Medieval!

This episode is brought to you by Restaurant.com. Get 50% off your meals at restaurant.com/podcast Many historians view the Battle of Tours as a decisive moment in European history, stopping a major campaign into Gaul that could have rewritten the course of the Middle Ages. Fought on the tenth of October 732 between the Franks under Charles Martel and Islamic forces under Abd Al-Rahman, the Battle of Tours prevented a massive ensuing invasion of Europe by armies from the Islamic world,...

In the mid-19th century, a farmer dug into a strange mound at the former-Viking settlement of Mammen, discovering an extravagant Norse burial chamber. One of the rare findings from the mound was a well-preserved axe head with etched designs featuring a cross-over of Christian and pagan motifs. Become a patron of the show – https://www.patreon.com/medievalpodcast Research & Writing: Joshua Potts Voice: William Landry Music: Epidemic Sound Email me at admin@medievalextras.com

Buy our merch – http://www.medievalextras.com/merch Finding King Arthur: http://www.medievalextras.com/finding-king-arthur You can also get it on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/medievalpodcast It is 572. Italy, having emerged from a decades-long war between the Byzantines and Ostrogoths, has once again fallen under the hegemony of a new European superpower. Lombard military leaders sweep through the provinces, dividing their newly annexed territory into thirty-six duchies. Now they are...

Purchase your own fantastic Game of Kingdoms deck of cards for $12.99 at http://www.playgameofkingdoms.com. You’ll be supporting the podcast in the process. Go send them some love! On the ramparts of the city of Pavia, the citizens cast their eyes down in misery as they watch the enemy soldiers of King Alboin intercept and destroy another desperate emergency supply train bringing support to the city’s population. Food supplies are running abysmally low and with reinforcement routes...

Get official Medieval! merch: http://www.medievalextras.com/merch For monthly premium content: http://www.patreon.com/medievalpodcast A great many weapons were used throughout the Middle Ages to inflict brutal, dismembering damage upon a person’s enemies. The Early Medieval Period was a particularly turbulent era, and it saw the political structure of Europe collapse and struggle to rebuild itself after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It should follow, therefore, that arms and armour...

“Finding King Arthur: The Once and Future King” premium episode now available for $2 at http://www.medievalextras.com/finding-king-arthur. Lifetime access. Your purchase helps us make medieval history accessible! The quintessential image of a medieval knight is a gracious, horse-mounted warrior, clad in shining plate armour. It cannot be denied that this idol is spectacular, but it is unrealistic and implies the use of plate armour as the most common form of defensive clothing in the Middle...

Support the podcast and gain access to all premium content: http://www.patreon.com/medievalpodcast For premium episodes and videos: http://www.medievalextras.com A heavy cloak of smoke hangs in the room, stinging your eyes and nostrils. The reeking smell of manure makes the single room of your family’s house an unpleasant place to stay. Right in the middle a large fire rages in a pit, spewing angry red flames towards a charred black pot boiling an ugly soup of water and stinging nettles,...

Visit http://www.medievalextras.com to find our first premium project, Finding King Arthur, a dramatic 30-minute podcast episode about the legend of Arthur and modern attempts to unveil his mysterious and deceptive identity. You can also visit http://www.medievalextras.com to vote on future project ideas. Medieval! Extras offers a better premium content model than Patreon; here’s why: If you prefer a subscription-based model, however, Patreon supporters get access to all premium content we...

Medieval! Extras goes live on 20 May! Vote on video/episode topics at medievalextras.com, and subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss the launch! “There is a stinking, clamorous atmosphere hanging over the town here, itself heaving with life, oozing out of all wooden and stone structures. Every road is overrun by a mob of peasants making their way in and out of the town, merchants dragging their loaded carts down the dirty tracks and blacksmiths carrying newly tempered hammers and axes...

Help us make more episodes – http://www.patreon.come/medievalpodcast “In a short time, swarms of the aforesaid nations came over into the island, and the foreigners began to increase so much that they became a source of terror to the natives themselves who had invited them. Then, having on a sudden entered into league with the Picts, whom they had by this time repelled by force of arms, they began to turn their weapons against their allies.“ Research & Writing: Joshua Potts Voice: Bill...

Please help us make more episodes! http://www.patreon.com/medievalpodcast In the mid-5th century, a new wave of migrants appeared in Britain from across the Channel. The Anglo-Saxons were well-cultured, sophisticated and determined. But what were these often-misunderstood invaders looking for in the rainy hills, fields and crags of Britannia? Research & Writing: Joshua Potts Voice: Bill Odman Music: Kevin Macleod, Silverman Sound, Alexander Nakarada. Funding: all of YOU!

News of Albo-In’s astounding victories are spreading far and wide, playing vividly in the imaginations of all who hear them. In Pannonia, Alboin, the fierce warrior king, is preparing for the greatest challenge and ambition of his lifetime. Italia. The Eternal City. All that is rich and abundant lies in the sacred cradle of Europe. And very soon it will be his for the taking. Research & Writing: Joshua Potts Voice: Bill Odman Music: Alexander Nakarada & AShamaluev Help us make better...

Europe’s next big shark – hungry for territory, proud of its past victories, and in search of a new homeland – comes to dominate Italia, taking swift advantage of its abysmal state and critical power vacuum. They were the Lombards, from “lango” and “barba” – the men with long beards. In half a decade, under their king Alboin, they will cement a powerful realm that will last undefeated for more than two centuries, fundamentally changing the course of early medieval history in Europe. Help us...

In 410 AD, with the last remaining Roman legions being called to defend the mainland against Germanic invaders, Emperor Honorius advised the people of Britain to “look to their own defenses”, a statement which effectively ended the island’s connection to the Roman empire. In the power vacuum that ensued, Britain was left divided and in shambles, ill-equipped to defend themselves against the encroaching Anglo-Saxon invaders. Faced with threats on all fronts, and with no help in sight, the...

When did Christmas originate? How did the pagans and Romans celebrate it? What were festive celebrations like in the Middle Ages? And what was a “first footer”? These questions and more answered in the latest episode of Medieval! this year! Buy the Medieval! Team cookies and milk – http://www.patreon.com/medievalpodcast

Get Bonus Episodes: http://www.patreon.com/medievalpodcast It was one of the greatest deeds in the history of the Roman Empire – the glorious but brief restoration of the Western Roman provinces, the capture of Rome, and the series of month-long sieges in order to take back major Italian cities. From 535 to 554 AD, the Byzantines and Ostrogoths fought furiously over the peninsula. By the last year of the war, the Byzantines are able to conquer the majority of Italy, but their territorial...

Vikings. Or Northmen, Pagans, Foreigners, Rus. These and many names were given to the people who came to be one of the greatest nuisances to Europe after the Barbaric invasion and the great crisis that ended the Roman Empire. They were so feared that the Church even declared that the apocalypse was near and the Vikings were, in fact, the soldiers of the antichrist. Norsemen came from the Danish and Scandinavian peninsula, as well as other Northern regions, and they were fierce and efficient...

Of the many religions prominent in the Middle Ages, just one came to both threaten Christianity on a massive scale and bestow remarkable technological and cultural advances upon Europe. It was Islam, the faith of the Middle East, the driving religion behind one of the most mighty communities in all of history, and the one rival which Christianity just could not overcome. From the 7th century onwards, it would come to triumph over the deserts, cities and rivers of North Africa and Asia...

Christianity came to be the most dominant religious force in medieval Europe within just a few centuries. Fraught by conflict, resolution, conversion and massive growth, the early history of Christianity is as fascinating as any other religion. Today I’m joined by Sir Paolo Ostava, a knight of the Templar Order, who studies apologetics and theology, to talk about the undulating past of the world’s most popular religion. Check out @aeterna on Instagram! Make a donation, get a postcard from...

Welcome to Focus! These episodes are for listeners who want to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of medieval eras by learning about notable characters and places. Today… Emperor Zeno. Get bonus episodes: http://www.patreon.com/medievalpodcast We love hearing from you so let us know what episodes you want to see in this mini-series (medievalpodcast@outlook.com).