For most, incest is seen as sexual intimacy between anyone who is related by blood, like a parent and child, siblings, or cousins. We could even extend this to anyone who has a position of responsibility within a family such as step-parents, step-siblings, or aunts and uncles who have married in. However, it was during the Middle Ages that the Roman Catholic Church became obsessed with the subject, to the extent that it even caused arguments between kings and popes. Welcome to Medieval Madness

00:00 Introduction
00:45 Incest
02:43 Obsession
04:10 Degrees
05:46 A Declaration of Love
06:35 Papacy vs Monarchy
07:39 A Family Affair
08:57 It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know

Narrated by James Wade
Written by Lisa E Rawcliffe
Edited by Jamit Productions

It was from a cell in the Tower of London, “in a very high up and confined place … out of sight and hearing of the world”, that Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March made his daring escape. A feudal lord, experienced military commander, and twice governor of Ireland, Mortimer had found himself in the Tower for being involved in a rebellion against King Edward II. This audacious escape on 1st August 1323, would change the course of history, bring about the downfall of a king, and make Roger Mortimer the most powerful man in England. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

0:00 Introduction
0:45 Favourite Mistake
1:28 A Rising Star
3:08 Rebel Rebel
4:35 Tonight There’s Gonna Be A Jailbreak
7:18 Hell Hath No Fury
8:33 Like A Woman Scorned

Narrated by James Wade
Written by Lisa E Rawcliffe
Edited by Jamit Productions

It’s easy to look at the Medieval world and see it as completely alien to the one we live in today. Many things that were thought acceptable and even pleasing then would horrify civilised people in the 21st century. Let’s travel back in time now to the Middle Ages and look at some behaviour that is just not seen as appropriate anymore. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

0:00 Introduction
0:33 A Mean Streak
2:30 Sick Jokes
5:09 Happy Families
8:19 They Grow Up So Quickly

When most people think about Transylvania it conjures the image of Dracula and the world dreamed up in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel - a world of gothic castles, shapeshifting bats, and vampires. Some people even think of Transylvania as a mythical place like that of Middle-Earth or Narnia, only much creepier. But Transylvania is a real place in what is now modern Romania, in Western Europe, and Dracula was a real person known to the world as Vlad III or Vlad Tepes, meaning the Impaler. Welcome to Medieval Madness.

0:00 Introduction
0:45 A Traumatic Childhood
3:12 A Show of Power
5:22 The Art of Impalement
7:13 The Blood Thirsty Tyrant
8:17 Hero and Villain

Narrated by James Wade
Written by Lisa E Rawcliffe
Edited by Jamit Productions

It’s hard being a teenager. Coping with raging hormones, insecurities, and acne while trying to figure out just who you are and where you fit in society is no joke. It’s not really the best time to try and make important choices about your future. So, just imagine what being a teenager was like without the comfortable, modern amenities that we have today. Let’s face it, in Medieval Europe, you were lucky to have even reached your teens when childhood mortality was so high. Let’s travel back in time now to see what it was like for the youth of the Middle Ages, and why teenagers were given away to strangers and freshers had their teeth forcibly removed.

Once again we delve into the reasons why you probably wouldn’t live very long in the Middle Ages. For one reason or another death seemed to be waiting around every corner. Having dealt with war, poison, and squalor in our last video we now move on to religion. Really, things just don’t get any better.

And with one year in particular being described as the worst year EVER to be alive, we can’t see any reason why you would want to even go there.

Vikings, eh? Bloodthirsty, vicious barbarians, well-known for their willingness to loot monasteries and murder their enemies in a variety of gruesome ways.

Including perhaps the grisliest end you could imagine – the blóðǫrn, or more commonly known as the ‘blood eagle’. Reserved only for the worst of the worst in Viking eyes – people who had lost their honour through acts of cowardice or who had killed one of their family members – it was a horrifying torture method that struck fear into the hearts of anybody listening to the Orkneyinga Saga, or the Tale of Ragnar’s Sons, or any of the other tales told around the fire on a cold winter’s evening. While this would make for a delightfully grim way to confirm that Vikings were all bearded terrifying mercenaries who’d kill you as soon as look at you, as always with history, the truth is far more nuanced and that’s what we want to explore in this video.

14th-century London was tiny when compared to today's modern cities, but much larger than any other English town at that time. In 1300, the population stood at approximately 80,000, all crammed into one square mile. It was noisy, pretty stinky, packed with people, and not the safest place to be when you consider that getting mauled by a pig was a thing. Let’s travel back in time now to the London of the Middle Ages and experience the sights, sounds, and smells of life there in the heart of the city. Welcome to Medieval Madness.