'tis but a scratch: fact and fiction about the Middle Ages

Richard Abels
  • 4.9 (37)
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Talking about popular conceptions of the Middle Ages and their historical realities. Join Richard Abels to learn about Vikings, knights and chivalry, movies set in the Middle Ages, and much more about the medieval world.

  1. JAN 24

    Episode 70: What we can learn about medieval people from their bones and teeth. A conversation with Professor Alison Beach

    Send us a text And now for something completely different! In this episode, we are not going to be talking about kings or popes, crusades, wars, or political events. Instead, we will be examining the life experiences of ordinary medieval people uncovered through analysis of their skeletal remains.  This field of historical research is known as osteobiography. Osteobiography is the reconstruction of an individual's life story from his or her skeletal remains. It treats bones and teeth as a text that sheds light on an individual's health, diet, disease, trauma, occupation, migrations, and social status. This might sound familiar to some of you who remember the television show Bones. But the purpose here is not to solve crimes but to understand lives.  I am very fortunate to have as my very special guest to explain what we can learn about medieval people from their skeletal remains, Dr. Alison Beach, Professor of Medieval History at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Alison is the Principal Investigator and Historical Researcher for “Word of Mouth: Embodied Stories of Premodern Women at Work”—I love the puns—or, as it is more popularly known, TeamNun. She heads a team of historians, archaeologists, and scientists dedicated to reconstructing the lives of medieval religious woman through analysis of their skeletal remains. In this episode, Alison will tell us about two osteobiographies her team is working on. What makes these individuals especially interesting is that they both suffered from disabilities that did not preclude long lives. Apparently, medieval empathy is not an oxymoron! (You can learn more about TeamNun at https://www.teamnun.org/about-1) Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com

    1h 5m

  2. JAN 16

    The First King of England: Æthelstan (with David Woodman)

    Send us a text Ironically, the most famous date in Anglo-Saxon history is that of its demise, 1066, which is why when in 1930 W. C. Sellar, a former schoolmaster, and his classmate at Oxford, the humorist R. J. Yeatman, decided to send up English history as taught in schools with a parody survey, they called it  1066 and All That. In a previous episode Dr. Jenny Paxton and I discussed why 1066 is such a significant date in English history. My very special guest, David Woodman, Professor of History at Robinson College, Cambridge, contends that the year 927 should be as memorable as 1066. And he will explain why in this episode on the first king of England. And who was the first king of England?  I would love to say that it was King Alfred the Great, but, as I concluded in my biography of Alfred, his legacy was to create the foundations for the kingdom of England. But if not Alfred, then who?  David Woodman has a clear answer, encapsulated in the title of his recent book from Princeton University Press, The First King of England: Æthelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom.  In this episode David and I discuss the reign of King Æthelstan, and why David believes that 927 should be celebrated as the birthdate of the kingdom of England. Along the way, we discuss sources--or the lack thereof--and commiserate over the challenges faced by biographers of early medieval people. I hope you will join us. Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com

    1 hr

  3. 12/29/2025

    A Florentine Pilgrimage to Bethlehem and Jerusalem in 1384

    Send us a text This is an addendum to my previous episode with Peter Konieczny. One of my listeners sent me an email asking why we never covered Frescobaldi's, Gucci's, and Sigoli's accounts of their experiences in Jerusalem. As she pointed out, when asked by the Sultan's representative in Alexandria the purpose of their trip, they said that it was to visit the Holy Sepulcher. And she is absolutely right. We ought to have talked about the culmination of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Given that we are three days into the twelve days of Christmas, I decided that I should also talk about their visit to Bethlehem.  I wanted to get this out quickly, so it is a solo effort. It is also one of my shorter episodes. I would suggest that you listen first to Peter and my more general discussion of the three pilgrimage accounts and consider this to be a continuation.  May you have joy and peace for the remaining nine days of the Christmas season!  Quotations are from Frescobaldi, Gucci, and Sigoli, Visit to the Holy Places of Egypt, Sinai, Palestine and Syria in 1384, trans Theophilus Bellorini and Eugene Hoade (Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1948), posted online at https://fada.birzeit.edu/handle/20.500.11889/9200 This episodes includes musical snippets from Stella splendens (anonymous late 14th century pilgrim’s song), Free Choral Music, edited by Monique Rio  https://test.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Stella_splendens_in_monte_(Anonymous) De Profundis. Ofertorio (Modo II) Coro De Monjes Del Monasterio De SilosCantos Gregorianos (Vol. 2), posted by De Profundis-Gregorian Chant, Catholic Songs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwTO6oYDdZs Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com

