We’re Not So Different

folks, we're back after a brief hiatus, and back into our series on Constantinople. this time, we take a look at the beginning of the decline of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire, which started in 567 after Justinian I's death. but, as civilizational declines go, it wasn't so bad for the first 500 years or so. however, the myriad factors that would lead to the fall of Constantinople were beginning to pile up even before Justinian's reign and they would only get worse as things went along. factors such as the city's propensity for riots and civil wars, the rise of Islam, Iconoclasm, the East-West Schism, and more! so this time, we talk about these factors and follow the gradual decline through the first five Medieval Byzantine dynasties. then next time, we will talk about real DECLINE.

we decided to take a look at some Holy Roman Empire and Habsburg news that has come up in the past month. first, and more seriously, we look at a study of how Holy Roman Emperors governed from the road through a practice known as itinerant rule and it can be used to trace the rise and decline of the power of the imperial office. then, we move onto the real fun: an article about the recent Habsburg convention in Plano, Texas that occurred in April 2024. and folks, if the first part seems a little dry, this article is nothing but schadenfreude and the chance to point and laugh at some of the worst people alive, which we all use from time-to-time. links:

• Rulers on the Road: Itinerant Rule in the Holy Roman Empire, AD 919-1519 by Carl Muller-Crepon, Clara Neupert-Wentz, Andrej Kokkonen, and Jorgen Moller, dated April 24, 2024: https://www.carlmueller-crepon.org/publication/itinerant_rule/MNKM_itin_rulers_20240424.pdf
• Feeling Blessed: At the Habsburg Convention in Plano by Christopher Hooks for The Baffler, published May 8, 2024: https://thebaffler.com/latest/feeling-blessed-hooks

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!

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.

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?

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/

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-Perbellini

here's a link to the article: https://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/16417

folks, it's our final episode of 2024 and our 200th regular episode of the show and to celebrate, we've got the conclusion of our year-end mailbag episodes. we answer questions about how cathedrals were cleaned in the Middle Ages, favorite Star Wars ship, banishment, Medieval takeout, mountaineering, early Church politics, and more! enjoy and have a happy new year from us here at the show!

folks, it's no secret that 2024 has been a bit of a bummer, to say the least. however, it's not terribly healthy to always focus on the bad, so we decided to talk about some our favorite stuff we saw, did, read, and heard this year. Luke and Eleanor each chose four things and they go back and forth discussing them, riffing, you know how it goes. feel free to play along leave some of your own favorites from 2024 in the replies here.

Everything for Everyone: https://www.commonnotions.org/everything-for-everyone?srsltid=AfmBOoq8xpVrmXOORY8GVoKpXJc_oazoti90tTbFe94bh-axkvc08XEP

State and Revolution: https://www.intpubnyc.com/browse/state-and-revolution/

folks, it's the end of the year and that means we're having holiday fun and making merry but also that we're crunched for time, so we won't be starting any new series or anything like that. instead, we're diving back into the backlog of questions from our patrons for not one but two episodes here at the end of the year, though there will be an unlocked bonus episode for the week of Christmas stuck in between them. in part 1, we talk about our favorite dumb ways for noblemen to die, what elements of Medieval cooking we'd like to see return, state-mandated cucking, Medieval male hairstyles, and which Medieval figure we'd make a TV miniseries about. and if you enjoyed this and want your questions answered, subscribe to our patreon for just $5 a month at patreon.com/wnsdpod. 

folks, we've made no secret that we love mysticism on the show. we've talked about it on various episodes and some of our faves were mystics including Hildegard, Marguerite Porete, St. Francis, and more. so we were naturally interested when philosopher Simon Critchley published a new book, entitled On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy in October 2024, and he agreed to come on the show. we talk his new book, why the term "mysticism" is a misnomer but an indispensable one, what we can learn from mysticism, and how we can apply it in our daily lives. by way of introduction, Simon Critchley is an English philosopher, author, Liverpool football fan, and podcaster who has written numerous books and essays on subjects ranging from Heidegger and modern philosophy to the morality of suicide to association football (soccer) to David Bowie, and more. you can find his new book everywhere or you can visit his site here: https://simon-critchley.com/

folks, Ridley Scott has just released another one of his patented, late-era slopfests and we couldn't be more ready. that's right, it's your Gladiator II review, wherein we are forced to admit that we sometimes really enjoy the slop. so we brought returning champion Patrick Wyman back on the show to use his Roman history expertise to break down this oddly-paced, mess of a film with an anemic plot that we all nevertheless enjoyed. turns out, some fun spectacle, nice visuals, and Denzel Washington doing a great villain turn will cover a multitude of sins. now sit back, let the historical inaccuracy wash over you, and join us in the slop zone.

folks, we're back with more fun with part two of our review of the 2024 Hulu series, Shogun. last time we learned that a soulful white boy in a strange land can listen and learn and even find a nice, soulful Japanese girl who's just emo enough to fall for him. but this time, we learn that all of that was simply a ruse to draw us deeper into the Yoshii Toranaga show! Hiroyuki Sanada gives one of the best TV performances ever as the mastermind behind the reunification of Japan at the end of the turbulent Sengoku Period and the rise of a new shogunate to lead the realm into the Edo Period and the future. oh and there's so much seppuku this time around, nope, no shortage of disemboweling here.

