We’ve already talked about a lot of galloping hordes in this podcast, including the Goths, the Huns, and the Vikings. But there is one tribe that outstrips them all, and even outstrips the Roman Empire in terms of sheer territory conquered. In fact, this tribe conquered and ruled the largest territory in the entire history … Read more
Ok, I know, there’s nothing more eye-rollingly boring than medieval literature, right? Wrong! It’s super interesting, in the stories that are told, and in the development of English as a language, and in the development of the novel as a literary genre. Did you read Harry Potter? Those were good novels, right? Both the concept … Read more
Last episode, we left the city of Jerusalem in the hands of the Crusaders. The Crusaders took a guy, named Guy, and made him the king. King Guy. Ok, that was probably pronounced Ghee, but king Guy has as a nice ring to it. Hey, dude, check it out. It’s the king guy. We … Read more
The Crusades definitely had an important impact on today’s geopolitical conflicts. The ongoing war in Syria? That conflict was shaped by things that happened during the Crusades, and even before. The ongoing transfer of wealth from the west to the oil-rich countries of the Middle East? That ties back to the Crusades? ISIS? The Palestinian … Read more
You probably have heard of Prince William and his wife Kate. You might have heard of their official titles, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Or William’s dad, Prince Charles. He’s the Prince of Wales. Have you ever wondered where these titles come from? I mean, William and Kate don’t own the city of Cambridge … Read more
Last episode, we talked about the Charles the Hammer and his son Charlemagne, and the Carolingian renaissance in France and western Europe. After Charley and Charley were gone, though, Europe settled back into a period of relative darkness, without much central control. There wasn’t really one dominant power in any part of Europe, and … Read more
Last episode, we talked about the rise of Islam, and how it swept over the Middle East, Central Asia, and across North Africa. And I mentioned that the Islamic Caliphate, which was controlled by the Umayyad dynasty at that time, conquered Spain, and pushed their way up into France. In 732, however, in France, … Read more
Ok, so Europe was reeling from the volcanic winter of 536, and then the subsequent Plague of Justinian in 541, and it was beginning to descend into the Dark Ages. But nearby, in the Arabian Peninsula, things were just about to get really busy.
Ok, so first of all, yeah, we definitely lingered on Rome for a bit too long there. I’m going to pick up the pace now for a while. For starters, I want to point out that this episode not only marks the end of me talking about Rome (for the most part), it also marks … Read more
The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness…… The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long.