    21 min

  4. 12/23/2025

    Three Accounts of A Pilgrimage To Egypt and the Holy Land in 1384-5

    Send us a text In the year 1384 a company of six wealthy merchants from Florence, each accompanied by a servant, went on a ten-month long pilgrimage to Mameluke Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Upon returning to Florence, three of them--Leonardo Frescobaldi, Giorgio Gucci, and Simone Sigoli--wrote narratives of the journey. Although there are hundreds of accounts of pilgrimages to the East during the Middle Ages, this is the only pilgrimage that produced three independent narratives. What makes these narratives fascinating is that they are as much travelogues as itineraries of visits to churches and holy places.  They are a treasure trove of information about the material culture and customs of the Mameluke east as viewed and interpreted by travelers from Italy. They also present the historian with a Rashomon-like puzzle: how do we reconcile three eye-witness accounts when they differ? Peter Koniezcny, the owner of the website "medievalists.net" and a veteran of this podcast, returns to talk about this unique source. I hope that you will join us. The passages quoted are from: Frescobaldi, Gucci, and Sigoli, Visit to the Holy Places of Egypt, Sinai, Palestine and Syria in 1384, trans Theophilus Bellorini and Eugene Hoade (Jerusalem: Franciscan Press, 1948), posted online at https://fada.birzeit.edu/handle/20.500.11889/9200 Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com

    1h 6m

  5. 10/31/2025

    Halloween special: Three Medieval Ghost Stories and My One Encounter with a Ghost

    Send us a text To celebrate my birthday—yes I was a Halloween baby—I decided to do a short episode recounting my one up-close and personal experience with a ghost. No, it was not a ghost of some one who died in the Middle Ages. In fact, I don’t know who it was.  But since ‘Tis But A Scratch” is a medieval podcast, I  start with three ghost stories from the Middle Ages.  It probably comes as no surprise that medieval people believed in ghosts, and ghost stories are scattered through medieval monastic chronicles, hagiographies, preaching manuals, and medieval literature. Ghost stories in medieval England, France, and Germany are mostly about apparitions of the sinful dead to living relatives. These began proliferating in the eleventh century, at the same time that the Catholic Church was developing its theology of Purgatory. Monks and preachers used these stories to emphasize the need to purge one’s sins, even after death. When the Church introduced the idea that the living could lessen the suffering of the dead in Purgatory by doing good deeds or contributing lands and money to monasteries and churches in return for prayers, these stories were used by preachers as fund raisers. The tradition in medieval Scandinavia was different. There the ghosts are not spirits but revenants, reanimated corpses.  I’ve chosen examples illustrating each genre. Two of them were written down around the year 1400. The first is from an Icelandic Saga, Grettir’s Saga. The second is from a collection of twelve ghost stories written by a monk of Byland Abbey, in Yorkshire. Both are about revenants, reanimated corpses, but of very different sorts.  Rounding things out is a ghost story from an earlier source, the autobiography of an early twelfth-century French Benedictine abbot, Guibert of Nogent.  I’m afraid that you might find my personal ghost story a bit dull in comparison, but I can assure you that it was anything but dull when I lived it. And just in case you are wondering: NO! I DO NOT BELIEVE IN GHOSTS!. Happy Halloween! I used the following English translations in this podcast (each of which I emended slightly): Grettir’s Saga, trans. G. H. Hight (1914): https://www.sagadb.org/grettis_saga.en2 “Twelve Medieval Ghost Stories,” trans. A.J. Grant, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 27 (1924): 362-379, posted on the “Medieval Histories” website: https://www.medieval.eu/medieval-histories-time-travelling-to-the-middle-ages/ C.C. Swinton Bland of , The Autobiography of Guibert, Abbot of Nogent-sous-Coucy, trans. C.C. Swinton Bland (London: George Routledge: New York: E.P. Dutton, 1925), which I revised somewhat following Paul J. Archambault, trans., A Monk’s Confession: The Memoirs of Guibert of Nogent (Penn State U. Press, 2004). Bland’s translation is in the public domain and posted in its entirety at  https://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/basis/guibert-vita.asp This episode includes a short snippet from "The Unknown," a track from KeMi's album "Shadowscapes." https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/album/shadowscapes/13040 Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com

