Gone Medieval - Medieval Origins of Coronations

Episode Date: April 1, 2023

A coronation is a moment of history packed with symbolism and meaning, and throughout April 2023 Gone Medieval will be your perfect historical companion to the coronation of King Charles III.In the first of four special episodes, Matt Lewis traces certain elements of the coronation ceremony back to their medieval origins, looking back to the earliest English coronation records. This episode was mixed and produced by Rob Weinberg.If you’re enjoying this podcast and are looking for more fascinating Medieval content then subscribe to our Medieval Monday newsletter here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From long-loss Viking ships and kings buried in unexpected places to tales of murder, power, faith, and the lives of ordinary people across medieval Europe and beyond. Join me, Matt Lewis, Dr. Eleanor Jarniger, and some of the world's leading historians as we bring history's most fascinating stories to life, only on history hit. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries

with a brand-new release every week exploring everything from the ancient world, to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval. I'm Matt Lewis. Coronations in the United Kingdom are still a big deal. How far back can the traditions and the ceremonies we witness as part of a modern coronation be traced? I mean, it's gone medieval, so that narrows the window. And I'm always going to say that everything is medieval. But what I'd like to do today is to take a look at the surviving records that we

have of coronations in medieval England in particular to see the emergence of the service used today and to try and understand some of the more archaic-looking moments. So here's your starter for 10, and to be clear, that's 10 I know my medieval history points valuable only for bragging rights. When do you think is the earliest surviving record of a king being consecrated in Britain? If it helps, it relates to the accession of kids. King Aden of Dalriada, which covered Western Scotland and northeastern Ireland. The ceremony was conducted by St Colomber in his pre-Saint days. We know the story because it was recorded later as a reference to a miracle.

St. Columba had favoured Aidan's brother in the succession, but an angel visited him and told him to help Aidan become king. Columba grumbled at this, and the angel hit him with a scourge that left the livid mark that scarred Columba for the rest of his life. And the angel threatened to hit him again if he didn't do as he was told. After three nights of visits, Colomber gave in, went to the island of Iona and made Aden king. This account ends by explaining that Colomber prophesied the future for Aidan's descendants and then says, and laying his hand upon his head, he consecrated and blessed him. That last bit is a tiny passage, but is the first record of the consecration of a king in Britain,

the act of anointing them that brings a religious, spiritual transformation into the ceremony. So, any idea when it was? Five points if you're in the sixth century? A full ten points if you said five seventy-four. One of the core elements of the current coronation has been recorded for almost 1,500 years. The next document that we can use to trace the evolution of the coronation ceremony is the earliest known order of service for a coronation.

It isn't clear which king this was drawn up for or whether it was meant to be a more general document. So I'm offering five points if you can get the right century and a bonus five if you can tell me which city's library it can be found in. While you get your answers sorted, here are the words it says, should be spoken after the initial prayers and lessons. In his days, let justice and equity arise. Let him be a help to his friends, to his enemies a hindrance,

a comfort to the lowly, to the exalted, a reproof. Let him be a teacher to the rich, a lover of the poor, let him grant quiet to strangers and peace and rest to his own people, and ruling each one according to his power with gentle. diligently learn to know himself, that being imbued with the spirit of godly sorrow, he may show to the whole people a pattern of life well-pleasing to thee, and going with the flock committed to his charge along the road of truth, may to the full obtain wealth and abundance,

and receive likewise health for his soul and strength for his body. I quite like that. This order also contains instructions for an anthem to be sung. It might sound familiar and with good reason. At this coronation, Zadok the Priest was to be sung. Today, that's Handel's stunning piece of music. You might well recognise it from the Champions League, if not from a coronation. So, how long do you think Zadok the Priest has been recorded as part of the ceremony?

Five points, if you said the 9th century. It's an anthem that's been changed, but which has been heard at coronations for about 1,200 years. Kat has a fantastic episode coming for you on the coronation regalia, so I'm not going to go into that here. But the ceremony refers to the king being given a staff and a helmet rather than a crown, which is placed on his head by the bishops. It also describes the core parts of a monarch's duty at the end, something we'll see emerging more fully in later centuries. When the coronation oath becomes a core part of the service, it harks back to the Anglo-Saxon

principles outlined in the 9th century. These stated, it is the duty of a king, newly ordained and enthroned, to enjoin on the Christian people subject to him, these three precepts. First, that the Church of God and all the Christian people preserve true peace at all times. Secondly, that he forbid rapacity and all iniquities to all degrees. Thirdly, that in all judgments he enjoin equity and mercy, that therefore the clement and merciful God may grant us his mercy. In principle, that all sounds good. Be fair and just to all.

