In this episode, I’m joined by Longguo Li (Associate Professor at Peking University) and Yin Liu (Assistant Professor at Zhejiang University) to talk about how early medieval European history is studied in China today. We discuss Longguo’s rece

Episode 11: al-Andalus with Bruna Soravia (Italy)

May 24th, 2022 20m 44s

How did government actually work in al-Andalus? In this episode, I discuss the kitaba, or 'art of the secretary', with Bruna Soravia. What did these secretaries (kuttab) do for rulers in eleventh-century Muslim Iberia? And how has the historiog

Episode 10: state formation in north-western Iberia with Alvaro Carvajal (Spain)

Apr 25th, 2022 22m 32s

Northwestern Iberia is renowned amongst medievalists for its wealth of charters. In this episode, I talk to Alvaro Carvajal Castro about how historians are using these documents in concert with archaeology to investigate social and political ch

Episode 9: monasticism with Steven Vanderputten (Belgium)

Apr 20th, 2022 31m 59s

What does the eleventh century mean for monastic history? In this podcast, I'm joined by Professor Steven Vanderputten to talk about his latest research on monastic leadership and collaboration around the year 1000.Works mentioned in the podcas

Episode 8: simony with Lioba Geis (Germany)

Mar 7th, 2022 23m 23s

Simony (the illicit purchase of church office) was a major issue in 11th-century Europe. In this episode, I talk with Dr Lioba Geis about her "Habilitation" research into the nature and origins of simony, and what (if anything) changed in the 1

Episode 7: environmental history with Ellen Arnold (Norway)

Feb 10th, 2022 25m 9s

What can we learn about perceptions of nature c. 1100 from the work of the canon Lambert of St-Omer? In this podcast I'm joined by the environmental historian Ellen Arnold (University of Stavanger, Norway) to discuss Lambert's great Liber Flori

Episode 6: 11th-c. Byzantium with Koray Durak (Turkey)

Feb 8th, 2022 43m 24s

The 11th century is surely the most exciting of Byzantium's long history. In this podcast, I'm joined by Koray Durak, Associate Professor at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, to discuss the Macedonian dynasty, international trade, the impact of

Episode 5: liturgy and kingship with Pawel Figurski (Poland)

Jan 30th, 2022 22m 47s

Did kingship become 'desacralised' during the 11th century in the Latin West? In this episode I discuss the changing liturgy of kingship with Pawel Figurski (Polish Academy of Sciences).References to works mentioned in the podcastP. Figurski, '

Episode 4 - 11th-c. Bohemia with David Kalhous (Czech Republic)

Dec 13th, 2021 34m 8s

A conversation with David Kalhous (Brno) about the history of 11th-century Bohemia.Image: a coin of King Vladislaus II, depicting Wenceslaus and the Holy Lance (Berlin, SMB)Books mentioned in the podcast:Cosmas of Prague: The Chronicle of the C

Episode 3 - in conversation with Monica Green (USA)

Nov 29th, 2021 47m 5s

In this podcast, I talk with Monica Green about the great eleventh-century medical translator Constantine the African.Reading mentioned in or relevant to the conversation:Monica H. Green, 'Medical Books', in The European book in the twelfth cen

Episode 2 - in conversation with Maria-Elena Cortese (Italy)

Nov 11th, 2021 45m 12s

In this podcast, I discuss recent Italian approaches to the 11th century with Professor Maria-Elena Cortese (Genoa).Works and projects mentioned in the podcast:Maria-Elena Cortese, L’aristocrazia toscana. Sette secoli (VI-XII), Spoleto 2017Carl

Episode 1: in conversation with RI Moore (UK)

Oct 3rd, 2021 22m 31s

In this podcast, the first in the series, I discuss with Professor RI Moore his classic article, 'The Eleventh Century in Eurasian History: A Comparative Approach to the Convergence and Divergence of Medieval Civilizations’, Journal of Medieval

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