Ragman’s Harbour

23 -All the Brandons, saints. And convenient visions + boobies

In this episode we take you on a journey to meet very real people (à la Brandon Starks if he were a king or a hunter) who are saints and actual people who are saints (with or without boobies and visions) with a bonus festive saint and singing (no fire was started in the making of this episode).
We manage to parallel Septon Meribald and Gregor Clegan (and bonus Oedipus!) to the same saint, and also talk Pretty Meris, Melisandre, Mother Mole, Baelor the Blessed, Jeyne Poole and more. We even throw in how Valyria could have avoided the Doom. And cakes that are boob-shaped.
Join us on this trip and make this shortest day of the year if you're in the Northern Hemisphere longer (and bring extra light to it if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, and some cold because these candles are in Sweden)
Tell your friends and maybe your racist uncle who needs to be reminded borders are fake about us and leave us a flurry of stars and a review wherever you listen to this episode <3
You can also join us on Patreon and support our work + get some LOTR virgin read through reaction episodes in your ears (and even go as far as save the world!)
 
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
 
Content, sources and ressources:
Virginie talks about
- Saint Agatha of Sicily
https://www.vaticannews.va/fr/saint-du-jour/02/05/saint-agathe--vierge-et-martyre-de-catane.html
https://www.vaticanstate.va/fr/etat-et-gouvernement/notes-generales/saint-du-jour/1458-5-fevrier-sainte-agathe-martyre.html
Prière Eucharistique 1 https://www.bibliotheque-monastique.ch/bibliotheque/bibliotheque/prièreseuch/PREXEUCH.htm  
Deborah PUCCIO, « Sainte Agathe, les femmes et le chocolat », Clio [En ligne], 14 | 2001, mis en ligne le 03 juillet 2006, consulté le 12 décembre 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/clio/108 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/clio.108
 
- Saint Julien le Pauvre (Saint Julian the Poor)
well, it's a Parisian mashup of a number of Saint Julians so maybe read on Julian the Hospitaller. And check out the church when you're in Paris!
https://www.sjlp-paris.org/
 
Lo talks about:
-Saint Erik
https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/uppsaladomkyrka/erik-den-helige-och-andra-helgon
https://www.so-rummet.se/kategorier/erik-den-helige 
https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Mobil/Artikel/15396
 
-Saint Birgitta
https://www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/heliga-birgitta-medeltida-maktspelerska 
https://historiska.se/utforska-historien/kunskapsbank/heliga-birgitta-sveriges-mest-kanda-kvinna/ 
and bonus Saint Lucie and songs!
 

22 - A Storm of Genders

In this episode we talk about gender nonconforming people throughout history, and ASOIAF. We cover everyone from Joan of Arc, genderqueer Viking era people, possible trans saints, and a Polish gender criminal (of sorts). And we compare them to characters like Brienne of Tarth, Morna White Mask, Alleras the Sphinx, Arya Stark, Brave Danny Flint, and more. Join us as we discuss how the gender binary is fake and heteronormativity is bullshit!  
 
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
 
Content, sources and ressources:
Lo talks about Late Iron Age/Viking age archeology, Saint Marinos, and Wojciech of Poznán:
“Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography” edited by Alicia Spencer-Hall & Blake Gutt (including chapters by M.W. Bychowski and Lee Colwill)
“Were there Transgender People in the Middle Ages?” - M.W. Bychowski
“Wojciech of Poznán and the Trans Archive, Poland, 1550-1561” by Anna Kłosowska (in “Trans historical: Gender plurality before the modern”, edited by Greta LeFleur, Masha Raskolnikov & Anna Kłosowska)
“Magic, Genderfluidity, and queer Vikings, ca. 750‐1050” - Jacob Bell
 
Virginie talks about Joan of Arc and Saint Eugene/Eugenia:
“Les genres fluides - De Jeanne d'Arc aux saintes trans” by Clovis Maillet“Passionnément Moyen Âge - Plaidoyer pour le petit peuple” by Claude Gauvard

21- More blood on the shadows

In this episode, your hosts take you once more to the delightful (or not) realm of political deaths. Some of them just stop being alive, some are murdered, some experience chop chop, but all men must die -kings, princes who are also kings, men who used to be kings, people who got rid of kings, people who didn't want to get rid of kings, people who are not monarchs too.
Also, Virginie needs to come clean: she said "kings" were banned from the streets of Paris but she meant "pigs" 😅 (also, as her voice testifies, she was sick and deserves a break. Same for that time she forgets a key word in a sentence but it still makes sense)
Tell your friends and even your enemies about this episode in real life and on social media, and if you liked what you hear, leave us a firework of stars and rave about us in a review on your podcast app of choice.
Also, check out our Patreon! Virginie reads LOTR for the first time and is currently finding Jesus, you do not* want to miss it! (*or maybe you do) (up to you!)
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
 
