the story of Alice Kyteler, whom some consider to be the first condemned witch, who was tried at Kilkenny in 1324.Ana also gives us a ritual feast and a spell to make men impotent, so have your notebooks at the ready if that is information you find useful!Find Ana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-in%C3%A9s-aldazabal-8968a322b/ 🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada 📲 Updates & more: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook 🃏 Bonus content: patreon.com/CourtJesterPodcast☕Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/thecourtjesterpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second part of the story is an almost hour-long episode that has everything. Oaths that sound right but aren't, deception, more deception, lover's vows, and an unhappy ending.The old poets tell this for lovers and so do I. I hope you'll like it as much as I do.Follow on socials for more medieval stories and for medieval folklore wisdom straight from The Distaff Gospels. 🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook🃏 Bonus content:patreon.com/CourtJesterPodcast☕Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/thecourtjesterpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many people know the names. Not many people have heard the story from beginning to end.It's a story about love and loyalty colliding. it has everything: desire, devotion, beauty, loyalty, drama. It's one of those who taught Europe how to imagine romance. It is the quintessential medieval love story.So I did my best to tell it, and like the author who put it on paper, I am telling it "for lovers and none other."I hope you'll enjoy. Part two is coming soon.🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook🃏 Bonus content: patreon.com/CourtJesterPodcast☕Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/thecourtjesterpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two exhausted peasants bed down for the night and one wakes up starving. His friend sneaks off to fetch leftover gruel, takes a wrong turn in the dark and makes a series of disastrous assumptions.I give you Gautier le Leu’s De deus vilains, a medieval fabliau packed with mistakes, toilet humour, and the usual fabliau flair.Follow The Court Jester on socials for more medieval stories and for medieval folklore wisdom straight from The Distaff Gospels.📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook🃏 Bonus content: patreon.com/CourtJesterPodcast☕Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/thecourtjesterpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A priest, a magistrate and a gamekeeper decide they can get what they want by squeezing a household and weaponising everything they have. What follows is a story about leverage, revenge, and the sheer tactical value of a maid who can run messages like a menace.Follow on socials for more medieval stories and for medieval folklore wisdom straight from The Distaff Gospels.📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook🃏 Bonus content: patreon.com/CourtJesterPodcast☕Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/thecourtjesterpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A knight ruined by his own kindness. A king who has forgotten him. One impossible Christmas gift that might change everything.In this festive episode of The Court Jester, I bring you the story of Sir Cleges, a medieval knight whose reckless generosity collides bad gatekeepers and a Christmas miracle. A Middle English Christmas tale with feasting, cherries, and a payoff that is far more satisfying than pious.🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada📲 Updates & other things: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook🃏 Bonus content: patreon.com/CourtJesterPodcast☕Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/thecourtjesterpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Happy Halloween, friends of the Jester.This year’s special comes from deep in the shadowed corners of the Balkans — a 9th-century ballad known in Greece as The Song of the Dead Brother, with haunting cousins in Serbia and Bulgaria. Nothing sets the Halloween mood quite like Balkan folklore — mournful, gothic, and just a little too close to the bone. It isn’t funny. It isn’t light.It’s a tale about oaths and the ruin they bring, and how a mother’s grief can shake the dead.This is also the first ever Court Jester episode told entirely on video. You can watch it on YouTube or Patreon.If you like your medieval tales with a touch of the macabre, this one’s for you.Happy haunting! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And we're back to naughty priest territory!In this fabliau from the banks of the Sèvres, a fat goose becomes the prize in a battle of wits, appetites, and shameless audacity. Expect blasphemous pranks, roasted birds, and a reminder that medieval comedy loved nothing more than making the clergy look foolish.📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook🃏 Bonus content: patreon.com/CourtJesterPodcast☕Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/thecourtjesterpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when a medieval peddler entrusts his horse to God and the local lord? And what happens if said horse goes missing? You take God to court. I give you the Poor peddler, a fabliau full of divine debts, violent threats, and a monk who really should’ve stayed in the cloister.📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook🃏 Bonus content: patreon.com/CourtJesterPodcast☕Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/thecourtjesterpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A sly minstrel tries to ruin a clueless groom’s wedding night...but he didn't account for the bride. What follows is a night of escalating revenge, as the bride takes charge, the groom gets creative, and the prankster finds himself in a very literal mess.Content note: This episode contains medieval toilet humour in all its glory — plus sexual innuendo, crude jokes, and more filth than dignity.📜 Text: Translation by Nathaniel E. Dubin🎵 Title music: “Celebration” by Alexander Nakarada📲 Updates & mischief: @kpethainou.bsky.social | @thecourtjesterpodcast on Facebook🃏 Bonus content: patreon.com/CourtJesterPodcast☕Buy me a coffee https://ko-fi.com/thecourtjesterpodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.