Medieval Death Trip

Medieval Death Trip
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A podcast exploring the wit and weirdness of medieval texts

  1. Jun 7

    Concerning Seizure and Possession (Part 2): Medieval Methods

    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

    1h 6m

  2. Apr 30

    Concerning Seizure and Possession (Part 1): The Greek Tradition

    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

    1h 2m

  3. Apr 2

    Concerning the Life and Miracles of St. Winefred

    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

    59 min

  4. Feb 14 ·  Bonus

    Appendix to Ep. 120: Some Sts. Valentines' Lives

    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

    24 min

  5. 12/13/2025

    Concerning Hinzelmann the Kobold

    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

    1h 5m

  6. 11/23/2025

    Concerning Redcaps

    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.

    1h 15m

  7. 10/14/2025

    Concerning More 8th-Century Visions of Hell

    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

    46 min

  8. 08/30/2025

    Concerning the Near-Death Visions of Fursa and Dryhthelm

    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

    1h 4m
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About

A podcast exploring the wit and weirdness of medieval texts

Information

  • Creator
    Medieval Death Trip
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2026
  • Episodes
    127
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Medieval Death Trip
  • Show Website
    Medieval Death Trip

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