Western Civ

Henry, Duke of Orleans, and Catherine de' Medici are destined to become the King and Queen of France. But you would not have thought so at the beginning of their respective lives. Today we start their story. WebsitePatreon Support/Western Civ 2.0

Edward's coronation sets off a wave of religious reforms. Unfortunately, not everyone is happy with Lord Somerset as Protector - least of all his own brother.WebsitePatreon Bonus Content

It is time to talk to historian Nic Morton again, we last discussed the Mongols and today are talking about the Crusades and crusading warfare. We talk about why it is a problematic idea to paint the Crusades as simply an East versus West or Christian versus Muslim conflict. We talk about the military challenges confronted by the Crusaders when besieging Jerusalem and the later problems they encountered when building a kingdom with the holy city as its capital. We discuss religious relics and whether anyone actually believed the Holy Lance (discovered during the siege of Antioch) saved the Crusaders. And, of course, we evaluate the military tactics of each side and the best leaders.Purchase Dr. Morton's Book: The Crusader States and their Neighbours: A Military History, 1099-1187Try the Medievalist Online Course (Feb. 2024): Medievalists.netWestern Civ WebsitePatreon Support

Now it's time to get back to politics. When we last left off, the deaths of Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V and Sulieman the Magnificent left Europe with a major power void. To an extent, that is going to be the case for a while. Those long-reigning monarchs will be replaced with a series of heirs who will, with the exception of Philip II of Spain, die relatively quickly. Case in point: Edward VI. Today, we return to Tudor England. Website Patreon Support

Today we wrap up our Galileo story arc. Galileo is tried for heresy after the publication of the Dialogue and, spoiler alert, found guilty. The father of modern science dies in isolation, bitter, but undaunted. WebsiteBonus and Ad-Free Episodes

In our final episode on the Spanish Inquisition, I cover its structure and organization. Specifically, I explain how the Spanish Crown, notably King Ferdinand, controlled the Inquisition for his purposes. Then I discuss the Acts of Faith or Autos de Fe as they were originally called, which were the large performances that were part sentencing and part executions. WebsitePatreon Support/Bonus Episodes

It is our last bonus author interview of the year - and it's a good one! I sit down with historian Nick Bunker and break down his amazing book: In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950.Halfway through the twentieth century, the United States towered over the world in industrial might. After winning the 1948 election, Harry Truman hoped to use this economic strength to build on FDR’s achievements with new liberal reforms. But then, in just ten months between September 1949 and June 1950, the president’s ambitions were overtaken by events that left the country gripped by rage and fear. The Soviets tested an atomic bomb, Mao’s army swept through China, and at home Truman faced labor unrest and a Republican Party desperate for power.In the Shadow of Fear is an innovative and gripping history of this pivotal moment. Recounting the launch of Senator Joe McCarthy’s anti-communist crusade, the defeat of Truman’s liberal program, and the start of the Korean War, prizewinning historian Nick Bunker shows us a polarized nation facing crises at home and abroad—a story with deep resonances today.Buy The BookWebsitePatreon Support

Had it not been for the Reformation, the Inquisition probably would have died out in the early Sixteenth Century. But, of course, there was a Reformation and so suddenly there was plenty of heresy to keep the Inquisition humming well into the Eighteenth Century...WebsitePatreon Free TrialWestern Civ 2.0 Free Trial

Today I am joined by author Charles Fischer to discuss his book: The Eunuch.Why would a eunuch want to write a secret history of life in the court of ancient Babylon's most famous king? To get back at his brother: that's why. Abducted as young boys by soldiers during the conquest of Nineveh, the brothers Uruk and Nergal receive very different fates in the ancient kingdom of Babylon. Uruk enjoys favors and climbs the Ziggurat of power to become a trusted advisor and the chief propaganda minister of King Nebuchadnezzar II, while Nergal is castrated and assigned to keep records of the daily life of the King's harem. While Uruk's cushioned prosperity is enviable, his real life is anxious because the King is viewed as the Divine Plowman who must seed the land and bring forth a bountiful harvest -- in other words, make whoopie in the harem and father many children because as the King's virility goes, so goes the harvest -- but the King is both crazy and chronically impotent, and a severe drought has withered the grain fields of the kingdom, so Uruk works nervously to spin propaganda into the official court records to hide the real state of affairs. Mostly out of contempt for his brother and his brother's official history, but also partly because of a deep respect for truth, Nergal the eunuch decides to write his his own secret, eye-witness, tell-all account of the real life inside the court of King Nebuchadnezzar, in all of its hilarious and embarrassing unseemliness. All goes well until, at a crucial moment during a high festival orgy, the King calls for Nergal to assist him in performing a mating ritual with a harem concubine chosen to be the symbolic holy bride of Babylon. Eager to please the King his master, Nergal unexpectedly receives a caressing touch from the concubine, Siduri of Megiddo, and he nearly swoons with love for her. The moment turns Nergal's life upside down and tosses him in a nearly treasonous bind of mixed loyalties. Although he does not know it at the time, the moment changes not only Nergal's life but also everyone else's, because it is the first of a series of events that result in the collapse of the kingdom. So The Eunuch is a laugh-out-loud funny narrative that begins as an effort to extirpate the lies of the hagiographic official history of Babylon, becomes a story of a very peculiar love triangle between a King with mental health issues, an alluring and manipulative concubine, and an obsessive eunuch slave-scribe, and then ends by describing the fall of an empire.Buy The BookWebsitePatreon Support

Both Ferdinand and Charles V refuse to reform the obvious abuses inherent to the Inquisition. And so the fires of the Acts of Faith burn. And burn. And burn...WebsitePatreon Free TrialWestern Civ 2.0 Free Trial