Prof. Gabriele and Sara McDougall talk about her new book, a medieval true crime thriller about an alleged sexual assault in medieval France, and how we can know so much about the rich, complicated lives of people who usually don’t appear in our sources.

Guest

Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and affiliated with the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230, Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne, and her newest Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor (September 2026). Find her on Instagram and Bluesky.

Credits

• Host & Executive Producer: Matthew Gabriele. Find him on Bluesky @profgabriele.com or his homepage profgabriele.com
• Editor: Julia Schifini
• Music: “Sleeping Bags” by OTE
• Art: Ulysses Gabriele
• Multitude: https://multitudeshows.com/

Find American Medieval Online

• Website: AmericanMedieval.com
• Patreon: patreon.com/AmericanMedieval
• Insta: instagram.com/americanmedieval
• YouTube: youtube.com/@AmericanMedieval
• Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/americanmedieval.bsky.social

About Us

American Medieval is a podcast about the Middle Ages, but with an American twist. Each week, joined by expert guests, we’ll explore either some fascinating part of the medieval world, or some way Americans have used this period to help them understand themselves.

After all, if America has never been modern, it’s because we’ve always been slightly medieval.

Sponsors

Want to become a sponsor of American Medieval? Head over to https://www.multitudeshows.com/ads

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.