Medieval Death Trip

It's our 12th anniversary Halloween episode, in which we look at three examples of encounters with burial mounds in Norse sagas.

Today's Texts:
The Saga of Hervor and Heithrek. In Stories and Ballads of the Far Past, translated by N. Kershaw, Cambridge UP, 1921, pp. 79-143. Internet Archive.
The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise. Translated by Christopher Tolkien, Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1960. Viking Society.
The Story of Grettir the Strong. Translated by Eiríkr Magnússon and William Morris, New Ed., Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900. Google Books.
Grettis saga. Edited by Valdimar Ásmundarson, 1900. Google Books.
Orkneyinga saga. In Icelandic Sagas and Other Historical Documents Relating to the Settlements and Descents of the Northmen on the British Isles, vol. 1, edited by Guðbrandur Vigfússon, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1887, pp. 1-221. Internet Archive.

Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:13:41 Text: from Okneyinga saga, Ch. 101
00:14:23 Commentary (1)
00:23:15 Text: from Grettis saga, Ch. 18
00:29:40 Commentary (2)
00:37:24 Text: from The Saga of Hervor and Heithrek, Ch. 2
00:41:33 Commentary (3)
00:44:09 Text: from The Saga of Hervor and Heithrek, Ch. 4-6
00:57:35 Commentary (4)
01:01:38 Riddle
01:02:44 Outro

In this episode, we bring Kormak's Saga to its conclusion and find out if one man's unrelenting infatuation can triumph over a curse. We also talk about recognizing witches' eyes and read between the lines on our protagonists' relationship.

Today's Text:

The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald. Translated by W.G. Collingwood and J. Stefansson. Viking Club Translation Series, no. 1., Wm Holmes, Ltd., 1902. Google Books.
Kormáks saga. Icelandic Saga Database, edited by Sveinbjörn Þórðarson, 2007. https://www.sagadb.org/kormaks_saga.is.

Audio Credits:
Return of the Jedi. Directed by Richard Marquand. 20th Century-Fox, 1983.
Dylan, Bob. "I Shall Be Free No. 10." Another Side of Bob Dylan, Columbia Records, 1964. YouTube.
The Princess Bride. Directed by Rob Reiner. 20th Century-Fox, 1987.
"Kormak's Theme" and "Harpish Improvisations" composed and performed by Patrick Lane.

Chapters
00:00:00 Announcement and Content Warning
00:00:40 Introduction
00:01:36 Saga Recap
00:03:21 Thordis the Spákona
00:07:03 On Witches' Eyes
00:10:49 Other Prefatory Notes
00:12:29 Text: Kormak's Saga, ch. 22-27, translated by W.G. Collingwood & Jón Stefánsson
00:35:35 Commentary
00:48:15 On the Relationship of Kormak and Steingerd
01:07:49 Mystery Word: ǫlverk
01:10:51 Outro

In Part 3 of Kormak's Saga, we complete the story of Holmgang Bersi and introduce a new rival for Steingerd's affections. There's also a magical sea beast, more slanderous poetry, and we discuss Norse names.

Today's Text:
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald. Translated by W.G. Collingwood and J. Stefansson. Viking Club Translation Series, no. 1., Wm Holmes, Ltd., 1902. Google Books.
Kormáks saga. Icelandic Saga Database, edited by Sveinbjörn Þórðarson, 2007. https://www.sagadb.org/kormaks_saga.is.

Audio Credits:
"Cincinnati Kid." The Kids in the Hall, Season 2, Ep. 16, 2 April 1991. YouTube.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Directed by Peter Jackson, New Line Cinema, 2002.
The Big Lebowski. Written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Gramercy Pictures, 1998.
"Kormak's Theme" and "Harpish Improvisations" composed and performed by Patrick Lane.

