Kleio Pethainou
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kpethainou.bsky.social
Kleio Pethainou
@kpethainou.bsky.social
Medievalist, Art Historian & Doctor of Humour (yes, it’s a real thing!) @edincollegeofart.bsky.social🃏
I edit https://bit.ly/MedievalStorytelling, tell stories at #TheCourtJesterPodcast & find something to laugh with every day.
https://linktr.ee/kpethainou
The Halloween special is here: The Ballad of a Dead Brother.

9th-century Balkans. Oaths, ruin, and a mother’s grief strong enough to wake the dead.
Also, it's the first ever Court Jester episode on video. Come see.
buff.ly/IJuqec8

🖼️ Vasso Katraki

#storytelling #medievalsky #Halloween2025
October 30, 2025 at 11:01 AM
A while ago, I polled listeners about the one fabliau I couldn’t make funny. You asked to hear it anyway, so here it is.
It’s brutal and violent. Let’s talk about why medieval audiences laughed with that.
🎧 I give you The Gelded Lady: buff.ly/yJWfMjK
⚠️ Content warning: everything.
#medievalsky
August 31, 2025 at 1:09 PM
“His balls are WHAT?”
A wife drags her husband before the bishop. The whole town shows up. Confusion, comedy and awkward anatomy lessons follow.
This is Black Balls: a fabliau about medieval justice at its most bewildered.

🎧 Listen here: buff.ly/DseO6v9

#Medievalsky #TheCourtJesterPodcast
August 17, 2025 at 10:00 AM
"Medieval Humour: Expressions, Receptions and Functions" is now featured on History Medieval! Read my article about the wit and laughter of the Middle Ages here: buff.ly/QUGIAIe

📖 @labnf.bsky.social, Fonds francais 854, fol.121v
#medievalsky
August 14, 2025 at 12:44 PM
A sly minstrel tries to ruin a clueless groom’s wedding night…but he didn’t account for the bride.
By dawn, the prankster’s bed, clothes and dignity are buried under an avalanche of medieval payback.

🎧 New episode - Jouglet
buff.ly/APjbRzg
#MedievalHumour #Fabliau #TheCourtJesterPodcast
August 13, 2025 at 9:11 AM
If this is not my favourite story from the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, it is definitely my favourite illumination.
Have you ever seen a friar and a nun masturbating under a tree while being watched by a weird man?
You have now.

🎧Patreon Bonus: Payment for the Pears.
buff.ly/ZVHOPey
#medievalsky
August 1, 2025 at 5:21 PM
A miller tries to trick a girl. Instead, he loses his pig, his pride and his dignity. By court order.

🎧 New episode: The Miller of Arleux
buff.ly/DBnc8MC
#TheCourtJesterPodcast #Medievalsky
July 29, 2025 at 6:40 PM
🎧 New episode, complete with guest cat sounds!
A penny-pinching husband suspects his wife is having an affair. So he sets a trap.
But she’s got sharper instincts, a better plan, and the entire household on her side.

Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/6tF1...

#Medievalsky #TheCourtJesterPodcast
July 13, 2025 at 12:01 PM
The sound quality of The Court Jester's next episode has been seriously compromised by this furry nightmare, who couldn't stop yelling for attention.

Please accept my apologies. He regrets nothing.

#cat #storyteller #storytelling #TheCourtJesterPodcast #medievalsky
July 10, 2025 at 11:16 AM
If you’re heading to #IMC2025, stick this in your ears on the train and arrive fully in the #medieval mood: curious, inventive and just slightly scandalised.
And follow The Court Jester wherever you get your podcasts!

🎧https://open.spotify.com/show/1Do3IRSbyx0Ac1asD1RudD
📖BnF Fr. 25526, f. 111r.
July 6, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Some fabliaux are about sex.
Some are about power.
This one is about a man who kisses a mysterious knight’s butt and doesn’t realise it’s his wife.
“Bérangier au lonc cul” is all about status anxiety, gender performance and sexual frustration.

youtu.be/nOSUexYEuso?...

