American Medieval

In this episode, Kathleen and Matt talk about vast early North America and all the peoples who inhabited it during (what Europeans call) the Middle Ages. There were cities, and then there weren’t. And the not having cities was better in a lot of ways, so we don’t need to cling to 19th-century stories about what’s “civilized” and what isn’t.GuestsKathleen DuVal is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Native Nations: A Millennium in North America as well as Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution and the U.S. history textbook Give Me Liberty! A history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she has written for The Atlantic, Time magazine, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, and she appeared in the recent Ken Burns film The American Revolution. You can find more about her, including links to order signed copies of her books, at https://kathleenduval.net/CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitudeshows.com/Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.SponsorsWant to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://www.multitudeshows.com/ads As supporters of my Patreon know, I’m a big fan of cocktails. That’s why I’m happy to tell you about Shaker and Spoon. Shaker and Spoon is a subscription cocktail experience kit, each box including 3 original recipes from award-winning bartenders, with enough ingredients for 12 (or more) drinks. Well, except the alcohol – or non-alcohol, because everything is adaptable to zero-proof. If you’ve ever been interested in trying cocktails but didn’ t know how to start, Shaker and Spoon is great because it teaches you how to shake, stir, build flavors, and garnish. You’ll learn about bitters, syrups, and aromatics with handy recipe cards and notes on how to start thinking like a mixologist. Start now and get 10%. Just head over to shakerandspoon.com and use the code “AMM” at checkout to get 10% off. You’ll be “drinking with historians” in no time.American Medieval is delighted to be partnering with Roundtable, at the 92nd street Y, in New York City, to offer a brand new online course – “The Medieval European Mind, in History and Literature.” The course will be entirely online and run for 4 sessions over 4 weeks, beginning on Thursday July 9. Live class sessions on Zoom will be from 2-3pm, but all sessions will be recorded. Each week, we’ll together think with an iconic medieval text, to talk about some aspect of the medieval - from the monsters of BEOWULF, to the monsters of the crusaders in Usama ibn Munqidh, to courtly love and King Arthur in Marie de France and SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT.  And if that isn’t exciting enough, if you sign up now, you can get 30% off the registration price. Just head to roundtable.org and enter the code “MEDIEVAL30” at checkout. Do it quick as space is limited. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I think this might be a food podcast now because we talked a lot about cake. But also in this episode we talk about archives, how podcasts can demystify the medieval world, and how everyone should be welcomed into studying the Middle Ages.GuestsReed O'Mara is a PhD candidate in the joint art history program between Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Museum of Art and is currently serving as the Samuel H. Kress Institutional Fellow at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich, Germany. Reed's research focuses on the arts of medieval Germany, specifically word and image relationships in Ashkenazi illuminated manuscripts.Loren Easterday Lee Cantrell is a producer of The Multicultural Middle Ages podcast, just completed her PhD in French at the University of Virginia. She specializes in Old French editing and translation, manuscript studies, and digital humanities. Bluesky: @loren325.bsky.socialCreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitudeshows.com/ Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.SponsorsWant to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://www.multitudeshows.com/ads As supporters of my Patreon know, I’m a big fan of cocktails. That’s why I’m happy to tell you about Shaker and Spoon. Shaker and Spoon is a subscription cocktail experience kit, each box including 3 original recipes from award-winning bartenders, with enough ingredients for 12 (or more) drinks. Well, except the alcohol – or non-alcohol, because everything is adaptable to zero-proof. If you’ve ever been interested in trying cocktails but didn’ t know how to start, Shaker and Spoon is great because it teaches you how to shake, stir, build flavors, and garnish. You’ll learn about bitters, syrups, and aromatics with handy recipe cards and notes on how to start thinking like a mixologist. Start now and get 10%. Just head over to shakerandspoon.com and use the code “AMM” at checkout to get 10% off. You’ll be “drinking with historians” in no time.American Medieval is delighted to be partnering with Roundtable, at the 92nd street Y, in New York City, to offer a brand new online course – “The Medieval European Mind, in History and Literature.” The course will be entirely online and run for 4 sessions over 4 weeks, beginning on Thursday July 9. Live class sessions on Zoom will be from 2-3pm, but all sessions will be recorded. Each week, we’ll together think with an iconic medieval text, to talk about some aspect of the medieval - from the monsters of BEOWULF, to the monsters of the crusaders in Usama ibn Munqidh, to courtly love and King Arthur in Marie de France and SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT.  