folks, we're continuing our series on Constantinople. last time we introduced the city via its geography, Constantine making it the capital of the Roman Empire, and the Theodosian Walls. this time, we get into the early Medieval history of the city, which also happens to be the real golden age for Constantinople. beginning under Emperor Justinian I, Constantinople took the mantle of "Rome" seriously and began a long revanchist campaign to take back parts of the former Western Roman Empire, turned it into a religious and cultural capital, made it unbelievably wealthy, and had some zany fun on the way too. everything after Justinian I's rule is the long, slow decline toward 1453 and the Fall but it takes a while before anyone notices, so the Golden Age continues for at least a couple of more centuries. we talk about all that today!
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1:18:01
Constantinople 1: Foundations
folks, we were delayed one week due to the storm of the century in the American southeast but things have thawed a bit and we're back on track just in time to start a series on the Queen of Cities, Constantinople. Eventually, it would become the crown jewel city of Medieval Europe, a hub of culture, religion, trade, defense, and more, and, briefly, the most important city in the world before falling to the Ottomans and gunpowder. But that's a story for later in the series, for now we must introduce you to Constantinople and to do so, we must discuss three separate factors that turned it in THE Medieval European city: the vagaries of geography that combined to make it one of the most imminently defensible locations in the world, Constantine the Great founding the city and making it the capital of the Roman Empire, and the building of the Theodosian Walls.
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1:04:44
Patron Ep Unlocked: Is It Like the HRE
folks, here is an unlocked bonus episode because a winter storm of the century in the American southeast made recording impossible this week. enjoy! the bonus is back for a new year and Luke and Eleanor have been thinking about things and stuff and it's time to ruminate on them. first, Eleanor talks about the way in which rationality and a loss of spirituality supposedly went hand-in-hand with the Enlightenment. it's really been grinding her gears and she's going to speak on it. then Luke answers a discord question from patron, everyzig314, who asked him to compare and contrast the Holy Roman Empire and the Galactic Republic from Star Wars. so we get another installment of the podcast's favorite game show: Is It Like The HRE?
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1:11:28
Medieval Railways (feat Gareth Dennis)
folks, we all love trains. they're great for moving people and cargo and famously not as bad as cars but did you know that the first railways and trackways were built in the Classical and Medieval eras. that's right, despite what Victorian era propaganda would have you believe, the train didn't simply appear fully formed in the English mind in the 18th century where it was then bestowed upon the rest of humanity. it does in fact have a very long and often sordid history and that's why we've brought on Rail engineer and writer Gareth Dennis to talk with us about Medieval railways, what the modern narrative about the early modern invention of trains gets wrong, and why trains are just so neat.Gareth's most recent book, How Railways Will Fix the Future: Rediscovering the Essential Brilliance of the Iron Road, was published in November 2024, check it out! https://garethdennis.co.uk/
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1:11:34
Catch-up and Witchcraft
folks, so this is the new year? well, we could start with a new series or something but a lot of shit has happened the past few weeks and Eleanor and Luke haven't chatted in a while, so they take some time to catch-up on recent events, both hilarious and horrifying. then, to get back into the swing of Medieval things, we talk about an excellent new academic paper that sheds light on a truly bizarre Late Medieval witchcraft trial, which has all the hallmarks of the Early Modern witch trials but is like 200 years too early or a cloistered conspiracy in the vein of The Name of the Rose. but in this case, it really happened, and that's only scratching the surface of the weirdness.The article is: The Devil at Citeaux: The Trial for Witchcraft of Regnault Robergeot (1481-1482) by Maxime Gelly-Perbellinihere's a link to the article: https://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/16417
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