From long-lost Viking ships to kings buried in unexpected places; from murders and power politics, to myths, religion, the lives of ordinary people: Gone Medieval is History Hit’s podcast dedicated to the middle ages, in Europe and far beyond.
New episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
A podcast by History Hit, the world's best history channel and creators of award-winning podcasts Dan Snow's History Hit, The Ancients, and Betwixt the Sheets.
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Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
Royal Witch: Eleanor Cobham with Philippa Gregory
#22 trending · History
In 1441, one of England's most powerful women was forced to walk barefoot through London's streets as a convicted sorceress. What drove Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Glouces
Oct 27 58 min
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt is remembered as the ultimate David versus Goliath victory, where King Henry V’s small, exhausted army unleashed a devastating "hailstorm of arrow
Oct 23 1 h 08 min
Vikings vs. Pagans
Forget everything you know about the Vikings. Matt Lewis and Thomas Williams explore the forgotten era when Scandinavian warriors abandoned their pagan roots to become de
Oct 20 42 min
How to Win a Medieval Tournament
Step onto the dusty and dangerous fields of the medieval tournament with the only knightly teammates worth having: Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis *sound trumpets*
The
Oct 16 48 min
The Heretic’s Handbag: Folk Magic and Survival in Medieval France
What can the contents of a medieval French woman’s handbag tell us about her life, her beliefs and the strange world she inhabited?
When she was captured by the Inquisit
Oct 13 1 h 04 min
Did Alfred Burn the Cakes? & Other Medieval Myths
Join Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega for a rigorous session of medieval myth-busting! Did William Wallace really shoot lightning from his backside? Did Pope Gregory IX
Oct 9 54 min
Inside the Peasants Revolt
In 1381, a highly organised civilian army marched on London, demanding an end to generations of unfairness. Matt Lewis and author A.K. Blakemore explore the human stories
Oct 6 54 min
The Story of 1066
Is 1066 just the Battle of Hastings? Far from it. The war for the English crown was a year-long apocalypse. Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega dissect history's ultimate s
Oct 2 59 min
How to Make the Bayeux Tapestry
What connects the Bayeux Tapestry and a Cheshire silk-producing town?
Dr. Eleanor Janega makes a special visit to Macclesfield to uncover its medieval past as a royal bo
Sep 29 53 min
Richard II & Richard III: Shakespeare's Version
Did Shakespeare shape the way we remember England's Plantagenet kings more than history itself? How much of his plays Richard II and Richard III are fact, fiction, or Tud
Sep 25 56 min
Henry IV & Henry V: Shakespeare's Version
Did Shakespeare teach us about England's greatest kings, or fabricate its greatest historical myths? How much of what you think you know about Henry IV and Henry V is act
Sep 22 1 h 00 min
Peasants' Revolt on Film: The Uprising Reviewed
How accurate is Hollywood's take on the Peasants' Revolt? It is 1381, and England is at breaking point. A civilian army of thousands stormed the capital, making demands o
Sep 18 1 h 02 min
The Invention of Hell
"All hope, abandon ye who enter here." These words from Dante’s Divine Comedy may shape our modern vision of hell, but did you know that the Bible says surprisingly littl
Sep 15 54 min
Sword in the Stone: Origins of Arthurian Legends
Who first imagined King Arthur pulling a shining blade from solid rock? What do extraordinary Bronze Age discoveries reveal about the legend's deeper roots?
Matt Lewis i
Sep 11 51 min
How to Read Runes
**Contains very strong language/Tavern talk**
Were runes really magical symbols used by Viking sorcerers? Or were they the everyday handwriting of merchants, lovers, pil
Sep 8 52 min
Battle of Grunwald: Defeat of the Teutonic Knights
In July 1410, the formidable Teutonic Knights, rapacious crusaders clad in heavy plate armour, faced a massive Polish-Lithuanian alliance. After an insulting taunt involv
Sep 4 57 min
The King Who Created Medieval Bohemia
In 12th-century Bohemia, every royal funeral sparked a civil war. Dr. Eleanor Janega discovers how Přemysl Otakar I survived backstabbing brothers, imperial betrayals, an
Sep 1 51 min
Tolkien: Middle Earth and the Middle Ages
From where did J.R.R. Tolkien get his ideas for the world of Middle Earth?
