Human Circus: Journeys in the Medieval World
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Human Circus: Journeys in the Medieval World
A narrative history podcast following the journeys of medieval travellers and their roles in larger historical events. Telling great stories, showing the interconnected nature of the medieval world, and meeting Mongols, Ottomans, Franciscans, merchants, ambassadors, and adventurers along the way.
Nedávné epizody
144 epizod
Osman of Timisoara 4: Imperial Pastry Prep and Tavern Brawls
Osman's time in the city of Vienna is punctuated by violent misadventure, an unlikely career in sweets, and an ethical failing.
If you li...
Osman of Timisoara 3: Hunger, Illness, and Intimacy
The story of Osman of Timisoara continues, and on this episode we follow him out of his initial adventures in captivity and into the years that came a...
Osman of Timisoara 2: Ransom, Boats, and Bandits
In a fit of extreme absentmindedness, I forgot to upload this episode after recording it and then did the same thing for part 3 in the series! Osman o...
Osman of Timisoara 1: Prisoner of the Infidels
A departure from our usual historical period for the 17th-century story of Osman Agha of Timisoara, an Ottoman soldier taken prisoner in the years aft...
Medieval Lives 11: William Fitz Osbert and the Unrest in London
A 12th-century execution and the mixed messages in the chronicles around how things had gotten to that point. Did William with the Long Beard offer a...
Nasir Khusraw 3: Makkah and the Way Home
The conclusion of Nasir Khusraw's story, following his repeated trips from Cairo to Makkah, his struggles in crossing the Arabian Peninsula, and then...
Nasir Khusraw 2: Fatimid Egypt
An 11th-century journey from Jerusalem to Fatimid Egypt.
If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon...
Nasir Khusraw 1: Wine, Waking, and the Journey to Jerusalem and Elsewhere
Nasir Khusraw was around 40 years old when he experienced the vision that turned his life onto a new path and sent him out on the road in search, perh...
A Medieval Christmas, 2024
Happy Holidays!
This episode is about festive "medieval" poetry.
If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my...
Medieval Lives 10: Pietro d'Abano
Born in the 13th century, Pietro d'Abano was referred to variously as “the Great Lombard,” “the Conciliator,” and, in at least one case, a “great necr...
A Medieval Haunting in the Annales Fuldenses
The Annales Fuldenses, or Annals of Fulda, is a source for 9th-century events in Carolingian lands: the incursions of the Northmen, fighting among the...
Medieval Lives 9: John Crabbe
The story of a 14th-century Flemish pirate, merchant, and adventurer, a man who took prizes at sea and took whatever side he needed to on land, crossi...
Pedro Tafur 7: Losing Teeth, Losing Swords
Our 15th-century Spanish traveller goes home, mixing with the imperial elite along the way.
If you like what you hear and want to chip in to sup...
Pedro Tafur 6: In the Baths and at the Fairs
Our 15th-century traveller returns to Venice and goes overland into central and western Europe, making friends and catching up with some old ones alon...
Pedro Tafur 5: Doomed Empires and Slavery on the Black Sea
Pedro Tafur ventures out from Constantinople to visit a sultan, an emperor, and the centre of the Black Sea slave trade.
If you like what you he...
Pedro Tafur 4: Cyprus, Chios, and Constantinople
Our 15th-century traveller dodges catastrophe on the Mediterranean and drops in on late-imperial Constantinople, where there's plenty of seafood and t...
Pedro Tafur 3: From Cyprus to Cairo
As our Castilian traveller makes his roundabout way toward Mt Sinai, he finds ill-health but lots of help on Cyprus, while around Cairo he's struck by...
Pedro Tafur 2: Busy Days in the Holy Land
The journey of our 15th-century Castilian traveller continues, as Pedro Tafur leaves Venice and makes his way to Jerusalem, where there will be no sho...
