Bow and Blade Podcast Episode n.3

A dive into the Hundred Years' War and Joan's exploits during the Siege of Orléans

Bow and Blade is a podcast run by Kelly DeVries and Michael Livingston, both University professors, both authors, both very well known personalities within the circles of medieval studies. In this new podcast, available on Spotify, these two giants of all things middle ages focus on what is by far the best subject to bond over with new acquaintances: medieval warfare. The first episode, titled "The Battle of Hastings", was uploaded September 2021, since then seven more episodes have been made available. The latest one, titled "The Battle of Nicopolis (1396)", was upload on February 15.

The third episode, titled "Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orléans", is of course the one that caught my attention first. Kelly and Michael go over Joan's exploits for about 1 hour and 20 minutes while sipping some theme-appropriate drinks (a Virgin Mary for Kelly, a Witches Brew for Michael). It's a very relaxed yet very informative conversation between two huge history buffs who are kind enough here to share some of their deep insight on medieval warfare, specifically siege warfare which always holds a special place in every medievalist's heart.

At the very end of the episode, Kelly is asked what piece of information he wishes he had about the Siege of Orléans, and his answer is as simple as it is heartwarming, and definitely shared by most of the people driven by a passion for Joan's story: he wishes he could see a picture of Joan. A whole library could be fully stocked with everything that's been written about Joan, the amount of first hand information we have about her is outstanding, and yet no representation of what she really looked like has been passed down to us (that we know of). Here's to hoping that at least one painting depicting the real Joan is still stashed somewhere, waiting for its chance to resurface someday.

Listen to the full episode of Bow and Blade here:

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