We're Not So Different

update: the last 3 minutes of this episode got cut off in the initial upload for unknown reasons, the file has now been fixed. sorry about that and enjoy!
in our 4th installment in the Arthuriana series, we finally get to the work that truly defines Medieval Arthurian legend: Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 magnum opus, Historia Regum Britanniae aka The History of the Kings of Britain aka the Galfridian era of Arthur. we talk about the work itself, how it changes everything we know about Arthur, turned him into a historical figure for a few hundred years, erroneously portrayed him as a historical figure, and attempted to give the people of the Britain a founding myth of some kind that they could unite around. we also cover a bit of Geoffrey's other extant work, The Prophecies of Merlin. check it out!
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our series on Arthuriana continues as we move past introductions and start talking about the stories that make up the early part of the Arthurian canon, known as the pre-Galfridian (aka before Geoffrey of Monmouth). these stories survive to us in Welsh and Latin from roughly 600 to 1135 AD and show how the Arthurian legend was being built using other existing tall tales to flesh out the narrative and was then contextualized alongside real, historical events to give it a veneer of legitimacy. The stories we cover today include: Culhwch & Olwen, Pa Gur, Preiddu Annwfn, Historia Brittonum, Annales Cambriae, and Gesta Regnum Anglorum. Next week will focus on Geoffrey of Monmouth.
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we're back with more talk of Arthurian legend. this time, we continue to trace the canon into the Modern era, from its nadir in the Early Modern period to its resurrection in the 19th century by Lord Alfred Tennyson and finally to taking its place as a foundational myth in the English-speaking world. then, we introduce a host of recurring characters, settings, and tropes that commonly appear both in the Medieval canon and in the modern adaptations we see today. check it out!
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folks, we're finally doing that series on King Arthur and the Arthurian Legends you've all been asking for. Luke and Eleanor start the series by talking about Arthur and the legends more broadly before discussing how a bunch of people in the Middle Ages built a cohesive, narrative canon with defined literary cycles out of a bunch of Welsh spoken-word stories without the aid of the internet or any of the modern conveniences that normally go into modern universe building. check it out!
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Luke and Eleanor are back to talk about the meme that's been making the rounds for the past few weeks: How often do you think about the Roman Empire? we discuss how often we actually think about Rome and its successor states before moving on to talk about why this meme became so popular, why guys actually think about the Romans so often, why is this question so weirdly gendered, and more! we had a lot of fun with it and we know you will too. enjoy!
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today, we have on Kleio Pethainou, a doctoral candidate at the Univ. of Edinburgh, to talk about Medieval humor and the lesser-known but still awesome tradition of Fabliau. Fabliau are bawdy, humorous stories, often filled with some level of social commentary, that started out in France in the High and Late Middle Ages. we talk with Kleio about what they were, what they mean, and even hear a great example of one of these ribald tales. check it out!
you can check out all of Kleio's work here: https://linktr.ee/kpethainou
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last time, we talked about two famous Medieval women, Hildegard of Bingen and Eleanor of Aquitaine. they were both titans in their own respects but there's a small issue with Eleanor's legacy and that's her 4 idiot failsons. while Eleanor's daughters were apparently quite proficient, her 4 sons who survived to adulthood, Henry the Young King, Richard, Geoffrey, and John, were all giants morons who failed spectacularly at being or attempting to be Kings of England. so join us as we look at their myriad failures as they tried to rule the realm or ended up fighting one another and their dad to try and rule.
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in this one, we revisit our occasional series on the lives of prominent Medieval women as we discuss Hildegard of Bingen and Eleanor of Aquitaine. though they made their impacts felt in different ways, they were each monumentally important. Hildegard was a polymath who made her mark in the realms of religion, music, and science. Eleanor, meanwhile, was raised from birth to be in politics, ruled realms, served as a diplomat, and heavily influenced the later cultural milieu. enjoy!
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we're back for another episode off Medieval what if scenarios. it's late, we all know it's late, it's fine. What if the Norman Invasion failed? What if Constantinople held out in 1453? What if Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII's older brother, hadn't died early? well, there's only one way to find out...
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folks, today we move out of the realm of actual history and into the realm of alternative history as we take a look at some Medieval "what if..." scenarios. We go through a series of historical events, change one small detail, and see how things would've been different, if at all. What if the Moors won the Battle of Tours? What if the English won the Hundred Years War? What if the Chinese never dismantled their Treasure Fleet and instead "discovered" the Americas 40 years before the Europeans did? it's a lot of fun, so check it out!
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