About this podcast
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 dedicated to the middle ages, in Europe and far beyond.
New episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
A podcast by History Hit, the world's best history channel and creators of award-winning podcasts Dan Snow's History Hit, The Ancients, and Betwixt the Sheets.
History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™
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Episodes
The newest 50 of 576 episodes
- How to Survive the Black Death · 52 min · Episode 578How did humanity endure a plague that turned the living into "no more account than a dead goat"? Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega are navigating this medieval apocalypse, from…
- Investigating Viking Burials · 1 h 0 min · Episode 577Who were the Vikings beyond the raiders and longships? What can their graves reveal about the people who built one of history's most remarkable societies? Archaeological science…
- Robert the Bruce · 1 h 8 min · Episode 576Was King Robert the Bruce a true Scottish freedom fighter or a ruthless, self-interested politician? Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega are getting stuck into the riotous, bloody…
- Birth of Witchcraft · 55 min · Episode 575How did harmless medieval healers become hunted as terrifying, devil-worshiping conspirators? Matt Lewis and Professor Marion Gibson explore the chilling origins of the witch…
- The Hussite Wars: Bohemia vs. Rome · 59 min · Episode 574Why would the execution of a single Czech priest spark decades of bloody revolution across Europe? In 1414, the outspoken reformer Jan Hus was promised safe conduct to a church…
- Royal Witch: Eleanor Cobham with Philippa Gregory · 59 min · Episode 573In 1441, one of England's most powerful women was forced to walk barefoot through London's streets as a convicted sorceress. What drove Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, to…
- Battle of Agincourt · 1 h 8 min · Episode 572The Battle of Agincourt is remembered as the ultimate David versus Goliath victory, where King Henry V’s small, exhausted army unleashed a devastating "hailstorm of arrows" to…
- Vikings vs. Pagans · 43 min · Episode 571Forget everything you know about the Vikings. Matt Lewis and Thomas Williams explore the forgotten era when Scandinavian warriors abandoned their pagan roots to become devout…
- How to Win a Medieval Tournament · 49 min · Episode 570Step onto the dusty and dangerous fields of the medieval tournament with the only knightly teammates worth having: Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis *sound trumpets* They…
- The Heretic’s Handbag: Folk Magic and Survival in Medieval France · 1 h 4 min · Episode 569What can the contents of a medieval French woman’s handbag tell us about her life, her beliefs and the strange world she inhabited? When she was captured by the Inquisition…
- Did Alfred Burn the Cakes? & Other Medieval Myths · 54 min · Episode 568Join Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega for a rigorous session of medieval myth-busting! Did William Wallace really shoot lightning from his backside? Did Pope Gregory IX cause…
- Inside the Peasants Revolt · 54 min · Episode 567In 1381, a highly organised civilian army marched on London, demanding an end to generations of unfairness. Matt Lewis and author A.K. Blakemore explore the human stories behind…
- The Story of 1066 · 59 min · Episode 566Is 1066 just the Battle of Hastings? Far from it. The war for the English crown was a year-long apocalypse. Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega dissect history's ultimate…
- How to Make the Bayeux Tapestry · 54 min · Episode 565What connects the Bayeux Tapestry and a Cheshire silk-producing town? Dr. Eleanor Janega makes a special visit to Macclesfield to uncover its medieval past as a royal borough…
- Richard II & Richard III: Shakespeare's Version · 57 min · Episode 564Did Shakespeare shape the way we remember England's Plantagenet kings more than history itself? How much of his plays Richard II and Richard III are fact, fiction, or Tudor…
- Henry IV & Henry V: Shakespeare's Version · 1 h 0 min · Episode 563Did Shakespeare teach us about England's greatest kings, or fabricate its greatest historical myths? How much of what you think you know about Henry IV and Henry V is actually…
- Peasants' Revolt on Film: The Uprising Reviewed · 1 h 2 min · Episode 562How accurate is Hollywood's take on the Peasants' Revolt? It is 1381, and England is at breaking point. A civilian army of thousands stormed the capital, making demands of King…
- The Invention of Hell · 55 min · Episode 561"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 Bible says surprisingly little about…
- Sword in the Stone: Origins of Arthurian Legends · 52 min · Episode 560Who first imagined King Arthur pulling a shining blade from solid rock? What do extraordinary Bronze Age discoveries reveal about the legend's deeper roots? Matt Lewis is joined…
- How to Read Runes · 52 min · Episode 559**Contains very strong language/Tavern talk** Were runes really magical symbols used by Viking sorcerers? Or were they the everyday handwriting of merchants, lovers, pilgrims…
- Battle of Grunwald: Defeat of the Teutonic Knights · 58 min · Episode 558In July 1410, the formidable Teutonic Knights, rapacious crusaders clad in heavy plate armour, faced a massive Polish-Lithuanian alliance. After an insulting taunt involving two…
- The King Who Created Medieval Bohemia · 51 min · Episode 557In 12th-century Bohemia, every royal funeral sparked a civil war. Dr. Eleanor Janega discovers how Přemysl Otakar I survived backstabbing brothers, imperial betrayals, and a…
- Tolkien: Middle Earth and the Middle Ages · 36 min · Episode 556From 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 more than just fantasy fiction. Their…
- Extinct Beasts of Medieval Britain · 1 h 3 min · Episode 555Why have wolves often been the villains of British history? What happened to them and some of the other remarkable creatures that once roamed medieval Britain? Dr. Eleanor Janega…