folks, you asked and now you shall receive. we're here to review the 2024 Hulu series, Shogun, based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell. we talk about the first five episodes this time and then we'll talk about the second five on next week's show. but first we start with the historical basis, as is our wont, and tell you about how a series that takes place in the year 1600 is actually Medieval and also Feudal, with a capital-F. then we dive in headfirst and ask the question that has long plagued mankind: is it truly possible for a soulful white boy to learn? does he smoke too good? is his girl too bad? are they going to try and kill him? will he be gifted a kimono? well, join us to find out as we review the first half of the excellent Hulu series, Shogun.

folks, you know we love great folklore, traveling, and delightful accents and we've combined all three today as we talk to Welsh author, writer, and activist, Russ Williams. Russ has recently released his first traditionally-published novel, entitled What the Folk?, in Great Britain (forthcoming in the United States). It's a travelog wherein Russ visits the locations from dozens of old Welsh stories to see what they're like, how they informed the stories, and what pieces remain for us today. Russ joins the show to talk with us about all manner of fun and interesting Welsh things like a giant beaver demon, the holiday tradition of Mari Lwyd, and some Arthuriana discussion, of course! we had a lot of fun and we're sure you'll enjoy and be sure to check out Russ's book if you're interested.

https://www.russwilliams.org/

folks, we're back with another mailbag episode. our patrons have written questions and now we're going to answer them. we discuss a wide range of topics from wedding rings to mylings to the Charter of the Forest to why Medieval European empires couldn't really expand out like Asian and African empires and more!

but first, we talk about the US election for about 15 mins, so skip right ahead if you don't want to hear that. then we talk about breaking news as a full accounting of the land and property holdings of the British royal family was published in The Sunday Times last week that includes a number of shocking revelations, not the least of which is that the royal duchies still receive feudal levies and dues and other taxes from agreements that date back as far as the Hundred Years War. check out the report here if you want more info: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/how-royals-make-millions-king-charles-prince-william-27lkftd2n

folks, it's spooky season and we've reached back into the Middle Ages to find twelve ghost stories to celebrate. actually, these twelve were already compiled together and are known as the Byland Abbey ghost stories, which is where the manuscript containing these stories was initially discovered. these stories, all written around the year 1400 give us a great view into how Medieval people told scary stories. spoiler: there's obviously a whole lot of Christianity but there's also some truly metal shit and storytelling elements we still use today in our own horror fiction. we've got everything: ghosts carrying beans, a teleporting stocking, biblically-accurate bales of hay, ladies rocking, and so much more! so get in the mood for Halloween or All Saints Day or whatever fall celebration you like, and join us for twelve Medieval ghost stories. you can check them out here: https://archive.org/details/YAJ0271924/page/362/mode/2up

but first, we follow up on our Opus Dei episode by discussing Pope Francis pulling out and sitting on a throne that hasn't been publicly displayed since just after the American Civil War and what it means for his ongoing cold war with reactionary forces in the Church.

if you have questions about the Patreon note at the beginning, please see this FAQ. nothing will change for current patrons, don't worry! https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/27992151772813-iOS-in-app-purchases-FAQ?utm_campaign=241031-IAPSB-Migrated&utm_medium=email&utm_source=iterable

folks, it's time to talk about Opus Dei, the shadowy "church within a church" of the Catholic Church. why are we talking about Opus Dei? well, mostly because it's been in the news and we were chatting about it via text and decided to do an episode about it. so we talk about the brief history of Opus Dei, some of the controversies surrounding the organization, how it differs from other clerical and monastic orders within the Church hierarchy, why the popes are so friendly with it, and more. then we talk about the recent news stories involving Opus Dei and its supposedly contentious relationship with Pope Francis, how recent changes will effect Opus Dei, and why everyone is fighting about a mountain in rural Spain.

Links: the first is to a Financial Times article that describes a lot of the history of Opus Dei, it is paywalled, just FYI. the second is about the Torreciudad question and the third is about recent changes between the Church and Opus Dei.

• https://www.ft.com/content/a62202ea-1897-4847-8e49-9deab4fa507c
• https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/259779/conflict-between-opus-dei-and-spanish-diocese-to-be-mediated-by-papal-commissioner
• https://catholicvote.org/pope-francs-meets-opus-dei-prelate-adaptations-statutes/

folks, we're back with part two of our miniseries on the life and travels of Ibn Battuta, the most well-traveled man of the Middle Ages, and Derek Davison is back to help us out. this time, we look at the final two big journeys of Ibn Battuta's life that take him from Turkey to India to China and back over a 15-year span and then a much shorter one from Tangiers up to Al-Andalus and then down through West Africa to Mali and back home again over 5 years. we also talk about the spread of Islam in the 14th century, how Ibn Battuta managed to avoid the Black Death, and why his arrival was always very bad news for the remaining fragmented parts of the Mongol Empire. it's a lot of fun and we want to thank Derek once again for taking the time to come on the show.

folks, we're talking Medieval travelers today and that means we're talking about the man, the myth, the legend: Ibn Battuta. Even if he doesn't have quite the same western name recognition as Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta traveled much more extensively, taking three huge journeys that took him through Africa, Europe, and Asia. He walked the Silk Road and touched the Rock of Gibraltar, he was the Medieval traveler extraordinaire. but to properly do Ibn Battuta justice, we needed a guest who could speak to his extensive journeys and what they meant to the Medieval world, so we brought in Medieval and Modern Muslim scholar Derek Davison of the American Prestige podcast and the Foreign Exchanges substack.

Part one of the interview covers the general details about Ibn Battuta, his early life, and first major trip from 1325-1332, Derek will be back next week for part two where we will finish up the story.

Foreign Exchanges: foreignexchanges.news
Derek's twitter: @ dwdavison