LarissaTracy's Substack

Saving 1/1000th of a Life

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 02:08:34 GMT

As a teacher, sometimes it’s hard to know the impact we have on our students, but when one comes back to you years after they left your class and tells you how your instruction helped them save the life of a child... priceless. Join Dr. Jim Hutchins and me in this 10 minutes outtake for his account of how he saved 1/1000th of a life and what that means …

AI and the Brain

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 02:06:17 GMT

AI is all the rage, it’s the new bright and shiny thing that everyone thinks we should embrace wholesale and without question--but really, should we?? Commencements speakers are getting booed when they refer to it as the next “Industrial Revolution,” students are going off it (even as they use it to cheat), and people are raising serious concerns about …

Religion and Anatomy

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 01:59:35 GMT

Did you know that the term dura mater, referring to the “hardest” part of the brain derives from the transcription of the Arabic term “al’um”, meaning “mother”? Dr. Jim Hutchins and I go into more detail about the religious implications of transcribing and translating medieval Arabic medical texts in the eleventh century and the problems of a closed epi…

The Brain, the Bible, Islam, and the Medieval Word

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 01:47:48 GMT

It's widely known that medical knowledge from the ancient world was preserved and translated into Arabic and then transmitted to Western Europe by scholars and medical practitioners who translated the Arabic texts into Latin. However, how much did those transcribers really know about the texts they translated? Did they interpret these texts or simply copy the words on the page from Arabic into Latin as the medical word of God? Join me for the next episode of Medieval Mischief and Mayhem where I interview Dr. Jim Hutchins, neuroscientist and historian about the history of anatomical transmission. Dr. Hutchins and I spoke for nearly three hours, so there are three different outtakes covering "AI and the Brain," "Religion and Anatomy," and "Saving 1/1000 of a Life" for paid subscribers on Patreon and SubStack.

Jim Hutchins is a Rōnin, a teacher, researcher, and colleague whose skill set was recently rendered anchorless by circumstance. Now, he's engaged full-time creating and maintaining a set of open educational resource textbooks. These books have saved students 5 million dollars (and counting) in textbook costs. His books include On Becoming a Neuroscientist, Modular Anatomy and Physiology, and Medical English. They are free and welcome to all to use or remix.

In a 45-year academic career, Jim taught 1600 medical students, 400 dental students, 10,000 nurses and other health professionals, won Teacher of the Year multiple times, and published over 40 papers, textbook chapters, and monographs. He saved 1/1000 of a life.

Now he follows Samuel Pisar's advice: "A new, healthy, creative existence, firmly anchored in a better world. This is our victory and our vengeance over our past."

You can find his books On Becoming a Neuroscientist, Medical English, and Modular Anatomy and Physiology free to download.

His article "How Your Brain’s Womb Became Its Mother: The Transfer of Knowledge from Islamic Medicine to Western Medicine in the Medieval World" will be appearing in Art and Anatomy.

Links to some of the manuscripts we discuss in this episode and its outtakes:
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/arabic/p18.html

https://history.rcp.ac.uk/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/mirror-health-discovering-medicine-golden-age-islam

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/arabic/mon6.html

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/358129

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/63456/63456-h/63456-h.htm

https://isac.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oip/edwin-smith-surgical-papyrus-volume-1-hieroglyphic-transliteration

Teaching Medieval in the Modern Political Moment

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 22 May 2026 22:21:17 GMT

The International Medieval Congress at the University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo just celebrated its 61st year, and in this episode, I talk about that conference, its issues and controversies over the last ten years or so and how the profession is being shaped by world events. I go into detail about the state of the humanities and how universities are or are not dealing adapting to our current climate and I explain what some of my colleagues in the field have gone through, facing racism, threats, and exclusion. The theme of a session in which I was the respondent focused on how medievalists particularly should address the current political climate in our universities, and here I give my brief response from that session.

The one thing I didn’t mention in the episode, and I should have, is that at these conferences, and in fact in academia (much like a lot of society) more powerful (usually) white male scholars have taken the opportunity these conferences afford them to harass and assault younger, more vulnerable scholars. There has been a culture of that at conferences for decades, and while it seems to happen less often now, partly because people are more vigilant, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen.

