Medieval Grad Podcast

Talking about the future of medieval studies with current graduate students and early career researchers. Lucie Laumonier interviews about all aspects of the Middle Ages.

Concluding the Medieval Grad Podcast 01/30/2023

Concluding the Medieval Grad Podcast The final episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast. Lucie Laumonier talks with Peter Konieczny about the experience of doing a podcast, what their favourite episodes were, and what Lucie is doing now. On behalf of Lucie, we at Medievalists.net want to thank you for listening to this podcast and supporting our work. You can find Lucie's articles on Medievalists.net at /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/25766019

Dinner in the Byzantine Empire 10/24/2022

Dinner in the Byzantine Empire This episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast is tasty! Adam Morin, a PhD candidate in history at Queen's University, discusses with Lucie Laumonier the ins and out of Byzantine cuisine. What did a Byzantine grocery list look like? And what did people eat? That very much depended on the social status of individuals as well as on where they lived. In Constantinople, food choices were greater than in a small countryside village. Bon appétit! /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/24777204

ArcheoBotany and the Secrets of Plants 10/03/2022

ArcheoBotany and the Secrets of Plants Have you ever heard of archeobotany? It’s the study of ancient plants! Alice Wolff, a PhD candidate in medieval studies at Cornell University tells Lucie Laumonier about her research, which takes her from the fields to the lab. Alice Wolff studies ancient grain and chards to find out about agricultural practices and the impact of climate change on agriculture in early medieval England. You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/24563139

Crusading in the Baltic with the Teutonic Knights 09/20/2022

Crusading in the Baltic with the Teutonic Knights What did Baltic crusaders feel when fighting on the battlefield? Or, more precisely, what were they supposed to feel, according to chroniclers? In this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast, Lucie talks with Patrick Eickman, a PhD student in history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Patrick studies the Baltic crusades through the fascinating lens of the history of emotions. You can support this podcast and Medievalists.net on Patreon - go to /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/24414654

The Cult of Chinggis Khan 06/20/2022

The Cult of Chinggis Khan What do you really know about Chinggis Khan? In this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast, Lucie Laumonier interviews Dotno Pount about the Mongol leader Chinggis Khan and what historians know about his life and afterlife. Dotno's research focuses on how after Chinggis’ death he was worshipped as a divine royal ancestor within Mongol society. You can support this podcast on Patreon at /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/23479493

Old Barrels and Networks of Trade 06/06/2022

Old Barrels and Networks of Trade How urban and marine archaeology allows us to dive into international commerce. In this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast, Lucie Laumonier interviews Jeroen Oosterbaan, who is doing a PhD in Archaeology at the University of Leiden. Jeroen studies casks and barrels found in shipwrecks and in urban settings to investigate the networks of trade in the premodern Low Countries. More specifically, Jeroen looks at the residues inside of the barrels to identify their content and at the barrels themselves to know where they came from. Our guest walks us through the science behind his research and tells us about his preliminary findings. Who would have known that old casks had so many secrets?! /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/23335070

Across the Strait of Gibraltar: Chroniclers from Iberia and North Africa 05/23/2022

Across the Strait of Gibraltar: Chroniclers from Iberia and North Africa We are bridging communities across the sea in this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast. Emma Snowden talks with Lucie Laumonier about her dissertation, “Bridging the Strait: The Shared History of Iberia and North Africa in Medieval Muslim and Christian Chronicles.” She looks at the Strait of Gibraltar as a point of connection between Iberians and North Africans as well as between Christians and Muslims. Her work is based on fascinating chronicles written in North Africa, Al-Andalus and Christian Iberia, and how these chroniclers wrote their shared history. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/23193989

Sex and Sagas 05/09/2022

Sex and Sagas Would you have sex with a troll woman? This episode is the second instalment of a two-part series on sex and gender in medieval sagas. Lucie talks with Matthew Roby, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto, who deciphers for us the dirty details of these Old Norse and Icelandic texts. Turns out there are a lot of them, and many include monstrous beings! /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/23046143

