Gone Medieval

How integral were horses to warfare, agriculture and travel in the Middle Ages? What did your horse say about your status? How can knowing more about horses unlock a deeper understanding of medieval s...

The death in 1290 of Eleanor of Castile, beloved Queen of King Edward I, sparked one of the grandest gestures of royal mourning in English history. Her body was carried on a 200-mile journey from Lin...

Come with us down the dark, damp woodland lane for Gone Medieval's Halloween Spooktacular.Matt Lewis is joined by Amy Boucher and Alix Chidley-Uttley to delve into the eerie world of medieval ghost st...

Dr. Eleanor Janega gets chummy with the gods of Norse Mythology. She's joined by Professor Carolyne Larrington to explore Odin’s quest for wisdom and the heart-wrenching trials he undergoes; Loki's sh...

Step into the mist-shrouded world of medieval magic, forbidden love, and forgotten prophecies. In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by renowned Arthurian expert John Matthews...

From his early years marked by an assassination attempt on his father that coincided with Edward's conception, to his brutal campaigns against the Welsh and Scots, Edward I's reign is completely thril...

Here on Gone Medieval we love to share the historical nuggets you won't commonly find.We are the insider's guide to Medieval times. and today Matt Lewis is taken on a whistle-stop tour of Medieval Eng...

Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by historian Roger Crowley to unravel the captivating history of Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic. How did this city, born from a lagoon, ride the changing tides of trad...

Welcome to Monsterland.The Medieval world is a realm of dragons, demons and beasts. Matt Lewis and Nick Jubber step into this murky world to tell the magical tales of the Bavarian Dragon's fire-breath...

Do you know what a Squire did? Was a Merchant as fancy as he sounds?Gone Medieval continues our week of pilgrimage as Matt Lewis is joined by Professor Robert Mayer Lee to explore the diverse jobs and...

Dr. Eleanor Janega sifts through the myths to uncover the foundations of medieval Hungary and its peoples. From the legendary tales of the country's origins to the process of Christianization under K...

What if one of the most iconic symbols of suffering and triumph in Christian history isn't what you think it is? Matt Lewis is joined by Dr. Faith Tibble to uncover the history and significance of the...

Edward of Woodstock, famously known as the Black Prince, was held up as the epitomy of Medieval Chivalry. Matt Lewis is joined by the Black Prince's biographer, Michael Jones to discuss King Edward II...

Matt Lewis presents a special episode from his podcast Echoes of History on the medieval 'Demon' Samurai.In the world of Assassin's Creed Shadows, the legendary Hattori Hanzo embodies both samurai and...

Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by historians Andy Drummond and Professor Lyndal Roper to explore the dramatic events of the German Peasants' War, exactly 500 years ago. Together they cover the thrillin...

What happens when one of the greatest empires in history begins to unravel? Matt Lewis explores the turbulent era of the Carolingian Empire's rise and fall with Matthew Gabriel and David Perry. The Ca...

What can grave goods tell us about the lives of people 1,500 years ago? Matt Lewis delves into the early medieval world through the lens of burials with Professor Jo Buckberry, discussing how the trea...

What do the terms 'medieval' and 'early medieval' truly mean? When did these periods begin and end? Why is it inaccurate - even offensive - to refer to them as the 'Dark Ages'? Dr. Eleanor Janega and ...

Did you know that Magna Carta wasn't originally intended as a beacon of civil liberties? Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by Steven Franklin of Royal Holloway, University of London to delve into the myths...

Lady Macbeth is best known to us as Shakespeare’s scheming, sleepwalking villain. But, as with most of his so-called history plays, Shakespeare’s version of the Macbeths is largely fictional.&nbs...

Did Richard III really murder the Princes in the Tower?Join Matt Lewis to dive into the enigmatic tale of the Princes in the Tower, joined by expert Philippa Langley. The discussion traverses recent d...

Join Matt Lewis and Professor Michael Livingston to unravel the legendary Battle of Agincourt.They cover the lesser-known strategic blunders to the haunting moral dilemmas and learn about the real eve...

Why are so many medieval castles left in ruins?Join Dr. Eleanor Janega as she steps through the rubble of these fallen stone giants to close our current series on the life cycle of castles.The technol...

