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Brutus of Troy

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Illuminated initial from Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae - (British Library)

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 Tours, Cornwall, New Troy, and Britain itself.

For this episode, we go to Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronicles for Britain's mythical Trojan origins, following Brutus of Troy as he receives visions from the goddess Diana and voyages to an Albion still inhabited by giants.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Armitage, David. The Ideological Origins of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press, 2000.

  • Geoffrey of Monmouth. History of the Kings of Britain, translated by Aaron Thompson. In parentheses Publications Medieval Latin Series, 1999.

  • Gillingham, John. The English in the Twelfth Century: Imperialism, National Identity, and Political Values. Boydell Press, 2000.

  • Jeffs, Amy. Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain. riverrun, 2021.

  • Lavezzo, Kathy. Imagining a Medieval English Nation. University of Minnesota Press, 2004.

  • Spence, John. Reimagining History in Anglo-Norman Prose Chronicles. York Medieval Press, 2013.

  • Valerie I. J. Flint. “The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth: Parody and Its Purpose. A Suggestion.” Speculum 54, no. 3 (1979): 447–68.

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Holinshed: The Scottish Source

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Scene from the 1577 Holinshed’s Chronicles - (British Library)

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 Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and of course, King of Scotland, or at least of Alba.

That story takes us to a 16th-century man named Reginald Wolfe, to Holinshed's Chronicles, and to the 11th-century doings of some familiar figures, of Duncan, Banquo, Macduff, Malcolm, and the rest. There are some familiar scenes, such as at Dunsinane Castle, but there are also unfamiliar elements like the murder of King Duffe, from which Shakespeare did a little borrowing.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Holinshed, Raphael. Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. J. Johnson, et al., 1808.

  • The Oxford Handbook of Holinshed's Chronicles, edited by Felicity Heal, Ian W. Archer, & Paulina Kewes. Oxford University Press, 2013.

  • McLuskie, Kathleen. Macbeth. Northcote House, 2009.

  • Patterson, Annabel. Reading Holinshed's Chronicles. University of Chicago Press, 1994.

  • Plomer, Henry Robert. A Short History of English Printing, 1476-1898. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., 1900.

  • Shakespeare, William. Macbeth, edited by Sandra Clark & Pamela Mason. Bloomsbury, 2015.

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The Saga of Grettir the Strong 7: The Romance of Thorstein and Spes

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Hermit and angel in the 14th-century Queen Mary Psalter - (British Library)

The Grettir Saga concludes with his half-brother Thorstein finding freedom and romance in Constantinople.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Jesse Byock. Oxford University Press, 2009.

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Denton Fox and Hermann Palsson. University of Toronto Press, 1974.

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The Saga of Grettir the Strong 6: Revenge in Constantinople

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Cristoforo Buondelmonti - City of Constantinople in the 15th-century Liber insularum Archipelagi

Grettir's half-brother goes looking for revenge, and his killer goes to join the Varangian Guard.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Jesse Byock. Oxford University Press, 2009.

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Denton Fox and Hermann Palsson. University of Toronto Press, 1974.

  • Collingwood, W.G. A Pilgrimage to the Saga-Steads of Iceland. W. Holmes, 1899.

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The Saga of Grettir the Strong 5: To Live and Die on Drangey

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Thurid casts her spells - Henry Justice Ford in Andrew Lang's Book of Romance Vol. IV

Grettir, his little brother, and their reluctant helper face a new threat on Drangey. His story comes to a conclusion but not his saga.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Jesse Byock. Oxford University Press, 2009.

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Denton Fox and Hermann Palsson. University of Toronto Press, 1974.

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The Saga of Grettir the Strong 4: The Brothers Asmundarson

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Grettir and the Troll - illustration by John Vernon Lord from “Grettir's Saga” in Icelandic Sagas, Volume 2

The conclusion of Grettir's story, part one. He and his brother look for refuge on the island of Drangey, but they aren't the only ones who are interested in that island.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Jesse Byock. Oxford University Press, 2009.

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Denton Fox and Hermann Palsson. University of Toronto Press, 1974.

  • Ljungqvist, Fredrik Charpentier. "Rape in the Icelandic Sagas: An Insight in the Perceptions about Sexual Assaults on Women in the Old Norse World," in Journal of Family History, 40(4), 431–447.

  • Tweedie, Ethel Brilliana. A Girl's Ride in Iceland. Horace Cox, 1895.

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The Saga of Grettir the Strong 3: A Lonely Exile

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Henry Justice Ford in Andrew Lang's Book of Romance Vol. IV

The life of an outlaw, complete with mountain-path brigandry, half-trolls, feats of physical prowess, friendship, and loneliness.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Jesse Byock. Oxford University Press, 2009.

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Denton Fox and Hermann Palsson. University of Toronto Press, 1974.

  • Pavey, Sophie. "Outlawed but Not Alone: Friendships Out of Bounds in Grettir’s Saga," UBC Arts One, Prof. Miranda Burgess Seminar, 2021.

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The Saga of Grettir the Strong 2: Foul Luck and Feuding

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John Vernon Lord - “The Hen-Thorir Tale” in Icelandic Sagas, Volume 2

Norway, poems, bad luck, and the fateful burning of a hall.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Jesse Byock. Oxford University Press, 2009.

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Denton Fox and Hermann Palsson. University of Toronto Press, 1974.

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The Saga of Grettir the Strong 1: Exile, Outlawry, and the Undead

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Grettir and the Undead Old Karr - Henry Justice Ford

This is the first episode of a narrative series on the Icelandic saga of a famed outlaw. The Saga of Grettir the Strong opens with his grandfather leaving King Harald's Norway for Iceland. We follow its portrayal of Grettir's troubled childhood and his tests of strength against boulders, men, bears, and (for some Halloween appropriate listening) draugr, the undead of the burial mound.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Jesse Byock. Oxford University Press, 2009.

  • Grettir's Saga, translated by Denton Fox and Hermann Palsson. University of Toronto Press, 1974.

  • Three Icelandic Outlaw Sagas, translated by George Johnston and Anthony Faulkes. Everyman, 2001.

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Medieval Lives 5: The Consorts of the Caliphs

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Fragments of 9th-Century Wall Paintings from Dar al-Khilafa, Samarra, Iraq - (Wikimedia)

Tāj al-Dīn ‘Alī ibn Anjab ibn al-Sā’ī was born in the last years of the 12th century and lived until the last quarter of the 13th. He was a prolific writer who grew up Abbasid Baghdad and saw it fall to the Mongol invasion of Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan.

His solitary work that survives in its entirety is Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad. In that book, he reaches all the way back to Hammādah bint ‘Īsā, who was married to al-Mansūr the Abbasid dynastic founder and died in 780, and all the way up to Shāhān, a contemporary of his and the concubine of al-Mustansir who died in 1242. He fills its pages with the women of the Abbasid caliphal court, women who appear there as wives, concubines, poets, and more. This episode is about some of those medieval women.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

Sources:

  • Ibn al-Sā'ī. Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad, edited by Shawkat M. Toorawa. New York University Press, 2015.

  • Caswell, F.M. The Slave Girls of Baghdad: The Qiyan in the Early Abbasid Era. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011.