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American Medieval

Multitude

American Medieval is a podcast about the history of the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, host Prof. Matthew Gabriele is joined by expert guests to explore not medieval history, but how and why the Middle Ages have such a hold on our collective imagination. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.

New episodes released every Wednesday. Be inscribed into the Book of Life, Drink with us Historians, and get ad-free episodes by subscribing at patreon.com/americanmedieval

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  • 25 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 57 min
  • English

Episodes 25

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  • #23
    April 15 · 1 hr 21 min

    Crossover Episode with “Reckoning” (the film “Kingdom of Heaven”)

    This is an older episode from the “Reckoning with Jason Herbert” back catalog, but we all talk about the Ridley Scott epic (?) “Kingdom of Heaven.” Matt yells about water, among other things. Guest Jason Herbert is the host of Reckoning with Jason Herbert, a podcast about history, the outdoors, and movies. He's also the creator of “Historians at the Movies” Watch Party, one of the longest running watch parties in the world. Jason's an expert on Indigenous and environmental history in North America, and serves as a tribal liaison in Colorado for the United States Forest Service, which in no way endorses his work. You can find him across all social media at HerbertHistory. In this episode, Jason was joined by Matthew Gabriele, John Wyatt Greenlee (the eels guy), Thomas Lecaque (the yell-y holy war guy), and David M. Perry (the friend and co-author of Matt guy). Credits Host & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia Schifini Music: “Sleeping Bags” by OTE Art: Ulysses Gabriele Multitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval Online Website: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About Us American Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval. Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • #22
    April 8 · 53 min

    Medieval Comics with Natalie Hopwood

    This episode we talk about Norse sagas and medieval comics. Jack Kirby was an interesting guy - loved norse stuff and hated Nazis. Plus dragons. We talk about medieval dragons. Guests Natalie Hopwood is a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, where she researches monster encounters as points of intertextuality in Old Norse, and other medieval literature, in modern media, particularly American comic books, in her spare time. She is the co-founder of The Long Middle Ages, an interdisciplinary seminar series for postgraduate and early career researchers, and sits on the boards for the Network of Early Career Researchers in Old Norse and the International Society for the Study of Medievalism. Read her newsletter or find her academic page. Bluesky: @nrhopwood.bsky.social Credits Host & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia Schifini Music: “Sleeping Bags” by OTE Art: Ulysses Gabriele Multitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval Online Website: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About Us American Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval. Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • #21
    April 1 · 1 hr 13 min

    The “Dark Ages” with David M. Perry and Eleanor Janega

    Ok, we get yell-y about the “Dark Ages” in this episode. But first David and Matt make a shocking admission on this April 1, 2026 episode. Then we talk about other things. Guests Dr Eleanor Janega is a medieval historian, whose work aims to highlight the ways that our society has been influenced by the past, and more particularly, how it tells stories about history that aren’t actually true to justify our own desires. She’s the author of the book The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society and The Middle Ages: A Graphic History. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, Time, History Today, BBC History, Slate, and the Times Literary Supplement, among others. In addition, she’s co-hosts the hit podcasts “Gone Medieval” and “We’re Not So Different,” and is the host and co-creator of several history series on HistoryHit TV. Learn more at eleanorjanega.com. David M. Perry is a journalist and historian, who currently works as the associate director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Minnesota. He’s the co-author (with Matthew Gabriele) of the books Oathbreakers and The Bright Ages, both from HarperCollins. Publishers Weekly called Oathbreakers “An enlightening portrait of the medieval mindset” while The Boston Globe said The Bright Ages was “incandescent and ultimately intoxicating.” Over the last few years, Perry’s work on history, parenting, disability, and politics has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Daily Beast, Smithsonian Magazine, Slate, CNN, and many others. His website is davidmperry.com, and he can be found on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/lollardfish.bsky.social. Credits Host & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia Schifini Music: “Sleeping Bags” by OTE Art: Ulysses Gabriele Multitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval Online Website: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval TikTok: tiktok.com/@americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About Us American Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval. Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads Sponsors If you like American Medieval, you already know that we love our sibling Multitude podcast “Wow if True.” Amanda and Isabel are internet experts and they’re locked and loaded to answer all your burning questions about the internet. Recently, we did a crossover episode to talk about crusadercore and castlecore and how the internet loves medieval stuff. But there are other episodes too, of course. Check it out. New episodes every Wednesday. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • #20
    March 25 · 52 min

    Medieval America (Cahokia) with Sarah Baires

    North America? Of course you did. We have Dr. Sarah Baires about that, specifically Cahokia - a city of about 20,000 people outside (modern) St. Louis that was bigger than Rome was at the same time. Guest Dr. Sarah Baires received her PhD in anthropological archaeology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2014, and her research focuses on why humans built and populated urban environments. She examines how people living on the peripheries of early cities became socially, culturally, and economically integrated, with particular attention to the Native American city of Cahokia, North America’s largest pre–European contact urban landscape north of Mexico. Her book Cahokia and the North American Worlds is out now. See more at her website. Credits Host & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia Schifini Music: “Sleeping Bags” by OTE Art: Ulysses Gabriele Multitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval Online Website: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About Us American Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval. Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads Sponsors Thanks for listening to American Medieval. Hope you’re enjoying the show. And I hope you’ll enjoy another Multitude podcast – Pale Blue Pod. Pale Blue Pod, or PBP to its friends, is hosted by Dr. Moiya McTier and her best friend ConStar, who during the show demystify space one topic at a time. It’s astronomy, and fun. Have a listen wherever you listen to podcasts every Monday. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  • #19
    March 18 · 59 min

    Medieval Printing (and why LLMs are crap) with Sonja Drimmer

    Did you know that the earliest printing press is from the 13th century? And that the idea of print in the Middle Ages was pervasive and very different from ours? Plus, so-called “AI” is bad for education and I’m sorry to any fans of the Beatles. Guest Sonja Drimmer is associate professor of medieval art in the Department of the History of Art & Architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She writes about medieval manuscripts, early printed books, and all of the technologies that have mediated them. Her next book, Impressive Politics: Print before the Press in Late Medieval England is forthcoming in 2027. More info available at sonjadrimmer.com. Credits Host & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com Editor: Julia Schifini Music: “Sleeping Bags” by OTE Art: Ulysses Gabriele Multitude: https://multitude.productions Find American Medieval Online Website: AmericanMedieval.com Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social About Us American Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves. After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval. Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://multitude.productions/ads Sponsors Spirits is a history and comedy podcast focused on folklore, mythology, and the occult, told through the lens of feminism, queerness, and modern adulthood. Julia and Amanda get together each week to learn more about a different story from mythology and folklore over drinks. That's everything from the mythological origins of major franchises like Lord of the Rings and Wonder Woman, to modern urban legends, to a roundup of werewolf stories from around the world. They’ve been doing it for 9 years, but are still going strong. Head to spirits podcast dot com, or search for Spirits wherever you download your podcasts. New episodes on Wednesdays. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Showing 21–25 of 25 episodes