Chapters
00:00:00 Enclosure Acad Reminder
00:00:22 Introduction
00:01:19 Norse Bynames
00:09:24 New Characters with Bynames
00:18:11 Níð, Poetry. and the Law
00:23:43 Recap: The Saga So Far
00:25:16 Other Prefatory Notes
00:28:10 Text: Kormak's Saga, ch. 15-21, translated by W.G. Collingwood & Jón Stefánsson
00:57:09 Commentary
01:10:51 Riddles
01:12:22 Outro

We continue with Kormak's Saga as a new lead character is introduced, Holmgang Bersi, who soon becomes ensnared in the drama of the cursed romance of Kormak and Steingerd. We also learn the basic of Viking duelling and its weapons, and also try to get a grip on the slippery terminology of Norse magic.

Today's Text:

The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald. Translated by W.G. Collingwood and J. Stefansson. Viking Club Translation Series, no. 1., Wm Holmes, Ltd., 1902. Google Books.
Kormáks saga. Icelandic Saga Database, edited by Sveinbjorn Thordarson, 2007. https://www.sagadb.org/kormaks_saga.is.

Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:44 Holmgang
00:14:13 Shields
00:18:12 A Sword Named Skofnung
00:25:56 Other Prefatory Notes
00:30:35 Text: Kormak's Saga, ch. 7-14, translated by Collingwood & Stefánsson
01:08:00 Commentary
01:32:23 Mystery Word: níðvísa
01:34:24 Outro

We inaugurate our first "Saga Summer" a bit late this year, but starting with an early poet's saga, a tale of love and betrayal, duels and magic. This is Part 1 (of 4) of Kormak's Saga.

Today's Texts:
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald. Translated by W.G. Collingwood and J. Stefansson. Viking Club Translation Series, no. 1., Wm Holmes, Ltd., 1902. Google Books.
Kormáks saga. Icelandic Saga Database, edited by Sveinbjorn Thordarson, 2007. https://www.sagadb.org/kormaks_saga.is.
Egil's Saga. Translated by W.C. Green, 1893. Internet Sacred Texts Archive.
Egil's Saga. Translated by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards, Penguin, 1976.
Egil's Saga. Translated by Bernard Skudder, The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection, Penguin, 2001, pp. 3-184.

Chapters
00:00:00 Enclosure Academy Course Promo
00:00:49 Introduction
00:02:31 About sagas
00:06:31 Poets' sagas
00:12:15 Skaldic verse
00:22:07 Translating skaldic verse: Egil's Saga, verse 4
00:31:15 Immigration
00:33:42 Whales and sausages
00:35:28 Notes on the translation
00:38:18 Text: Kormak's Saga, ch. 1-6, translated by Collingwood & Stefánsson
00:59:22 Commentary
01:09:50 Skald: A Game of Viking Verse-Making
01:12:12 Riddle
01:15:37 Outro

As vacation season kicks off, we revisit 14th-century traveler Friar Odoric at the very start of his journey, as he crosses from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf, passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and makes shore in India.

Today's Texts:

Odoric of Friuli. "The Eastern Parts of the World Described, By Friar Odoric the Bohemian, of Friuli, in the Province of Saint Anthony." In Cathay and the Way Thither, edited by Henry Yule, vol. 1, Hakluyt Society, 1866. Google Books.

"Viaggio del Beato Frate Odorico di Porto Maggiore Del Friuli." Edited by Ramusio, Delle Navigationi et Viaggi, vol. 2, Venice, Giunti, 1583. pp. 253-257. Google Books.

Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:19:25 Text: "The Journey of Friar Odoric" Ch. 1-5
00:33:42 Commentary
00:49:36 Mystery Word: méscola
00:53:08 Outro

We complete our look at epilepsy in the Middle Ages by considering how religion and medicine intersect in surviving medical texts and how classical learning was reintroduced by looking at the example of John of Gaddesden, possibly the model for Chaucer's Doctour of Phisik.

Today's Texts:

John of Gaddesden. "John of Gaddesden on Epilepsy." Edited by William G. Lennox, translated by Adrian P. English, Annals of Medical History, vol. 1, no. 3, May 1939, pp. 283-307. Semantic Scholar.

Origen. Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, translated by John Patrick, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9, edited by Allan Menzies, Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1896. New Advent, revised and edited by Kevin Knight, www.newadvent.org/fathers/1016.htm

Herbarium. In Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, translated by Thomas Cockayne, vol. 1, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1864, pp. 1-325. Archive.org.