And if that isn’t exciting enough, if you sign up now, you can get 30% off the registration price. Just head to roundtable.org and enter the code “MEDIEVAL30” at checkout. Do it quick as space is limited. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Video games! They’re fun. We discuss, and mention some of our favorites set in/ around the Middle Ages. Plus they’re really great for showing how history works. Trust us, we’re doctors.GuestBlair Apgar is an assistant professor of Art history at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, where they research and teach on the reception of the Middle Ages into modern media such as video games. They also co-lead the international research network 'The Middle Ages in Modern Games’ which focuses on the intersections of global medieval history and computer games (https://middleagesinmoderngames.net ).CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode we talk about Norse sagas and medieval comics. Jack Kirby was an interesting guy - loved norse stuff and hated Nazis. Plus dragons. We talk about medieval dragons.GuestsNatalie Hopwood is a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, where she researches monster encounters as points of intertextuality in Old Norse, and other medieval literature, in modern media, particularly American comic books, in her spare time. She is the co-founder of The Long Middle Ages, an interdisciplinary seminar series for postgraduate and early career researchers, and sits on the boards for the Network of Early Career Researchers in Old Norse and the International Society for the Study of Medievalism. Read her newsletter or find her academic page. Bluesky: @nrhopwood.bsky.socialCreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

North America? Of course you did. We have Dr. Sarah Baires about that, specifically Cahokia - a city of about 20,000 people outside (modern) St. Louis that was bigger than Rome was at the same time. GuestDr. Sarah Baires received her PhD in anthropological archaeology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2014, and her research focuses on why humans built and populated urban environments. She examines how people living on the peripheries of early cities became socially, culturally, and economically integrated, with particular attention to the Native American city of Cahokia, North America’s largest pre–European contact urban landscape north of Mexico. Her book Cahokia and the North American Worlds is out now. See more at her website. CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads SponsorsThanks for listening to American Medieval. Hope you’re enjoying the show. And I hope you’ll enjoy another Multitude podcast – Pale Blue Pod. Pale Blue Pod, or PBP to its friends, is hosted by Dr. Moiya McTier and her best friend ConStar, who during the show demystify space one topic at a time. It’s astronomy, and fun. Have a listen wherever you listen to podcasts every Monday.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Aliens! Not really. In this episode, Prof. Gabriele and Lisa talk about the travels of medieval manuscripts (including why there are so many right here in the USA - only Alaska doesn’t have any!), but also the inscrutable and mysterious Voynich Manuscript, with its puzzling script and compelling (weird) illustrations.GuestLisa Fagin Davis received her PhD in Medieval Studies from Yale University in 1993. She has catalogued medieval manuscript collections at Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, the Walters Art Museum, Wellesley College, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Boston Public Library, and several private collections. Her publications include: several books,  numerous articles in the fields of manuscript studies and codicology; and the monograph, La Chronique Anonyme Universelle: Reading and Writing History in fifteenth-century France (a translation, critical edition and detailed study of a fifteenth-century French world chronicle) (Brepols Publishers, 2015). Dr. Davis has taught Latin Paleography at Yale University and regularly teaches an Introduction to Manuscript Studies at the Simmons University School of Library and Information Science. As of 2023, she is the regular Latin Paleography and Fragmentology instructor at The Rare Book School (University of Virginia). Dr. Davis was elected to the Comité international de paléographie latine in 2019 and has served as Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America since 2013. See more at https://medievalacademy.academia.edu/LisaFaginDavisCreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads SponsorsJoin the Party will soon be no more, so it’s time to catch up. After 9 years, the crew are hanging it up, so check out this Multitude show and get in on the action as GM Eric and the emphatic players Amanda, Brandon and Julia welcome everyone to the table. The current campaign is a superhero high school, but you can also check out the back catalog – pirates, bugs, superheros, wizards, elves, and then the stuff from the campaigns themselves. Head over to join the party pod dot com, or search for it on your favorite podcast app.