The Invention of Hell
"All hope, abandon ye who enter here." These words from Dante’s Divine Comedy may shape our modern vision of hell, but did you know that the...
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Gone Medieval
From long-lost Viking ships to kings buried in unexpected places; from murders and power politics, to myths, religion, the lives of ordinary people: Gone Medieval is History Hit’s podcast de...
Episodes
20 of 559 episodesSword in the Stone: Origins of Arthurian Legends
Who first imagined King Arthur pulling a shining blade from solid rock? What do extraordinary Bronze Age discoveries reveal about the legend...
How to Read Runes
**Contains very strong language/Tavern talk ** Were runes really magical symbols used by Viking sorcerers? Or were they the everyday handwri...
Battle of Grunwald: Defeat of the Teutonic Knights
In July 1410, the formidable Teutonic Knights, rapacious crusaders clad in heavy plate armour, faced a massive Polish-Lithuanian alliance. A...
The King Who Created Medieval Bohemia
In 12th-century Bohemia, every royal funeral sparked a civil war. Dr. Eleanor Janega discovers how Přemysl Otakar I survived backstabbing br...
Tolkien: Middle Earth and the Middle Ages
From where did J.R.R. Tolkien get his ideas for the world of Middle Earth? For millions of readers, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are...
Extinct Beasts of Medieval Britain
Why have wolves often been the villains of British history? What happened to them and some of the other remarkable creatures that once roame...
Edgar Ætheling: The King Who Never Was
What if you were proclaimed King of England but never sat on the throne? In 1066, Edgar Ætheling possessed the strongest bloodline claim to...
Great Buildings of the Middle Ages
How did medieval builders create monuments that still leave us awestruck? How were vast cathedrals, temples and cities constructed and embel...
Henry III vs. Simon de Montfort
Was Henry III overthrown by England's first constitutional revolution? How did Simon de Montfort's rebellion change the course of history? I...
Guinevere: The Queen Who Broke Camelot?
Was Queen Guinevere a traitorous adulteress who caused the tragic downfall of Camelot, or a complex political survivor? Was she even real? D...
Henry III: England's Longest Reigning King
How did a nine-year-old boy save England from the brink of collapse? How did he transform a disastrous legacy into a remarkably stable reign...
Medieval Sex Work & Brothels
**WARNING: This episode contains explicit language and sexual content How did prostitution become so visible in medieval towns? How could se...
Olaf Tryggvason: Viking Warlord or Christian King?
Matt Lewis and guest Dr Eleanor Barraclough as they dive into the turbulent world of late 10th-century Scandinavia and the extraordinary lif...
Folk Legends of Iceland
How was folklore woven into the everyday life of medieval Icelanders? How did they make sense of the darkness of their world? During Iceland...
High Kings of Ireland
What if “High King” in medieval Ireland was less a fixed office than a fiercely contested prize, won through ritual, lineage, and force? On...
How to Survive as a Medieval Woman
What was life really like for working peasant women in the Middle Ages? How did family, marriage, work and social class shape their choices,...
Edmund Ironside: The 222-Day King
What does it take to face a Danish invasion and fight for a kingdom in just 222 days? In 1016, England is at war as Edmund Ironside meets Cn...
Empress Matilda: Queen of the Romans, Ruler of the English
How did an empress become the most dangerous claimant to the English throne? From the Battle of Lincoln to her legendary escape from Oxford...
Battle of the Golden Spurs
In 1302, an army of Flemish townsmen achieved the impossible. At the Battle of the Golden Spurs, infantry armed with pikes and determination...