Modern Medieval: A NWMSN Postgraduate Podcast

Storytelling

This week is a casual episode. We blindly share share two of our favourite medieval short tales/legends, making connections between the two tales along the way and discovering modern medieval threads.
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Icon image: Melusine as a serpent with wings from Le Roman de Mélusine by Jean d’Arras, fifteenth-century manuscript, Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Paris, BNF, Français 24383, (1401-1500), fol. 19r.

Shrek

We are back! Having survived submitting our MA dissertations, we return to Modern Medieval: The Podcast to talk all things Shrek (2001).
So dust off those cobwebs because it's time to get Modern Medieval!

Brief Announcement!

Hey Everybody!
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If you were wondering where we have been just take a look at our icon for this week! It is an apt depiction of the two of us as we toil away at our MA dissertations due September 21.
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But have no fear! We will be returning the week of September 28 with exciting new episodes and life updates. Until next time!
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Icon image is 'Smiling Skeleton' from the Ars bene moriendi, France, 1470-1480.

Hua Mulan - Woman Warrior & Modern Role Model

Keeping in theme with our discussions about strong women defying the patriarchy and traditional forms of storytelling, in this week's episode we explore the legend of Hua Mulan, historic female warrior of the Chinese Northern & Southern Dynasties period via Disney's 1998 animated film. 
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   Icon image is 'Mulan (木蘭)' from Gathering Gems of Beauty (畫麗珠萃秀), Qing Dynasty. Currently located National Palace Museum, Taipei. 
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The documentary Meaghan reference's is the 2016 film 'The Eagle Huntress' that follows the story of Aisholpan, a 13-year-old Kazakh girl from Mongolia as she attempts to become the first female eagle hunter to compete in the eagle festival at Ulgii, Mongolia. Shan Yu's bird is Hayabusa the Falcon and gestures toward the 4,000 year old Central Asian tradition of falconry.
To read more, visit: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2015/08/21/the-4000-year-old-art-of-falconry-is-dying-out-in-mongolia-see-some-of-the-last-eagle-hunters-in-the-world/
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'The Medieval Cinderella' article by Kathryn Walton can be found at: https://www.medievalists.net/2020/08/medieval-cinderella/ 

Sacred Slayers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer & St Margaret of Antioch

What if we were to say that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a Modern Medieval text, and that Buffy is a modern day saint, where 'saint' does not necessarily imply religion or notions of faith, but rather someone who has had a lasting impact on the people, culture & society around them? Or what about Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer? Penny Dreadful's Vanessa Ives?
Intrigued?
Then tune in this week to hear co-Host Meaghan Allen discuss her future PhD research on all things Buffy, Gothic-Horror and the Medieval by examining the connections between medieval saints' lives and modern day Final Girl "victim-heroes".
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Icon image is a detail from "The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine" by Barna da Siena, about 1340. Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

What's a Patron Saint? -- An Introduction

Ever wondered what a patron saint is? Or why people celebrate them? Regardless the answer, we've got you sorted! On this week's episode we (briefly) talk you through the lives of some of our favourite saints! Tune in to learn more about Saint Rosalia, Saint Francis of Assisi, Benedict of Nursia, and Saint Walburga.
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In our introduction, we mention acoustic archaeology project led by Stanford Art Historian Bissera Pentcheva, which we discovered through the New York Times article "How a Historian Stuffed Hagia Sophia's Sound Into a Studio." The sound clip we feature is from the 'Asmatikon Cherubic Hymn' performed by the Cappella Romana, who you can find on Spotify.
You can find out more about this fascinating project here:
https://ccrma.stanford.edu/groups/iconsofsound/film/ 
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Icon image for this week is of Saint Walburga from: 'Equipment of the former side altars of the Messkirch St. Martinskirche, inactive wing: Saint Walburga as a martyr.'
Scanned in from: Anna Moraht-Fromm and Hans Westhoff: The Master of Messkirch - Research on Southwest German Painting of the 16th Century, Ulm, 1997, p. 196 left.

