S6E3 Medieval Britain: Amy Jeffs on nature, the supernatural, and demons

“These poems and artefacts; they inspire more questions than they answer with their narrative incompleteness. They are those areas of black ink - that silence - and I think it’s so enticing.”

For the people who lived during the medieval times, the supernatural and natural were not separate. They were intertwined. At a time when nature dominated the landscape, superstition and the belief in fantastical stories were a part of life - a way to make sense of the mysteries of the world.

Amy Jeffs is an art historian specialising in the Middle Ages, and the author of ‘Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain’. In the book, through fiction and reflection, she retells stories from medieval poetry and legend, and explores the haunting past of the British landscape. 

Especially exciting are Amy’s readings from the book - look out for those!

In this episode, you will learn:

1. Why walking the ground of the places you wish to write about will make your work more vivid, and able to speak to all of the senses.
2. How reflecting on the past can unshackle the limits of your worldview.
3. How to find hope in the writing journey, no matter how time-poor you are.

Find out more about Amy here.

Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood.

Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production, and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up to the newsletter here.

You can view the full transcript here.

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