Leech Book. Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, translated by Thomas Cockayne, vol. 2, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1864. Archive.org.

"Life of St. Winefred." Lives of the Cambro British Saints, of the Fifth and Immediate Succeeding Centuries, from Ancient Welsh & Latin MSS. in the British Museum and Elsewhere, with English Translations, an Explanatory Notes, edited and translated by W. J. Rees, Welsh MSS. Society, 1853, pp. 515-529. Google Books.

Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:34 Text: Gospel of Mark (NIV), Ch. 9:14-29
00:04:36 Commentary
00:10:12 Text: Origen, Commentary on Matthew
00:11:44 Commentary
00:13:58 Flashback to Life and Miracles of St. Winefred
00:14:41 Commentary
00:18:33 Text: Bald's Leechbook
00:19:44 Commentary
00:22:17 Text: Anglo-Saxon Herbarium, "On Asterion"
00:23:11 Commentary
00:24:03 Text: Anglo-Saxon Herbarium, "On Artemisia"
00:25:05 Commentary
00:34:28 Text: John of Gaddesden, Rosa Medicinae
00:56:59 Commentary
01:00:42 PSA: Seizure First Aid
01:04:03 Riddle
01:04:39 Outro

This episode we begin a two-part exploration into the understanding and treatment of epilepsy in the middle ages. But to get to the medieval, we have to start with its ancient antecedents, so here in Part 1, we look at texts produced by the Hippocratic school and its later followers.

Today's Texts:
Lucretius. On the Nature of Things. Translated by John Selby Watson and John Mason Good, George Bell & Sons, 1893. Internet Archive.
Wilson, J.V. Kinnier, and E. H. Reynolds, translators. "Translation and Analysis of a Cuneiform Text Forming Part of a Babylonian Treatise on Epilepsy," Medical History, vol. 34, 1990, pp. 185-198. National Center for Biotechnical Information, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1036070/
Hippocrates. "On the Sacred Disease." The Genuine Works of Hippocrates, vol. 2, translated by Francis Adams, Sydenham Society, 1849, pp. 831-858. Google Books.
Galen. "Advice for an Epileptic Boy." Translated by Owsei Temkin, Texts and Documents, reprinted from Bulletin of the Institute of the History of Medicine, vol. 2, no. 3, May 1934, pp. 179-189. Archive.org.
Paulus Ægineta. The Medical Works of Paulus Ægineta, the Greek Physician. Vol. 1, edited and translated by Francis Adams, J. Welsh, 1834. Google Books.

Image Credits:
Babylonian tablet on epilepsy (British Museum, Tablet 47753, obverse, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Papyrus fragment of Hippocratic oath (Wellcome Collection, via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY 4.0).
Printed engraving depicting Galen, Avicenna, and Hippocrates from a 16th-century medical book (Wikimedia Commons).

00:00:00 Introduction
00:13:53 Text: from the Babylonian Sakikku
00:15:26 Commentary
00:23:21 Text: from Hippocrates, "On the Sacred Disease"
00:34:21 Commentary
00:41:09 Text: from Galen, "Advice for an Epileptic Boy"
00:45:57 Commentary
00:50:23 Text: from Paulus Ægineta, Medical Compendium in Seven Book, Book 3
00:57:36 Commentary
00:59:06 Mystery Word: λαπακτικός
01:00:04 Outro

As a follow-up to our 2025 saint's-life generating Advent Calendar game, we hear an actual medieval saint's life and discuss how we get some of our saintly terminology. You'll also find out where you can get a downloadable version of the Advent Calendar game!

Today's Texts:
"Life of St. Winefred." Lives of the Cambro British Saints, of the Fifth and Immediate Succeeding Centuries, from Ancient Welsh & Latin MSS. in the British Museum and Elsewhere, with English Translations, an Explanatory Notes, edited and translated by W. J. Rees, Welsh MSS. Society, 1853, pp. 515-529. Google Books.
"The Miracles of St. Winifred's Well." The British Medical Journal, vol. 2, no. 1762, 13 Oct. 1894, p. 829. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20230146
The Rule of St. Benedict. Translated by D. Oswald Hunter Blair, 2nd ed., Sands & Co,m 1907. Google Books.