Gone Medieval continues to explore the life cycle of castles, today considering the role for which they were explicitly designed - as fortresses to protect those within - by focussing on the incredibl...

At the edge of the Gobi Desert, Dunhuang was once a bustling oasis on the famous Silk Road connecting China and the Mediterranean. For more than 1000 years, Dunhuang was an important pilgrimage s...

William Marshal was one of the most famous and influential figures in English medieval history, rising from a lowly start to becoming the knight at the right hand of five Kings - Henry II, his co-rege...

Almost immediately after Thomas Becket’s murder, reports of miraculous healings and divine interventions spread like wildfire. Canterbury witnessed a huge influx of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims f...

King Richard I of England - Richard the Lionheart - is one of those historical figures whose reputation stands out so much that the legends cover up the myriad of complex details that we have about th...

From Hugh Capet to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Capetian dynasty considered itself divinely chosen to fulfil a great destiny. From an insecure foothold around Paris, the Capetians built a nation tha...

One of the pivotal figures in Medieval history, King Henry II centralised royal power, instituted legal reforms and established common law. His marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine expanded his influ...

The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was a public rebellion that sent revolutionary ripples across the entire medieval world. In a new video series for History Hit, Matt Lewis has been looking beyond the...

Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire was an institution of national significance from the late seventh century until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. It was home to eminent writers and had strong ...

The Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 to 565, Justinian was a ruler who infused even the most mundane tasks with spiritual and religious significance. The challenges he faced - climate change, battl...

By the time the Black Death subsided, between 75 and 200 million people in Afro-Eurasia were dead, entire towns and cities had collapsed, and the earth’s temperature cooled.In today’s episode of Gone ...

In the fourth century AD, the Christian faith exploded out of Palestine, overwhelming the paganism of Rome, converting the Emperor Constantine in the process. Almost a thousand years later, all of Eur...

Leprosy in the Middle AgesMedieval people were very concerned about how to deal with those in their midst who had leprosy, now called Hansen's disease. It's assumed today that sufferers were shunned f...

Wales has a wealth of ghost stories, including fantastical animals, flickering death omens and unseen things that go bump in the night. Whether these tales are based on true events, or are the creatio...

Matt Lewis kicks off Gone Medieval’s special series of podcasts about Medieval Queens with a look at Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians who ruled Mercia in the Midlands from 911 until her ...

The fourth son of William the Conqueror, King Henry I, is remembered as a harsh but effective ruler. He skilfully manipulated the barons in England and Normandy. He strengthened the existing Anglo-Sax...

Christianity's inroads into the pagan north of England began with the marriage of Æthelburh of Kent to King Edwin of Northumbria. A condition of their marriage was Edwin's conversion to Chri...

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis welcomes his new co-host, historian Dr. Eleanor Janega. For her first episode, Eleanor and Matt kick off with a quick fire round about some of her favourit...

Medieval Japan - especially its stories of fearless Samurai and Ninja warriors - have an enduring place in our consciousness. But how true are they?In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks t...

Maps. They are an essential part of modern life. But when and how did people in medieval Britain first start mapping their surroundings? The Gough Map was one of their first attempts. Compiled in the ...

When archeologists uncovered a jewellery hoard buried beneath the Iron Age ring fort of Sandby Borg in 2010, their excitement was palpable. Yet little did they know that they had only scratched the su...

First defined in law in 1352, treason remains one of the most serious crimes a person can commit. And, remarkably, the core of the original Treason Act remains in force and relatively unchanged today....

Jan Žižka is the legendary Czech national hero who led Hussite forces against three crusades and never lost a single battle. His rise to military greatness is now told in the feature film titled ...

On 21 October 1422 - 600 years ago - King Charles VI of France died at the age of 53 after reigning for 42 years. He was known as both Charles le Bien-Aimé (the Beloved) and Charles le Fou (the Mad) -...

For centuries, the pub has played a central role in our lives and communities. Throughout Britain, there are many pubs saying that they are the oldest - some of them even claim to have Medieval origin...

Few kings have left more of an impression on the English - and then the British - nation as King Henry V, who died on 31 August 1422. The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 wove Henry V’s legend into the fab...

How do you go about finding your way around the history of a nation and a national identity? For the barrister and author Dominic Selwood, documents are the perfect window through which to watch a cou...