Review of Podcasts on Medieval Texts

Matthew Gabriele over at Modern Medieval has produced a set of podcasts on medieval texts available at iTunes. Each of the podcasts is short, mostly between 3-4 minutes long, and act as a brief introduction to the texts.

For the scholar who already knows a bit about these texts, they aren't much help. For example, there wasn't a single thing about Beowulf that I didn't know pretty much off the top of my head. On the other hand, what I knew about Baha ad'Din could have been printed in 76 point font on a postage stamp, so I found the podcast on Baha ad'Din's The Rare and Excellent History of Saladin to be lacking ... I found myself wanting much more.

Gabriele isn't aiming at guys like me, though -- these are aimed at students in his classes, and in that way, the podcasts are extremely useful. Students rarely read the introductory material in the books we assign, but I suspect listening to a 4-minute podcast with a few droll comments is the kind of assignment a student might just do.

Aside from the gee-whiz element and easy convenience that might just coax students to learn this introductory material before class, I suspect the podcasts have another important element that could encourage participation in class: The names of all these figures are pronounced. Very often, I think, students are intimidated to participate in class because of uncertainty about the way the names of the characters are pronounced. How do you say Sulpicius Severus? Eusebius? Sergius? Fulcher? Ibn al'Qalanisi? His podcast on Beowulf even has an anecdote about overhearing a conversation in which a man doesn't know how to pronounce Beowulf's name even after having seen the Zemeckis film the night before! I wonder if Prof. Gabriele is finding that his students are speaking with greater confidence about these texts; perhaps we'll get a full report at the end of the semester.

What about the non-scholar, non-student? For you, these podcasts might be ideal little nuggets. We're all busy people, and can't read everything. Just a few minutes listening to a podcast on a particular medieval text might be enough to tell you whether you want to read that text yourself, or whether you'd rather skip it. After all, as Chaucer reminds us, "The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne," so you've got to use your time in the best way; Gabriele's podcasts help you do just that.

So, in short, Gabriele's podcasts: Nothing new for scholars, essential introductions for students, and bite-sized tastes for the rest of us. On Tuesday in Brit Lit I, when we start on Beowulf, I plan to direct them to his Beowulf podcast.

In closing, let me also direct you to another of Chaucer's comments, that might just as well have been applied to Prof. Gabriele.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Lots of tasty stuff here:

• Got Medieval finds a new use of the word "medieval" in the global warming debate.
• Heavenfield's Person of the Week is Aethelwald of Lindisfarne.
• Per Omnia Saecula's Weird Medieval Tribe is the Hippopodes. Oh, Manolo, can't you help these poor people?
• In the Middle has a post about controversy over repatriating the Lewis Chessmen. I suppose it's hard for us Americans to understand the importance of these kinds of issues to people who live in tiny countries like those in Europe.*
• It's not really medieval, but New Kid on the Hallway has a post about why she teaches history, spinning off from a similar literary post from Dr. Crazy. I might just respond here if I find the time.
• The Heroic Age has a nice set of links to news articles.
• FYI, I've finally finished listening to all of Matthew Gabriele's podcasts, and I'll probably post a short review when I finish grading the big stack of papers that hits my desk in 40 minutes.

*The first time I went to Europe, I landed in Vilnius and had to be driven from the airport to Klaipeda, on the Baltic coast. Having an American sense of size, I assumed it would be a long drive, and that we might go late into the night. Imagine my surprise when I discovered you can drive across the breadth of the entire country in three hours.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

I'm not sure how these morning medieval miscellanies are going to work on my new schedule -- they may come later in the morning during the Spring semester. We'll just have to see how things shake out.

• Heavenfield has two posts on Marie de France's Life of Saint Audrey.
• Among a bunch of medieval tidbits, Per Omnia Saecula leads us to the podcast for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibit, "Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture." I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, so I'm not sure how it works as a stand-alone podcast (vs. a guided tour through exhibits you can't see if you aren't listening to it at the Met). If any Wordhoarders listen and want to comment on its worth below, feel free.
• In the Middle has a post on the phrase "mock medieval" -- and now I have to read Marcus Bull's book, Thinking Medieval: An Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages.
• K.A. Laity has some images of The Simpsons Bayeaux Tapestry.
• Heroic Dreams has a post about medieval-style castles in America during the Gothic Revival.

One more thing -- I've never liked labelings posts, but as the Wordhoard has grown, it has gotten harder to find old posts you are looking for. I'm going to try to start labeling posts for your convenience.