Sagas and Gender 04/25/2022

Sagas and Gender Did you know that Loki was a gender-bending God? In this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast, Lucie Laumonier interviews Matthew Roby, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto. Matthew’s research looks at sex and gender in Old Norse and Icelandic sagas. There were many gender-bending characters in these texts, informing us of the gender representations and roles of Norse societies. The topic was so dense that we’re making a two-part series about this – first, gender, and in the next episode, sex! You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/22895963

The Secrets of Manuscript Digitization 04/11/2022

The Secrets of Manuscript Digitization The road from medieval manuscripts to medieval memes! The Medieval Grad Podcast looks at digitized manuscripts with Suzette Van Haaren, who recently defended her dissertation in Art History at the University of Groningen and at the University of Saint-Andrews. Suzette studies the ins and outs of digitized manuscripts and tells all their secrets to our host, Lucie Laumonier. So, how do we get to a world where the Internet is a treasure trove of medieval manuscripts - and of medieval memes?! /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/22747550

The Persian Art of Persuasion 03/22/2022

The Persian Art of Persuasion How to convince a Prince? In this episode, Faraz Alidina talks to Lucie Laumonier about his work on Persian literature. Faraz researches more specifically the works of a poet named Attar, who lived in Iran in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. Attar mastered the art of rhetoric and persuasion through the telling of fables, in the manner of the stories of the One Thousand and One Nights. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/22532606

Abduction, Marriage and Consent in the Middle Ages 03/07/2022

Abduction, Marriage and Consent in the Middle Ages What did it mean to abduct your fiancé? Lucie Laumonier talks with Chanelle Delameillieure about marriage and consent in the late medieval Low Countries. Chanelle is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Leuven, in Belgium, currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University in the United States. We learn that consented abductions were a thing, but that they could lead to contentious outcomes! /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/22366544

Environmental Disasters in Medieval France 02/21/2022

Environmental Disasters in Medieval France How did medieval people deal with natural disasters? In this episode, Lucie speaks with Brian Forman, whose research focuses on responses to environmental disasters in three late medieval communities of medieval France. As we find out in the podcast, late medieval municipalities implemented a wide array of strategies to mitigate and prevent climatic catastrophes, sometimes religious, and at other times practical. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/22199570

Medieval Chess: Alfonso X’s Book of Games 02/07/2022

Medieval Chess: Alfonso X’s Book of Games From chess and backgammon to politics, courtly culture and race relations. Lucie Laumonier interviews Alexandra Montero Peters about her research into the wonderfully illuminated thirteenth-century manuscript known as the Book of Games. A great episode to know everything about chess, Iberian court culture and politics all at once! You can support this podcast on Patreon - go to /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/22052087

The Road to Sainthood 12/06/2021

The Road to Sainthood In the Middle Ages, making it to Sainthood was a tedious process. Though, being murdered in the Canterbury Cathedral was a good starting point. Lucie Laumonier interviews Tristan Taylor on his research into the so-called South English Legendaries, a collection of saints’ lives drafted from the thirteenth century. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/21388931

The Vikings’ Slave Trade 11/29/2021

The Vikings’ Slave Trade From Woven Sails to Slavery: Viking lovers, this episode is for you! Lucie Laumonier meets Sarah Christensen, a PhD student at Brown University who studies the slave trade in the Western Viking world and its intersections with gender. We learn that enslaved women often worked in textile production, weaving the sails Viking men used to propel their ships. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/21306863

Were the Cathars even real? 11/15/2021

Were the Cathars even real? The Cathars are one of the most well-known heretical group in medieval Europe. But how much do we know about them? In this episode, Lucie Laumonier interviews Jean-Paul Rehr about the mythical Cathars and a peculiar inquisition record drafted near Toulouse in the thirteenth century. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/21163007