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode focuses mostly on medieval Islam, including a cool medieval epic about a warrior woman and her son. But also we talk about why theory is good (it is), and how medievals - not just in the Islamicate world - thought about enslaved peoples and race difference. It’s different, but kind of similar, to how we do today.GuestRachel Schine is an assistant professor of Arabic and History at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on racialization and Afro-Arab connections in the medieval Islamic world. Her first book, Black Knights: Arabic Epic and the Making of Medieval Race, was awarded the Middle East Medievalists' Book Prize, and work on her second book is currently supported by a membership at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton. You can follow her on Bluesky at @rachelschine.bsky.social.CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads SponsorsJust a reminder to check out one of my favorite other podcasts, This Guy Sucked - another sibling show on Multitude. It's a history podcast for haters by haters. Join historian Dr. Claire Alban and a new expert every week to see why no dead person is safe. Everyone from Charlemagne to James the Second to Phyllis Schlafly. They all sucked in their own way. New episodes every Thursday. Check it out now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Prof. Gabriele and guests today are talking about sex, baby. About you and me. About all the good things and the bad things that may be. Sorry. But we are talking about medieval sex and desire with Nancy Thebaut and Melanie Holcomb, who have co-curated the great exhibition “Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages” at the Cloisters Museum in NYC.GuestsNancy Thebaut is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Oxford & tutorial fellow at St Catherine’s College. Her research interests range widely, from Carolingian & Ottonian liturgical manuscripts to the study of gender & sexuality across media. Melanie Holcomb is a curator in the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she has organized or co-organized numerous exhibitions including Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages (2009), Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven (2016). Melanie’s projects have been fueled by a career-long fascination with how art works—the functions it serves and methods it uses to communicate. CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads SponsorsSince you're listening to a podcast, why not another sibling podcast from Multitude? Wow, if true, is your one-stop internet culture shop explaining how what's happening online shapes the world. The hosts, tech culture journalist Amanda Silberling and science fiction author slash attorney Isabel J. Kim Esquire, ask those burning questions on everyone's minds. I mean, they've talked about heated rivalry, how chat GPT sucks and and enshitification, among other things. Check out the podcast now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Vikings. We talk about Vikings. It’s great. Traders and raiders, but no horned helmets. GuestDaniel Melleno is Associate Professor of pre-modern history at the University of Denver. His recently published book, Franks and Northmen: From Stangers to Neighbors, and his research more broadly, looks at the impact of cross-cultural encounters in the early medieval world. In the classroom he teaches on everything from the Ancient Near East, to Vikings, to Conan the Barbarian with a particular interest in how our own world engages with the past. Learn more at his website. CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval TikTok: tiktok.com/@americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads SponsorsIf you’ve liked this episode of “American Medieval,” then you’ll love an actually good podcast - “Join the Party,” another pod in the Multitude Collective. See more at jointhepartypod.com. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

John and Matt talk about not liking time machines (generally) but also about how the “medieval” can mean more than Europe, and why we should always talk about Africa. Plus a lot on teaching the Middle Ages, and how K-12 teaching compares with college. GuestJohn Terry is an award-winning world history teacher at the Paideia School in Atlanta, and has taught history from the ancient world to the present at both college and high school levels for over 15 years and his writing has appeared in Slate and The Washington Post as well as academic journals. John has worked in consulting roles with the Medieval Academy of America, the American Historical Association, and the National Humanities Center to produce educational opportunities and curriculum for both teachers and students. As an Arkansan with a PhD in medieval history, he hopes he's uniquely positioned to comment on the joy and weirdness of teaching the middle ages in twenty-first century America. CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval TikTok: tiktok.com/@americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads Sponsors“Simple and Clean” is a podcast about the video game franchise Kingdom Hearts, hosted by Misha Stanton and Mayanna Baron, and friends. They talk about the plot, course, characters, world building, music, fashion, the fan base, and societal impact of a thing that by all means probably shouldn't even exist. Never heard of Kingdom Hearts? That's fine. They're here to break it down for you, explain why they love it, and hopefully convince you that this weird little story deserves a place in your heart. Be a weirdo along with us and listen to new episodes every Sunday.