Everything you always wanted to know about the Middle Ages, but were unable to ask.
Ask a Medievalist
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100 episodes
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Everything you always wanted to know about the Middle Ages, but were unable to ask.
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🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/16/2020
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Recent Episodes
May 1, 2026
Episode 100: What I’m Tolkien About
<h1>Summary</h1> <p>This episode is dedicated to Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert. May he return to <i>The Colbert Report</i>! No matter what, we know that he will go on to far, far better things than the crumbling edifice that was once known as CBS.</p> <h1>Notes</h1> <p>1/ George R. R. Martin’s <i>A Song of Fire and Ice</i> series</p> <p>2/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien">Tolkien</a> was born on January 3, 1892 (and died September 2, 1973). Tolkien’s imagined etymologies are phenomenal.</p> <p>3/ Jane Yolen’s <a href="https://www.janeyolen.com/sister-light-sister-dark/">Sister Light, Sister Dark</a> and <a href="https://www.janeyolen.com/white-jenna/">White Jenna</a></p> <p>4/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Salo">David Salo</a>–a UW-Madison Alum and Tolkien linguist</p> <p>5/ Winnie-the-Pooh lives outside the Hundred Acre Wood (thank you A.A. Milne). The Forest of Arden is the main location for Shakespeare’s <i>As You Like It</i>. Birnum Wood “marches” against Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Scottish play.</p> <p>6/ Wagner’s Ring Cycle: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen">Der Ring des Nibelungen</a>. He wrote it between 1848-1874. The first opera (<i>Das Rheingold)</i> premiered in 1869, and all four premiered as a cycle in 1876.</p> <p>7/ We miss you Tom Stoppard (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travesties">Travesties</a>, 1974).</p> <p>8/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Cbermensch">Übermensch</a> (defined by Nietzsche, ruined by certain WWII Germans)</p> <p>9/ Nope, we’re still watching Putin teeter!</p> <p>10/ Wagner is basing his cycle on the Old Norse <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edda"><i>Edda</i></a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6lsunga_saga">Völsunga Saga</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Ei%C3%B0reks_saga">Thidrekssaga</a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungenlied">Nibelungenlied</a>.</p> <p>11/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgia_Meloni">Giorgia Meloni</a> was elected Prime Minister of Italy in 2022.</p> <p>12/ Renee Vink, “‘Jewish’ Dwarves: Tolkien and Anti-Semitic Stereotyping,” in <i>Tolkien Studies</i> Vol. 10 (2013): 123-145.</p> <p>13/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett">Terry Pratchett</a> is the best! Check out <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld">Discworld</a>. Also, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/tumblr/comments/ovtpbo/no_terfs_you_cant_have_sir_terry_pratchett/#lightbox">here’s a nice thread</a> on the fact he isn’t a TERF.</p> <p>14/ Just for fun, here’s <a href="https://youtu.be/DzffpeYnv-w?si=-CJI2ZDAc5OqfMVP">Jon Stewart’s rant</a> on the goblins in Harry Potter. Enjoy!</p> <p>15/ Christopher Tolkien’s NYT obituary: “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/books/christopher-tolkien-dead.html">Christopher Tolkien, Keeper of His Father’s Legacy, Dies at 95</a>.”</p>
January 21, 2026
Episode 99: Respect My Authority
<h1>Synopsis</h1> <p>What exactly is authority? Where does it come from? How do you get it? Can you move authority from St. Paul, MN to the south side of Chicago? Join Em and Jesse for a wide-ranging chat on the subject.</p> <h1>Notes</h1> <p>1/ Of course, many people in addition to women have a hard time getting others (i.e. non-group members) to pay attention to their authority. For example, trans and nonbinary people have a hard time getting anyone to listen to them speaking about their own lived experiences.</p> <p>2/ I’ve published four novels and a novella since this was recorded, and people actually do think I’m an authority on some topics for some reason.</p> <p>3/ The story about Aristotle’s phony translators comes from here, I think: <a href="https://historyofphilosophy.net/translation-movement">https://historyofphilosophy.net/translation-movement</a></p> <p>Pseudopigrapha: from <i>pseudo</i>, false, and <i>epigraphe</i>, name or inscription. A falsely attributed text.</p> <p><a href="https://www.lib.umich.edu/collections/collecting-areas/special-collections/history-astronomy-and-mathematics/galileo">U of Michigan’s Galileo text</a>: “After an internal investigation of the findings of Nick Wilding, professor of history at Georgia State University, the library has concluded that its “Galileo manuscript” is in fact a 20th-century forgery. We’re grateful to Professor Wilding for sharing his findings, and are now working to reconsider the manuscript’s role in our collection.” Also, “Wilding concluded that our Galileo manuscript is a 20th-century fake executed by the well-known forger Tobia Nicotra.” (The quotes are from the linked website.)</p> <p>4/ According to the Virginia Woolf society, the actual quote is: “I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.” (From ch 3 of <i>A Room of One’s Own</i>.)</p> <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Dionysius_the_Areopagite">Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite</a> (5th/6th century CE))</p> <p>Pseudo-Pseduo-Dionysius is anyone once thought to be Pseudo-Dionysius but now recognized (by modern scholars) to be someone other than Pseudo-Dionysius. Confused?</p> <p>5/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Bonaventure">Pseudo-Bonaventure</a> (14th century CE) wrote <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditations_on_the_Life_of_Christ"><i>Meditations on the Life of Christ</i></a>.</p> <p>6/ I’ve become a bit more familiar with copyright law in the three years(!) since we recorded this, since I’ve published three going on four books of my own since then. A really good example of a point I think past Em is trying to make is Sherlock Holmes, who has recently passed into public domain. He’s a neat character and everyone wanted to play with him (look at the adaptations of recent memory: the Robert Downey Jr. films, the BBC’s <i>Sherlock</i>, the American <i>Elementary</i>). But because of copyright law, this was fairly difficult and confusing until very recently, despite the character’s creator having been dead since 1930. These cases raise many questions of authorship vs ownership and how long someone should really be able to make money on an idea. (Patent Law is, if anything, worse, from what I understand.)</p> <p>7/ It was a photograph of Prince! Since we recorded this, the Supreme Court sided against Andy Warhol’s estate: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1176881182/supreme-court-sides-against-andy-warhol-foundation-in-copyright-infringement-cas">https://www.npr.org/2023/05/18/1176881182/supreme-court-sides-against-andy-warhol-foundation-in-copyright-infringement-cas</a></p> <p>Girl Talk is awesome: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSoTN8suQ1o">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSoTN8suQ1o</a></p> <p>I mention him because there was a really good documentary about copyright called <i>RiP! A Remix Manifesto</i> that discussed his work (including a discussion of it with the head of the copyright office of the Library of Congress).</p> <p>8/ Just to clarify, “fair use” is kind of a complicated issue. When you are a non-commercial educational podcast (ahem), you can use things (like samples of YouTube performances) without having to pay licensing fees. You can also fairly quote sections of things for criticism, news reporting, and research. You can therefore quote lines from songs or poems in textbooks, but not in novels because they aren’t considered teaching. Parody (hello, Weird Al!) can be a weird gray area, because a parody obviously has to be somewhat transformative but still retain enough of a likeness that people will know what you’re parodying, and on this question hangs a lot of lawsuits. (Not toward Weird Al though, as far as I know. But Margaret Mitchell’s estate did try to sue to block the publication of <i>The Wind Done Gone</i>.)</p> <p>See also: Why does <a href="https://ehlupton.com/links">Ulysses</a> (in Em’s novels) wear so many band T-shirts and occasionally mention songs and artists, but there are zero song lyrics in the books? Because you can’t copyright band names or album/song titles.