    43 min

  6. 10/27/2025

    From Bishop of Rome to the Papal Monarchy: Pope Innocent III, Crusade, Church Reform, and the Apex of the Medieval Papacy

    Send us a text Yes, we have finally come to the end of our series "From Bishop of Rome to the Papal Monarchy." In this episode, Ellen and I talk about the pontificate of Innocent III, which historians see as the apex of the papal monarchy. Among the topics we cover are Innocent III's ideology of Caesaropapism, his contribution to the crusading movement, his combat against heresy, his defense of the papal states, and his dedication to Church Reform. Innocent III was the most powerful and effective pope of the Middle Ages.  His control over the Roman Catholic episcopate was uncontested, as evidenced by the Fourth Lateran Council. But his Caesaropapism, his assertion of papal supremacy over both the clergy and the laity, including Christian rulers, was more theoretical than real. He claimed to be the supreme judge over the rulers of Christendom, and was successful in doing so in a number of high profile cases, but his successes were contingent upon the need of those kings either to have papal support or, at the very least, not to be opposed by the papacy. Similarly, he could launch crusades against the Church’s domestic and foreign enemies, but once a crusade was ongoing, he had little power to direct it—even when the crusaders were disobeying his direct orders, as happened twice during the Fourth Crusade. When examined closely, papal supremacy over Christendom was always contingent, even during the apex of the papal monarchy.  This episode includes musical snippets from  Nunc Scio Vere (Introitus) Catholic Missa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSpBhfE7ljA Dies Irae, Tu es Petrus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OBB5-bP6qs Medieval music: Cantiga de santa maria n. 383 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZEzmTQlmBU) [Steve Tyler: Hurdy Gurdy, Cittern Marco Cannavo: Hurdy Gurdy Ricardo De Noronha: Percussion] Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com

    1h 37m

  7. 10/20/2025

    From Bishop of Rome to the Papal Monarchy: the Rise of the Papal Monarchy

    Send us a text In this, the fourth--and penultimate--episode of our continuing series on the medieval papacy, my wife Ellen and I examine the establishment of the papal monarchy in the twelfth century. We discuss how the Investiture Controversy transformed the papacy and the Church; how the growth of papal governance and business along with its need for increased revenues made it a target for the same Church reformers who had formerly been its most fervent supporters; and how those developments brought the papacy into conflict with the Holy Roman Emperors Frederick I Barbarossa and his son Henry VI. I hope you will join us for this and the final episode of the series, on the pontificate of Innocent III, the apex of the papal monarchy. This episode includes musical snippets from Musician Ernst Stolz playing the pilgrims' song,  "O Roma nobilis" on tenor vielle, recorder and gemshorn. From his YouTube channel "My Years with Early Music: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf3_3065gmU) Nunc Scio Vere (Introitus) Catholic Missa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSpBhfE7ljA Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com

    1h 12m

  8. 10/07/2025

    "1066 and All That": The Significance of the Norman Conquest, Part 1 (with Dr. Jennifer Paxton)

    Send us a text About eight months ago, Jenny and I released a couple of episodes dealing with the historical context of the Norman Conquest. I am delighted to have Jenny back to talk with me about the significance of the Norman Conquest and the Norman Settlement in English history. In this, the first of two episodes, Jenny and I look at the events following the Battle of Hastings and examine how the Norman Conquest has been interpreted over the centuries.  I hope you will join us.  Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com

    1h 1m
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Talking about popular conceptions of the Middle Ages and their historical realities. Join Richard Abels to learn about Vikings, knights and chivalry, movies set in the Middle Ages, and much more about the medieval world.

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