Athelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, was a great king who united what was once a collection of petty Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into one vast English domains. Having brought together rival polities with a history of fractious relations into a unified whole, Athelstan needed to centralise government if he was going to keep the crown on his head and hold England together. Anglo-Saxon rulers had often consulted their senior nobles and clergy in councils. With Athelstan’s rule came the emergence of a national form of this council, the Witan, an early precursor to Parliament, and one of the first forms of English government.

In this episode of Gone Medieval - the final part of our mini-series on the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England - Matt Lewis talks to Dr. Levi Roach about the Witan, and whether it can be considered to be the first form of English governance. 

This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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The huge peninsula of what we today call Italy saw waves of invasions and sweeping changes over the course of the Medieval period, with huge differences between, say, Milan in the north stretching to Sicily in the south. They spoke different languages, had different rulers, and were settled by very different groups of people. 

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega tries to make sense of Italy’s complex history in the Middle Ages with Ross King, critically-acclaimed author of the new book The Shortest History of Italy, to sort out the Visigoths from the Vandals and the Papal States from Pisa. 

This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Six Plantagenet kings ruled between 1199 and 1399 - two centuries that witnessed civil war, deposition, the murder of kings and the ruthless execution of rebel lords. There was also international warfare, a devastating national pandemic, economic crisis and the first major peasant uprising in our history. Yet those two centuries and six kings were the blocks upon which the English nation was built.

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Dr. Caroline Burt and Richard Partington, about the period as recounted in their acclaimed new book, Arise, England: Six Kings and the Making of the English State.

This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In Gone Medieval’s special series exploring some of Anglo-Saxon Britain’s most influential kingdoms, we reach Wessex - the last kingdom left to stand against the Great Heathen Army. Under the command of Alfred the Great, Wessex achieved what no other kingdom could before it: victory against the Vikings.

In this episode, Eleanor Janega is joined by Dr. Rob Gallagher, a historian of early medieval Britain, to explore the key figures of the Wessex ascendency and the legacy the kingdom left behind.

This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In Gone Medieval’s special series examining some of Anglo-Saxon Britain’s most significant kingdoms, we arrive at the kingdom of Mercia, which once enjoyed supremacy over not only Wessex but all of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. At its peak, Mercia controlled what is now Birmingham and London, but it ceased to be a kingdom when Alfred the Great came to power. But its history did not end there. 

In this episode, Matt Lewis speaks to Annie Whitehead, author of Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom, to discover the important role the Mercians - including such renowned characters as Penda, Offa and Lady Godiva - played in the forging of the English nation.

This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Accounts of the Crusades were usually commissioned by wealthy and influential people about themselves, to make their piety and righteousness known to others. But what about the less glamorous people who went on Crusades? And what was life like when they did so? 

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega finds out about ordinary crusaders and their experiences from Dr. Simon Thomas Parsons.

This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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From Hugh Capet to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Capetian dynasty considered itself divinely chosen to fulfil a great destiny. From an insecure foothold around Paris, the Capetians built a nation that stretched from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and from the Rhône to the Pyrenees, founding practices and institutions that endured until the French Revolution. 

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis explores the Capetians’ dramatic rule and legacy with Professor Justine Firnhaber-Baker, author of House of Lilies: The Dynasty that Made Medieval France.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In a time of in-fighting and tribal warfare, what did it take to form the politically dominant, culturally rich and geographically vast kingdoms that led to the creation of England?

This month, over four episodes of Gone Medieval, we explore the rise and fall of the key kingdoms of the Heptarchy: Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex, and the formation of an Anglo-Saxon government, the Witan.

This week Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by historian, archaeologist and author Max Adams to delve into the story of the kingdom of Northumbria.

This episode was edited and mixed by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In medieval times, Britain was criss-crossed by pilgrim routes, that took in such world-famous sites as Canterbury and Lindisfarne as well as out-of-the-way locations along paths not so widely travelled. But why did people undergo pilgrimage? What were its benefits? And why did some send people in their honour?

In this episode of Gone Medieval, first released in September 2021, Matt Lewis is joined by architectural historian Dr. Emma Wells as they discuss the practice that some might consider the beginning of tourism.

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Prostitutes were everywhere in the streets and neighbourhoods of medieval cities. In one and the same building, there might be a school upstairs, while downstairs prostitutes plied their nefarious trade. But how did such a situation come to pass? And how could such a world exist within the theoretical holy confines of medieval Christendom? 

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined Dr. Kate Lister, host of our sister podcast Betwixt the Sheets, to find out more about medieval sex work and the complex economic and social realities that existed alongside the best intentions of a religious society.

This episode was edited by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

**WARNING: This episode contains explicit language and sexual content**

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One of the pivotal figures in Medieval history, King Henry II centralised royal power, instituted legal reforms and established common law. His marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine expanded his influence, as he became the ruler of a far-reaching European empire. But his demise was just as dramatic as his ascendancy.

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis tells the story of Henry’s rise to power and his fall brought about by his catastrophic relationship with Thomas Becket and his feud with his sons, including the future Richard the Lionheart and King John.

This episode was edited and mixed by Ella Blaxill and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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