Monsters of the Medieval Apocalypse

Gone Medieval

History Hit

History

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Does a four-winged leopard, a woman riding bareback on a monstrous serpent-like beast and giants having a good chat signal the beginning of the apocalypse? Medieval folk certainly thought so.

Dr. Eleanor Janega and Prof. James Palmer delight in these terrifying - and sometimes comical - figures and how they served both as religious symbols and as interpretations of worldly evils, reflecting the medieval fascination with the unknown and the stark moral lessons intended by these vivid depictions.

The discuss the meanings of apocalyptic monsters like the dragon and the beast of the abyss, as well as their artistic representations in illuminated manuscripts, church walls, and maps from the medieval period.

Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega. It was edited by Amy Haddow, the senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.

Watch Eleanor's new documentary uncovering how medieval people understood the end of days, from the terrifying visions of Revelation to the vivid warnings painted onto church walls, in Medieval Apocalypse on the History Hit channel.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Matt Lewis.
0:02.6	And I'm Dr. Eleanor Yonaga.
0:04.2	And we're just popping up here to tell you some insider info.
0:08.0	If you would like to listen to Gone Medieval ad-free and get early access and bonus episodes,
0:13.3	sign up to History Hit.
0:14.5	With the History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries.
0:20.6	Such as my new series on everyone's favorite
0:22.8	conquerors, the Normans, or my recent exploration of the castles that made Britain. There's a new
0:29.9	release to enjoy every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe, or find a link in the show notes for this episode.
0:45.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Eleanorianica and welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit, the podcast that delves into the
0:55.2	greatest millennium in human history. We uncover the greatest mysteries, the gobsmacking
1:01.8	details, and the latest groundbreaking research from the Vikings to the Normans, from kings to
1:07.9	popes, to the Crusades. We delve into the rebellions, plots, and murders that tell us who we really were.
1:17.3	And how we got here.
1:36.3	I probably don't need to tell you that people in the medieval period thought about monsters a lot. After all, when we think of the medieval period, we conjure up stories of night slaying dragons
1:42.3	and rescuing fair maidens.
1:45.6	As fun as those stories are, and as much of a place as they undoubtedly held in medieval
1:50.0	society, there were a whole host of stories about dragons and dangerous monsters from which
1:56.8	rescue was almost impossible. And the fair damsel in this case, she's the opposite of a maiden.
2:04.6	And it turns out that she's a monster herself.
2:08.6	Today we're talking about the monsters of the Apocalypse, or the Book of Revelation.
2:14.6	There is a host of beasts lurking in the last and most enigmatic book of the
	...

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