Ancient FM

09/03/2026

Ancient FM’s website player is experiencing interruptions. We are trying to fix the bug. Sorry for the trouble. In the meantime, you can use an app like TuneIn.

08/06/2026

Thanks for all your suggestions a few months ago. Songs performed by David Munrow, Jordi Savall, The Royal Wind Music, Stimmwerck, The Bleecker Consort, Modo Antiquo Ensemble, Aquel Trovar, Datura Medieval Music, Laudate Dominum, Maladanza, Wolgemut, Vox Vulgaris, Murmur Mori, Futuro Antico, Thimios Atzakas, Dimitris Kountouras, Trobar, Eleanor Lewis-Cloué Olivier Gladhofer, and PIVA - the Renaissance Collective, E nsemble Scintille di Musica, Capella de Ministrers, and Ensemble Pseudonym have been added to the playlist. 🙂

07/14/2026

A wonderful video.

Philip Wilson, a teacher in England, pointed out that the meaning of the word "perfect" has changed. Its old meaning is “complete” rather than without faults, and thus imperfect meant “incomplete.”

06/30/2026

If you enjoy our curator’s work, check out her medieval fantasy novels: wkgreyling.com

During the 9th century, this trumpet/horn plunged into the Erne River in Northern Ireland. The instrument is made of yew and has a bronze mouthpiece. The owner might have fallen in with it and drowned. If so, his loss would’ve been keenly felt. Music held an important place in Early Medieval society. Trumpets just like this one were used to entertain kings in both Ireland and England.

Of course, he may not have drowned at all. Perhaps he offered it up as a sacrifice. Or accidentally dropped it during a hurried escape...

I see a story plot forming 🤔

Photo: National Museums Northern Ireland. Collection Ulster Museum

05/26/2026

Anyone for a free audiobook? Medieval fantasy from our curator.

“Being a writer is not about your fame or the length of your work - it's about what you do for your reader. If your reader cannot stop reading, then you should not stop writing.” —Susannah Birch

Photo is of my brother reading The Vessel. He’s always asking me when my next book will be out. The first draft of The Vessel 2 is almost finished and should be released this year. Want a free audiobook for the The Vessel? Request one.

05/19/2026

From our curator. Check out her medieval fantasy novels! wkgreyling.com.

This 700-year-old notebook made of leather, wood, and wax, was once used to record personal notes. It was found in one of five medieval latrines during an excavation in Paderborn. The writer used a stylus to scratch text into the wax surface, and the writing could later be erased and reused. A perfect tool for a novelist who wants to jot down ideas while out and about (as I do, quite regularly).

The notebook contains ten pages, eight written on both sides, and beneath the latest writing, traces of older erased inscriptions still survive. Researchers hope modern imaging technology will eventually separate and decipher these hidden layers of text. I doubt they will answer the question as to how the notebook ended up in the toilet, but one never knows...

Photo: Conservator Susanne Bretzel handling the wax booklet. LWL Archaeology for Westphalia / E. Daood

05/17/2026

A lost copy of a 1300-year old poem written by a cowherd in what is now England has been found in Rome. The writer, Caedmon, lived in the 7th century.

From the article referenced below: Bede records that Caedmon was an illiterate farmer working for a monastery who at first avoided singing. "Therefore, at feasts, when it was decided to have a good time by taking turns singing, whenever he would see the harp getting close to his place, he got up in the middle of the meal and went home" Modern commentators presume that Caedmon actually "concealed his skill from his fellow workmen and from the monks because he was ashamed of knowing 'vain and idle' songs." https://public.archive.wsu.edu/delahoyd/public_html/medieval/caedmon.html

Caedmon’s hymn was inspired by a dream, and is the earliest surviving Old English poem.

The poem was meant to be sung with the accompaniment of a hearpe. Enjoy this rendition. https://www.facebook.com/eugene.schreder/videos/2323203484612018

05/15/2026

A little something from our curator. Check out her books! wkgreyling.com

Online radio station Ancient FM is where to go for medieval and Renaissance music! Try it on TuneIn.

05/06/2026

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04/24/2026

After more than two decades of painstaking work on identifying the techniques used to set particular verse forms, research undertaken by Cambridge University’s Dr Sam Barrett has enabled him to reconstruct melodies from the rediscovered leaf of the 11th century ‘Cambridge Songs’.

Above and below, you can watch musicians perform 'Songs of Consolation,' a 1,000-year-old song set 'to the poetic portions of Roman philosopher Boethius’ magnum opus The Consolation of Philosophy,' an influential medieval text written during the 6th century.