We'll return to the coronation oath and charters in a bit. Right. those second five points, where was this manuscript found? If you're in England, no points I'm afraid. It's in Rouen, but details an English coronation ceremony of the 9th century. The next coronation order that survives comes from before the conquest still, and it's been suggested that this document clearly created in England then spread to the continent and formed the foundation of both French and Italian coronation ceremonies. Dark Age is My Foot. It's been suggested that this might have been prepared for Ethel Red the second, the unready, but there's no real

evidence to connect it specifically to his coronation. All we know for certain is that it dates from the 11th century. This service begins with the three promises above, no longer read out to the king at the end, but given by him as a promise to his people before he is crowned. The king is to be consecrated. Then Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet appear again as anthems. The king is given a ring girded with a sword, crowned, apparently now with a crown rather than a helmet, and presented with a scepter followed by the rod. Five points in this round, if you can tell me what went wrong at Willie and the Conqueror's Coronation

and another five, if you can tell me the name of the Anglo-Saxon Council. They are connected, a promise. This 11th century coronation order may well have been used for the two coronations in 1066 of Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror. Harold was crowned at the newly consecrated Westminster Abbey on the 6th of January, the day after Edward the confessor's death, and on the same day as the old king's funeral in the abbey that he'd rebuilt. Classy. William's coronation on Christmas Day 1066 didn't go well and part of the reason for that

is to do with an old Anglo-Saxon coronation tradition that William hadn't got rid of. Dukes of Normandy weren't kings, they didn't do coronations so when William conquered England he had to rely on the old establishment to provide him with this key element of becoming a king. They in turn probably followed tradition and used a coronation order that they knew. In Anglo-Saxon England, there was no automatic right of succession for the oldest son of a king. The term etheling meant something like throneworthy and is an equivalent of the prince in later times. A king was elected from the pool of throneworthy candidates that might include the old king's sons, but also his brothers and nephews.

Here comes your chance for five points. The body that elected the king was the Anglo-Saxon council, called the Wittenden-Germott, or the Witten for short, not the Wisengumot in Harry Potter. After the Battle of Hastings, the Wittan had elected Edgar Etheling as the next king, but William proved too powerful to make that stick. Because William used the established Anglo-Saxon coronation ceremony, it retained an elective element, and it still does to this day. William certainly didn't consider himself an elected monarch and he would sweep away the Anglo-Saxon structures of England in the years that followed 1066, yet somehow this remained. The other five points are yours if you knew that William the Conqueror's coronation

saw London set on fire because his guards thought a riot had broken out inside Westminster Abbey. This happened because of this nod to the elective element of English kingship. The coronation was performed by Aildred, Archbishop of York, supported by the Norman, Geoffrey Bishop of Coutons. As the order required, the crowd within Westminster Abbey were asked whether they accepted William as their king. The Normans shouted their approval, and, not to be outdone, the Anglo-Saxon lords competed to be louder and more enthusiastic.

The monk, Orderick Fitalis, noted that both groups, gladly shouted out with one voice, if not in one language. The guards outside mistook the cacophony for trouble within. Auderick recorded that, hearing the tumult of the joyful crowd in the church and the harsh accents of the foreign tongue, they imagined some treachery was afoot. Their slightly odd response was to set the surrounding buildings on fire. It spread with frightening speed around the timber homes, and Westminster was engulfed in smoke and flames.

