Medieval News You Can Use

(00:00:00) Cold Open - Civ 7 and more ghosts
(00:10:07) Patron questions - Weird Italian perverts and Papal naming conventions
(00:24:05) Intro
(00:26:05) Viking Textile Industries
(00:31:57) Central Europe had 16 catastrophic floods in 2 years
(00:40:29) Bayeux Tapestry returns to England
(00:47:07) Alchemy is totally vindicated
(01:04:39) Death by Trebuchet

folks, there's recently been a spate of Medieval news that is interesting enough to include in podcast form and so we decide to talk about it. admittedly, some of it is not the most glamorous but it all greatly informs our understanding of the Medieval world, also death by trebuchet. we cover 5 topics: Viking textile industry, 2 years of catastrophic flooding in Central Europe, England bending the knee to get the Bayeux Tapestry back, the total vindication of alchemy, and, well, death by trebuchet!

• Viking textile industry: https://archaeologymag.com/2026/06/viking-textile-production-center-near-aarhus/
• Catastrophic European flooding 1341-43: https://www.science.org/content/article/medieval-europe-was-battered-16-catastrophic-floods-just-2-years
• Bayeux Tapestry in England: https://www.artforum.com/news/british-culture-official-proposed-for-bayeux-tapestry-loan-1234756775/
• Alchemy: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/gold-big-bang-theory-large-hadron-collider-b3033578.html
• Trebuchet guy https://www.science.org/content/article/shattered-skeleton-scottish-castle-first-confirmed-death-trebuchet

cover image is a skeleton preserved with a stone crushing its head, revealed during the excavation of Pompei. yes, I said it was a meme but it's actually real