- Edgar Ætheling: The King Who Never Was · 1 h 2 min · Episode 554What if you were proclaimed King of England but never sat on the throne? In 1066, Edgar Ætheling possessed the strongest bloodline claim to the English crown, yet this…
- Great Buildings of the Middle Ages · 59 min · Episode 553How did medieval builders create monuments that still leave us awestruck? How were vast cathedrals, temples and cities constructed and embellished? From Canterbury Cathedral and…
- Henry III vs. Simon de Montfort · 46 min · Episode 552Was Henry III overthrown by England's first constitutional revolution? How did Simon de Montfort's rebellion change the course of history? In 1258, a revolutionary movement…
- Guinevere: The Queen Who Broke Camelot? · 54 min · Episode 551Was Queen Guinevere a traitorous adulteress who caused the tragic downfall of Camelot, or a complex political survivor? Was she even real? Dr. Eleanor Janega and Arthurian expert…
- Henry III: England's Longest Reigning King · 49 min · Episode 550How 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? When King John died in 1216, civil…
- Medieval Sex Work & Brothels · 42 min · Episode 549**WARNING: This episode contains explicit language and sexual content How did prostitution become so visible in medieval towns? How could sex work flourish, sometimes in the…
- Olaf Tryggvason: Viking Warlord or Christian King? · 58 min · Episode 548Matt Lewis and guest Dr Eleanor Barraclough as they dive into the turbulent world of late 10th-century Scandinavia and the extraordinary life of Olaf Tryggvason. Exiled…
- Folk Legends of Iceland · 57 min · Episode 547How was folklore woven into the everyday life of medieval Icelanders? How did they make sense of the darkness of their world? During Iceland's endless nights, tales of trolls…
- High Kings of Ireland · 54 min · Episode 546What if “High King” in medieval Ireland was less a fixed office than a fiercely contested prize, won through ritual, lineage, and force? On the Hill of Tara, a would-be ruler…
- How to Survive as a Medieval Woman · 1 h 1 min · Episode 545What was life really like for working peasant women in the Middle Ages? How did family, marriage, work and social class shape their choices, joys and struggles? Taking a break…
- Edmund Ironside: The 222-Day King · 53 min · Episode 544What 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 Cnut for a crown on the line. Matt Lewis…
- Empress Matilda: Queen of the Romans, Ruler of the English · 50 min · Episode 543How did an empress become the most dangerous claimant to the English throne? From the Battle of Lincoln to her legendary escape from Oxford Castle, Matilda was a formidable…
- Battle of the Golden Spurs · 55 min · Episode 542In 1302, an army of Flemish townsmen achieved the impossible. At the Battle of the Golden Spurs, infantry armed with pikes and determination crushed the mounted knights of…
- St Benedict · 1 h 6 min · Episode 541Why did a young Roman nobleman reject status and education for a life of prayer, solitude and discipline? St Benedict’s quiet choices would go on to shape the future of Western…
- King Stephen · 60 min · Episode 540Was King Stephen a weak ruler who plunged England into chaos, or an unlucky monarch trapped by impossible circumstances? How did one disputed succession unleash nearly two…
- Deadly Rivalry: Armagnac vs. Burgundy · 60 min · Episode 539What starts as a shocking street murder in Paris turns into one of the most vicious civil wars in medieval Europe? Dr Eleanor Janega is joined by Professor Justine…
- A Complete History of Medieval Scotland · 52 min · Episode 538What if Scotland’s story began with a miracle in battle, a white cross in the sky, and a kingdom forged through war, faith and sheer ambition? Matt Lewis is joined by Professor…
- Medieval Royal Bastards · 52 min · Episode 537What really made a royal bastard, and could illegitimacy be a path to power as much as a barrier? Dr Eleanor Janega is joined by Lauren Johnson, author of Margaret Beaufort…
- The Seljuk Turks · 54 min · Episode 536How did a nomadic people from the Steppes become one of the great powers of the medieval Middle East? Matt Lewis is joined by Dr Nicholas Morton to explore the rise of the Seljuk…
- Rise of The Plantagenets · 1 h 3 min · Episode 535What happened when Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II joined forces, and why did it set medieval Europe on fire? Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis break out of the Gone Medieval…
- The Queer Court of William Rufus · 49 min · Episode 534What really went on at the court of King William Rufus? William the Conqueror's son and successor was fierce and ruthless. He taxed heavily, refused to conform to the ideals of…
- Hildegard of Bingen - Prophetess, Composer, Mystic · 1 h 3 min · Episode 533How did a cloistered, twelfth century nun become a visionary, composer, healer, preacher, and adviser to popes and emperors? Despite having visions from childhood - even in the…
- The Black Death: A Global Apocalypse? · 1 h 0 min · Episode 532A plague of terrifying speed, mysterious symptoms and global reach, the Black Death transformed more than Europe alone. Matt Lewis is joined by Thomas Asbridge to chart the…
- Seeking Sanctuary · 1 h 5 min · Episode 531Could a medieval church really protect a killer from the law? From the 40-day asylum of parish churches to the more permanent protections claimed by Westminster Abbey, sanctuary…
- The First Troubadours · 47 min · Episode 530How could a love song become a political weapon? How were scandals, wars and crusades turned into some of the most influential poetry ever written? The songs of the troubadours…
- Foolish Medieval Fatalities · 1 h 8 min · Episode 529Who survives when medieval deaths are turned into Top Trumps? In this riotous made up game of Foolish Fatalities, Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis rank the most ridiculous ends…