For millions of readers, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are more than just fantasy ficti
Aug 28 36 min
Extinct Beasts of Medieval Britain
Why have wolves often been the villains of British history? What happened to them and some of the other remarkable creatures that once roamed medieval Britain?
Dr. Elean
Aug 25 1 h 03 min
Edgar Ætheling: The King Who Never Was
What if you were proclaimed King of England but never sat on the throne? In 1066, Edgar Ætheling possessed the strongest bloodline claim to the English crown, yet this An
Aug 21 1 h 02 min
Chart trend
Position in the History chart (US), last 90 days.
#1#16#31JulAugSepOct
#10
all-time peak
2
days in the top 10 since Nov 2024
Chart positions
Where Gone Medieval ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 29, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
I got my bachelor’s degree in Post-Norman Medieval English History 20 years ago but never really used it. I absolutely love this podcast. It’s engaging and honest, and the hosts and guests are all brilliant. It does regularly leave me wishing I would’ve gone to grad-school though.
Mstepheng · Sep 2026
Love, love, love this show - where our hosts and guests are unabashedly geeking out about history. Their passion and enthusiasm for their work is so fun to listen to and I learn so much!
Cassandra Louise · Sep 2026
I understand and sympathize with the desire of historians to popularize events that otherwise might seem stuffy and boring, but this podcast overdoes it to the point of annoyance. The facts and the narrative thread get lost amid self-satisfied in-jokes and anachronistic vernacular descriptions. I suspect one problem is that the participants are generally under-prepared and thus have to improvise. As a scholar myself, I can’t stand that when I hear it at an academic conference, and I can’t stand it here either.
GSL in NYC · Jul 2026
She is one of the best historians to listen to in order to learn something new and be entertained at the same time. She and Dr. Kate Lister need to do more podcasts together.
BriGuyRN · Jul 2026
This series is like two different podcasts. The shows hosted by Matt Lewis are usually awesome. But the ones hosted by Eleanor Janega are horrible. The topics are interesting, and the guests are interesting, but her presentation and tone and approach are just so appalling that I can hardly stand to listen to her. She is obviously intelligent, but just really does not present well at all. She has this jokey, laughing style that can charitably be described as adolescent. The recent episode on the murder of Thomas Beckett is an example. It is so interesting to look behind the general mythology of the murder — that perhaps Beckett knew the murder was coming, and was preparing himself for it, in the hope of being sainted. But her snorting laughter about his wearing a hairshirt and general “hoo haw, this is just hilariously funny stuff” attitude toward a serious subject are so offensive. Even if it occurred in the long distant past, the subject is still one of violence and murder. Would we countenance this presentation for a description of a recent murder? I had to stop listening. Really wish the producers would pay attention to the generally negative comments about Dr. Janega and how the subject matter in this show is being presented. Her style is perhaps suitable to an audience of teenagers — but is that really the audience here? For the record, I am an American woman, and do not object to an American accent or the fact that Dr. Janega is a woman. I would feel the same about an English male presenter.
RBDC111 · Dec 2024
Listened to most of the Pope and the Emperor episode and it was not great. The way the investiture crisis was discussed weirdly veered between assuming one knows nothing or next to nothing about the topic and then acting like we can just hit some highlights and giggle about them. I learned about the story from listening to the British History Podcast where some of the key events were discussed as Pope Gregory, his reforms and his conflict with Henry intersected with William the Conqueror’s actions on the continent. I was hoping to get more detail on this podcast but honestly think I had gotten more detail on BHP. My criticism would be that first we have to catch everyone up on who the main protagonists, as it were, are, what their bullet point histories were and what they did. But the episode confusingly threw in dates 2/3rds of the way in, mentioned key elements off handedly and was just a jumbled mess.
Vovik24a · Jul 2024
We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.
Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of Gone Medieval, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.
