
How to design your medieval coat of arms
Explicit content warning
02/24/24 • 91 min
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Anyone who's anyone in the Middle Ages needs their own coat of arms, but it's not as simple as just throwing some snazzy shapes and cool animals on a shield and calling it a day. Join Olivia and Aran as they walk you through how to make your very own authentically (or inauthentically) medieval coat of arms, as well as a little bit of background on how and why these cool emblems became a quintessential part of medieval visual communication. Also discussed are short king representation, why leopards are bastards, and the glory of Peterhead FC.
For more on some of what we discuss, check out:
- An English translation of John Trevor's heraldic treatise
- Geoffrey Chaucer's testimony in favour of Sir Richard Scrope
- Heraldry, Ancient and Modern by Charles Boutell
Anyone who's anyone in the Middle Ages needs their own coat of arms, but it's not as simple as just throwing some snazzy shapes and cool animals on a shield and calling it a day. Join Olivia and Aran as they walk you through how to make your very own authentically (or inauthentically) medieval coat of arms, as well as a little bit of background on how and why these cool emblems became a quintessential part of medieval visual communication. Also discussed are short king representation, why leopards are bastards, and the glory of Peterhead FC.
For more on some of what we discuss, check out:
- An English translation of John Trevor's heraldic treatise
- Geoffrey Chaucer's testimony in favour of Sir Richard Scrope
- Heraldry, Ancient and Modern by Charles Boutell
Previous Episode

Medieval Feminism
Weird Medieval Guys is back! And it's gone woke!!!!!!
We all know medieval women didn't have it so good. Endlessly discriminated against in law, demeaned in culture and ignored in the histories. So, did anyone take issue with that? Turns out, yes! This week Olivia and Aran take you through the cultural milieu that produced Christine de Pizan, the poet / political scientist / gender polemnicist who revolutionized fourteenth-century debate and was (maybe?) the world's first feminist.
Also discussed: the origins of the wage gap, the medieval Yoko Ono, and whether losers will listen to this episode before getting mad about it on the internet!
Further reading:
Joan Kelly, "Early Feminist Theory and the "Querelle des Femmes", 1400-1789" https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173479
Fiona Tolhurst, "Geoffrey and Gender: the Works of Geoffrey of Monmouth as Medieval “Feminism”", in A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth, eds. Georgia Henley and Joshua Byron Smith https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.1163/j.ctv2gjwzx0.20.pdf?refreqid=fastly-default%3Ab0f9ab96223431831c1834f0de4f492d&ab_segments=0%2FSYC-7052%2Fcontrol&origin=&initiator=search-results&acceptTC=1
An English translation of Christine de Pizan's Book of the City of Ladies https://www.docdroid.net/file/download/lFahHSo/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies-by-christine-de-pizan-earl-jeffrey-richards-transl-z-liborg-pdf.pdf
Next Episode

Weird medieval animal facts
Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo...
Spring is just around the corner in the northern hemisphere, so it's time to learn some animal facts! Turns out, medieval people had all sorts of strange beliefs about wildlife both real and imagined. So, join Olivia, Aran, and beloved naturalist Sir David Attenborough* as they take you to meet fruit-rustling hedgehogs, homicidal pelicans, immortal eagles, and the most tender lovers in the animal kingdom: bears.
Also discussed: the existential terror of Animorphs, CS Lewis' creative process, and which animals are Jesus.
- An excellent English translation of a Latin bestiary https://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/PVFA6XOOSG2448C
- The Ashmole Bestiary https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/faeff7fb-f8a7-44b5-95ed-cff9a9ffd198/
- The Northumberland Bestiary https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/109AX3
*Not really.
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