The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast

The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast

by Will Beattie, Jonathan Correa Reyes, Loren Cantrell, Reed O'Mara, & Logan Quigley
HistorySociety & Culture
Season 5
St. Christopher Cynocephalus in Contemporary Russia
In this episode, Dr. Polina Ignatova deconstructs the spectrum of diverse roles of St. Christopher in the contemporary societal discourses in Russia. She argues that the public knowledge about St. Christopher is sporadic and unsystematized, resulting in the saint’s image being used by both oppressors and oppressed. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S5 · E6
Jun 9, 2026
19:51
Widows are Doin' It for Themselves: Piety and Power in the Tomb of Alice Chaucer
In this episode, Zelda Cahill-Patten and Sofia Holmberg explore the unusual tomb of Alice Chaucer, a wealthy and influential noblewoman living in 15th-century England. Together, Zelda and Sofia unpack clues about Alice’s life as a pious and powerful widow, from her religious practices of bodily discipline, to the books she read, to the striking monument itself. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S5 · E5
May 25, 2026
27:37
Echoes of Empire: Persian Kingship in the Medieval Islamic World
Was there really a medieval “Dark Age”? In this episode, Dr. Natasha Parnian unpacks what happened after the fall of the Sasanian Empire—and why Persian kingship didn’t simply disappear. From Abbasid Baghdad to medieval Iran, ancient ideas of justice, divine glory, and sacred rule reshaped Islamic authority. The Persian king was gone, but his political afterlife was just beginning. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S5 · E4
May 15, 2026
39:52
The Marriage of a Cleric and Canon in 12th-Century Paris: Heloise, Abelard, and the Evolution of Clerical Celibacy
In this episode, producer Loren Cantrell chats with Stanford professor Fiona Griffiths about her latest contribution to Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, in which Griffiths revisits the famously complex relationship between Heloise and Abelard. Griffiths situates Heloise’s striking language within the shifting landscape of 12th-century debates on clerical marriage and reform, offering a powerful reinterpretation of one of the Middle Ages’ most challenging couples. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S5 · E3
Apr 30, 2026
40:01
A Multicultural Case for the Study of the Early Middle Ages
How might the study of multiculturalism in the Middle Ages differ across historical period and academic specialization? In this episode, Fordham University master’s students Kristian Powell and Sean Maldonado discuss their experiences studying the early medieval period. They reflect on conversations from their coursework, the importance of professorial/institutional support, and what excites them most about the diversity of the early medieval period. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S5 · E2
Apr 15, 2026
31:30
Pandemic in the Medieval World: Teaching a New Black Death Narrative in the 21st Century
How do pandemics happen? In this episode, historians of medieval medicine Monica H. Green, Winston Black, and Lucy Barnhouse talk with Will Beattie about the genesis of a new open-access teaching module on the Black Death. Our understanding of the late medieval pandemic has been transformed not only because of advances in the biological sciences, but also because historians have recently discovered—or newly interpreted—written records from the 13th and 14th centuries. For the first time, the Islamicate world’s experience is centered in the narrative, allowing entirely new perspectives on the Afro-Eurasian pandemic to be revealed. Access the History of the 21st Century module here! For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S5 · E1
Mar 25, 2026
45:19
Season 4
Speculum Spotlight: A Conversation With the Editors of Speculations
In this episode we sit down with the five editors of Speculations, the centennial issue of Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies. Comprising 60 short essays that speculate about the possible futures of medieval studies, this issue represents an attempt to disrupt disciplinarity by foregrounding perspectives, methodologies, and geographies from a variety of fields from medieval studies. Born from the understanding that the future of medieval studies depends on imagination and experimentation, this issue is a collaborative attempt to mark the passing of time and open the field to a broader appeal. The short essays in this issue are an invitation to think together and reinvigorate conversations about our discipline. Join us as we reflect on the past and present of medieval studies, and as we speculate about the possible futures for our field. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S4 · E13
Jan 1, 2026
33:40
Early Global Insularities
In this episode, editors Sara V. Torres and Nahir I. Otaño Gracia discuss the themed issue of Viator they co-edited entitled "Early Global Insularities." They are joined by three of the contributors to the cluster (Tarren Andrews, Tanvir Ahmed, and Jonathan F. Correa Reyes) for a conversation about both pre-modern discourses of insularity, the lasting legacies of discourses that approach insularity as a form of isolation, and some of the ways in which insularity can be theorized as a form of connection. Islands occupy a sometimes ambiguous place in center-periphery models. As the conversation explores a wide range of conceptualizing islands in medieval, early modern, and modern texts, it "centers" insularity as a topography, a literary conceit, and a disciplinary trope. In a time of climate crisis, the precarity of islands and archipelagoes (so often the sites of colonial violence) brings a sense of urgency to this reappraisal of the historical ideation of insularity and the relationship of the local to the global. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S4 · E12
Dec 25, 2025
57:56
Uncovering the Forgotten Frescoes of Medieval Bohemia
The colorful and monumental 14th-century frescoes of Bohemian church interiors have received very little scholarly attention, and many remain completely unknown today. Yet the wall paintings have played major roles in the creation of national(ist) art historical narratives, and they offer a rare chance to examine how medieval frescoes operated within their original architectural contexts. In this episode, Reed O'Mara speaks with art historian Isabelle Chisholm on these frescoes’ long lives, discussing their medieval viewership and the reasons for their relative obscurity. For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S4 · E11
Oct 25, 2025
52:49
Speculum Spotlight: East–West Encounters in the 14th Century: John of Marignolli and the "Tribute" Horse
In this episode, MMA podcast producer Loren Cantrell chats with Nancy Wu about her article, "East–West Encounters in the Fourteenth Century: John of Marignolli and the 'Tribute' Horse" (Speculum 100:4). For more information, visit www.multiculturalmiddleages.com.
S4 · E10
Oct 1, 2025
45:31
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