Lies that Misled Medieval People

Gone Medieval

History Hit

History

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

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Summary

Everyone lies from time to time but some lies have had a particular influence on world events and have even been a major factor in shaping history. In the Middle Ages, for example, how did an outlandish book called The Travels of Sir John Mandeville create misconceptions about foreigners? And how did falsehoods promoted after the death of a young boy in northern Italy lead to widespread anti-semitic pogroms as well as conspiracy theories that endure today?

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Cat Jarman is joined by Natasha Tidd, author of the new book A Short History of the World in 50 Lies. Together they explore these two cases where lies had widespread consequences.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

Read more of Natasha Tidd’s work at F Yeah History.

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1:33.1	Hello and welcome to Gone Medieval from Historyhit. I'm Dr Cat Jarman.
1:38.8	Lying. We all lie from time to time but some lies have had a particular influence on world
1:46.1	and have even been a major factor in shaping world history. From great leaders and empires of the
1:51.6	past of the present day, lies have been used to manipulate, deceive and achieve power and this
1:57.6	is precisely the topic of a brilliant new book entitled Short History of the World in 50 Lies
2:03.1	Written by Historian Natasha Tid. So in today's episode I've invited Natasha Long to talk about
	...

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