Ancient DNA in the Western Mediterranean 10/18/2021

Ancient DNA in the Western Mediterranean Ancient DNA has a lot to say about the people who walked the Earth in the Middle Ages… History and sciences are coming together and it’s quite the crossover. In this episode of Medieval Grad Podcast, Lucie Laumonier interviews Reed Johnston Morgan, a history PhD candidate at Harvard University, who studies frontier communities in the Western Mediterranean at the turn of the Antique world and the early Middle Ages. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/20854352

A Rotting Cat and a Damaged Penis 10/04/2021

A Rotting Cat and a Damaged Penis Do you know what is the best weapon to attack your drinking pal outside of a tavern? A rotting cat, of course! In today’s episode, Allison Bailey, a PhD candidate in history at the University of Toronto presents her research about the intersection of gender, violence and emotions in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century France. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/20693813

Laughter, Satire and Medieval Parody 09/20/2021

Laughter, Satire and Medieval Parody What made medieval people laugh? To find out, Lucie Laumonier talks with Bryant White, a PhD student in French studies at Vanderbilt University. Bryant’s research focuses on medieval satire and parody where he analyses representations of the clergy. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/20529395

Nile Floods and Mamluk Farmers 09/06/2021

Nile Floods and Mamluk Farmers Have you ever wondered what life was like for Mamluk farmers? In this episode, Lucie Laumonier talks with Omar Abdel-Ghaffar, a PhD candidate at Harvard University about Nile floods, landscapes and village communities in late medieval Egypt. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/20378399

Dante’s Florence 08/30/2021

Dante’s Florence We travel to medieval Florence with the famous writer Dante Alighieri. Elisabeth Trischler, a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, talks with Lucie Laumonier about the city of Florence and how it inspired Dante’s Divine Comedy. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/20303270

Medieval Chinese and Inner-Asian Politics 08/16/2021

Medieval Chinese and Inner-Asian Politics Today’s guest on the Medieval Grad Podcast is Soojung Han, a PhD candidate in East Asian studies at Princeton University. Soojung Han talks with Lucie Laumonier about the Shatuo Turks who rose to power in the ninth century, after the fall of the Tang dynasty. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/20152832

Medieval Disabled Bodies 08/09/2021

Medieval Disabled Bodies Lucie Laumonier talks to Adelheid Russenberger, a PhD candidate in history at Queen Mary University of London, England, about medieval disabilities and what it meant, in the Middle Ages, to be disabled. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/20076200

Medieval Race and the Image of the "Saracens" 07/26/2021

Medieval Race and the Image of the "Saracens" Today, we tend to associate race with skin colour. But, what did “Race” mean in the Medieval era? That’s what we’re finding with today’s guest, Tirumular (Drew) Narayanan. Drew Narayanan is a PhD candidate in art history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He talks to Lucie Laumonier about race in the Middle Ages and the figure of the “Saracens” in French manuscripts. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/19927985

What Animal Bones Teach Us 07/12/2021

What Animal Bones Teach Us Digging up animal bones can teach us a lot about the Middle Ages - in fact, zooarcheologists are able to make them speak! Today’s guest is Erin Crowley-Champoux, a PhD candidate in anthropology at the University of Minnesota Twin-Cities. She talks with Lucie Laumonier about zooarchaeology and how animal remains of the past can speak to social changes. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/19778222

From Moneylending to Hell 07/05/2021

From Moneylending to Hell Moneylending was serious business in the Middle Ages. You could be risking your very soul! Lucie Laumonier talks with Sama Mammadova, a PhD candidate at Harvard University, who studies the history of usury and moneylending in fourteenth and fifteenth-century Italy. How did medieval moneylenders reconcile their business with the fear of sin? /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/19705448

Introducing the Medieval Grad Podcast 07/01/2021

Introducing the Medieval Grad Podcast Welcome to the Medieval Grad Podcast - where we talk about the future of medieval studies. This is our teaser episode - just a quick talk with the creator and host, Lucie Laumonier, to explain what the podcast is about and what you will be able to listen to in future episodes. /episode/index/show/medievalgradpodcast/id/19675208

Medieval Grad Podcast

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