The best way to improve academia and to move forward in difficult times is to be open, transparent, and honest with the public about what we do, and why we do it. And this episode is an attempt to do just that.

My dragon mug is an older design by Dancing Pig Pottery. Check out their new stuff: https://www.dancingpigpots.com/order

The scene from Dead Poet’s Society:

The Public Medievalist:

https://publicmedievalist.com/

Sierra Lomuto: “Public Medievalism and the Rigor of Anti-Racist Critique”:
https://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2019/04/public-medievalism-and-rigor-of-anti.html

Nahir I. Otaño Gracia: “Lost in Our Field: Racism and the International Congress of Medieval Studies”:
https://medievalistsofcolor.com/race-in-the-profession/lost-in-our-field-racism-and-the-international-congress-on-medieval-studies/

Martin Shichtman and Laurie Finke: “Exegetical History: Nazis at the Round Table”:
https://mcpress.media-commons.org/postmedieval_middleages_holocaust/exegetical-history-nazis-at-the-round-table-martin-shichtman-and-laurie-finke/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/pmed.2014.23

Larissa Tracy: “Fascism and Chivalry in the Confederate Monuments of Richmond”:
https://publicmedievalist.com/confederate-monuments/

Chivalry, beheading, massacres:

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Tue, 12 May 2026 02:24:20 GMT

In this 40 minute outtake, Richard Abels and I go into detail about the culture of chivalry, the nature of massacres as aspects of warfare, taking heads, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (because, beheading), taking hostages for ransom, Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt (”We few, we happy few, We band of brothers”), and the occasional werewolf. At the …

Sieges, Chivalry, and Medieval Warfare

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Sat, 09 May 2026 14:57:21 GMT

What can medieval warfare tell us about our modern world? What was the reality of medieval battles and knights? In this episode, Dr. Richard Abels, retired professor of medieval history from the US Naval Academy and host of the podcast ‘Tis But a Scratch, and I delve into the world of medieval warfare and its modern implications.

Richard Abels is Professor Emeritus of History at the United States Naval Academy, where he taught from 1982 until his retirement in 2017 and served as Chair of the History Department from 2008 to 2014. He received his Ph..D. from Columbia University in 1982 and specializes in the military and political institutions of pre-Conquest England and medieval warfare. His major works include Lordship and Military Obligation in Anglo-Saxon England (1988), Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and Culture in Anglo-Saxon England (1998), and Æthelred the Unready: The Failed King (2018). A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Medieval Academy of America, Abels has shaped the field through his culturally informed approach to medieval military history.

Dr. Abels and I talked for so long, and covered so many things, there is additional material for paid subscribers on Patreon and Substack. It may take me a day or two to get it uploaded, but it will be there!

You can also find audio only versions of this podcast on Spotify and Patreon. You can find his audio podcast, ‘Tis But a Scratch, on these platforms:

https://tis-but-a-scratch-fact-and-fiction-about-the-middle-ages.buzzsprout.com/

The Blood Eagle, part 2

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:35:02 GMT

After doing it early on in the series, Vikings decided they needed to do a scene with the blood eagle AGAIN. And actually, this is the only one they should have included because it’s actually in the original Old Norse saga. In this 29-minute outtake, I explore both episodes of Vikings where they perform the blood eagle--the first, solemn execution and t…

Blood Eagle, part 1

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:23:09 GMT

In this 35-minute outtake, I explore the concept and misconception of the “blood eagle”--the brutal punishment that has been attributed to vikings in popular culture--in a conference paper I gave in 2014 on the series Vikings. I delivered this paper, “Brutality and Bloodshed: Othering the Viking Age on Screen” at the New Chaucer Society Conference in Re…

VIKINGS!!

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 15:10:01 GMT

Vikings are all the rage. In popular culture, media, cosplay, Ren Faires, neo-paganism, Vikings often take center stage as the "Bad Boys" of the Middle Ages, pillaging and plundering, swinging their axes and showing no mercy. But the real vikings were very different from the way we think of them now. In this episode, I go into detail about Viking Age culture and literary traditions and explore the reality of the viking world.

There are two additional segments--35 minutes and 29 minutes--specifically on the "blood eagle" and its presentation in the History Channel's Vikings--available for paid subscribers on Patreon and SubStack. Audio versions of the full episode are also available on Spotify.

This episode also gives you a taste of viking history that you can experience if you join me on the Great Courses Journeys with Ponant Cruises to Orkney, the Hebrides, Shetland, and the coast of Norway, May 3–13, 2027.

https://www.thegreatcoursesjourneys.com/vikingagep08#pt-section-11
https://www.thegreatcoursesjourneys.com/vikingagep08
@ponant
⁨@TheGreatCourses⁩

Video clips of the 'blood eagle' in the History Channel's Vikings.

Old English Werewolf Movie??

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:17:29 GMT

In this short snippet, Dr. Carolyne Larrington and I talk about the next medievalism movie by director Rob Eggers, due out this winter—a werewolf story in Old English? Werwulf? Really? It’s just a short segment, but it raises a bunch of interesting questions.

Vikings, Arthurian Enchantresses, and Popular Culture

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:12:02 GMT

What's the real story about Vikings? Were there really shield maidens? What's the medieval story behind Game of Thrones? Women of power, women in mythology, the Middle Ages in modern popular culture... join me for this episode of Medieval Mischief and Mayhem in which I interview Dr. Carolyne Larrington, medieval literary historian and expert in Old Norse, Arthuriana, and modern medievalisms.

Carolyne is Emerita Professor of Medieval European literature, University of Oxford and Emerita Research Fellow, St John's College, Oxford. She retired from teaching in Oxford in 2023, and since then has been writing a series of books for the British Library: The Little Book of Trolls / Dragons and coming next week, the Little Book of Fairies. She is currently working on a trade book on women in world myth, and a project looking at storytelling in prequels and sequels in medievalist epic fantasy franchises.

Her extensive list of publications that includes translations of Old Norse Mythology, Eddic poetry, exploring the world of the Green Man, Arthurian Enchantresses, The Norse Myths that Shape the Way We Think, can be found here: https://carolynelarrington.wordpress.com/books/

or here:
https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/carolyne-larrington/359037/?srsltid=AfmBOoqmUfZhKsiZmNGXdUSpE5m9zckO_Ox8CrITxHf3fzy_A_lM6v3K

Mischief Short: Agnes Blannbekin and the Feast of the Circumcision

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 23:25:34 GMT

In this Mischief Short, James White explains the miraculous story of beguine Agnes Blannbekin and her experience on the Feast of the Circumcision.

Castration, penises, and more on the Holy Foreskin!

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:49:30 GMT

In this 24-minute outtake, James White and I explore how castration--in law, religion, and punishment--intersected with ideas of medieval masculinity and the devotion to relics like the Holy Foreskin.

Holy Foreskin, Batman!

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:19:39 GMT

In the Middle Ages, people venerated all kinds of holy relics--body parts of saints, pieces of clothing, other articles of devotion, including relics that purported to be from Jesus himself. From toenails to umbilical cord fragments to drops of blood, one of the more controversial Christ relics was the Holy Foreskin. More than 25 churches in medieval Europe claimed to have the foreskin of Jesus, preserved after the Circumcision. In this episode, just in time for Easter, I interview James White, a historian of religious artifacts, about the cults of relics and devotion to the literal body of Christ. Additional material for PAID subscribers on Patreon and SubStack includes an outtake on CASTRATION and another outtake on a particular saint. Subscribe today!

James White is a historian of late medieval Europe, with a special interest in the body, gender, and religion in late medieval Christianity. His dissertation examines the late medieval devotion to the Holy Foreskin, with particular attention to theological debates surrounding the relics and their reception among female holy figures. He currently teaches a range of courses on the pre-modern world, with a focus on medieval Europe. Seminar topics include the Crusades, the medieval body, female saints and sinners, and medieval masculinities. James White is also a contributor to Bodies and Being.

https://bodiesandbeing.com/

Publications:
White, J. Pre-Modern World History: Course Reader. Kendall Hunt: Dubuque Iowa, 2025.

White, J. “Excising the Foreign: Islamophobia and the 2012 Circumcision Ban in Cologne, Germany,” Past Imperfect 22.1 (2019): 104-123.

Langdon, J. and J. White. “An Early Seventeenth-Century River Environment: The 1618 Survey of the Itchen,” Hampshire Studies: Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society 72 (2017): 142-165.

White, J. “Hungering for Maleness: Catherine of Siena and the Medieval Public Sphere,” Journal of Religious Studies and Theology 33.2 (2014): 157-171.

Medical Medievalism and MURDER

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 19:05:52 GMT

In this 38 minute segment, Dr. Lucy Barnhouse and I delve into movie medievalisms, medical medievalism, and MURDER!! Caedfal, The Mistress of the Art of Death, Robin Hood films, we cover the gamut!!

Medieval Hospitals and Holistic Healthcare

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 18:36:51 GMT

In this episode, I interview Dr. Lucy Barnhouse about her work on medieval leprosaria, hospitals, and healthcare. In an addition segment, available for paid subscribers on Patreon and SubStack, we delve into movie medievalisms, medical medievalisms, and murder.

Lucy C. Barnhouse is Assistant Professor of History at Arkansas State University. Her recent publications include “Crossroads of Identity: The Late Medieval Evolutions of a Hospital Community” and, co-edited with Winston Black, Beyond Cadfael: Medieval Medicine and Medical Medievalisms. Her book on hospitals and healthcare provision, Hospitals in Communities of the Late Medieval Rhineland, is now available in paperback. She has been a podcaster with Footnoting History since 2013.

https://www.footnotinghistory.com/

#footnotinghistory

Reformations and the Confederacy

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 03:16:29 GMT

In this short outtake from Episode 18 Part 2, Autumn Reinhardt-Simpson and I discuss the way that certain reformation ideologies became embedded in the myth of both American Exceptionalism and in the "chivalric" ideal of the Confederate monuments in Richmond, VA.

Tyranny and Reformations

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 03:10:15 GMT

In the second half of my interview with Autumn Reinhardt-Simpson (because we had SO much to say about SO many things), we discuss Henry VIII and the realities of reform in England. We also get into Martin Luther’s dispute with the Church and how his attempts at reform led to a split with Rome as well as the women who defied male authority, who shaped Protestant thought, and how so many misconceptions formed about “The Reformation.”

A correction: A one point, when we are talking about King James I and his Bible project, I interject that his queen was Henrietta Maria. I was wrong!! Henrietta Maria, who was Catholic, was married to Charles I, not James. James’ queen was Anne of Denmark. That is my error! Apologies!

Autumn Reinhardt-Simpson is a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta, specializing in Early Modern ritual reform in England. She is currently a history lecturer at MacEwan University, in Edmondton, Alberta. Autumn’s dissertation argues that women’s bodies were a vital battleground for liturgical reform during the English Reformations, specifically the reform of the churching rite, which was deployed to communicate the sometimes conflicting interests of church, state, and laity. Proficient in German, French, and Latin, her research encompasses medieval England and Early Modern religious conversion, recusancy, and church papistry. Autumn is also a contributing author to A Cultural History of Childbirth in the Early Modern Age (Bloomsbury , 2026) and The Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Library of Virginia, 2010).

Birthing, Churching, and Premodern Pregnancy

Dr. Larissa Tracy — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:18:54 GMT

In this episode I interview Autumn Reinhardt-Simpson, a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta, specialising in Early Modern ritual reform in England. We delve into the history of pregnancy, birth, midwifery, churching, women's bodies and the politics of being. We had SO much to talk about that, not only is there additional content for paid subscribers on Patreon and SubStack, but a whole SECOND episode. We go in depth into the religious politics of Henry VIII, reformations, Martin Luther, King James, and a host of other topics.

The additional material will go up later this week, and the second episode will drop on our regular schedule in two weeks.

You can also LISTEN to audio only versions of the podcast on Spotify!!

Autumn is currently a history lecturer at MacEwan University, in Edmondton, Alberta and one of the founders of the collaborative project Bodies and Being. Autumn’s dissertation argues that women’s bodies were a vital battleground for liturgical reform during the English Reformations, specifically the reform of the churching rite, which was deployed to communicate the sometimes conflicting interests of church, state, and laity. Proficient in German, French, and Latin, her research encompasses medieval England and Early Modern religious conversion, recusancy, and church papistry. Autumn is also a contributing author to A Cultural History of Childbirth in the Early Modern Age (Bloomsbury , 2026) and The Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Library of Virginia, 2010).

https://bodiesandbeing.com/

My excellent skull mug is from Midnight Circle: https://midnightcircleshop.com/