The Abbey doors burst open and Anglo-Saxon and Norman Lords poured out, some to help fight the fire, and some, Aldrich noted, to loot what they could in the chaos. Inside, only William and the clergymen remain. The conqueror insisted they complete the ceremony, though Ordrick says William was trembling from head to foot as they did so. It was hardly a great start for a new dynasty. The point is that,

asking for the acceptance of those invited to the coronation remained a key element at the opening of the ceremony, and it has ever since. It's little more than an illusion now, the election illusion, but it happened at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, and at the start of King Charles the 3rds, you'll be able to see the Archbishop of Canterbury ask on all sides of the abbey, if those gathered consent to him becoming king. This election illusion is a tangible connection to an Anglo-Saxon world largely swept away almost a millennium ago. Another coronation order survives from the 12th century. This one is sometimes attributed to Henry I's coronation,

but again without any real evidence. The pattern is becoming clear by now. The king swears to observe the three promises in place since the 9th century to protect the church, to abolish evil laws and to rule with equity and mercy. Then, one of the bishops asks those gathered whether they'll accept the person described as the king-elect to be their ruler. It also describes the required affirmation response for the crowd. The king is then anointed with holy oil on his hands and then on his head, chest, shoulders and both elbows. He's then given the sword to defend his realm, bracelets of sincerity, a pall, a gown or mantle similar to

were bishops and is then crowned. Next, the king receives the ring, the scepter and the rod. After this, the clergy and nobility are to give homage to the king. It's all starting to sound very familiar, isn't it? Henry I's coronation is interesting, even if this document doesn't specifically relate to it. So five points if you can tell me who Henry I married as his first wife, and five more for naming his only legitimate daughter. Henry was the the youngest son of William the Conqueror. His oldest brother Robert was Duke of Normandy. The next became William the 2nd of England, known as William Rufus. When Rufus died in a hunting accident, or was it? In 1100, Robert should have become king as he'd agreed with William. However,

Robert was away on crusade, so Henry swooped in and had himself crowned within 10 days of his brother's death. Henry made a great deal of being the first of the conqueror's sons to have been born in England. He was so keen to reinforce his Englishness and to forge a link to an Anglo-Saxon past some must have still longed for that he married, and Five Points, if you got it, Matilda of Scotland.

Matilda's mother was a member of the House of Wessex and Matilda was the great-granddaughter of King Edmund II who was also known as Edmund Ironside and was the son of Ethel Red the Unready. The point was that she gave, some Anglo-Saxon English legitimacy to Henry's claim to be king. Henry's is the first recorded coronation charter in 1100. He offered it to reinforce his claim and his position. It mirrors the three

key promises a king was required to make before their coronation, and it includes the words, know that by the mercy of God and by the common council of the barons of England, I have been crowned king of this realm. And because the king, the king of this realm, and because the kingdom has been oppressed by unjust exactions, being moved by reverence towards God, and by the love I bear you all, I make free the Church of God. I abolish all the evil customs by which the Kingdom of England has been unjustly oppressed. This charter was known to the barons during King John's reign and appears to have influenced the formation of Magna Carta in 1215. These charters became increasingly important as part of the contract between king and country, between ruler and rule.

When Henry I died in 1135, his succession plans fell apart. He had wanted his only legitimate daughter, five more points if you got Empress Matilda to succeed him. But instead, his nephew, King Stephen, became king. The chronicles are clear that this was in no small part because, Stephen made a deal with London that included issuing a coronation charter that obliged him to protect the city. I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and on my podcast, not just the Tudors from History Hit, I try to make sense of everything that baffled our early modern ancestors. Like, what do you do with your waist? If you put your dung hill up against your neighbour's wall, you're going to cause

rising dump. Would Henry the 8th ever consider executing his wife, the Queen of England, Anne Boleyn. I'm not even sure if the Billins took it seriously because why would they have any reason to suspect Henry the 8th would really get rid of his queen? And why do men grow beards? During puberty, the male body heats up and a smoke rises in the body,

pushes out the hair in the face. So the beard is actually a form of excrement. In other words, not just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors. Twice a week every week. follow on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The next document covers the first fully documented coronation in English history. Five points are yours if you can guess which king it relates to.

And five bonus points if you know the two bishops who are detailed as being at the left and right hand of the king and who still retain those positions today. The account of this coronation is the first to describe the event in detail rather than being an order of service. It comes from Roger of Howden, though it appears elsewhere too, and it lists the people an order of the procession to Westminster Abbey and describes who carries which item of regalia. The first set of five points are yours,

if you guessed that this was the coronation of King Richard I in 1189. Which bishops do you think get a key position? Two points if you got the bishop of Durham. Two points. if you said the Bishop of Batham Wells and take all five points if you got them both. The Bishop of Durham traditionally stands on the monarch's right side and the Bishop of Bath and Wells on their left. That's been the case since at least 1189.

