This episode we look at the less than stellar reputation of King John during the First Barons’ War, as recounted in the Melrose Chronicle, and consider the relationship of medieval texts to immediate politics.
This Episode’s Texts:
- The Chronicle of Melrose. The Church Historians of England, edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, vol. IV, part I, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 79-242. Google Books.
References:
- Malý, Jan. “The Invasion of Prince Louis of France to England, 1216-1217.” Prague Papers on the History of International Relations, Feb. 2016, pp. 7-20.
- Turner, Ralph V. “King John’s Concept of Royal Authority.” History of Political Thought, vol. 18, no. 2, Summer 1997, pp. 157-178. Academia.edu, https://www.academia.edu/11900839/King_Johns_Concept_of_Royal_Authority.
Image: Google Deep Dream medievalization of Prince John from Disney’s Robin Hood (1973).
This episode we celebrate the winter’s solstice with a grab-bag of comets, eclipses, and meteors, as well as earthquakes, tempests, and plagues.
This Episode’s Texts:
- The Chronicle of Holyrood. The Church Historians of England, edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, vol. IV, part I, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 61-75. Google Books.
- The History of the Church of Hexham, by John the Prior. The Church Historians of England, edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, vol. IV, part I, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 3-32. Google Books.
- The Chronicle of Melrose. The Church Historians of England, edited and translated by Joseph Stevenson, vol. IV, part I, Seeley’s, 1856, pp. 79-242. Google Books.
References:
- Dall’Olmo, Umberto. “Meteors, Meteor Showers and Meteorites in the Middle Ages: From European Medieval Sources.” JHA, vol. 9, 1978, pp. 123-134.
- Cesario, Marilina. “Fyrenne Dracan in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.” Textiles, Text, Intertext: Essays in Honour of Gale R. Owen-Crocker, edited by Maren Clegg Hyer and Jill Frederick, Boydell and Brewer, 2016, pp. 153-170.
- Foote, Sarah. “Plenty, Portents, and Plague: Ecclesiastical Readings of the Natural World in Early Medieval Europe.” God’s Bounty?: The Churches and the Natural World, edited by Peter Clarke and Tony Claydon, Boydell Press, 2010, pp. 15-41.
- “Canterbury Monks Witness Creation of Moon Crater.” Medieval Archives, 18 June 2011, http://www.medievalarchives.com/2011/06/18/canterbury-monks-witness-creation-of-moon-crater/
Image: Diagram of a lunar eclipse, from a manuscript of Johannes de Sacrobosco’s Computus, Quadrans, De sphaera, Algorismus, Cautelae, France, ca. 1260. In the collection of the New York Public Library.
On this episode, we look at one moment in history from three different sources — the deaths of King Edgar and his short-reigned heir, Edward the Martyr. Stay tuned to the very end for the new riddle!
Today’s Texts:
- The Melrose Chronicle. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. IV, Part I. Ed. and Trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeley’s, 1856. 347-384. [Available through Google Books.]
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Trans. E.E.C. Gomme. London: George Bell and Sons, 1909. [Available through Google Books.]
- William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Ed. J.A. Giles. Trans. John Sharpe and J.A. Giles. London: George Bell & Sons, 1895. [Available through Google Books].
Image: The Murder of Edward the Martyr, from British Library MS Royal 2 B VII, f.245.
In this episode, we wrap up the Melrose Chronicle‘s account of Simon de Montfort with a look at the miracle stories attached to his relics.
This episode’s texts:
- The Melrose Chronicle. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. IV, Part I. Ed. and trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeley’s, 1856. [Available at Google Books.]
- “Miracles of Simon de Montfort.” Trans. George Walter Prothero. The Life of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1877. [Available at Google Books.]
- Translation of the Dictum of Kenilworth at the National Archives.
References:
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Bartlett, Robert. Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?: Saints and Worshippers from the Martyrs to the Reformation. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2013.
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Heffernan, Thomas J. “‘God hathe schewed ffor him many grete miracules’: Political Canonization and the Miracula of Simon de Montfort.” Art and Context in Late Medieval English Narrative: Essays in Honor of Robert Worth Frank, Jr. Ed. Robert R. Edwards. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1994. 177-192.
Image: Foot reliquaries of St. Anselm (early 14th cent.). © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY 2.5
In this episode, we continue the tale of Simon de Montfort’s struggle against King Henry III, with a look at two depictions of his final battle and death.
This episode’s texts:
- The Melrose Chronicle. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. IV, Part I. Ed. and trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeley’s, 1856. [Available at Google Books.]
- College of Arms MS 3/23. In Laborderie, Olivier de; J.R. Maddicott, and D.A. Carpenter. “The Last Hours of Simon de Montfort: A New Account.” The English Historical Review 115.461 (Apr. 2000): 378-412.
References:
Image: BL MS Nero D ii – Detail from f. 177v – The Mutilation of Simon de Montfort.
The Trip goes on after an unexpected summer detour. This episode we celebrate the underdog blockbuster of the season, Mad Max: Fury Road, with a medieval story of vehicular deception during the Second Baron’s War.
This episode’s texts:
- The Melrose Chronicle. In The Church Historians of England. Vol. IV, Part I. Ed. and trans. Joseph Stevenson. London: Seeley’s, 1856. [Available at Google Books.]
- “Sitteth alle stille ant herkneth to me [or, A Song of Lewes]” at TEAMS Middle English Text Series.
References:
Image: BL Add MS 42130 (The Luttrell Psalter) f. 162r
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