Music credit: "Ton y botel (Ebenezer)." Performed by the Wilkes-Barre Quartet, Victor, 1922. United States Library of Congress.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:18:01 Text: The Life and Miracles of St. Winefred
00:47:36 Commentary
00:53:55 Riddle
00:54:52 Journaling Game Now Downloadable
00:57:23 Outro

In this prelude appendix to our episode on saint's lives, we hear versions of the life of St. Valentine from three different medieval sources.

Today's Texts:

First English edition of the Nuremberg chronicle: being the Liber chronicarum of Dr. Hartmann Schedel. Edited and translated by Kosta Hadavas, U of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, 2023, https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/3SXNV3NHBQLFQ8J [used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.]

Jacobus de Voragine. "Life of S. Valentine." In The Golden Legend, or Lives of the Saints. Translated by William Caxton, edited by F.S. Ellis, vol. 3, J.M. Dent, 1900, pp. 42-45. Google Books.

Bede. Martyrologium de Natalitiis Sanctorum. In Patrologia Latina, edited by J.-P. Migne, vol. 94, col. 840A-842B, 1862. Google Books.

Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:07:34 The Nuremberg Chronicle's account of the 8th Persecution
00:13:57 Commentary
00:15:28 "St. Valentine" from Caxton's Translation of the Golden Legend
00:19:02 Commentary
00:19:59 from Bede's Martyrology
00:21:20 Commentary
00:23:37 Outro

As we enter the season of elves and Christmas spirits, we follow up on our fairy theme from last episode with a look at the famous 16th-century German hausgeist, Hinzelmann the Kobold -- but don't call him that to his face!

Today's Texts:
Keightley, Thomas. The Fairy Mythology. E.G. Bohn, 1850. Google Books.
Der vielförmige Hintzelmann oder umbständliche und merckwürdige Erzehlung von einem Geist, so sich auf dem Hause Hudemühlen, und hernach zu Estrup im Lande Lüneburg unter vielfältigen Gestalten. Leipzig, 1704. Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen.
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Deutsche Sagen. Berlin, 1816. Google Books.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:13:22 "Hinzelmann," translated by Thomas Keightley from the Brothers Grimm
00:48:03 Commentary
00:57:23 Mystery Word: kalamâr
00:58:52 2025 MDT Advent Calendar
01:02:33 Outro

For our eleventh anniversary episode, we follow the fairy path of the redcap, from recent cinema through tabletop gaming, into Victorian folklorists and Romantic balladeers, and finally hunting up their ancestry in medieval manuscripts.

Today's Texts:
"Redcap." Monster Manual III, edited by Greg Collins, John D. Rateliff, and Gary Sarli. Wizards of the Coast, 2004. Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/monster-manual-iii/page/n137/mode/2up
Henderson, William. Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders. W. Satchell, Peyton, & Co., 1879. Internet Archive.
Leyden, John. "Lord Soulis." Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. 2, edited by Walter Scott, James Ballantyne, 1803, pp. 353-388. Google Books.
Leland, Charles Godfrey. "Etrusco-Roman Remains in Modern Tuscan Tradition." Congrès International des Traditions Populaires, Première Session, Paris 1889, Société d'Èditions Scientifiques, 1891. Google Books.
Gervase of Tilbury. Otia imperialia: Recreation for an Emperor. Edited and translated by S.E. Banks and J.W. Binns. Clarendon Press, 2002.
Thomas of Walsingham. Historia Anglicana. Edited by Henry Thomas Riley, vol. 1, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1863. Google Books.
Croker, Thomas Crofton. Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. 2nd ed., John Murray, 1838. Google Books.

This episode we continue further with Bede as he relates two more afterlife visions of a more infernal nature, and then we hear Gregory the Great answer some questions about the nature of Hell.

