We're Not So Different

folks, we're back after convalescing for a week and it's time to get rage-baited into reviewing a Dan Brown book. the latest entry in Brown's ongoing series about Robert Langdon is called The Secret of Secrets and it's set in Prague, so it's tailor-made to really annoy Dr. Eleanor. we review Brown's most recent bad Umberto Eco ripoff, talk about the Dan Brown mania of early-2000s America, bad history, and much more. enjoy!

folks, it's time to talk about dragons! we love them, we've always loved them, they are the best. we got a question from Ollie Cant about dragons and decided to answer it with a full episode. we talk about the earliest dragons, why humans all across the globe seem to create them in some form, the differences between Eastern and Western dragons, and then name some of our favorite folkloric dragons that you might not have heard that much about. we had a ton of fun with this!

folks, we decided to talk about Medieval assassinations, mostly as a way to talk about the Hashashshin, the Order of Assassins, that existed in Syria and Iran from 1090-1275. we talk about some ancient assassinations that had a large impact on the Middle Ages before turning to a number of Medieval cases such as Thomas Beckett, Wenceslaus I, Pope John X, and a bunch of Byzantine guys. then, finally, we turn to the Order of Assassins and discuss their formation, their many targets, that time they killed Conrad of Montferrat for Richard the Lionheart, and then their demise at the hands of the Mongol Empire. enjoy!

folks, we had a whole different episode planned for today but due to a series of extremely annoying technological problems and frustrating audio issues, we decided to switch topics and do a little catharsis. we talk about the new rapture predictions, which are supposed to happen on either September 23 or 24, why it's silly to predict the Second Coming, and why most people who have ever been involved in organized religion understand that while a few decide to try it out anyway. so we get some good laughs in at their expense and talk about how Medieval folk would've thought about this. enjoy!

folks, we're back and opening up the patron mailbag for September to address the backlog of questions we have. we cover a bunch of topics today, ranging from Medieval parenting to mariners to video games to derogatory terms for AI to Joan of Arc and more. check it out and enjoy!Gaza charities mentioned:Sameer Project linktree: https://linktr.ee/thesameerprojectMedical Aid for Palestinians: https://www.map.org.uk/?form=FUNWUFNAGRA&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22639586572&gbraid=0AAAAAChbIjLCoXHMr3kwCyhxoSdKJe7R_&gclid=CjwKCAjwkvbEBhApEiwAKUz6-wC9TFhQELR8W-es_iDuoIxpZUk9EXFGS6aVRC5xhaY7ChzEV03fJBoC-O0QAvD_BwE

folks, we just released a new bonus episode for our First Crusade series with the boys from American Prestige and so we're releasing this episode for free to hopefully get more people interested in the 12-episode series we did, which you can find for just $10 at welcometothecrusades.com. this is the third episode, Cairo, which discusses the Muslim perspective on the First Crusade. if you haven't listened to the first two episodes we released on the regular feed back in June on Rome and Taranto, you should check those out and then come back to this one. anyway, it's a great series so check out the whole thing if you haven't!

folks, we reach the end of our series on Medieval Scotland, in which war were declared. at long last, we finally meet Scotland proper, just in time for them to fight for their very lives. a succession crisis in the Kingdom of Alba gave way to English impositions, which forced the Scots to wage the First War of Scottish Independence to break from the tyrannical English yoke and then a Second War of Scottish Independence, which began a short time later and then became a theater of the Hundred Years War. By 1358, Scotland had its independence, which it would retain through the end of the Middle Ages, proudly defiant against the hated English. sadly, however, the Early Modern Period and the House of Stuart would really fuck them over when it came to independence.Gaza charities mentioned:Sameer Project linktree: https://linktr.ee/thesameerprojectMedical Aid for Palestinians: https://www.map.org.uk/?form=FUNWUFNAGRA&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22639586572&gbraid=0AAAAAChbIjLCoXHMr3kwCyhxoSdKJe7R_&gclid=CjwKCAjwkvbEBhApEiwAKUz6-wC9TFhQELR8W-es_iDuoIxpZUk9EXFGS6aVRC5xhaY7ChzEV03fJBoC-O0QAvD_BwE

folks, we're back with part 2 of our series on Medieval Scotland wherein we encounter the Kingdom of Alba, which is what the English called Scotland back then. we don't know what they called themselves because they weren't too fond of writing, which is a big theme this time. we look at the rise and fall of Alba, the historical MacBeth, and the Normanization of Alba by the royal court against the wishes of basically everyone else below them. and hooboy, are they going to have good reason to hate the Anglo-Normans after this whole fiasco.Gaza charities mentioned:Sameer Project linktree: https://linktr.ee/thesameerprojectMedical Aid for Palestinians: https://www.map.org.uk/?form=FUNWUFNAGRA&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22639586572&gbraid=0AAAAAChbIjLCoXHMr3kwCyhxoSdKJe7R_&gclid=CjwKCAjwkvbEBhApEiwAKUz6-wC9TFhQELR8W-es_iDuoIxpZUk9EXFGS6aVRC5xhaY7ChzEV03fJBoC-O0QAvD_BwE

folks, we haven't ever focused on Scotland. much like the Roman Empire, we've been scared to do it thus far but now we surpass the Romans in every way by going into Scotland and figuring out what the hell was going on in there before, say, 1500 or so. we start a short series on Medieval Scotland by talking about how they got the Highlands, why the Romans put up two walls to keep them out, try to separate the Picts from the Gaels from the Brittonic, and take you up to the founding of the Kingdom of Alba in 900 CE. annoying technical difficulties be damned.Gaza charities mentioned:Sameer Project linktree: https://linktr.ee/thesameerprojectMedical Aid for Palestinians: https://www.map.org.uk/?form=FUNWUFNAGRA&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22639586572&gbraid=0AAAAAChbIjLCoXHMr3kwCyhxoSdKJe7R_&gclid=CjwKCAjwkvbEBhApEiwAKUz6-wC9TFhQELR8W-es_iDuoIxpZUk9EXFGS6aVRC5xhaY7ChzEV03fJBoC-O0QAvD_BwE

folks, we got a bit of a split episode today. we start with talking about the state of the world in the cold open before moving to a discussion about periodization and efforts to move away from western conceptions and why it's really hard to make broad, accurate periods sometimes. then, we turn to the world of modern Christianity and talk about all the baffling and insane things people are cooking up these days, why we're not so different from our predecessors, and then, why we are somewhat different from them.Gaza charities mentioned:Sameer Project linktree: https://linktr.ee/thesameerprojectMedical Aid for Palestinians: https://www.map.org.uk/?form=FUNWUFNAGRA&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22639586572&gbraid=0AAAAAChbIjLCoXHMr3kwCyhxoSdKJe7R_&gclid=CjwKCAjwkvbEBhApEiwAKUz6-wC9TFhQELR8W-es_iDuoIxpZUk9EXFGS6aVRC5xhaY7ChzEV03fJBoC-O0QAvD_BwE

folks, in our neverending struggle to defeat the overflowing mailbag of patron questions, we've started doing one mail episode a month and here we are for August. this time we answer questions about which Simpson family member corresponds to the Medieval humors, the tradition of smoking and curing meats, Medieval automatons, everyone's favorite biblical glup shitto Simon Magus, and what Medieval event we'd go back in time to watch! check it out!

NSFW, just saying.folks, some people might try to tell you that humans only started engaging in BDSM in the 1960s, like it's a very recent invention. but, we're here to tell you that's wrong as people have been engaging in such practices since before the advent of writing! so we go deep on the subject, talking about some ancient BDSM practices before talking about how it was done in the Middle Ages. we talk about Abelard and Heloise, Guibert of Nogent, Saints Sebastian and Martha, and more!

the Book Club series is back and we're here to introduce you to the Italian peninsula in 1348 or, as they might have called it: the end of the fucking world. the Black Death hit the densely-populated boot like a nuke, killing millions in just a few months. why are we talking about something so depressing and that we've already covered extensively? well, frankly, that's the backdrop of The Decameron and how Boccaccio introduces it. the plague sets the stage for the widespread breakdown of social and cultural norms and the decaying relationship between the laity and the Church, a central theme for Boccaccio. so, we start with the horror of the plague and what it unleashed, then move on to talk about the author, the metatextual aspects of the book, and introduce the setting and characters. we're going to have a great time with this one but in order to get to all the intrigue, sex, and anti-clericalism, we first have to introduce it all.

folks, we kinda got carried away talking about current events and, whoops, wouldn't you know it, we just decided to do a whole current events episode. we will dive back into the Middle Ages next time but this week we're more concerned with the contemporary politics of the failed states of America and England as the two old friends compete to see who can fuck up and kill the golden goose the fastest. while things are bleak, they are also darkly and undeniably funny, so there's that!