Pedro Tafur 1: The Mediterranean Tour
Pedro Tafur, a 15th-century Castilian, makes his way around Spain and Italy with lengthy stops in Genoa, Venice, and Rome, and generally has a pretty...
Medieval Lives 8: Giovanni Fontana
Giovanni Fontana was a 15th-century Italian engineer and inventor. His designs included everything from systems for retrieving sunken ships and automa...
The Fire at Louvain
In the late-summer of 1914, a city burns and its university library with it. Unusually for this podcast, the story takes us into WWI, but there are me...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 10: Lisbon at Last
The Fernao Mendes Pinto story reaches its conclusion, and he finally reaches Portugal once more.
If you like what you hear and want to chip in t...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 9: With Francis Xavier in Japan
The story of Fernao Mendes Pinto intersects with that of the Jesuit saint, Francis Xavier, and takes him back to Japan.
If you like what you hea...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 8: First in Japan
The first Europeans wash up on Japanese shores, bringing the musket as they do so, and Pinto would have you believe that he is with them.
If you...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 7: A Traveller's Guide to Ming China
Pinto's story continues, and the Portuguese traveller makes his way across China as a prisoner, describing some its towns, cities, and countryside as...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 6: Grave Robbery and Leeches
Our Portuguese adventurer resumes his piratical ways and runs into trouble on the coast of China. He and de Faria find silver in abundance, but also s...
The Medieval Winter and Other Seasons Since
Not a Christmas episode, but a winter one: winter in various Old English sources and winter now. Happy New Year and thanks for listening!
If you...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 5: Revenge and a Little Piracy Too
Pinto and his colleagues embark on a quest for revenge against a certain pirate, and in the process indulge in quite a bit of piracy themselves along...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 4: The Aceh Sultanate and Further Suffering at Sea
Fernao Mendes Pinto recovers from shipwreck and captivity, neither his first nor his last, and returns to the story of the Aceh Sultanate.
If yo...
Medieval Halloween: Signs in the Sky, Strange Children, etc
From William of Newburgh's 12th-century chronicle, "History of English Affairs," these stories aren't really about Halloween, but they do feel a littl...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 3: Melaka and the Embarrassed Envoy
The story of the 16th-century Portuguese traveller, writer, soldier, envoy, and so much more, takes us to Malaysia, to the city of Malacca (Melaka), a...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 2: The Red Sea and the Siege of Diu
Pinto visits the "Land of Prester John," faces trouble on the Red Sea, and brushes up against the 1538 Siege of Diu. He takes part in combat along the...
Fernao Mendes Pinto 1: From Lisbon, Poverty, and Pirates
Fernão Mendes Pinto, respected by many of his contemporaries for the expertise knowledge which he'd gained through his travels, absolutely synonymous...
Medieval Lives 7: Long Distance Relationships
With all the medieval travel featured on the podcast—the trips across the Mediterranean, the Asian Steppe, and the Indian Ocean—of course we focus on...
The Cairo Geniza
Today’s episode is not the story of an individual but rather of a collected body of sacred and secular writings, or rather bodies of writings. It’s a...
Medieval Lives 6: Wuhsha the Broker
Today's episode takes us to medieval Egypt, to old Cairo in the 11th and 12th century, to Fustat, to the Fatimid Caliphate during the period of the Fi...
Brutus of Troy
The story of the legendary first kings of the Britons, complete with prophecy, a divine appearance, and a number of origin myths behind the names of T...
Holinshed: The Scottish Source
Today we step outside the usual medieval travel subject matter on the podcast for a look into William Shakespeare's historical source for the story of...
The Saga of Grettir the Strong 7: The Romance of Thorstein and Spes
This is the final episode of a narrative series on the Icelandic saga of a famed outlaw. The Grettir Saga concludes without Grettir the Strong. His ha...
The Saga of Grettir the Strong 6: Revenge in Constantinople
This is the sixth episode of a narrative series on the Icelandic saga of a famed outlaw. Grettir the Strong's half-brother goes looking for revenge, a...