Human Circus: Journeys in the Medieval World

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. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Osman Agha of Timisoara. Prisoner of the Infidels. Edited, translated, and introduced by Giancarlo Casale. University of California Press, 2021. Finkel, Caroline. Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. Basic Books, 2005. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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? If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Annals of Roger de Hoveden, translated by Henry T. Riley. Henry G. Bohn, 1853. The Church Historians of England, volume IV, part II, translated by Joseph Stevenson. Seeley's, 1861. Roger of Wendover's Flowers of History, translated by J. A. Giles. Henry G. Bohn, 1849. Alexander, Dominic. "'The People are the Waters': Social Revolt in London, 1196-1381," Counterfire. May 30, 2021. Dennis, David E P. "The Rise and Fall of William Fitz Osbert." McEwan, John. "William FitzOsbert and the Crisis of 1196 in London," Florilegium. Volume 21, 2004. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The conclusion of Nasir Khusraw's story, following his repeated trips from Cairo to Makkah, his struggles in crossing the Arabian Peninsula, and then his journey toward Khorasan. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Hunsberger, Alice C. Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher. Bloomsbury Academic, 2002. Khusraw, Nasir. Nāṣer-e Khosraw's Book of Travels, translated by Wheeler McIntosh Thackston. Bibliotheca Persica, 1986. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

***This episode was much delayed by my forgetting to upload it here. The next Nasir Khusraw episode will be along shortly. An 11th-century journey from Jerusalem to Fatimid Egypt. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Fulton, Michael S. Contest for Egypt: The Collapse of the Fatimid Caliphate, the Ebb of Crusader Influence, and the Rise of Saladin. Brill, 2022. Gascoigne, Alison L. "The Water Supply of Tinnis: Public Amenities and Private Investments," Cities in the Pre-Modern Islamic World The Urban Impact of Religion, State and Society. Edited by Bennison, Amira K and Gascoigne, Alison L. Routledge, 2009. Hunsberger, Alice C. Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher. Bloomsbury Academic, 2002. Khusraw, Nasir. Nāṣer-e Khosraw's Book of Travels, translated by Wheeler McIntosh Thackston. Bibliotheca Persica, 1986. Thomson, Kirsten. Politics And Power in Late Fāṭimid Egypt: The Reign of Caliph al-Mustanṣir. Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nasir Khusraw was around 40 years old when he experienced the vision that turned his life onto a new path and sent him out on the road in search, perhaps, of wisdom. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Hunsberger, Alice C. Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher. Bloomsbury Academic, 2002. Khusraw, Nasir. Nāṣer-e Khosraw's Book of Travels, translated by Wheeler McIntosh Thackston. Bibliotheca Persica, 1986. Khusraw, Nasir. Diary of a journey through Syria and Palestine, translated by Guy le Strange. Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, 1893. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy Holidays! This episode is about festive "medieval" poetry. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Andrews, William. At the Sign of the Barber's Pole: A Study in Hirsute History. Lethe Press, 2008. Cook, Megan. "Dirtbag Medievalism," Avidly. July 14, 2021. Eco, Umberto. Travel in Hyperreality. Harcourt, inc, 1986. Jackson, Sophie. The Medieval Christmas. The History Press, 2013. Scott, Walter. Marmion. Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1896. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 various troubles relating to heresy or sorcery, and stories swirl around him of calling on demons or magically making spent coins return to his purse. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Browning, Robert. The Complete Works of Robert Browning. Ohio University Press, 2007. Garin, Eugenio. History of Italian Philosophy, Volume 1. Translated by Giorgio Pinton. Rodopi, 2008. Hasse, Dag Nikolaus. "Pietro d'Abano's 'Conciliator' and the Theory of the Soul in Paris," After the Condemnation of 1277: Philosophy and Theology at the University of Paris in the Last Quarter of the Thirteenth Century. Edited by Jan A. Aertsen, Kent Emery, and Andreas Speer. Walter de Gruyter, 2013. Prioreschi, Plinio. A History of Medicine: Medieval Medicine. Horatius Press, 1996. Tafu, Pedro. Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439). Translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Thorndike, Lynn. A History of Magic and Experimental Science Volume 2. Columbia University Press, 1923. Touwaide, Alain. "Pietro d'Abano, De venenis: Reintroducing Greek Toxicology in Late Medieval Medicine." Toxicology in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Edited by Philip Wexler. Academic Press, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Source: The Annals of Fulda: Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II. Translated and annotated by Timothy Reuter. Manchester University Press, 1992. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The story of a 14th-century Flemish pirate, merchant, and adventurer, a man who took prizes at sea and took whatever side he needed to on land, crossing paths with various counts and kings as he went. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Barrell, Andrew D. M. Medieval Scotland. Cambridge University Press, 2000. Cushway, Graham. Edward III and the War at Sea: The English Navy, 1327-1377. Boydell Press, 2011. Holinshed, Raphael. Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 5. J. Johnson, et. al. 1808. Lucas, Henry S. “John Crabbe: Flemish Pirate, Merchant, and Adventurer.” Speculum 20, no. 3 (1945): 334–50. Rose, Susan. Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000-1500. Routledge, 2003. Wilson, Ben. Empire of the Deep: The Rise and Fall of the British Navy. Orion, 2013. The Anonimalle Chronicle 1307 to 1334. Edited by Wendy R. Childs and John Taylor. Cambridge University Press, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 15th-century Spanish traveller goes home, mixing with the imperial elite along the way. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Source: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 15th-century traveller returns to Venice and goes overland into central and western Europe, making friends and catching up with some old ones along the way. He'll heal at the thermal baths, and there's talk of Bruges, Antwerp, medieval trade and textiles, and the fairs. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pedro Tafur ventures out from Constantinople to visit a sultan, an emperor, and the centre of the Black Sea slave trade. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Barker, Hannah. That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019. Gregory, Timothy E. A History of Byzantium. John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our 15th-century traveller dodges catastrophe on the Mediterranean and drops in on late-imperial Constantinople, where there's plenty of seafood and the roots of Pedro's family tree. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Gregory, Timothy E. A History of Byzantium. John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Byron, Robert & Rice, David Talbot. The Birth of Western Painting. Routledge, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As our Castilian traveller makes his roundabout way toward Mt Sinai, he finds ill-health but lots of help on Cyprus, while around Cairo he's struck by the street food and crocodiles. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Excerpta Cypria: Materials for a History of Cyprus, edited by Claude Delaval Cobham. Cambridge University Press, 1908. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The journey of our 15th-century Castilian traveller continues, as Pedro Tafur leaves Venice and makes his way to Jerusalem, where there will be no shortage of things for him to see and do. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Antrim, Zayde. “Jerusalem in the Ayyubid and Mamluk Periods.” Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem, edited by Suleiman Mourad, Bedross Der Matossian, and Naomi Koltun-Fromm, 102-109. New York: Routledge, 2018. Dalrymple, William. In Xanadu: A Quest. HarperCollins, 1990. Little, Donald P. “Mujīr Al-Dīn al-ʿUlaymī's Vision of Jerusalem in the Ninth/Fifteenth Century.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 115, no. 2 (1995): 237–47. Norwich, John Julius. A History of Venice. Penguin, 2003. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pedro Tafur, a 15th-century Castilian, makes his way around Spain and Italy with lengthy stops in Genoa, Venice, and Rome, and generally has a pretty pleasant holiday. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Pero Tafur: Travels and Adventures (1435-1439), translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. Harper & brothers, 1926. Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. Oxford University Press, 1989. Verità, Marco, Laura Speranza, Simone Porcinai, and Daniele Angellotto. “The Sacro Catino in Genoa: Analytical and Technological Investigations of a Unique Glass Vessel.” Journal of Glass Studies 60 (2018): 115–28. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Giovanni Fontana was a 15th-century Italian engineer and inventor. His designs included everything from systems for retrieving sunken ships and automating the defence of fortifications to measuring time and producing music. He created locks, clocks, and magic lanterns. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Fontana, Giovanni. Bellicorum instrumentorum liber cum figuris... Digitized at https://codicon.digitale-sammlungen.de/inventiconCod.icon.%20242.html Gilbert, Bennett. “The Dreams of an Inventor in 1420,” Public Domain Review. 2018. https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-dreams-of-an-inventor-in-1420/ Grafton, Anthony. “The Devil as Automaton: Giovanni Fontana and the Meanings of a Fifteenth-Century Machine,” in Genesis Redux: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Artificial Life, edited by Jessica Riskin. University of Chicago Press, 2007. Grafton, Anthony. Magic and Technology in Early Modern Europe. Smithsonian Institution Libraries, 2005. Grafton, Anthony. Magus: The Art of Magic from Faustus to Agrippa. Harvard University Press, 2023. Rossi, Cesare and Russo, Flavio. Ancient Engineers' Inventions: Precursors of the Present. Springer, 2016. Sparavigna, A.C. “Giovanni de la Fontana, Engineer and Magician.” Cornell University Library, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the late-summer of 1914, a city burns and its university library with it. Unusually for this podcast, the story takes us into WWI, but there are medieval connections to the story of Louvain (Leuven) and what happened when the German army came to town. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Bazydlo, Angela. “Manuscript lost in WWI fire turns up in Clark Archives.” https://clarknow.clarku.edu/2021/08/30/manuscript-lost-in-wwi-fire-turns-up-in-clark-archives/ Battles, Matthew. Library: An Unquiet History. W. W. Norton & Company, 2011. Battles, Matthew. “Knowledge on Fire.” The American Scholar 72, no. 3 (2003): 35–51. Bouwman, André. “Book burning in Louvain, 1914.” https://www.leidenspecialcollectionsblog.nl/articles/book-burning-in-louvain-1914 Delannoy, Paul. “The Library at the University of Louvain,” The Nineteenth Century, Vol. LXXVII - No. 59, p. 1061 May 1915. Derez, Mark. “The Flames of Louvain: a Library as a Cultural Icon and a Political Vehicle,” What do we lose when we lose a library? Proceedings of the conference held at the KU Leuven 9-11 September 2015. Gusejnova, Dina. “Librarians as Agents of German Foreign Policy and the Cultural Consequences of the First World War.” The Historical Journal 66, no. 4 (2023): 864–86. Kipling, Rudyard. “In Aid of Recruiting.” https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/readers-guide/rg_speeches_29.htm Kramer, Alan. Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War. Oxford University Press, 2008. Matin, A. Michael. “‘The Hun is at the Gate!': Historicizing Kipling's Militaristic Rhetoric, From the Imperial Periphery to the National Center: Part Two: The French, Russian, and German Threats to Great Britain.” Studies in the Novel 31, no. 4 (1999): 432–70. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29533357. Ovenden, Richard. Burning the Books. Harvard University Press, 2020. Ovenden, Richard. “One of Europe's Great Libraries Didn't Stand a Chance… In Either of the World Wars.” https://lithub.com/one-of-europes-great-libraries-didnt-stand-a-chance-in-either-of-the-world-wars/    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Fernao Mendes Pinto story reaches its conclusion, and he finally reaches Portugal once more. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. Hart, Thomas R. “Style and Substance in the Peregrination.” Portuguese Studies 2 (1986). Hart, Thomas R. “True or False: Problems of the ‘Peregrination.'” Portuguese Studies 13 (1997). Rubiés, Joan Pau. “Real and Imaginary Dialogues in the Jesuit Mission of Sixteenth-Century Japan.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 55, no. 2/3 (2012). Rubiés, Joan Pau. “The Oriental Voices of Mendes Pinto, or the Traveller as Ethnologist in Portuguese India.” Portuguese Studies 10 (1994). Spence, Jonathan D. The Chan's Great Continent: China in Western Minds. W. W. Norton & Company, 1999. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The story of Fernao Mendes Pinto intersects with that of the Jesuit saint, Francis Xavier, and takes him back to Japan. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. App, Urs. “St. Francis Xavier's Discovery of Japanese Buddhism: A Chapter in the European Discovery of Buddhism (Part 1: Before the Arrival in Japan, 1547-1549).” The Eastern Buddhist 30, no. 1 (1997). Rubiés, Joan Pau. “Real and Imaginary Dialogues in the Jesuit Mission of Sixteenth-Century Japan.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 55, no. 2/3 (2012). Willis, Clive. “Captain Jorge Álvares and Father Luís Fróis S.J.: Two Early Portuguese Descriptions of Japan and the Japanese.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 22, no. 2 (2012). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first Europeans wash up on Japanese shores, bringing the musket with them, and Pinto would have you believe that he was with them. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. Cooper, Michael. The Southern Barbarians: The First Europeans in Japan. Kodansha, 1971. Lidin, Olof G. Tanegashima: The Arrival of Europe in Japan. Routledge, 2003. Perrin, Noel. Giving Up the Gun: Japan's Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879. David R. Godine, 1979. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pinto's story continues, and the Portuguese traveller makes his way across China as a prisoner, describing some its towns, cities, and countryside as he goes. His China, which he may not have actually visited himself, is dotted with the remnants of previous Portuguese actions, an envoy's gravestone and the remnants of failed embassies. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. Hart, Thomas R. “Style and Substance in the Peregrination.” Portuguese Studies 2 (1986): 49–55.  Hart, Thomas R. “True or False: Problems of the ‘Peregrination.'” Portuguese Studies 13 (1997): 35–42. Rubiés, Joan-Pau. "The Oriental Voices of Mendes Pinto, or the Traveller as Ethnologist in Portuguese India." Portuguese Studies 10 (1994): 24–43. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our Portuguese adventurer resumes his piratical ways and runs into trouble on the coast of China. He and de Faria find silver in abundance, but also shipwreck, poverty, and leeches. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. Hart, Thomas R. “Style and Substance in the Peregrination.” Portuguese Studies 2 (1986): 49–55.  Hart, Thomas R. “True or False: Problems of the ‘Peregrination.'” Portuguese Studies 13 (1997): 35–42. Rubiés, Joan-Pau. "The Oriental Voices of Mendes Pinto, or the Traveller as Ethnologist in Portuguese India." Portuguese Studies 10 (1994): 24–43. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Not a Christmas episode, but a winter one: winter in various Old English sources and winter now. Happy New Year and thanks for listening! If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Clare, John. Major Works. Oxford University Press, 2004. Gopnik, Adam. Winter: Five Windows on the Season. House of Anansi, 2011. Hostetter, Aaron K. Translation of "Andreas" - https://oldenglishpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/andreas/ Hostetter, Aaron K. Translation of "The Menologium" - https://oldenglishpoetry.camden.rutgers.edu/the-menologium/ McKennitt, Loreena. To Drive the Cold Winter Away. Quinlan Road, 1987.  Parker, Eleanor. Winters in the World: A Journey Through the Anglo-Saxon Year. Reaktion Books, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pinto and his colleagues embark on a quest for revenge against a certain pirate, and in the process indulge in quite a bit of piracy themselves along the coasts of Champa and Hainan. Ships are seized, silks are stolen, and brains are squeezed out. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Source: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fernao Mendes Pinto recovers from shipwreck and captivity, neither his first nor his last, and returns to the story of the Aceh Sultanate. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. Aceh Sultanate: State, Society, Religion and Trade (2 vols.): The Dutch Sources, 1636-1661, edited by Takeshi Ito. Brill, 2015. Göksoy, İsmail Hakkı. "Ottoman-Aceh relations as documented in Turkish sources," in Mapping the Acehnese Past, edited by R. Michael Feener, Patrick Daly, and Anthony Reed. Brill, 2011. Pinto, Paulo Jorge De Sousa. The Portuguese and the Straits of Melaka, 1575-1619: Power, Trade and Diplomacy. NUS Press, 2012. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From William of Newburgh's 12th-century chronicle, "History of English Affairs," these stories aren't really about Halloween, but they do feel a little Halloween-ish. There's no Michael Myers, zombies, or vampires, but there are strange portents in the sky, toads locked in stone, faerie banquets, green children, and a good number of demons. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Church Historians of England, translated by Joseph Stevenson. Seeley's, 1856.  Watkins, C.S.. History and the Supernatural in Medieval England. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The story of the 16th-century Portuguese traveller, writer, soldier, envoy, and so much more, takes us to Malaysia, to the city of Malacca (Melaka), and to diplomatic missions among nearby rulers. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, Second Viceroy of India, translated by Walter de Gray Birch. Hakluyt, 1875. Boxer, C.R. The Portuguese Seaborne Empire 1415-1825. Carcanet, 1991. Diffie, Bailey Wallys. Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580. University of Minnesota Press, 1977. Newitt, Malyn. A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion 1400–1668. Routledge, 2004. Paine, Lincoln. The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World. Knopf Doubleday, 2015. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pinto visits the "Land of Prester John," faces trouble on the Red Sea, and brushes up against the 1538 Siege of Diu. He takes part in combat along the Indian coast, grumbles as to his lot in life, and is whisked about by boat to Massawa, Mokha, Qeshm, Chaul, Goa, Honnavar, and Diu, before heading further east. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. Casale, Giancarlo. The Ottoman Age of Exploration. Oxford University Press, 2010. Pearson, N.M. The Portuguese in India. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fernão Mendes Pinto, respected by many of his contemporaries for the expertise knowledge which he'd gained through his travels, absolutely synonymous for others with lies and exaggerations.  From humble beginnings and vaguely unfortunate events in his early life, Pinto would find a place for himself in the 16th-century world of colonial Portugal, would write himself into it if necessary. He was, he said, “13 times a prisoner and 17 a slave.” As Rebecca Catz writes, he served as a “soldier, merchant, pirate, ambassador, missionary, doctor—the list is not complete.” He ran afoul of pirates, was shipwrecked, and robbed royal tombs. The characters in his story included a saint, an Indonesian ruler, the mother of Prester John, a Japanese lord, and someone who may or may not have been the Dalai Lama. He claimed to be among the very first Europeans to set foot in Japan, but then he claimed to be a lot of things. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. 3 Things: Article on the history of the mango and a Portuguese connection. Article about the discovery of a shipwreck, thought to have come from Vasco da Gama's armada. The story of the rhino of Lisbon. Sources: The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989. The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415–1670: A Documentary History, edited by Malyn Newitt. Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pearson, N.M. The Portuguese in India. Cambridge University Press, 2006.