Podcast Episode

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Osman of Timisoara 1: Prisoner of the Infidels

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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 after the Battle of Vienna.

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Medieval Lives 11: William Fitz Osbert and the Unrest in London

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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 better life to those unhappy in Richard I's London, or did he just take advantage of their misery to serve his own vices?

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Medieval Lives 10: Pietro d'Abano

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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 necromancer.” This scholar and physician faced variously troubles relating to heresy or sorcery, and stories swirl around him of calling on demons or magically making spent coins return to his purse.

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A Medieval Haunting in the Annales Fuldenses

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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 royal relatives, and omens in the sky. It also contains the story of an unfortunate village, an even more unfortunate villager, and the evil spirit that haunted both.