So we're witnessing over 800 years of tradition here too. One interesting aspect of the account is that Richard is described as the Duke before he's anointed, meaning Duke of Normandy. This retains that nod to the elective element of a coronation. Richard is not king until he's elected and then anointed. The coronation makes him into a king, not the death of his predecessor. The law would be changed to bridge that gap in the reign of Henry III, so that when he died in 1272, his oldest son, Edward I, succeeded immediately.

Interregnums, with no king's peace to be kept, had proven destitute. stabilising and dangerous. Howden records that when the Duke came to the altar, he swore in the presence of the archbishops, bishops, clergy and people on his knees before the altar and the most holy gospels laid thereon and the relics of many saints that he would keep peace, honour and duty towards God and Holy Church, and her customs all the days of his life. Secondly, He swore that he would exercise right justice and equity among the people committed to his charge. Thirdly, he swore that he would annul any evil laws and customs that might have been introduced into the realm and make good laws and keep them without fraud or evil intent.

This is still the core promise kings had to make since at least the 9th century. Howden then describes the anointing. He says Richard was stripped except for his shirt and breeches, and his shirt was torn apart at the shoulders. Later coronations would see the use of a specially created shirt, with ties in the spots to be anointed that were undone and then neatly re-tied. In 1189, Richard's shirt was simply torn open. The narrative goes on to say that Richard was anointed on the head, chest and arms

to signify glory, courage and knowledge. Richard's head was then covered with a linen cloth and a coiff that was to be kept on for a week, after which it would be ceremonially removed and his head washed. One part of the ceremony we haven't mentioned too much yet is the homage given to the monarch after they were crowned. This symbolises the fact that once the coronation has been completed, they're in charge and are owed allegiance by everyone.

Richard's coronation is interesting because Houdon notes that he received homage from his bishops and barons the second day after his coronation, rather than at the end of the ceremony or at the coronation feast immediately afterwards. Homage was the confirmation of loyalty and service owed to a ruler. It usually required the person giving homage to kneel before the king with their hands pressed together as if in prayer. The monarch would enclose the vassal's hands in their own while the oath was recited. Coronation orders give the wording to be spoken for clergy and nobility separately. Archbishops and bishops were required to confirm that I, give their name, shall be faithful and true, and faith and truth bear unto our sovereign Lord and your heirs, kings of England,

and I shall do and truly acknowledge the service of the lands which I claim to hold of you, as in right of the church, so help me God. Peers would swear fealty with these words. I, giving their name and title, do become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship, and faith and truth I shall bear unto you to live and die against all manner of folks, so God me help. With that, it was largely done.

The kingdom was variously saddled or endowed, with a new ruler who would define the lives of the people for years, perhaps decades to come. If there was any lingering sense of an elective element, even the Anglo-Saxon had been clear that once a king was anointed and crowned, they were king forever. It wasn't something that could be undone, at least not by the 12th century. Edward I was the first king to succeed immediately on the death of his predecessor, but he also introduced another part of the coronation ceremony that remains a fixture to this day. Every monarch since his son, Edward II, has been crowned seated on the coronation chair, which is also sometimes called St Edward's chair or King Edward's chair,

and can be seen in Westminster Abbey. This wooden throne was commissioned by Edward I in 1296 to contain the stone of destiny, or the stone of Schoon, the Scottish coronation stone. Kings of Scotland were traditionally crowned while seated on this stone. Edward I sought to reinforce the overlordship of Scotland that he claimed by taking it to London and having it installed under the seat on which rulers of England would be crowned. Super subtle Edward. Every monarch since Edward II in 1308 has sat on the coronation chair to be crowned with a stone of destiny beneath them. The stone was returned to Scotland in 1996 but is due to return to London for King Charles' coronation. He'll be the 30th monarch in a row

to sit on the coronation chair at this moment, just as his mother did 70 years ago. While we're mentioning Edward II, the holy oil used in the coronation was for a long time said to have been delivered to Thomas Beckett by the Virgin Mary. Part of the story was a prophecy. It was claimed that the 5th King after his would conquer the world. The 5th King, after Henry II, was Edward II, who didn't conquer the world. One other odd thing that emerged as a result of the prestige attached to the coronation was the court of claims. It isn't clear precisely when this was established, but the first minutes of a meeting before a coronation come from the preparations for Richard the second ceremony in 1377.

