Translating Hell with Stephen C.E. Hopkins

From gruesome visions of torment, to Sunday holidays from the flames, to absolutely epic images of Jesus freeing lost souls at the point of a sword, medieval people couldn’t get enough of their fire and brimstone. The question is: why? This week, Danièle speaks with Stephen C.E. Hopkins about where medieval people got their ideas about the afterlife, how they adapted these ideas across cultures, and why everyone was so obsessed with hell.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

One of the more popular clichéd images of the medieval world is an angry mob with torches and pitchforks, ready to cause wanton destruction. And while there were rebellions on occasion, the truth is much more complex. This week, Danièle speaks with Shane Bobrycki about how the nature of crowds – and how people spoke about them – changed, and how crowds, themselves, point to the uniqueness of the Early Middle Ages.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

When it comes to powerful and impressive dynasties of the Middle Ages, it’s hard to compete with China’s Ming Dynasty. And yet, a lot of us didn’t learn much about the Ming in school. If you’re looking to start your journey on all things Ming, this is the episode for you. This week, Danièle speaks with Craig Clunas about how the Ming Dynasty began, how it functioned, and how it lasted for centuries.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

Motherhood is different for each person who experiences it, and yet one thing is for certain: everyone has an opinion about it. This week, Danièle speaks with Kirsty Bolton about the places mothers appeared in medieval romance, from birthing rooms to otherworldly forests, and what this can tell us about the lives of real medieval mothers.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

There’s a beautiful country that every once in a while comes to the forefront of our collective consciousness to steal our hearts. But Scotland isn’t a country that just appears out of the mist from time-to-time. It’s always been an integral part of European politics, especially during the late Middle Ages. This week, Danièle speaks with Michael Brown about Scotland’s involvement in European politics, its long alliance with France, and its tumultuous relationship with England during the Wars of the Roses.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

Pretty much everyone has heard about Marco Polo and his thirteenth-century journey from Italy to China. But just as the Polos were making their way east, two other intrepid travellers were making the journey in reverse. This week, Danièle speaks with Thomas A. Carlson about two Eastern Christian monks who made their way from China all the way to Western Europe, and this unique account of what medieval Europe and its kings looked like from the outside.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

In honour of 350 episodes of The Medieval Podcast, Danièle celebrates the amazing progress that's been made in Medieval Studies since 2019.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

It’s summertime and your friendly neighbourhood medievalist is taking a much-needed week off, so here's a blast from the not-so-distant past. This episode was recorded live at the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds in 2023 with everyone’s other favourite medievalist: Eleanor Janega.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

Although death is just a natural and expected part of life – especially in the Middle Ages – it’s also an event that forever alters the lives of those left behind. For medieval women, widowhood changed everything. This week, Danièle speaks with Anna Wainwright about what it was like to be an Italian widow in the fifteenth century, how widowhood and politics went together, and the rise of widows as popular writers.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

To picture the Middle Ages is to picture knights in shining armour. Custom-made, fashionable, and often beautiful, medieval armour was more than just practical: it was art. And in the late Middle Ages, a collection of talented artists captured the functional elegance of armour on paper. This week, Danièle speaks with Chassica Kirchhoff about armour as protection, art, and memorial in the Thun-Hohenstein Album.This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast