August Mailbag: Medieval Crocs

folks, we are back with another mailbag episode for your enjoyment! we take patron questions about source survival, Tolkien as a medievalist, mercenaries, old primary sources, world peace, and more!cover image is a bottle of Costco's Kirkland's Signature branded Chateauneuf du Pape, 2023 vintage I found online

(00:00:00) Intro - A tales of 2 online interactions (00:06:32) What is hegemony, what does it mean for a Church to be hegemonic? (00:14:29) Hegemony can't override individual interpretations of the Bible (00:29:02) The Gregorian Reforms and the blunders that led to the crackdowns (00:40:00) When the Church changed on: clerical celibacy, just war theory, enslaving other Christians, Pagan and Muslim toleration, (00:51:03) When the Church changed on: mystery plays, folk saints, anchorites, vernacular bibles, witchcraft, poor orders, indulgen folks, we talk a lot about the hegemony of the Catholic Church in Medieval Europe but what does that mean, exactly? we know the early Medieval Church had a less firm hand on many issues while the late Medieval Church was the hegemonic behemoth we all remember, but why did this change and when did it happen? and, regardless of anything else, even if the Church has hegemony over Europe, that does very little to actually ensure people don't stray too far from orthodoxy given how personal and neurotic everyone's religious interpretations are. we talk about all this, the blunders that led the Church to crackdown on so many things, and when they actually began to change their theology to accommodate this new, more heavy-handed approach.cover image is a meme I made based on a screen from the Simpsons

folks, the new movie Uprising, starring Andrew Garfield, is supposed to be released in a week and yet, the film's entire marketing scheme was thrown into chaos when a seemingly unauthorized trailer linking the film to Robin Hood was published online. the production company has since confirmed that the film is based on Wat Tyler and the Peasant's Uprising of 1381 but that has still led many to question the origins of Robin Hood. so we talk about this movie marketing disaster, the origins of Robin Hood, how he is definitively not based on a real individual and is most certainly not Wat Tyler, and more. enjoy!cover image is a still of Andrew Garfield as Wat Tyler in The Uprising

(00:00:00) Cold Open - Civ 7 and more ghosts (00:10:07) Patron questions - Weird Italian perverts and Papal naming conventions (00:24:05) Intro (00:26:05) Viking Textile Industries (00:31:57) Central Europe had 16 catastrophic floods in 2 years (00:40:29) Bayeux Tapestry returns to England (00:47:07) Alchemy is totally vindicated (01:04:39) Death by Trebuchet folks, there's recently been a spate of Medieval news that is interesting enough to include in podcast form and so we decide to talk about it. admittedly, some of it is not the most glamorous but it all greatly informs our understanding of the Medieval world, also death by trebuchet. we cover 5 topics: Viking textile industry, 2 years of catastrophic flooding in Central Europe, England bending the knee to get the Bayeux Tapestry back, the total vindication of alchemy, and, well, death by trebuchet!Viking textile industry: https://archaeologymag.com/2026/06/viking-textile-production-center-near-aarhus/Catastrophic European flooding 1341-43: https://www.science.org/content/article/medieval-europe-was-battered-16-catastrophic-floods-just-2-yearsBayeux Tapestry in England: https://www.artforum.com/news/british-culture-official-proposed-for-bayeux-tapestry-loan-1234756775/Alchemy: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/gold-big-bang-theory-large-hadron-collider-b3033578.htmlTrebuchet guy https://www.science.org/content/article/shattered-skeleton-scottish-castle-first-confirmed-death-trebuchetcover image is a skeleton preserved with a stone crushing its head, revealed during the excavation of Pompei. yes, I said it was a meme but it's actually real

folks, some of our patrons requested that we do tier list rankings of the popes and we are so happy to oblige, you have no idea. however, we can't do all 267 at once or even in a row but we can start with some smaller chunks and so we decided to rank the seven popes of the Avignon Papacy and the two antipopes in Avignon during the Western Schism. see where we rank them all from S down to F and let us know if you agree. we've Black Death popes and lawyer antipopes and nearly reuniting the Catholic and Orthodox churches popes, it's a lot of fun.

folks, today we tackle longtime frenemy of the podcast: Peter Abelard. he's a very interesting historical figure for his positively cutting edge ideas in numerous fields of study and is singled out and oppressed by the Church and clergy but he's also most famous for an extremely problematic relationship with his lifelong love, Heloise, a probably underage girl and definitely his student and underling. it's real land of contrasts hours here, folks.cover image is a medieval manuscript drawing of Abelard and Heloise from the cover of the Penguin classics edition of The Letters of Abelard and Heloise

folks, we're back with our monthly mailbag episode wherein we answer questions from our patrons. this time, we talk about what happens if you are shipwrecked in the Middle Ages, depictions of Jesus, Medieval crocs–the shoes, not the giant creatures, though they were around–slaves at the end of empire, noble views on chivalry, getting cut off at the Medieval pub, the worst name I’ve ever heard for a child, and more.cover image is from patron Quixotic from the Met Cloisters

folks, it's time to review Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of The Odyssey, which just came out a couple of weeks back. we talk about the good and bad choices Nolan made in his adaptation, his handling of the source material, the stellar production values, Zeus's Law, our Age of Bronze collapsing, the spectacle, Rob Pattinson's masterclass, forgetting how to read, and so much more. enjoy!

folks, everyone has Odyssey fever these days, so we decided to do a little episode talking about Homer, the Iliad, the Odyssey, what they mean, a weirdo named Heinrich Schliemann, the real Fall of Troy, and what it all has to do with the Bronze Age Collapse and the enigmatic Sea Peoples. Tune in next time when we review Christopher Nolan's recently released Odyssey film.

folks, we start out book club series on Christopher Buehlman's 2012 Medievalist fantasy horror novel, Between Two Fires. we briefly introduce the author and the book and then jump right into the action. we talk plague, a magic kid, a broken man, a Dark Souls boss fight, a few miracles, and an angel named Sock. enjoy!