Content, sources and ressources:
Lo talks about the death of Dag Hammarskjöld, the murder of Anna Lindh and the successful conspiracy against Gustav III
https://www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/gustav-iii-skandaler-sexstrul-och-statskupper 
https://www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/en-konspiration-tar-form-mordet-pa-gustav-iii-del-1 
https://www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/attentatet-mordet-pa-gustav-iii-del-2 
https://www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/dod-och-vedergallning-mordet-pa-gustav-iii-del-3 
https://www.daghammarskjold.se/dag-hammarskjold/dag-hammarskjold/ 
https://www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/dag-hammarskjold-med-varlden-pa-sina-axlar 
https://www.svt.se/nyheter/utrikes/nya-uppgifter-legoknekt-ska-ha-erkant-att-han-dodade-dag-hammarskjold 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Lindh 
https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/mijailovic-talar-ut-det-ar-dags-att-sanningen-kommer-fram/ 
Virginie talks about the death of Philippe de France and the French Revolution. She hated the exercise of concision about a whole goddam war fought inside and outside the country so resorted to videos for high school students and the like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzaKONz9RZI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0InXmR8U0Ic

Harbour's Reader d- Wyman Manderly

In this episode, we talk about one of our absolute favourite characters: Wyman Manderly.
We analyse where he and his family stand in the North, how he is perceived and how he uses that, his sense of ethics, why we love him in spite of some... less savoury bits and we finally get to share artwork by the fantastic Hanieh @dr3adlady.bsky.social‬ (We'll share it on social media and on our Patreon, on a public post like all our public episodes)
We also talk about some of the cast around him and we have a great time doing all that!
Tell your friends and your favourite rat cook (Remy or otherwise) about it, and if you like what you hear, leave us a firework of stars and rave about us in a review on your podcast app of choice.
Also, check out our Patreon where you can become a subscriber and get our bonus episodes at the Boots level and up! Virginie reads LOTR for the first time ever, and we hear from our patrons that she's keen eyed for *stuff*
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Instagram
Thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
Sources/further reading:
“’To Be Cocky Is to Challenge the Norms’: The Impact of Bodynormativity on Bodily and Sexual Attraction in Relation to Being a Cripple.” -  Denise Malmberg
“Men and masculinities” - Stephen M Whitehead
“Masculinity, Competence, and Health: The Influence of Weight and Race on Social Perceptions of Men.” - Nell Mary Trautner, Samantha Kwan & Scott V Savage
“Lords Too Fat to Sit a Horse: Body Normativity and Masculinity in ASOIAF” - Lo

20 - A Storm of Cultures - feat Ray

In this episode, your hosts and guest Ray, discuss what happens when different cultures meet, in ASOIAF and irl.
We discuss migration, culture clashes, prejudice, racism, colonialism, and more! Along the way we conclude that both Viserys Targaryen and Jorah Mormont are the worst (albeit in different ways), and that the Free Folk makes a good parallel to climate refugees. 
We also chat with our guest about his journey through both the ASOIAF fandom and life in general! 
Tell your friends and fandom acquintances about this episode, and if you liked what you hear, leave us a bunch of stars and write a review on your podcast app of choice.
Also, check out our Patreon where we publish exclusive bonus episodes for our beloved patrons: Virginie reads LOTR for the first time, and we just finished "The Fellowship of the Ring"!
 
You can contact Ray at:
@untitledray (on Instagram)
@untitledray.bsky.social (on Bluesky
 
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Instagram
 
Thank you LittleWolfBird for the sound engineering, and thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
 
Content, sources and ressources that are not our own experiences:
Lo
”The Free Folk and Colonialism” (essay by Lo)
”Herrarna satte oss hit: om tvångsförflyttningarna i Sverige” / ”The Rocks Will Echo our Sorrow: The forced displacement of the Northern Sámi” - Elin Anna Labba
Map of Meänmaa
”Meänkieli – Grammatik, lärobok, historik, texter” - Bengt Pohjanen
"Tornedalingar i Sverige" - Forum för levande historia
”Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaiset.”
The song ”Donkey Kong” by Hooja.
 