This court's job was to arbitrate the various claims to offices, posts, rewards or swag that arose around the time of a coronation. Ordinary people could get in on the act too. Traditionally, expensive cloth was laid along the route of the coronation procession from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey. The portion within the Abbey was donated to the Abbey as its fee for performing the coronation. The part that was outside the Abbey door was cut up and distributed amongst the crowd. It was really valuable cloth, so there was a financial incentive to attend the coronation

as well as getting to see the king and help him celebrate. One of the other really well-recorded coronations is that of Richard III. Now, I know you didn't think I was going to go through the whole episode covering the span of the medieval period without mentioning this guy. Richard the 3rd's coronation has detailed records that tell us who carried what and where. For example, Thomas Lord Stanley carried the constable's mace and would take a central role in deposing Richard two years later. Stanley's wife, Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry Tudor, carried the Queen's train, yet her son would defeat Richard at Bosworth. The swords used at the coronation each bore and meaning,

and the Earl of Northumberland carried the blunt sword of mercy and was present at Bosworth on Richard's side, but failed to intervene on the king's behalf. Richard's coronation is particularly interesting because his wife, Anne Neville, is crowned during the same ceremony. This was a rare occurrence. There were only three others between the same. the conquest and Bosworth, five points for each of them that you can name. If a king was married when he came to the throne, he could have his queen consort crowned at the same time. As early as the second coronation order that we have, the one from the 11th century, there are instructions for

what to do if the queen is to be crowned as part of the same ceremony. It generally follows the same process, but after the king and sort of as a junior ceremony. The first five points are yours, if you knew that the last time this had happened before 1483 was the coronation of Edward II and his wife Isabella of France in 1308. So in 1483, it was the first time this had happened for 175 years. This reflects a hugely unsettled period in English history. Edward II was deposed by Isabella in favour of their son, Edward III, who was 15 at the time.

Edward III was succeeded by his 10-year-old grand. grandson Richard II, who was deposed by his widowed cousin, Henry IV, whose unmarried son succeeded him, and was in turn succeeded by his nine-month-old baby son as Henry VI, who was then deposed by the unmarried 18-year-old Edward VIII. The coronation of Richard III and Queen Anne Neville must have appeared to represent a return to a more settled period. There was a settled, married couple with a son coming to the throne for the first time in almost two centuries. I wonder how many plotted even on that day to ensure it wasn't to be so. Now, those are the two coronations of a king and queen consort in post-conquest England. What have you got? The one before Edward II and

Isabella was his parents, Edward I and Eleanor of Castile. Five points if you got that one. The other one? That was Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, the founders of the Plantagenet dynasty. Take another five points if you got that. Right, so there's been a total of 60 points up for grabs in this episode. If you've kept score, let me know on social media how you got on. So what can we learn and understand from medieval coronations? There are a number of core elements to a coronation and an order in which they're done. The main ones I'd identify are firstly the recognition, which is that left-over elective part.

Despite being a remnant of an Anglo-Saxon world largely swept away after 1066, to this day the ceremony begins with those within Westminster Abbey where all coronations since 1066 have taken place, being asked for their approval of the new monarch. It's an odd survival, though no one has ever been brave enough to refuse. If a coronation is like a marriage ceremony between a ruler and a realm, this is the bit where the vicar asks if anyone knows of any reason why the marriage should not go ahead. So far, everyone has always held their peace, or at least given their approval.

Probably not least for fear of being handed their peace by an angry medieval king if they dared to object. The next part is the oath. This has changed very little in substance in over a thousand years. It used to be a promise delivered by the monarch. It was the active part that they took in their coronation. Either side of it, things are done to them. More recently, the Archbishop of Canterbury will ask the monarch questions to which they respond. If we continue the marriage analogy, this is the exchange of vows and the I do moment.

