What Are the Late Medieval Ages?
Gone Medieval
History Hit
4.5 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Matt Lewis and Dr. Eleanor Janega dive into the chaos of the late Middle Ages; from the Great Famine and the Little Ice Age to plague, peasant revolts, papal schism and deposed kings, they explore how the 14th and 15th centuries rocked Europe’s political, social and religious foundations. Along the way, they ask what really separates the “high” from the “late” Middle Ages, how far disasters undermined faith in monarchy and the Church, and whether these tidy labels make sense once you look beyond Europe.
MORE:
Why the Early Middle Ages Matter
What are the High Middle Ages?
Gone Medieval is presented by Dr. Eleanor Janega and Matt Lewis. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From long-lost Viking ships and kings buried in unexpected places to tales of murder, |
| 0:07.7 | power, faith, and the lives of ordinary people across medieval Europe and beyond. |
| 0:13.2 | Join me, Matt Lewis, Dr. Eleanor Jarniger and some of the world's leading historians, |
| 0:18.0 | as we bring history's most fascinating stories to life only on |
| 0:22.3 | History Hit. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries |
| 0:27.2 | with a brand new release every week exploring everything from the ancient world to World War II. |
| 0:33.6 | Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:40.2 | Hello, I'm Matt Lewis. Welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit, the podcast that delves |
| 0:45.6 | into the greatest millennium in human history. We've got the most intriguing mysteries, |
| 0:51.4 | the gobsmacking details and latest groundbreaking research from the Vikings |
| 0:56.2 | to the printing press, from kings to popes to the crusades. We cross centuries and continents |
| 1:02.0 | to delve into rebellions, plots and murders to find the stories big and small that tell us |
| 1:08.3 | how we got here. Find out who we really were. We've gone medieval. |
| 1:15.1 | Eleanor and I have spent a couple of previous episodes talking about the periodization of the |
| 1:20.0 | medieval era. We've covered the early and high Middle Ages, so it's time to complete the set |
| 1:25.9 | and consider the late medieval period. |
| 1:29.1 | What marks the transition from high to late? What are some of the defining events and themes |
| 1:35.2 | of the late medieval period? What brings the medieval world to a close? And how useful are |
| 1:40.9 | these terms when thinking about history beyond Europe? |
| 1:49.5 | All of these questions and more have been on our minds, so now we're going to thrash it out. |
| 1:53.1 | It's always a good day when I get to welcome Eleanor to an episode we're doing together. |
| 1:57.9 | This is the kind of stuff we talk about whenever we chat, only it's not usually recorded. |
... |
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