'tis but a scratch: fact and fiction about the Middle Ages
History

'tis but a scratch: fact and fiction about the Middle Ages

by Richard Abels

Talking about popular conceptions of the Middle Ages and their historical realities. Join Richard Abels to learn about Vikings, knights and chivalry, movies set in the Middle Ages, and much more about the medieval world.

77 episodes
EN-US language
All Episodes
1
The Knights Templar
1:07:13 Mar 15, 2026
2
Knights, Samurai, and the Myth of Japanese Feudalism: A Conversation with Professor Stephen Morillo
1:08:49 Mar 4, 2026
3
1066 And All That: The Significance of the Norman Conquest (with Dr. Jennifer Paxton), part 2
1:27:27 Feb 12, 2026
4
Episode 70: What we can learn about medieval people from their bones and teeth. A conversation with Professor Alison Beach
1:05:05 Jan 24, 2026
5
The First King of England: Æthelstan (with David Woodman)
1:00:23 Jan 16, 2026
6
A Florentine Pilgrimage to Bethlehem and Jerusalem in 1384
20:35 Dec 29, 2025
7
Three Accounts of A Pilgrimage To Egypt and the Holy Land in 1384-5
1:06:01 Dec 23, 2025
8
Halloween special: Three Medieval Ghost Stories and My One Encounter with a Ghost
43:21 Oct 31, 2025
9
From Bishop of Rome to the Papal Monarchy: Pope Innocent III, Crusade, Church Reform, and the Apex of the Medieval Papacy
1:36:47 Oct 27, 2025
10
From Bishop of Rome to the Papal Monarchy: the Rise of the Papal Monarchy
1:12:24 Oct 20, 2025
11
"1066 and All That": The Significance of the Norman Conquest, Part 1 (with Dr. Jennifer Paxton)
1:00:59 Oct 7, 2025
12
From Bishop of Rome to the Papal Monarchy: Pope Gregory VII and the Investiture Controversy
1:04:56 Sep 28, 2025
13
From Bishop of Rome to the Papal Monarchy: Pope Leo IX and the Gregorian Reform
1:14:23 Sep 23, 2025
14
Pope Boniface VIII vs King Philip the Fair: Catholicism's Medieval Meltdown (an episode from the podcast "BEEF with Bridget Todd")
58:28 Sep 13, 2025
15
Mysterious Medieval Manuscripts: Interview with Garry J. Shaw
1:10:40 May 29, 2025
16
The medieval papal conclave: starving cardinals into consensus
29:38 Apr 16, 2025
17
From Bishop of Rome to the Papal Monarchy, Part 2: The Early Middle Ages
1:32:21 Apr 9, 2025
18
From Bishop of Rome to the Papal Monarchy: the early centuries
1:23:28 Mar 26, 2025
19
El Cid, From History to Legend
1:03:34 Feb 26, 2025
20
Tne Norman Conquest (with Dr. Jennifer Paxton), part 2
1:01:42 Feb 15, 2025
21
The Norman Conquest, part one: From Cnut to the Death of Edward the Confessor
1:06:52 Jan 30, 2025
22
Fall of the Roman Republic, part 3: From Octavian to Augustus
48:32 Dec 23, 2024
23
Fall of the Roman Republic: From Sulla's March on Rome to Caesar's Assassination
1:25:52 Dec 20, 2024
24
The Fall of the Roman Republic, Part 1: The Late Roman Republic in Theory and Practice
1:12:57 Dec 15, 2024
25
A medieval election
50:47 Nov 11, 2024
26
Con games, scams, and deceits of the medieval Near East exposed: "The Book of Charlatans"
55:30 Oct 19, 2024
27
Crusaders and Settlers in the Holy Land: Who Went and Why
1:04:50 Aug 3, 2024
28
The Battle That Destroyed the Military Forces of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: Hattin (1187)
1:06:45 Jun 19, 2024
29
Norway's highest-grossing film: Liv Ullmann's Kristin Lavransdatter (1995)
23:55 Jun 6, 2024
30
Medieval Adultery in the Movies (with Kat Tracey)
1:09:30 Jun 5, 2024
31
Medieval Adultery in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Opera and Literature (with Kat Tracey)
1:21:07 May 25, 2024
32
Medieval adultery, part 2 (with Kat Tracy): Tristan and Iseult and a late twelfth-century "National Enquirer" story
1:08:57 May 7, 2024
33
Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century (with Dr. John Hosler)
1:03:25 Apr 16, 2024
34
Crusader Jerusalem in the Twelfth Century (with Dr. John Hosler)
1:03:34 Apr 16, 2024
35
St. Thomas Becket, 2: the Martyrdom
1:08:57 Apr 2, 2024
36
Medieval Adultery (with Kat Tracy), part 1: Lancelot and Guinevere
1:11:23 Mar 26, 2024
37
St. Thomas Becket, part 1: King Henry II and his Chancellor, Thomas Becket
1:08:55 Mar 10, 2024
38
What Was A "Crusade"?
48:38 Mar 2, 2024
39
Crusading Warfare in the East, 1099-1187
1:09:14 Feb 26, 2024
40
Medieval Romance: The Knight with the Lion
1:39:17 Feb 11, 2024
41
The Mongol Conquest of Baghdad (1258)
1:07:42 Jan 27, 2024
42
Beowulf (2): translations, adaptations, and movies!
1:20:24 Dec 23, 2023
43
Beowulf
52:42 Dec 14, 2023
44
Hanukkah and Christmas in the Middle Ages, and the Puritan War on Christmas
46:47 Dec 1, 2023
45
The Medievalists' "F-Word": Feudalism
46:12 Nov 17, 2023
46
Alfred the Great, Part 3: A Chat with Professor Ryan Lavelle
43:42 Oct 14, 2023
47
Alfred the Great, Part 2: A Chat with Professor Barbara Yorke
44:45 Oct 5, 2023
48
King Alfred: was he really all that 'great'?
1:07:43 Sep 28, 2023
49
Mongols
1:11:06 May 26, 2023
50
Robin Hood in Movies and Television
1:35:01 Apr 6, 2023
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