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With all the medieval travel featured on the podcast—the trips across the Mediterranean, the Asian Steppe, and the Indian Ocean—of course we focus on the travellers themselves, the people actually making those trips, but whether they were merchants, envoys, or otherwise, they often left people behind, family that they were separated from for years at a time. This episode is about those separations, the difficulties they caused, and what people did (or did not do) about them. We start with a letter from a merchant in Palermo, Sicily, move to one from an India trader in Aden, and finish with a pair of Rabbinic responses regarding a married couple in Egypt. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Goitein, S.D. Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders. Princeton University Press, 1973. Hofmeester, Karin. “Jewish Ethics and Women's Work in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Arab-Islamic World.” International Review of Social History 56 (2011): 141–64. Melammed, Reneé Levine. “He Said, She Said: A Woman Teacher in Twelfth-Century Cairo.” AJS Review 22, no. 1 (1997): 19–35. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode is not the story of an individual but rather of a collected body of sacred and secular writings, or rather bodies of writings. It's a story of scripture, court records, correspondence, literature, scholarly studies, and more, of human life as it has left its echoes in writing. This is the story of the Cairo Geniza, an incredible collection of historical documents, from medieval manuscripts to modern divorces. It's about how that collection, brought from the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, Egypt, has reached us, and some of the figures involved. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. 3 Things: The photography of the Scottish twins, Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson A short Cambridge University Library video on the conservation of Geniza fragments and the painstaking work involved "From Cairo to Kolkata, Traces of a Vibrant Jewish Past" by Michael David Lukas Sources: Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society, Volume III: The Family. University of California Press, 1978.  Hoffman, Adina & Cole, Peter. Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza. Shocken Books, 2011.  Jefferson, Rebecca. The Cairo Genizah and the Age of Discovery in Egypt: The History and Provenance of a Jewish Archive. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022. Jefferson, Rebecca. "Deconstructing ‘the Cairo Genizah': A Fresh Look at Genizah Manuscript Discoveries in Cairo before 1897." The Jewish Quarterly Review 108, no. 4 (2018): 422–48. Lewis, Agnes Smith. Eastern Pilgrims: The Travels of Three Ladies. Hurst and Blackett, 1870. Outhwaite, Ben. "A Hoard of Hebrew MSS," Limn issue 6, The Total Archive. Reif, Stefan. A Jewish Archive from Old Cairo: The History of Cambridge University's Genizah Collection. Routledge, 2013. Princeton Geniza Project. https://geniza.princeton.edu/en/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode takes us to medieval Egypt, to old Cairo in the 11th and 12th century, to Fustat, to the Fatimid Caliphate during the period of the First Crusade, and to the life of a medieval woman named Wuhsha al-dallala who stands out in her time for strength, independence, and wild financial success (through lending and investment in trading ventures, including one to Gujarat, India). Her history comes to us through the fragments of the Cairo Geniza, in legal documents, and in a will. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Abramson, Henry. "Wuhsha the Broker Jewish Women in the Medieval Economy." December 6th, 2012, lecture. Frenkel, Miriam. "Charity in Jewish Society of the Medieval Mediterranean World." In Charity and Giving in Monotheistic Religions, edited by Miriam Frenkel & Yaacov Lev. Walter de Gruyter, 2009. Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society, Volume III: The Family. University of California Press, 1978.  Goitein, S. D. “A Jewish Business Woman of the Eleventh Century.” The Jewish Quarterly Review 57 (1967): 225–42. Goitein, S. D. & Friedman, Mordechai Akiva. India Traders of the Middle Ages: Documents from the Cairo Geniza. Brill, 2008. Hoffman, Adina & Cole, Peter. Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza. Knopf, 2011. Zinger, Oded. Women, gender and law: Marital disputes according to documents of the Cairo Geniza. Princeton University, 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The story of the legendary first king of the Britons, complete with prophecy, a divine appearance, and fun with giants. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we step outside the usual subject matter on the podcast for a look into Shakespeare's source for the story of Macbeth. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 the island. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grettir wanders Iceland, never able to stay in one place for too long. He is cursed to fear the dark and wish for company because of it, even as that company wishes him dead. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Grettir's Saga, translated by Jesse Byock. Oxford University Press, 2009. Pavey, Sophie. "Outlawed but Not Alone: Friendships Out of Bounds in Grettir's Saga," UBC Arts One, Prof. Miranda Burgess Seminar, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Grettir's story continues. He feels the effects of Glamr's curse as his luck turns against him and he is outlawed once more. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices