Real Fantastic Beasts
Alexa Sand and Ian MacInnes explore the world of medieval and Renaissance animals, real, fantastic, and fantastically real.
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- Update frequency
- every 17 days
- Average duration
- 44 minutes
- Episodes
- 49
- Years Active
- 2022 - 2025
The Egotistical Eagle
The quintessential imperial attention whore.
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00:45:41 |
Tue 19 Aug 2025
Leave it to the beaver
We journey from the clever self-castrating beaver of the Middle Ages to the near extinction of the North American beaver for the sake of European hats.
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00:49:20 |
Sat 12 Jul 2025
So. Many. Snakes.
We explore the many versions of the Hydra.
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00:44:26 |
Sun 22 Jun 2025
Carp e diem: Fish of the Day
For 400 years, the carp was the most popular fish in Europe. What made it so fantastic?
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00:48:31 |
Sat 24 May 2025
The real dog man
Are dog-headed creatures people or beasts? Find out in this live podcast done at the Kalamazoo Medieval Congress. Our guest, Karl Steel, regales us with tales of the Cynocephalus.
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00:47:34 |
Mon 12 May 2025
Wolf! Wolf!
From Beowulf to the guerrilla rewilding of Britain, guest Elizabeth (Lizzie) Marshall regales us with wolfish lore.
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00:43:09 |
Mon 05 May 2025
And your little dog too!
Small, cute dogs that serve no practical purpose other than to make us go “awwww” turn out to have a long and fantastic history.
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00:34:00 |
Sat 12 Apr 2025
There are no baby griffins
The griffin was both a ferocious beast and a maternal figure. Nobody took it seriously, but its image is everywhere in the pre-modern world from the Near East to Europe.
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00:39:56 |
Sat 29 Mar 2025
Advice from Jackals: Arab Beast Fables
Guest expert Mustafa Banister Introduces us to the world of Arabic Beast Fables in the Kalila Wa Dimna and elsewhere.
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00:59:41 |
Sat 15 Mar 2025
The Natural History of the Beasts of Revelation
Animals are everywhere in the end times. We explore early responses to the fantastic, terrifying, yet beautiful beasts of the Book of Revelation.
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00:45:13 |
Sun 02 Mar 2025
Beasts of the Bayeux
Guest Elizabeth Pastan explores the animals in the Bayeux Embroidery (aka the Bayeux Tapestry). If you want to see the images we're discussing, you can go to the Youtube version of the episode here: …
00:48:33 |
Sun 19 Jan 2025
The Animals of the Twelve Days of Christmas
From partridges to "colly" birds, we explore the early history of the animals (and especially birds) of the beloved Christmas counting song. Special thanks to Evelyn Wohlbier for recording the song f…
00:43:26 |
Tue 24 Dec 2024
Putting the Why in the Wyvern
Guest Edana Kleinhans takes us through the subtle differences between wyverns and dragons.
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00:41:23 |
Sat 14 Dec 2024
Thoroughly Thoroughbred
Guest expert Richard Nash takes us through the history of the thoroughbred horse, from its hybrid origins to the cult of purity that made it the background to racial narratives of the modern world.
…
00:48:10 |
Sun 10 Nov 2024
When do demons get their bat wings?
Just in time for Halloween, we explore the humble bat, whose wings suddenly became the standard for all demonic flying creatures.
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00:32:09 |
Mon 28 Oct 2024
Is this the Loch Ness monster?
We explore the lore of the hippocampus, from its classical roots to its Celtic legends.
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00:31:15 |
Sat 31 Aug 2024
The golden age of the bestiary
Beth Morrison, senior curator of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum, talks about medieval bestiaries, her favorite imaginary animal, and a new exhibition at the Getty Museum.
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00:45:56 |
Mon 17 Jun 2024
Medieval Ivory
Guest Sarah M. Guérin explains Medieval Europe's fascination with ivory and the differences between the early ivory trade and the savagery of modern Elephant poaching.
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00:50:16 |
Sat 11 May 2024
The most prophetic bird
We explore the Albatross, unknown until just before the modern era... or was it?
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00:32:06 |
Sat 09 Mar 2024
Flying Barnacles
Guest Alixe Bovey regales us with the perplexing history of the goose barnacle and the barnacle goose.
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00:47:27 |
Sun 04 Feb 2024
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