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Conquest and Anarchy 6: Total Angevin Victory Aug 14, 2024

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folks, we're back with the 6th and final episode in our series on the Norman Conquest and English Anarchy. we close our the Anarchy in style by talking about the strange course of the conflict, Empress Matilda's high point of power in England, London's rejection of the Empress, the stalemate that followed, the eventual rise of Matilda's son, Henry FitzEmpress, and the eventual collapse of Stephen's rule as the nobles refused to crown his son king and instead opted for Henry. turns out, even if they didn't want Matilda as queen, that doesn't mean anyone actually liked Stephen all that much either. so his rule becomes a 19-year-long aberration that runs the length of the Anarchy before King Henry II takes over, rebuilds the realm, and sets it up for future political strife during his long reign.

Conquest and Anarchy 5: Too Many Matildas Aug 08, 2024

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folks, it's part 5 of our series on the Norman Conquest and English Anarchy and we're finally getting to the Anarchy part. We talk about the state of England in 1135 at the time of Henry I's death, what kind of anarchy we mean here, the main players and their claims to the throne, early political jockeying, and then the formal outbreak of civil war in 1138. Of course, we also make a few comparisons to House of the Dragon since George RR Martin used the English Anarchy as his rough template for the Targaryen civil war.

Conquest and Anarchy 4: Succession Crises Aug 01, 2024

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folks, we're back with part four of our series on the Norman Conquest and English Anarchy. this time, the best laid succession plans of mice and men go awry. Despite a decade of relative peace toward the end of his reign and dying with three male heirs in line, William the Conqueror's sons immediately begin quarreling with the help of some more rebellious barons. William Rufus wins the right to the English throne, defeating his older brother, Robert Curthose, for the prize before reconciling with him. Then, after William Rufus's death, William the Conqueror's youngest son, Henry, would defeat old brother Robert again and then have a nice thirty-five year reign. Until his succession plans were thrown out of whack and he had to turn to his daughter, Matilda. After that, Anarchy won't be far behind.
Finally, here's man getting his by brick: https://x.com/LukeRenshaw/status/1818384899469910349

Conquest and Anarchy 3: The Norman Yoke Jul 26, 2024

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folks, we're back with part three of our series on the Norman Conquest and English Anarchy where we finish up the rest of 1066 and see William the Conqueror crowned. then we turn to William's rule of England, which was mostly absenteeism except when he was responding to the numerous but sporadic and disconnected rebellions with extreme force. we'll see all the rebellions fail, even the Revolt of the Earls, and watch as the Norman yoke fully descends on England once and for all. finally, William dies and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there's a contested succession between his two sons, Rufus and Robert.

Conquest and Anarchy 2: 1066 and All That Jul 17, 2024

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note: yes, there is echo on Eleanor's audio because she is travelling and the only place where she could record had tall ceilings and thus an echo. this also caused some weird feedback on Luke's track too. we have done our best to minimize it, so please just bear with us.
folks, we're back with part 2 of our series on the Norman Conquest and English Anarchy. last time, we introduced you to pre-Norman England and the Norman themselves as we worked our way up to 1066 CE. but now it's time for conquest! four claimants threw their names in the ring after Edward the Confessor's death in January 1066 and they would fight it out to see who would rule England. or at least they will fight it out but only after waiting for about nine months before making any offensive moves against the island. but once the party starts, England will be invaded by Norse and Danish Vikings, warriors from Orkney, perfidious Frenchmen, Bretons, and, of course, Normans. so join us as we watch William of Normandy become the Conqueror and find out why his conquest almost failed and he wasn't accepted even after his victory at the Battle of Hastings.

Conquest and Anarchy 1: Before the Normans Jul 10, 2024

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folks, we're back with a new series, this one covering the Norman Conquest of England and then the Anarchy that followed about seventy years later. we were originally just going to do the Anarchy but decided to do the Conquest as well because it's kind of a big deal. this episode serves as an introduction to pre-Norman England and the Normans themselves. we talk about prehistoric England, Roman Britain, the Heptarchy, Christianization of the island, Viking invasions, and more. then we turn to discuss how the warlike Normans came to dominate the northwestern part of modern-day France, all leading up to the reign of a bastard named William.

More Patron Mailbag, More, More Jul 03, 2024

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folks, we're back with another patron mailbag episode, as promised. in this one, we answer a bunch of questions ranging from the justifications for predestination, usage of the term "Anglo-Saxon," the culture shock of being a Chinese visitor in Medieval Europe, historical murder rates, and whether Neo-Feudalism is actually a thing or not. check it out, it's a lot of fun and if you want to submit your own, just sign up.
audio note: if you hear a slight buzzing behind Eleanor's audio, that is because she needed to have a fan on in the background during the heat wave. We've done what we can to minimize it but it is what it is. enjoy the show!

Patron Mailbag Time Jun 26, 2024

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folks, it's time for another mailbag episode to answer some of our backlog of patron questions! in fact, this is the first of two mailbags we're doing in a row, so there's more to look forward to next week. this time, we answer questions on investigating forged Medieval documents, Medieval views on allergies, whether an ironing board would make a good early Medieval shield, a bit about the Euros, and then one on whether the upper crust of society really believed in Christianity. it's fun, check it out!

The Galileo Affair Jun 19, 2024

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folks, we're back and this time, we're going to the Early Modern period to discuss the Galileo Affair. an odd, 23-year-long saga that saw the Catholic Church and Galileo Galilee go head-to-head over heliocentrism in the early 1600s. this is the moment when the modern views of religion and science as implacable enemies and the Church as this pervasive group of thought police are truly born. this is the time when the Church censored real scientific discovery in the name of preserving the status quo and when they began insisting on biblical inerrancy as a doctrine. in short, it's when the modern misconceptions of the Medieval Church comes into being but it happens in the Early Modern period. so how and why did it get retroactively applied to the Middle Ages? let's find out!

Charlemagne's Fail Sons Jun 13, 2024

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folks, we're back and we're talking once again doing another entry in our occasional series on large adult fail sons of the Middle Ages. Last time, we discussed Charlemagne, one of the most important rulers of all-time, his legacy, and his Carolingian Empire. however, the Carolingian Empire would only survive its founder by about 80 years thanks to the attempted coups, early deaths, and tragic misrule of Charlemagne's four sons: Pepin, Charles the Younger, Pepin of Italy, and Louis the Pious. so let's take a look at how it all went so wrong for Charlemagne's territorial and imperial legacy

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