Gone Medieval – The Medieval Moon

Host: Dr. Eleanor Janega
Guest: Dr. Ayush Lazukhani, Stipendiary Lecturer in Old and Middle English, Exeter and Mansfield Colleges, Oxford
Release Date: September 2, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode explores how the moon was perceived, imagined, and written about during the Middle Ages, drawing on Dr. Ayush Lazukhani's new book centered around global medieval moon traditions. The discussion covers European, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Persian, Mayan, and Polynesian perspectives—demonstrating the moon as a haunting, inspiring, and uniting presence across cultures. The conversation weaves together poetry, folklore, astronomy, religion, superstition, and the lived experiences of people long ago and far away, revealing both striking similarities and profound differences in how societies related to the night sky’s brightest body.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Moon in Global Medieval Cultures

• Global Perspectives:
  Dr. Lazukhani sought to expand medieval studies beyond a Eurocentric focus, highlighting moon traditions from cultures worldwide.

  “What I really hoped to achieve was to think of the medieval world as multifaceted, as having many regions contributing to it… By no means does [the book] do that perfectly, but I try to use key terms from different languages so we can talk about particular traditions using their own terminology.” — Ayush Lazukhani [07:45]

• The Universal Moon:
  Despite cultural differences, the moon is a shared reference point for human experience.

  “The moon is available to experience in whatever form to people around the world… it can be quite universalizing.” — Ayush [09:56]

• Common Motifs:
  Many societies see faces, people, or animals on the moon. Asian traditions, for instance, regarded a hare or rabbit, while European folklore often imagined a “man in the moon.”

  “Even if that’s different, we all want to see something there… everyone’s attempting to get to that point.” — Eleanor [10:47]

2. The Moon as Mystical, Mutable, and a Mirror

• Moon’s Mutability:
  Medieval texts often link the moon’s changing nature to themes of transformation, instability, and longing.

  “The mutability I found particularly pronounced in a lot of European traditions.” — Ayush [12:21]

• Poetry and Love:
  Across cultures, the moon is linked with love, longing, and the beloved.

  “The Sufis, the Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, the Hindu mystic Mirabai — all of them share this emphasis on associating the moon with love and the one who is beloved.” — Ayush [13:48]

• Continuity to Present Day:
  Many ways people feel about the moon persist today.

  “That idea of being aglow with moonlight, of having your first kiss under moonlight… that is a real connecting point between us and the medieval past.” — Ayush [15:33]

3. Early Literary Depictions

• Riddles and Enigmas:
  Old English and Norse traditions often depicted the moon as an unsolvable riddle, reinforcing its air of mystery.

  “The use of the riddle to explore what the moon is, is actually quite apt…” — Ayush [16:36]

• Moon’s Comfort & Loneliness:
  The moon is simultaneously a comfort in darkness and a symbol of exile and longing, featuring in English, Chinese, and Japanese traditions.

  “When it comes to the Old English riddle, that speaks a lot to interests in the Old English elegies… the moon kind of, I think, reflects those traditions.” — Ayush [20:31]

4. Exile, Humanization, and the Mirror of the Moon

• Exile Motif:
  Being sent to or descended from the moon often reflected themes of exile, loss, and outsider-ness.

  “The moon is kind of fertile ground for exploring themes of exile and not having a secure home.” — Ayush [20:31]

• Mirror of Humanity:
  Literature including the Italian “Frenzy of Orlando” imagines the moon as a repository for earthly folly and lost things.

  “It becomes a kind of distorted mirror reflection of earth… filled with human frailties and foibles.” — Ayush [22:37]

5. The Moon in Medieval Science & Medicine

• Astronomy & Cosmology:
  The medieval moon was classed as a planet, closely orbiting earth, associated with moisture and the phlegmatic humor in the body.

  “The moon was associated in particular with the phlegmatic humor and moistness…” — Ayush [24:14]

• Medicinal & Practical Influence:
  Phases of the moon regulated everything from when to bleed patients, cut timber, or set out on journeys.

  “It was believed to influence trees… sea creatures… quick and energetic people… so the moon influencing the natural world, but also people’s temperaments as well.” — Ayush [27:39]

• Prognostication Tools:
  Obsession with moon phases permeated calendars, “moon books,” and gadgets like the astrolabe, crucial for science, religion, and daily life.

  “Establishing the phases of the moon and which zodiacal sign the moon was in… both were crucial for a lot of medieval science and medieval prognostication…” — Ayush [31:35]

6. The Moon in Religion and Allegory

• Deities and Stories:
  Moon deities varied culturally — e.g. Chang’e in China, Diana/Artemis in Rome.

  “She has this companion, the jade hair… sometimes the toad, like she has pets. It’s very sweet. So there are ways in which she is seen as being more relatable…” — Ayush [34:39]

• Christian Allegory:
  The moon as a symbol for the Church, reflecting the light of Christ, but hesitant acceptance of using the moon for prophecy.

  “He does accept that the moon influences the natural world… but he’s not okay with people then saying, the position of the moon will influence my life today.” (on Ælfric’s view) — Ayush [49:36]

7. The Moon, Society, and Identity

• Class and Social Reflection:
  Stories like “The Man in the Moon” reflect social order, class, and even humor at the expense of the lower classes.

  “It could possibly have been an example of… classist humor, where we have an upper class audience… laughing at a laborer… ” — Ayush [39:29]

• Gender & Personhood:
  The gendering of the moon shifts between cultures—in some male, in others female, and is deserving of further scholarly attention.

  “It’s very variable what gender the moon is ascribed. And that would be an interesting question to be explored further…” — Ayush [55:54]

• No Monolithic Moon:
  There’s no single medieval “moon”—just diverse, context-dependent interpretations.

  “I don’t think we can have an overarching medieval view of the Moon, but we can have different, conversant, sometimes conflicting ideas of the Moon, of multiple moons across cultures.” — Ayush [53:45]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the universality and diversity of moon lore:

  “There’s that desire to kind of make the moon readable, to reach out to the moon, to populate it, or to imagine that it’s somehow a reflection of Earth or can be brought closer.” — Ayush [11:09]

• On longing and poetic connection:

  “That idea of being aglow with moonlight, of having your first kiss under moonlight, that’s still very prevalent in a lot of cultures today. And I think that is a real connecting point between us and the medieval past.” — Ayush [15:33]

• On class in ‘Man in the Moon’:

  “We have a man exiled to the moon for stealing brushwood… that signals his class… this poem is perhaps an example of an upper class audience… thinking how ridiculous they are.” — Ayush [39:29]

• On ‘multiple moons’:

  “In the book I suggest we think about medieval moons in the plural… there are different moons depending on the viewer, the cultural tradition… there’s no overarching medieval view.” — Ayush [53:45]

• On the moon’s changeability and identity:

  “The fact that it itself changes, it looks like it’s changing shape, it changes position, that can then speak to us in terms of how we might understand different concepts in the moon…” — Ayush [55:54]

Key Segment Timestamps

• [05:17] Recitation and discussion of the “Man in the Moon” poem
• [07:45] Dr. Lazukhani explains the global focus of her book
• [13:48] The moon as the symbol of love across global traditions
• [16:36] The moon in Old English riddles and early literature
• [20:31] Themes of exile and comfort in moon poetry and myth
• [24:14] Medieval astronomical conceptions: the moon as a planet
• [27:39] Influence of the moon on nature, medicine, and daily life
• [31:35] Prognostication, astrology, and the use of astrolabes
• [34:39] Moon deities and their characteristics in world cultures
• [39:29] Class and humor in the “Man in the Moon” story
• [45:40] The moon’s role in prophecy and mystery in literature
• [49:36] The moon in the Christian tradition and ecclesiastical allegory
• [53:45] The impossibility of a singular medieval perspective on the moon
• [55:54] The moon’s adaptability in reflecting gender, class, and identity concerns

Conclusion

Dr. Ayush Lazukhani and Dr. Eleanor Janega provided a sweeping exploration of the moon’s place in the medieval imagination globally—from science and religion to poetry and politics. The episode urges listeners to think of “medieval moons” in the plural: as diverse, shifting mirrors for human longing, love, change, and social structure. The moon’s mutability, both literal and symbolic, made it an ever-present but ever-changing companion to medieval peoples worldwide—just as it remains for us today.

For further reading: Check out Dr. Ayush Lazukhani’s “The Medieval Moon: A History of Haunting and Blessing.”