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.
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1:02:11
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1:02:11
Oops, All Cold Open
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!
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1:13:14
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1:13:14
Early Medieval Bohemia
folks, our 2025 quest to visit places in the Medieval world we haven't tackle yet takes us to Bohemia. now, before you pillory me because we've spent so much time there already, we're going back to the old Bohemia, the Bohemia before it was famous as a center of religious heterodoxy and throwing guys out windows. the Bohemia back before it became a kingdom and got Daddy's Specialist Boy status from the Holy Roman Empire. that's right, we're talk Bohemia from the start of the Middle Ages to the end of the Premyslid Dynasty c. 1305. we talk about the real paucity of sources we have before the 860s, the great Slav migrations, Christianization of the region, Great Moravia, Old Church Slavonic, the rise of the Premyslids, Prague becoming a big deal, and how this place morphed from a total backwater to one of the most important regions in the entire world in under 500 years.
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1:26:16
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1:26:16
July Mailbag
folks, we're back with more patron questions, this time for the month of July. we talk everything from which weapon we'd want in a Medieval battle, Hanseatic League piracy, Medieval Futurism, the connections between Lollards and Hussites, throat singing, and more!
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57:15
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57:15
June Mailbag
folks, we're back in our ongoing quest to catch up on Patron questions and so we've got 10 more to discuss for the month of June. we talk about what Medieval people smelled like, bi kings, Medieval footwear, gambling, animal welfare, and the King Asleep in the Mountain trope! it's so much fun, check it out!
UK