Gone Medieval

Sweyn Forkbeard was the first Viking King of England, however you'd be forgiven for potentially forgetting who he was given he was only King for five short weeks, being declared King on Christmas Day ...

20 Feb 202439min

Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire was an institution of national significance from the late seventh century until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539. It was home to eminent writers and had strong ...

15 Feb 202427min

In the early 12th century, when England was suffering wave after wave of Viking invasions, many wondered how God could allow their kingdom to be ravaged by pagans? The Archbishop of York Wulfstan had ...

12 Feb 202429min

The Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 to 565, Justinian was a ruler who infused even the most mundane tasks with spiritual and religious significance. The challenges he faced - climate change, battles ov...

8 Feb 202440min

When it comes to Japan in the Middle Ages, we think mostly of stories of the Shogun, samurai and ninjas. But for a society dominated by the court and military elite, much was dependent on the labour o...

5 Feb 202441min

Geoffrey Chaucer is perhaps medieval England’s most famous writer and poet. Now a new exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford is setting out to give him greater breadth and depth than just The Ca...

1 Feb 202437min

By the time the Black Death subsided, between 75 and 200 million people in Afro-Eurasia were dead, entire towns and cities had collapsed, and the earth’s temperature cooled.In today’s episode of Gone ...

29 Jan 202431min

Over the previous three episodes in our special series, Gone Medieval has taken a close look at the three main contenders for the throne of England in 1066. From Harold Godwinson who sat on it, to Har...

25 Jan 202425min