Real Fantastic Beasts

Real Fantastic Beasts

Alexa Sand and Ian MacInnes explore the world of medieval and Renaissance animals, real, fantastic, and fantastically real. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

Leave it to the beaver

July 12, 2025 • 49 mins

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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So. Many. Snakes.

June 22, 2025 • 44 mins

We explore the many versions of the Hydra.

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Carp e diem: Fish of the Day

May 24, 2025 • 48 mins

For 400 years, the carp was the most popular fish in Europe. What made it so fantastic?

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The real dog man

May 12, 2025 • 47 mins

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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Wolf! Wolf!

May 5, 2025 • 43 mins

From Beowulf to the guerrilla rewilding of Britain, guest Elizabeth (Lizzie) Marshall regales us with wolfish lore.

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And your little dog too!

April 12, 2025 • 34 mins

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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There are no baby griffins

March 29, 2025 • 39 mins

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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Advice from Jackals: Arab Beast Fables

March 15, 2025 • 59 mins

Guest expert Mustafa Banister Introduces us to the world of Arabic Beast Fables in the Kalila Wa Dimna and elsewhere.

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The Natural History of the Beasts of Revelation

March 2, 2025 • 45 mins

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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Beasts of the Bayeux

January 19, 2025 • 48 mins

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: https://youtu.be/pOaibXA5XrI .

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The Animals of the Twelve Days of Christmas

December 25, 2024 • 43 mins

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 for us.

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Putting the Why in the Wyvern

December 14, 2024 • 41 mins

Guest Edana Kleinhans takes us through the subtle differences between wyverns and dragons.

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Thoroughly Thoroughbred

November 10, 2024 • 48 mins

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.

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When do demons get their bat wings?

October 28, 2024 • 32 mins

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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Is this the Loch Ness monster?

August 31, 2024 • 31 mins

We explore the lore of the hippocampus, from its classical roots to its Celtic legends.

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The golden age of the bestiary

June 17, 2024 • 45 mins

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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Medieval Ivory

May 11, 2024 • 50 mins

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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The most prophetic bird

March 9, 2024 • 32 mins

We explore the Albatross, unknown until just before the modern era... or was it?

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Flying Barnacles

February 4, 2024 • 47 mins

Guest Alixe Bovey regales us with the perplexing history of the goose barnacle and the barnacle goose.

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Why the phoenix can’t have sex

January 15, 2024 • 46 mins

In which we explore this beautiful and ancient non-binary creature.

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