</p> <p><i>Steamboat Willie</i> has actually entered public domain since we recorded this! [So amazing!–Jesse]</p> <p>Peter Pan actually first appeared in 1902!</p> <p>Also, sorry, “Peter Pan is a psychopomp” is somehow not a sentence I had on my bingo card. I guess it has lost a bit in its translation to the screen… On the plus side, SIDS rates have dropped dramatically since 1902?</p> <p>“I can rewrite <i>Macbeth</i> if I want to.” Or a really complex riff on <i>The Bacchae</i>? Em of 2022 did not know what was coming, lol.</p> <p>9/ Notably, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gayatri_Chakravorty_Spivak">Spivak</a> also quotes primarily women.</p> <p>The episode on Hrotsvit: <a href="http://askamedievalist.com/2020/12/12/episode-22-the-strong-voice-of-gandersheim/">Episode 22</a></p> <p>10/ For more on Juliana of Cornillion and the Feast of Corpus Christi, see <a href="http://askamedievalist.com/2020/05/22/episode-6-mysticism-and-motherhood/">Episode 6</a>.</p> <p>11/ Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale are <a href="https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/wife-baths-prologue-and-tale-0">HERE</a>. (Also, Chaucer was not, as far as we know, toxic like Joss Whedon!)</p> <p>12/ Incidentally, violent, in-the-moment reactions to mistreatment by another person are called reactive abuse, and they’re often used by abusers to shift the blame onto their victims. If you are being abused or wondering if you are and want to talk to someone, check out the National Domestic Violence Hotline (<a href="https://www.thehotline.org/">https://www.thehotline.org/</a>), or look for local programs. Here in Madison, for instance, we have Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (<a href="https://abuseintervention.org/">https://abuseintervention.org/</a>).</p>
January 6, 2026
Episode 98: In Rome for the Calends
<h1>Summary</h1> <p>It’s January, the first month of the year, ruled by the god Janus, who looks both ways. But a week ago it was December, the…tenth month of the year? What the heck was up with Roman calendars? Join Em and Dr. Jesse to explore why this otherwise competent civilization just fell apart when it came to tracking what day it was.</p> <h1>Notes</h1> <p>Jörg Rüpke, <i>The Roman Calendar from Numa to Constantine: Time, History, and the Fasti</i>, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.</p> <p>1/ Rome’s famous AVC (or AUC today), the abbreviation for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ab_urbe_condita">Ab urbe condita</a> (from the founding of the city), i.e. 753 BCE.</p> <p>2/ For example, archeology uses “BP” or “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present">Before Present</a>.” Geology and astronomy and similar tend to use variations on “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_years_ago">millions of years ago</a>“.</p> <p>3/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calends">Calends</a>! <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_calendar#Days">Nones! Ides!</a></p> <p>4/ December is such a mess! For more on December not being the 10th month of the year (maybe ever!)–and/or the possibility of competing new years (one beginning in January and one in March), see Rüpke (p. 6).</p> <p>5/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasti_Antiates_Maiores">Fasti Antiates Maiores</a>, created 60s or 50s BCE (Rüpke, p. 6), from before the Julian reforms in 46 BCE. January is the first month. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasti_Antiates_Maiores#/media/File:Fasti_Antiates,_Palazzo_Massimo_alle_Terme,_Rome..jpg">Here</a> is the original and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasti_Antiates_Maiores#/media/File:Museo_del_Teatro_Romano_de_Caesaraugusta.43.jpg">here</a> is the reconstruction.</p> <p>6/ Annus confusionis ultimus! (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/46_BC">46 BCE</a>) See Rüpke, p. 112.</p> <p>7/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar">Gregorian</a> calendar!</p> <p>8/ England finally officially adopts the Gregorian calendar in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_(New_Style)_Act_1750">1750</a>. (This was adopted for the whole British Empire, including the colonies in America.)</p>
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