In this episode of the Universal History podcast with Richard Rohlin, we discuss the surprising Irish origin of the medieval notion of purgatory, why it's understandable that purgatory is part of the medieval experience, its relevance to our lives today, and how Dante presents purgatory in a new, more optimistic way in his Divine Comedy.

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Timestamps: 00:00 - Coming up 01:11 - Intro music 01:37 - Introduction 04:23 - Ireland in the medieval period 13:31 - History for the Irish 20:15 - A lyrical approach 23:51 - Magical realism 29:37 - Ireland's rigour 37:34 - The popular medieval belief of Purgatory 40:25 - The Irish Penitentials 43:03 - Purification after death 50:20 - Avoid purgatory 51:06 - Descriptions of purgatory 54:57 - The problem statement 01:07:03 - Dante's purgatory 01:09:04 - The best defense for purgatory 01:17:15 - Bringing it home

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Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson.