Medieval Beginnings

For the final episode of Medieval Beginnings, Mary and Irina look at by far the most popular text (in its time) of all that have featured in the series: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. The fictional traveller’s fantastical descriptions of different places, peoples and animals across the Holy Land and Asia are almost certainly drawn mainly from other textual sources, rather than direct experience by the unknown author, and yet the work was often used as a source of reference as well as entertainment or prurient interest. Many of the writer’s observations of different political and religious practices could be taken as radical critiques of his homeland. Yet while it often urges appreciation of other cultures, the book is undoubtedly xenophobic and racist in places, foreshadowing the European quest for colonisation: indeed, Christopher Columbus had a copy with him when the Santa Cruz sighted land on 12th October 1492. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full and to our other Close Readings series, sign up here: Directly in Apple Podcasts at the top of this feed, or here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Further reading in the LRB: Barbara Newman: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v39/n16/barbara-newman/mercenary-knights-and-princess-brides Irina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the first recorded instance of the word ‘fart’ in English, to nuanced vignettes of sexual power dynamics, the numerous Middle English lyrics that have survived down the centuries, often scribbled in the margins of more ‘serious’ texts, offer a vivid snapshot of everyday medieval life. In the tenth episode of Medieval Beginings, Irina and Mary analyse several of these short, fleeting verses, probably set to music, and consider their possible origins and purpose, their delicious ambiguity, and their equivocal relationship to the sacred manuscripts in which they've been found. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full and to our other Close Readings series, sign up here: Directly in Apple Podcasts at the top of this feed, or here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Further reading in the LRB: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n10/barbara-newman/i-was-such-a-lovely-girl Listen to 'Sumer is icumen in' sung by The Hilliard Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMCA9nYnLWo Some of the lyrics discussed in this episode can be found online: Sumer is icumen in: https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/cuckou.php I Have a Yong Suster https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/suster.php Maiden in the mor https://www.luminarium.org/medlit/medlyric/maideninthemoor.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_in_the_mor_lay I have a gentil cock https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/content/i-have-gentil-cook Irina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irina and Mary jump to the 14th century for an introspective Arthurian romance about a knight trying to live up to his perfect reputation. The mysterious and intricate Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is perhaps best understood as a series of games within games, in which our hero, a recurring character throughout medieval literature, is never sure what adventure he’s playing. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full and to our other Close Readings series, sign up here: Directly in Apple Podcasts at the top of this feed, or here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Read more in the LRB: Mary Wellesley: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n08/mary-wellesley/diary Frank Kermode: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n05/frank-kermode/who-has-the-gall Irina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the sixth episode in their Medieval Beginnings series, Mary and Irina go full Romance with one of the most elaborate and surprising narrative poems in medieval literature, Le Roman de Silence, a complex, 13th-century Old French tale about gender, power and transformation. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full and to our other Close Readings series, sign up here: Directly in Apple Podcasts at the top of this feed, or here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Irina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In their fourth episode, Mary and Irina climb inside a tiny cell to explore the Ancrene Wisse, a guidebook written in the early 13th century, originally intended for three anchoresses, but which enjoyed a much wider audience (there was even a copy in Henry VIII’s library). The women addressed by the text lived lives of extraordinary restriction, permanently enclosed in small anchorholds in order to devote themselves to prayer and contemplation. The Ancrene Wisse is a striking literary artefact, a piece of learned and often beautiful writing, but one which elaborates a broad and detailed conception of sin in its prescription for the control of women's minds and bodies. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full and to our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts at the top of this feed, or here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Further reading in the LRB: Mary Wellesley: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n10/mary-wellesley/this-place-is-pryson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode two of Medieval Beginnings, Mary and Irina turn the pages of the Exeter Book, a remarkable 10th century manuscript containing numerous poems and riddles, some of which are written in the voices of women. They consider in particular the enigmatic and beautiful ‘Wife’s Lament’ and ‘Wulf and Eadwacer’, and their numerous interpretations, and compare them to an extraordinary collection of letters written by influential women to St Boniface in the 8th century. Irina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full, and to all our other episodes, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts at the top of this podcast, or here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Find reading resources for this episode on the LRB website: https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/close-readings/medieval-beginnings-letters-and-laments Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Wellesley and Irina Dumitrescu introduce their strange and wonderful voyage through the literary landscape of the Middle Ages, and talk about what listeners can expect over the twelve episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.