Next comes the anointing, which I'm struggling to make fit the wedding thing, because it's something very different. The act of anointing is the bit that makes a person a king or a queen. It's transformational. It mirrors the way that bishops and archbishops are invested. It marks the monarch as God's chosen ruler, but also as the people's chosen ruler, confirmed by them and now elevated to a semi-sacred status. The church has always been careful to point out, though,

that it doesn't bestow on the monarch any of the status of a bishop or archbishop within the church. The anointing has always happened out of view because of the sacred nature of the moment. At Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, the television cameras weren't allowed to film that portion of the service. There's some talk of King Charles commissioning a canopy with a translucent top,

so that it can be seen this time. If that happens, it'll be the first time in more than a millennium of the history of coronations in England and the United Kingdom that the public will be able to witness this moment. We would literally be watching history for the first time. The next really significant moment is the crowning, which is something like the putting on of a ring at a wedding. It's the symbol of the permanent transformation that has taken place. At the end, the homage seals the union, and it might be the equivalent of the for better or for worse

part of the wedding vows. Maybe the marriage thing is a clumsy metaphor, but there's more to all this than an archaic ceremony. If you watch Charles's coronation, you're watching something that has been happening in an incredibly similar format for at least 1,200 years. Particularly in the medieval period, before constitutional monarchy, it can seem like going through a series of motions, the outcome of which is the title King of England. But I don't think it was ever that simple. In Anglo-Saxon, England, a monarch was elected, but once elected and crowned, could not be removed. The Norman conquest of 1066 changed so much about England, yet this nod to the need for the people to consent remained. In 1135, there was an effort to paint King Stephen as having been elected, so the desire to retain the illusion and rebuild it into a reality remained strong.

When Parliament emerged in the 13th century, under Henry III, it set about chipping away at the powers of kings and rebalancing the scales. The coronation has always been a contractual relationship, very one-sided, admittedly, but it requires the consent of both parties, with legally binding promises given, and payment offered in terms of power for the monarch, and a promise of good governance for the people. However, one-sided the contract, it nevertheless could be undone. the barons with Magna Carta and then the evolution of Parliament sought to restrain the authority of kings, but also found mechanisms to hold them to account, including the ultimate sanction of deposition.

Edward II was deposed for breaking this contract with his nobility by ruling unfairly, giving too much power to favourites and thereby denying equity and justice. Richard II lost his crown ultimately because he tried to deny the laws of inheritance, by snatching his cousin's lands. That wasn't the deal his nobility had signed up for, so when that cousin returned to claim his inheritance, he was encouraged to take the throne as Henry IV. Henry VI lost his crown because he was utterly ineffectual.

He didn't fulfil his side of the deal by ruling justly and fairly, which often required a strength that Henry didn't possess. Medieval kings of England had unrivaled power, but it wasn't unlimited and it became increasingly less unrestrained as the medieval period progressed. There was always a quid pro quo. Power was given against the promise

that it would be wielded for the good of all. Failing to meet the obligations imposed could lead to the ultimate sanction of the removal of that power. In many ways, the coronation ceremony today reminds us of that. Democracies all around the world rely on that acceptance, usually by public vote of a government that rules for a period, wielding the power granted to them.

Getting it wrong, failing to drive out evil laws to govern with justice and equity for the benefit of all, is still the best way to ensure another term won't be given. For me, a coronation is a huge moment of historical interest, from angels slapping saints into doing as they're told, to remnants of an elective monarchy that slipped through the conquest net. and the slow efforts to reduce the power of the crown. Theatre and pageantry, little changed in more than a millennium, will be watched by millions in their homes around the world.

It's also a gentle reminder of the way we expect to be treated on the other side of the contract being created. We consent, receive assurances, give power, and judge the outcome. There'll be some cracking gowns and hats too, I guarantee it. You can join Dr Kat Jarman on Tuesday for an understanding. another brand new episode. Don't forget to also subscribe or follow us wherever you get your podcasts from and tell all your friends and family that you've gone medieval. If you get a moment, please drop us a review or rate us anywhere that you listen to your podcasts, including Spotify.

It really does help new listeners to find us. If you're enjoying this podcast and looking to go a bit more medieval, then subscribe to our Medieval Monday's newsletter. Just follow the links in the show notes below. Anyway, I bed let you go. I've been Matt Lewis. and we've just gone medieval with history hits.