The Dark Ages Podcast

c. 400 to 486 CE

We review the sources for the reign of Clovis the First, and review the scenario in northern Gaul when he came to power.

Webpage for this episode

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Sources

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Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com

The legends and literature that came out of the Dark Ages are rich and stirring tales of heroism that have inspired both great art and terrible crimes. In this episode, I retell three stories from the many contained in the sagas and epics of Germany and Scandinavia.

Transcript

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incomptech.com)
Incidental Music:
"Pippin the Hunchback" by Kevin MacLeod (https://freepd.com)
"Hidden Past" by Kevin MacLeod (https://filmmusic.io/u/kmac)
"Temple of the Manes" by Kevin MacLeod (https://filmmusic.io/u/kmac)
"Nordic Wist" by Kevin MacLeod (incomptech.com)
"The Ice Giants" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Rulers of our Lands" by Rafael Krux (https://freepd.com/)
"Rites" by Kevin MacLeod (incomptech.com)
"Combat Theme #2" by Andrew Sitkov

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com

511 to 526 CE

"Lying in a featherbed will not bring you fame, nor staying beneath the quilt, and he who uses up his life without achieving fame leaves no more vestige of himself on earth than smoke in the air or foam upon the water." --Dante

The last years of Theodoric's reign in Italy saw the erosion of confidence, and increasing internal strife, along with diplomatic reversals abroad.

Episode Webpage

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Sources

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com

484 to 519 CE

Divisions within the church have consequence for Theodoric's relationship with the Emperor.

Against my better judgment, this episode is mostly about religion. So, remember when I was talking about Boethius and I mentioned the Acacian Schism, and I said it was just too obscure to get into? Well guess what?

Transcript and more

Support the show

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com

500 - 511 CE

Theodoric and Cassiodorus work to prevent war in Western Europe, while crafting an image of imperial majesty. In the end, it works out pretty well for the Ostrogoths.

Episode Website

Sources

Support the Show

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com

We pause to take a look at two of the most famous subjects of Theodoric the Great.

Transcript for today's show.

Support the podcast here.

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com

493 to about 505 CE

Theodoric's kingdom in Italy gets historians unreasonably excited. We'll explore how  he ran it, how he turned himself from warband chief to beloved king, and how he worked to restore the glory of old.

Support the Show

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com

488 to 493 

Theodoric leads his people to Italy, to make war on Odoacer and win for himself a permanent kingdom.

Transcript and Maps Here

Just Maps Here

Support the show Here

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sources:

Heather, