Show Notes
When many people think of the Medievals, they imagine castles and knights on white horses saving damsels in distress, or perhaps superstitious, backward-looking peasants, who’s only thought is to toil in the fields and
serve their lord. It may come as a shock to discover that there were some great innovations in the Middle Ages, such as the mechanical clock, the printing press and coffee houses! But it is in construction, where we can see that the Medievals pushed their ingenuity to the limits. From bridges to cathedrals, and walls to cities, let’s travel back in time and take a look at some of these medieval feats of engineering. Welcome to Medieval Madness!
00:00 Introduction 00:56 “God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands” 02:17 Foreseeing the Flood – The Nilometer 03:45 The Earth Dragon -The Great Wall of China 04:48 A City Like No Other - Baghdad 05:55 A Wonderful Waterway– The Naviglio Grande 07:05 Piers & Arches – The Medieval Bridge 08:21 Harnessing Water – The Bazacle Dam 09:38 “A Gateway To the Divine” – Gothic Cathedrals
Narrated by James Wade Written by Lisa E Rawcliffe Edited by Jamit Productions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Medieval Madness
There are many famous mysteries from the Middle Ages that have kept us guessing. Such as the fate of King Edward II and the princes in the Tower, or the meaning of the Voynich Manuscript. Today we thought we would take you on a journey back to the Middle Ages to discover some more puzzles that have stumped the curious for centuries. Welcome to Medieval Madness.
Gertrude of Merania, Queen of Hungary, and Agnès Sorel, the first officially recognised mistress to a French king. One a ‘princess’, the other a minor aristocrat. What could these two young women born two centuries apart possibly have in common? Welcome to Medieval Madness! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thought to have been built sometime between 800 and 1100 AD, around 2,000 Erdstall tunnels can be found across central Europe, particularly in Bavaria, where there are over 700. With only one way in and one way out some of these claustrophobic tunnels have crawl spaces that are just over one foot wide. Could they be graves for the souls of the dead or have some other religious purpose? Maybe they are hideaways from raiding parties or pillaging soldiers or as some have suggested the relics of aliens who left hundreds of years ago. Let’s join the archaeologists who are examining the Erdstall tunnels to try and determine their real purpose.
Today we thought we would travel outside of the Middle Ages and into the early modern period. But why? We hear you shout when you have 1,000 years of medieval history to go at. Well, the answer is easy. The Great Fire of London was one of the greatest catastrophes ever to befall the City and was a tale just too extraordinary not to be told. Over ffour days from Sunday 2nd to Wednesday 5th September 1666, London was over powered by the largest and fastest moving fire that it had ever faced.
The Medievals are often criticised for their bad child-rearing skills, such as sending their youngsters off to be fostered and trained by other families. Many of the decisions they made as parents are considered bizarre, if not downright cruel, today. So, just what was needed to survive babyhood in the Middle Ages? Let’s travel back in time now to discover how medieval babies were fed and clothed, how precarious their lives were, and how they were lucky to have been conceived at all. Welcome to Medieval Madness.