Sicily & The Forgotten Medieval

Sicily is far more than the birthplace of the mafia -- who'd have thought that an island so small would have so many different invasions that cultivated a truly unique, accepting culture? On today's episode, we will be contrasting medieval stereotypes by looking into the intricate and fascinating medieval history of Sicily, birthplace of none other than our wonderful Co-Host Elo Narbone! Join us in getting Modern Medieval by discovering some really fascinating facts about Sicily!
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This week's episode icon comes from the Liver ad honorem Augusti sive de rebus Siculis ("Book in honour of the Emperor, or on Sicilian affairs"), an illustrated narrative epic in latin elegiac couplets written in Palermo in 1196 by Peter of Eboli. Our image is "Scribes of and for the various populations of the Kingdom of Sicily: Greek, Saracens, Latins."
Medievalists.net Quiz: https://www.medievalists.net/2017/08/religious-order-belong-lived-medieval-times/?fbclid=IwAR0g4yph0mc70K1M_B4fw0FhVcsAzU8ij0jHqqkEQpb6NIubX9QQKBtpDhc
 

Architectural Odes to the Medieval (feat. Emilia Pearce)

Did last week's episode leave you wanting to know more about architecture, especially 'Medieval' architecture?  Have you ever walked around London and wondered what century buildings like St. Pancras or The British Library were built in and why they are built that way? If the answer is 'Yes!' to any of these questions then tune in for this week's episode where we talk to fellow Modern Medievalist Emilia Pearce, who will be sharing her thoughts on some of the most iconic London architectural sites-- St Pancras & The British Library, to name a few. Press 'Play' and have a listen for laughs and interesting Modern Medieval research!..Emilia is a History of Art Masters student at UCL, currently working on a dissertation about seventeenth-century Dutch musical paintings. Her fascination with music has spread beyond her dissertation for when she is not researching she is writing music and playing gigs with her band, Entropies. Despite her Early-Modern thesis and playing modern instruments (instead of lutes and lyres), her heart will always be Medieval!.You can find her band Entropies on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, as well as on FaceBook as Entropies Band, and Instagram @entropiesband..Jane Elliot discussing World Map Manipulation:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg_LW-0DEEU

Medieval Architecture: An Introduction (feat. Nick Mols)

Ever wondered what constitutes medieval architecture? Ever wanted to learn more about architecture so you're not that tourist who roams around cities unaware of what they're seeing? Us too! But don't worry, this week's episode sheds light on just that: we have the wonderful architectural historian Nick Mols who will chat to us about the basics of architecture, medieval & early modern architecture, revival, restoration, and so much more! An interesting, funny and educational chat awaits for those of you who will listen!
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Nick Mols specialises in the architectural treatises of Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554) in its global context from a digital art history perspective. His PhD thesis ‘Sebastiano Serlio’s Architectural Principles in Britain, 1600-1750’ shows Nick’s expertise in early modern architecture while he has published on topics ranging from Georgian architecture to digital reproducibility and the methods of analysing and emulating historic prints in journals such as the Georgian Group or Contour, and is currently working on mathematical drawing in architecture. You can find Nick on LinkedIn and Academia.

Modern Medieval Meets Disney's Sleeping Beauty (feat. Geanina Beres)

Wonder how Disney uses notions of the medieval to storytell? On this week's episode we discuss the modern medieval classic Sleeping Beauty (1959) with our very first guest and dear classmate, Geanina Beres. Throughout our conversation, we touch upon influential 'medieval' inspiration such as the 19th century Bavarian Neuschwanstein Castle or the 1950's modern design of illustrator Eyvind Earle. 
 
You can find our guest Geanina Beres at: @gean.vrtg on Instagram and @GeaninaBeres for Twitter. 
 
For further reading, check out: "Where Happily Ever After Happens Every Day’: The Medievalisms of Disney’s Princesses" by Clare Bradford in Tison Pugh & Susan Aronstein's book The Disney Middle Ages: A Fairy-Tale and Fantasy Past.