The Multicultural Middle Ages

by Will Beattie, Jonathan Correa Reyes, Reed O'Mara, & Logan Quigley

The Multicultural Middle Ages is a podcast where medievalists from all professional and disciplinary tracks can come together to think and talk about the too-oft-unsung diversity of the Middle Ages. We offer public-facing, open access content directed at experts and non-experts alike to present updated, accurate, and culturally responsible accounts of the plurality of the medieval period.

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Podcast episodes

  • Season 3

  • Multilingualism in Post-Conquest Britain

    Multilingualism in Post-Conquest Britain

    S03 E03
    01:02:24

    In the centuries after the Norman Conquest, as many as eight languages were spoken in the British Isles: English, Anglo-Norman, Latin, Norse, Welsh, Cornish, Irish, and Hebrew. Who spoke these languages, and how did they interact and influence each other? In this episode, Austin Benson discusses the linguistic and literary landscape of multilingual Britain, interviewing Dr. Sara Pons-Sanz at Cardiff University about Old Norse, Dr. Shamma Boyarin at the University of Victoria about Hebrew, and Dr. Georgia Henley at Saint Anselm College about Middle Welsh. For more information about these speakers and their conversation, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

  • Speculum Spotlight: Race, Race-Thinking, and Identity in the Global Middle Ages

    Speculum Spotlight: Race, Race-Thinking, and Identity in the Global Middle Ages

    S03 E02
    01:01:23

    What goes into editing a special issue of a journal? How does the framework of race and race-thinking inform medieval studies today? What is the role of objectivity in the study of the Middle Ages? Join us for this conversation with the editors of the special issue Race, Race-Thinking, and Identity in the Global Middle Ages, published by Speculum (99.2) in April 2024. This episode is a collaboration between The Multicultural Middle Ages and Speculum, and it was hosted by Katherine L. Jansen and Jonathan F. Correa-Reyes in conversation with Cord J. Whitaker, Nahir Otaño Gracia, and François-Xavier Fauvelle. For more information about these speakers and their conversation, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.

  • Built and Natural Environments in Medieval Contexts

    Built and Natural Environments in Medieval Contexts

    S03 E01
    01:01:28

    What is the relationship between so-called built and natural environments as they are represented in medieval literature, and what is the value of thinking about this relationship? Amy Juarez, Chelsea Keane, and Rebecca Davis discuss the nuanced connections between medieval literary representations of “built” and “natural” environments. Their wide-ranging discussion covers the multiplicity of Middle English words, the form of medieval poetic constructions, and the problematics of disciplinary distinctions. For more on this discussion, check out the episode notes on our website: multiculturalmiddleages.com.

  • Reflections on The Multicultural Middle Ages

    Bonus

    Reflections on The Multicultural Middle Ages

    S03
    31:56
    Bonus

    The producers of The Multicultural Middle Ages podcast sit down to talk about where we've been, what it's been like, and what's to come. www.multiculturalmiddleages.com

  • Season 2

  • Speculum Spotlight: The Cerne Giant in its Early Medieval Context

    Speculum Spotlight: The Cerne Giant in its Early Medieval Context

    S02 E12
    48:19

    Scholars Thomas Morcom and Helen Gittos reflect on their experiences with researching and writing their article, "The Cerne Giant in its Early Medieval Context," which appears in Speculum 99:1. The Cerne Abbas giant is a well-known figure cut into the chalk of a hillside in Dorset. Recent archaeological investigation has concluded that it had been cut in the early middle ages. Morcom and Gittos argue that he was originally carved as an image of the classical hero Hercules and that this apparently surprising date makes good historical sense. The landscape context of the giant indicates that he is best explained as marking a muster station for the West Saxon army. Although it is widely believed that the earliest written evidence for the giant dates to the seventeenth century, this study makes the case that he was referred to, albeit implicitly, in the liturgy for St Eadwold, whose relics were at Cerne. By the mid eleventh century, the monks of Cerne were re-interpreting the giant as an image of their saint. This is one of the many ways in which the saint has been re- imagined which helps explain why he has been looked after for so long. This episode is an installment in a special partnership with Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies. Each episode is designed to bring you behind the scenes of an article published in an upcoming Speculum issue. This episode is hosted by Katherine L. Jansen and Will Beattie. For more about Thomas, Helen, the Cerne Abbas giant, and this conversation, check out our website at www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.