Today's Texts:
Bede. Ecclesiastical History. In The Complete Works of Venerable Bede. Edited and translated by J.A. Giles, vols. II & III, Whittaker and Co., 1843. Google Books.
Gregory the Great. Dialogues. Translated by P.W. (1608), edited by Edmund G. Gardner, Philip G. Warner, 1911. Digital transcription and additional editing by Roger Pearse, 2004, https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/index.htm#Gregory_Dialogues

Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:34 Text: Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica, Ch. 13-14
00:10:53 Commentary
00:32:11 Text: from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great, Bk 4, Ch. 41-44
00:40:04 Commentary. cont.
00:40:35 Mystery Word: Jeffrey's-day
00:43:07 Outro

This episode we explore two glimpses of the afterlife presented by the Venerable Bede and consider how they relate to the modern conception of the near death experience.

Today's Text:
Bede. Ecclesiastical History. In The Complete Works of Venerable Bede. Edited and translated by J.A. Giles, vols. II & III, Whittaker and Co., 1843. Google Books.

Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:12:37 Text: The Visions of Fursa from Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica
00:24:05 Commentary
00:29:59 Text: The Vision of Dryhthelm from Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica
00:43:34 Commentary. cont.
01:00:35 Riddle
01:02:09 Outro

This episode we finally enter the open ocean with the Uí Corra and their fellow pilgrims as they explore strange new lands, seek out new afterlives and new sects, and boldly go where many other saints and heroes of Irish legend have gone before.

Today's Texts
"The Voyage of the Hui Corra." Translated by Whitley Stokes. Revue Celtique, vol. 14, 1893, pp. 22-69. Internet Archive.

References
Breatnach, Caoimhín. "The Transmission and Structure of Immram Curaig Ua Corra." Ériu, vol. 53, 2003, pp. 91-107. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30008353
Dumville, David. "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition." Ériu, vol. 27, 1976, pp. 73-94). JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30007669

In this episode, we embark on another Irish adventure with the first part (of two) of "The Voyage of the Uí Corra," in which we don't actually set sail until final paragraph.

Today's Texts
"The Voyage of the Hui Corra." Translated by Whitley Stokes. Revue Celtique, vol. 14, 1893, pp. 22-69. Internet Archive.

References
"Book of Fermoy." Royal Irish Academy, www.ria.ie/collections/manuscripts/irish-language-manuscripts/book-of-fermoy/
Breatnach, Caoimhín. "The Transmission and Structure of Immram Curaig Ua Corra." Ériu, vol. 53, 2003, pp. 91-107. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30008353
Dumville, David. "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition." Ériu, vol. 27, 1976, pp. 73-94). JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30007669
McInerney, Luke. "Conchubhar Mac an Oirchinnigh and the Gaelic scribal tradition of County Clare." The Other Clare: Annual journal of The Shannon Archaeological & Historical Society, vol. 41, 2017, pp. 60-67. Clare Libraries.
Shaw, John. "What Alexander Carmichael Did Not Print: The 'Cliar Sheanchain', 'Clanranald's Fool' and Related Traditions." Béaloideas, Iml. 70, 2002, pp. 99-126. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20520795
Thompson, Chris, and Isolde Carmody. "Rowing Around Immráma 03: Immrám Uí Corra." Story Archaeology: Conversations on Irish Mythology, 5 July 2014, storyarchaeology.com/rowing-around-immrama-03-immram-ui-corra/

For this St. Patrick's Day, we finally present the last canonical text written by St. Patrick, his letter to Coroticus, completing the series we began in Episode 68 with the first half of Patrick's Confessio.
Today's Texts

Patrick. Epistola ad Coroticum. St. Patrick: His Writings and Life, edited and translated by Newport J.D. White, Macmillan, 1920, pp. 52-60. Google Books.

References

Kelly, David. "St Patrick's Writings: Confessio and Epistola." Saint Patrick's Confessio, Royal Irish Academy, 2011, www.confessio.ie/more/article_kelly#.

Audio Credit: Father Ted, "The Old Grey Whistle Theft," season 2, episode 4, written by Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, 29 March 1996.

Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:08:10 Text: Patrick, Epistola ad Coroticum
00:21:00 Commentary
00:24:07 Mystery Word: húrla-hárla
00:25:11 Outro

This episode, we go into more depth with the legend of St. Kenelm (Cynehelm) and his jealous sister Quendrida (Cwenthryth). We also learn what it means to "crab the parson."

Today's Text
- "The Legend of St. Kenelm." Translated by John Amphlett in A Short History of Clent, Parker and Co., 1890, pp. 177-193. Google Books.

References
- Brand, John. Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Chiefly Illustrating the Origin of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions, edited, revised, and expanded by Henry Ellis, vol 1, Henry G. Bohn, 1859. Google Books.
- Cross, Tom Peete. "Witchcraft in North Carolina." Studies in Philology, vol. 16, no. 3, Jul. 1919, pp. 217-287. Google Books.
- Rollason, D. W. "The Cults of Murdered Royal Saints in Anglo-Saxon England." Anglo-Saxon England, vol. 11, 1983, pp. 1-22. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44510759
- Weiskott, Eric. "Saint Kenelm, Illustrated." Erikweiskott.com, 21 Nov. 2016, ericweiskott.com/2016/11/21/saint-kenelm-illustrated/
- Whitelock, Dorothy, editor and translator. "From the Report of the Legates to Pope Hadrian (786)." English Historical Documents: ca. 500-1042, vol. 1, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1955, pp. 770-774. Archive.org.

Image Credit: Detail of Kenelm with a bird at his ear from Bodleian Library, MS Douce 368 f. 80r (12th cent.).
Audio Credit: "6 Morceaux, Op. 85 - 3. Cavatina." Composed by Joachim Raff, performed by Benjamin Intartaglia. Musopen. Used under CC-BY 3.0 license.

Chapters
00:00:00: Introduction
00:09:01: Text: The Legend of St. Kenelm
00:24:03: Commentary
00:36:43: Brand and Ellis on "Crabbing the Parson" (1859)
00:42:21: Commentary
00:43:40: Riddle
00:44:53: Outro

We continue on from last episode's look at the Green Children of Woolpit with a further consideration of what it meant to wonder at a marvel in the middle ages, with additional illustration of some wondrous things from William of Malmesbury.

Today's Texts
- Gervase of Tilbury. Otia Imperialia. Edited and translated by S.E. Banks and J.W. Binns, Clarendon Press, 2002.
- Isidore of Seville. The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville. Translated by Stephen A. Barney, W.J. Lewis, J.A. Beach, and Oliver Berghof with Muriel Hall, Cambridge UP, 2006.
- William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J.A. Giles, translated by John Sharpe and J.A. Giles, George Bell & Sons, 1895. Google Books.

Chapters
00:00:00: Introduction
00:09:48: Text: from Gervase of Tilbury's Otia Imperialia
00:13:29: Commentary
00:16:23: Text: from Isidore of Seville's Etymologies
00:21:02: Commentary
00:23:05: Text: from William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum
00:39:32: Commentary
00:43:23: Text: from Caroline Walker Bynum's "Wonder"
00:48:08: Commentary
00:48:26: Mystery Word: glop
00:54:15: Outro

This Halloween marks our 10th anniversary, and we observe it by hearing the earliest written accounts of one of the most well-known pieces of medieval weird history: the Green Children of Woolpit -- and also hear the other less famous prodigies their story was originally presented alongside.

Today's Texts:
Radulphi de Coggeshall. Chronicon Anglicanum. Edited by Joseph Stevenson, Longman & Co., 1875. Google Books.
William of Newburgh. The History of William of Newburgh. The Church Historians of England, vol. IV, part II, translated by Joseph Stevenson, Seeleys, 1856, pp. 395–670. Google Books.

Chapters
00:00:00: Introduction
00:06:32: Text: from Ralph of Coggeshall's Chronicon Anglicanum
00:15:36: Commentary
00:24:31: Text: Ch. 27 & 28 from William of Newburgh's Historia rerum Anglicarum
00:35:10: Commentary
00:58:25: Riddle
01:01:13: Outro