In this episode of The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast, Mourad Tadghout examines the central role of Arabic manuscript culture in shaping the intellectual history of the medieval world. It follows the production, circulation, and transformation of manuscripts from major centers such as Baghdad, Cairo, Córdoba, Fes, and beyond, tracing how texts moved across linguistic, religious, and geographic boundaries.

This episode of The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast takes a bird’s eye view of the global medieval world, following the trade and giving of arctic gyrfalcons across vast distances. Caitlin, Sam, Bjørn, and Ragnar discuss the capture and keeping of these rare birds in Scandinavia and their cultural significance in Europe, China, and the Islamic world.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Alex R. A. Lee and Dr. Hope Doherty-Harrison offer individual experiences to which listeners may relate and sound a call to action for all medievalists to actively practice disability allyship, providing clear examples of how we might implement the advice given by contributors to improve the academy’s accessibility.

In this episode of The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast, Dr. Polina Ignatova deconstructs the spectrum of diverse roles of St. Christopher in the contemporary societal discourses in Russia.

In this episode, Zelda Cahill-Patten and Sofia Holmberg explore the unusual tomb of Alice Chaucer, a wealthy and influential noblewoman living in fifteenth-century England.

Listen now! What if the so-called medieval “Dark Ages” weren’t dark at all? In this episode of The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast, Dr. Natasha Parnian revisits the centuries after the fall of the Sasanian Empire to uncover the surprising afterlife of Persian kingship. Far from vanishing under Arab rule, ideas of sacred monarchy, justice, and divine glory were translated, adapted, and woven into Islamic political thought. Through figures like Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ and evolving ge

Listen now! How might the study of multiculturalism in the Middle Ages differ across historical period and academic specialization? In this episode, Fordham University master’s students Kristian Powell and Sean Maldonado discuss their experiences studying the early medieval period. They reflect on conversations from their coursework, the importance of professorial/institutional support, and what excites them most about the diversity of the early medieval period. Kristian Powe

In this episode, historians of medieval medicine Monica H. Green, Winston Black, and Lucy Barnhouse talk with Will Beattie about the genesis of a new open-access teaching module on the Black Death.

In this episode, editors Sara Torres and Nahir I. Otaño Gracia discuss the themed issue of Viator they co-edited entitled "Early Global Insularities." They are joined by three of the contributors to the cluster (Tarren Andrews, Tanvir Ahmed, and Jonathan F. Correa Reyes) for a conversation about both pre-modern discourses of insularity, the lasting legacies of discourses that approach insularity as a form of isolation, and some of the ways in which insularity can be theorized

Listen now! The colorful and monumental fourteenth-century frescoes of Bohemian church interiors have received very little scholarly attention, and many remain completely unknown today. Yet the wall paintings have played major roles in the creation of national(ist) art historical narratives, and they offer a rare chance to examine how medieval frescoes operated within their original architectural contexts. In this episode, Reed O’Mara speaks with art historican Isabelle Chish

In this episode, scholar Aaron C. Pattee chats with Logan Quigley about the roles and realities of the ministeriales—non-nobles who served in a variety of administrative capacities within the royal palaces, the imperial estates, and the entourages of emperors, kings, and bishops in the Holy Roman Empire during the High Middle Ages.

Kristian Powell and Thomas Warren, Fordham masters students, discuss the multicultural life of Theodore of Tarsus, including his legacy and impact on the early church in England.

In this episode, Michael D. Barbezat (Australian Catholic University) and Miles Pattenden (Oxford University) explore the "queer medievalism" of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in the early 1980s.

In this episode, Margaret Sheble (webmaster/contributing editor for Arthuriana), Arielle McKee (Outreach Coordinator for The So What), and Brittany Claytor (Assistant Outreach Coordinator) discuss the origins and importance of the new public humanities journal The So What.

This episode discusses the work of The Medievalist Toolkit, medievalisms, some of the many ways in which the "medieval" seeps into contemporary political and public discourse, and the importance of outreach.

Mary Catherine O’Connor explores the role of translated literature in introducing ideas of courtliness and chivalry but also in fostering a shared European literary culture at the multi-cultural and cosmopolitan court of King Hákon Hákonarson in Bergen in the thirteenth century.

Larisa Grollemond and Kelin Michael discuss the process of bringing the Book of Marvels to a general audience.

The MMA podcast producers chat about the origin of the podcast, some upcoming episodes, and their own medieval inclinations.

Listen now! In this episode, Reed and Loren chat with co-founder of popular site Medievalists.net Peter Konieczny about the history of...

JULY 2025 UPDATE: Christopher T. Richards follows up on the conversation from our episode in his new article, “Painting Against Nature: A...