#fabliaux #medieval
July 2, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Whether you're travelling or already queueing for conference coffee in #IMC2025, I’ve got you. This month’s newsletter dives into the Bal des Ardents, to give you some perspective on the importance of Health and Safety in event planning.
Sign up and read it on the way to Leeds: buff.ly/7n4XYfI
June 30, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Boivin had a purse full of lies and a knack for trouble.
He scammed a brothel, sparked a riot and left with a payday.
🎧 New episode: open.spotify.com/show/1Do3IRS...
📖 Scene of a bathhouse, c. 1470. Berlin Staatsbibliothek, Ms. Dep. Breslau 2, vol. 2, fol. 244.

#Medievalsky #TheCourtJesterPodcast
June 29, 2025 at 10:11 AM
If you ever find yourself in Akşehir in July, you might witness a man in 13th-century robes riding backwards on a donkey, leading a cheerful procession through the city.
Welcome to the world of Nasreddin Hodja. Read all about him on this month's Patreon:.
buff.ly/CaAccYV
#medievalsky #jesterlore
June 21, 2025 at 1:25 PM
June 18, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Voted most likely to survive a medieval power vacuum.

Evangelist John on Patmos, and marginal detail of rooster holding a sceptre in left foot.
Book of Hours. France, Provence, ca. 1440-1450. Morgan Library, MS M.358, fol. 13r.
#medievalsky
June 17, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Sir Gawain and the #GreenKnight needs no introduction, and this week it's on #TheCourtJesterPodcast. Tune in as Debbie Cannon performs a fascinating excerpt from this masterpiece!
Listen: buff.ly/BC6U6rz
#KingArthur #Medievalsky #Arthuriana
📖 @britishlibrary.bsky.social , MS Cotton Nero AX2, f 95r
June 15, 2025 at 6:49 PM
What happens when Arthurian romance meets comic exaggeration and a hero who throws punches AND punchlines?

Margaret Anne Purbrick explores the performative energy and humour of Jaufre in "Medieval Humour". Available via Trivent Publishing and JSTOR.
buff.ly/h6pA4vW

#Medievalsky #MedievalHumour
June 10, 2025 at 10:01 AM
1,000 YouTube Listens!
Apparently, over 1k of you voluntarily listened to medieval fart jokes and somehow didn’t flee the platform.
I’m stunned, flattered and, frankly, alarmed.
If you're not yet part of the medieval misrule...why?

🟥 Subscribe and Listen: buff.ly/3v8WiWD
#medievalsky #storytelling
June 9, 2025 at 1:01 PM
“He who doesn’t know how to write doesn’t see the labor. Three fingers write, the whole body works. If you read this, pray for me.”
Revisiting Lucie Doležalová's contrubution in 'Medieval Humour' and giggling: buff.ly/h6pA4vW 📖 @labnf.bsky.social , MS Latin 9561 fol. 81v.
#medievalsky #manuscripts
June 5, 2025 at 12:24 PM
New episode! It's the Real Housewives of the middle ages.
The contest is on, the three contestants are ready and a ring is the prize.
Morals are optional.

🎧 buff.ly/Odwm9hL
📖British Library, Sloane 2435, f. 44v.
#Thecourtjesterpodcast #medievalsky
June 2, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Medieval emoji culture is real.
I give you the itchiest inhabitants of the Book of Kells, because even in a Gospel, there’s room for a joke.

I'm revisiting Donncha MacGabhann's chapter in 'Medieval Humour: Expressions, Receptions and Functions' and I am having great fun.

#medievalsky #BookofKells
May 31, 2025 at 9:00 AM
The first newsletter is out.

It’s about the fabliau I couldn’t laugh at, and the moment I stopped mid-script and thought, “I can’t do this.”
Subscribe to the blog and read it:
buff.ly/yUs8seK
📖 BnF, RES-H-95.
#Medievalsky #DigitalHumanities #Storytelling
May 30, 2025 at 9:02 AM
This book on medieval humour came out over a year ago. Nobody noticed.
That’s a shame. It’s actually hilarious. Let’s fix that.

Read more or order here: buff.ly/fJXy4pf

#MedievalStudies #MedievalTwitterRefugees #HistHumour
May 29, 2025 at 2:31 PM
My first ever newsletter drops this week. It’s about the medieval story I couldn’t laugh at, and what to do with stories that hurt more than they amuse.

Get it by subscribing on the website or Patreon-link in bio.
📖 Beinecke MS.229, F. 326

#Medievalsky #Humour #Storytelling #DigitalHumanities
May 28, 2025 at 9:01 AM