Virginie
"The Great Replacement Theory Explained" - National Immigration Forum
"Forced migration or displacement" - Migration Data Portal
"Migration and human mobility - key figures" - Migration Data Portal
"Key migration terms" - IOM
"Climate change and displacement" - UNHCR
"Climate change and human mobility" - IOM
Climate change (search on IOM's website)

Harbour's reader c -sigils as storytelling

In this third episode of our series looking at the books, actually, we look at a neat trick GRRM uses for subtle storytelling: the blasons/sigils of the main Houses of the North, through the prism of semiotics -and specifically, the tools developed by the researcher, Greimas.
You don't know what semiotics are? Fair enough! Let us explain that it's the study of signs and symbols, and how they are used to create meaning, tell stories, communicate ideas. And that GRRM provides the keen-eyed reader with a prime example of how to use images well <3
We hope you like this episode as much as we enjoyed nerding out and making it!
Tell your friends and even your barista about it, and if you like what you hear, leave us a firework of stars and rave about us in a review on your podcast app of choice.
Also, check out our Patreon where you can become a member and get cool rewards such as our bonus episodes at the Boots level and up! Virginie reads LOTR for the first time ever, and has a lot of correct opinions (or so she has been told).
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Thank you LittleWolfBird for the sound engineering, and thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
Sources and further reading:
http://www.signosemio.com/greimas/canonical-narrative-schema.asp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actantial_model
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotic_square

19 - Valar Morghulis

All men - and people in general - must die, but what happens afterwards? In this episode we discuss understandings of death, burial rituals, and the afterlife in ASOIAF and real life! Join us to learn about how the pop culture understanding of "Viking funerals" is somewhat inaccurate, but also how funeral processions for kings and nobles in ASOIAF are far less extra than they were in real-life France. 
 
Tell your friends and even your enemies about this episode, and if you liked what you hear, leave us a firework of stars and rave about us in a review on your podcast app of choice.
Also, check out our Patreon where we publish exclusive bonus episodes for our beloved patrons: Virginie reads LOTR for the first time!
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Instagram
Thank you LittleWolfBird for the sound engineering, and thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
 
Content, sources and ressources:
Lo:
Norse funeral (Wikipedia)
Kult och ritualer (Historiska museet)
Levande och döda (Historiska museet)
Hästen i den fornnordiska tron (SO-rummet)
Fornnordisk tro och asatro (SO-rummet)
Valhalla & Other Afterlives in Norse Mythology (Jessica Suess)
“The Queerly Departed: Narratives of Veneration in the Burials of Late Iron Age Scandinavia” (Lee Colwill, in “Trans and Genderqueer Subjects of Medieval Hagiography” eds. Alicia Spencer-Hall & Blake Gutt)
 
Virginie:
Dictionnaire du Moyen Âge (C. Gauvard, A. de Libera, M. Zink)
Passionnément Moyen Âge -plaidoyer pour le petit peuple (Claude Gauvard)
Jean-Claude Schmitt in La Mort et ses au-delà, sous la direction de Maurice Godelier
Les Funérailles royales de Henri IV (1610) (Gillet) 
Conclave : comment se déroule l’élection d’un Pape ?
Tongan funerals (Wikipedia)
 

Harbour's Reader b- Brienne of Tarth

In this second episode of our series looking at the books, in an extremely shocking twist of event (not), we are analysing Brienne!
We're talking gender, the patriarchy, transphobia, toxic gender norms, heresy and Podrick Payne, Hyle Hunt and Jaime Lannister get a mention. So do Cercei and Catelyn, for different reasons.
We hope you like this episode as much as we enjoyed making it!
Tell your friends and even your barista about it, and if you like what you hear, leave us a firework of stars and rave about us in a review on your podcast app of choice.
Also, check out our Patreon where you can become a member and get cool rewards such as our bonus episodes at the Boots level and up! Virginie reads LOTR for the first time ever, and everything is WWI (except when it's Star Wars) (something like that)
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Thank you LittleWolfBird for the sound engineering, and thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
Sources/further reading:
-”A Brief Trans History” by Lohttps://lothelynx.wordpress.com/2021/11/24/a-brief-trans-history/ -“Were there Transgender People in the Middle Ages?” - M.W Bychowski-“Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography” - Alicia Spencer-Hall & Blake Gutt-“Transgender Warriors” - Leslie Feinberg-“My words to Victor Frankenstein above the village of Chamounix: Performing transgender rage” - Susan Stryker-“Bodies that Matter. On the Discursive Limits of “Sex” - Judith Butler -“Them Goon Rules: Fugitive Essays on Radical Black Feminism.” - Marquis Bey  -”Kollektivtrafikens könstyranni” - Signe Bremer Gagnesjö (in ”(O)tryggt?: Makt, plats och motstånd”, edited by Malin Rönnblom, Ida Linander, and Linda Sandberg)

Ep 18_a Feast of Food- feat Abi

Your hosts and guest Abi ( @szegfu.bsky.social ) take you on a trip around the world and across time to learn more about George's favourite topic, probably: food!
We discuss having to adapt to a new food culture in real life, like Catelyn and Tyrion as well as Areo Hotah and Ser Arys do in the books, what people eat in the North(s), what spices were found in medieval European kitchens, how to preserve food when you don't have a fridge or an ice cell (or even if you have one), how to recreate Joffrey's wedding feast but make it actually extravagant and how amazing it is to learn Hungarian with curses.
Tell your friends and your favourite chef about this episode, and if you liked what you hear, leave us an oodle of stars and sing an ode about us in a review on your podcast app of choice.
Also, check out our Patreon where we publish exclusive bonus episodes for our beloved patrons: Virginie reads LOTR for the first time, you do not* want to miss it! (*or maybe you do) (up to you!). She has thoughts on foods there, too.
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Instagram
Thank you LittleWolfBird for the sound engineering, and thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
Content, sources and ressources that are not our own experiences:
Lo:
-  https://www.samer.se/mat
 
Virginie
- Dictionnaire du Moyen Âge, C. Gauvard, A. de Libera, M. Zink
- Les Plaisir au Moyen Âge, Jean Verdon
 
 

17_a Game of Games

Who wants to play? Swedish games the Ironborn would not shy from or French games Tyrion approves?
Tell your friends and even your enemies about this episode, and if you liked what you hear, leave us a firework of stars and rave about us in a review on your podcast app of choice.
Also, check out our Patreon where we publish exclusive bonus episodes for our beloved patrons: Virginie reads LOTR for the first time, you do not* want to miss it! (*or maybe you do) (up to you!)
You can contact us at:
ragmanspod@gmail.com
BlueSky
Thank you LittleWolfBird for the sound engineering, and thank you to Matt Graham for the theme music with sounds from zapsplat.com!
 
Content, sources and ressources:
Lo:
- "Kropp, Känslor och Relationer - Om sexualitet, samtycke och rättigheter för förskola  och grundskolans tidigare år" - Johanna Ivarsson, Loui Larsson, Sofie Olovsson, RM Ratesregn & Karin Salmson
- "Så utvecklas barn av att leka" -Jenny Magnusson Österberg
- "Längdåkningens historia i Sverige" - Jonas Cederquist
- "Pepparkakskull"
Virginie
for images of better quality than my own:
- Charlemagne chess game that was made in 11th C southern Italy, sculpted in ivory
- https://gallica.bnf.fr/accueil/fr/html/lelephant-de-charlemagne?mode=desktop
For words:
- Dictionnaire du Moyen Âge, C. Gauvard, A. de Libera, M. Zink
- Les Plaisir au Moyen Âge, Jean Verdon
- Pieces of Power: Medieval Chess and the Male Homosocial Desire, Jenny Adams, University of North Texas
-
Mark Anthony Hall (2013) Magia Gry: Sztuka rywalizacji (The Magic ofthe Game: The Art of the Contest)Échecs et Trictrac: Fabrication et u des jeux de tables au Moyen Âge. Catalogue de l'exposition présentée du 23 juin au 18 novembre 2012 au Musée du château de MayenneArt du jeu, jeu dans l'art de Babylone à l'occident médiéval. Catalogue de l'exposition présentée du 28 novembre 2012 au 4 mars 2013 au Musée de Cluny — Musée national du Moyen Âge, ParisKõrts keskaegses linnas: Näituse ‘Poriveski Kõrts’. Kataloog/Inn in a Medieval Town, Catalogue of the Exhibition ‘Poriveski Kõrts’ 13 May to 11 November 2011Religions in Play: Games, Rituals and Virtual Worlds, European Journal of Archaeology, 16:3, 574-580, DOI: 10.1179/146195713X13721616775755
https://doi.org/10.1179/146195713X13721616775755