Medieval Death Trip artwork

MDT Ep. 97: Concerning Three Witches

Medieval Death Trip

English - November 26, 2022 23:41 - 1 hour - 110 MB - ★★★★★ - 228 ratings
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This time on Medieval Death Trip, we celebrate Black Friday weekend with some black magic in our belated Halloween anniversary episode. We look at a couple of quite different medieval witches, a Cornish wildwoman from the Life of St. Samson and the famous Witch of Berkeley, as well as a report of a night-hag from the 18th century.

Today's Texts
- William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England. Edited by J.A. Giles, translated by John Sharpe and J.A. Giles, George Bell & Sons, 1895. Google Books.
- The Liber Landavensis, Llyfr Teilo, or the Ancient Register of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff. Edited by W.J. Rees, William Rees, 1840. Google Books.
- Burnett, George. Specimens of English Prose-Writers from the Earliest Times to the Close of the Seventeenth Century, with Sketches Biographical and Literary, Including an Account of Books as Well as of Their Authors; with Occasional Criticisms, etc. Vol. I, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1807. Google Books.
- Sprenger, James, and Henry Kramer. Malleus Maleficarum. Originally published 1486. Translated by Montague Summers, 1928. Sacred-Texts.com.

Audio Clips:
- The Tragedy of Macbeth. Directed by Joel Coen. Apple Studios, 2021.
- The Witch. Directed by Robert Eggers. A24, 2015.
- The Witches. Directed by Nicholas Roeg. Warner Bros., 1990.
- The Blair Witch Project. Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. Artisan Entertainment, 1993.
- Suspiria. Directed by Dario Argento. Produzioni Atlas Consorziate, 1977.
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. EMI Films, 1975.
- The Wizard of Oz. Directed by Victor Fleming. MGM, 1939.
- Clash of the Titans. Directed by Desmond Davis. United Artists, 1981.
- Young Frankenstein. Directed by Mel Brooks. 20th Century Fox, 1974.

Additional Music Credit: Ludwig van Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, composed in 1807 (the same year Burnett published his Specimens of English Prose Writers), and performed by the Musopen Symphony (CC-PD).

Chapters
00:00:00: Introduction
00:04:54: Movie witchlore montage
00:10:12: Introduction, cont.
00:14:00: Text: from the Malleus Maleficarum
00:21:10: Introduction, cont.
00:23:24: Text: from The Life of St. Samson in the Book of Llandaff
00:27:44: Commentary
00:45:36: Text: from William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum
00:51:50: Commentary
01:04:21: Text: from George Burnett's Specimens of English Prose Writers
01:09:40: Commentary
01:11:38: Mystery Word: baggaged
01:17:03: Outro