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Everybody loves Wheatus, right? Wait, you don’t know who Wheatus is? Nevermind, we’ll get there in this episode. Megan and Prof. Gabriele talk about book history, how medieval people could indeed read - and engage with books in all sorts of interesting ways. Plus, we talk about dirtbag medievalism, a grungy vibes-based way of thinking about the Middle Ages.GuestMegan L. Cook is the Arthur Jeremiah Roberts Associate Professor of Literature and Co-Chair of the Department of English at Colby College. She is interested in the ways that language, poetry, and politics combine in the stories we tell ourselves about shared pasts and collective presents. Learn more about Prof. Cook at https://www.colby.edu/people/people-directory/megan-cook/. CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval TikTok: tiktok.com/@americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Prof. Gabriele and David Perry talk about their recent book, Oathbreakers, about an early medieval civil war that remade Europe. Plus we talk about how we can understand what happened in the past when the sources want to stay silent.GuestDavid M. Perry is a journalist and historian, who currently works as the associate director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Minnesota. He’s the co-author (with Matthew Gabriele) of the books Oathbreakers and The Bright Ages, both from HarperCollins. Publishers Weekly called Oathbreakers “An enlightening portrait of the medieval mindset” while The Boston Globe said The Bright Ages was “incandescent and ultimately intoxicating.” Over the last few years, Perry’s work on history, parenting, disability, and politics has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Daily Beast, Smithsonian Magazine, Slate, CNN, and many others. His website is davidmperry.com, and he can be found on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/lollardfish.bsky.social. CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Brandon GrugleMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval TikTok: tiktok.com/@americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads Sponsors“Pale Blue Pod” is a sister show on Multitude, an astronomy podcast for people who are overwhelmed by the universe but want to be its friend. Hosted by astrophysicist Dr. Moya McTeer and her best friend, Constar, together they demystify space one topic at a time. Hopefully, by the end of each episode, the cosmos will be a little less scary and a lot more freaking cool. New episodes drop every Monday. Who's ready for hot Jupiter… winter? You definitely are, so check the show out. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, Roland and Matt talk about Disney and the Byzantine Empire (not in that order). Plus we talk about how the process of studying the past can lead you down interesting rabbit holes and connect, for example, the Byzantine Empire and Disney.GuestRoland Betancourt is currently the Andrew W Mellon Professor in the Center for the Advanced Study of the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, and is also a Chancellor’s Professor of Art History at the University of California, Irvine. He’s the author of four books, broadly on the histories of science and technology, intellectual history, and the history of art in the Byzantine Empire. His new book is Disneyland and the Rise of Automation (to be released in April 2026). You can find more about him online at his faculty website - https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=6060. CreditsHost & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia SchifiniMusic: “Sleeping Bags” by OTEArt: Ulysses GabrieleMultitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval OnlineWebsite: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval TikTok: tiktok.com/@americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About UsAmerican Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads SponsorsFor the rest of November, our podcast and all of our sister shows at Multitude are offering 30% off annual Patreon and MultiCrew memberships! It’s our Black (Death) Friday sale. That’s right, each week you’ll get ad-free episodes of “American Medieval” (or any other Multitude show!) at a discount. Money's tight, consumerism is at an all-time high, and corporations are pressuring small businesses to juice their sales around the holidays. But we, like so many other businesses, need your support all year round. So, if you can, sign up for an annual membership. You can get 30% off 12 whole months of support now through the end of November! Head over to patreon.com/AmericanMedieval to see more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.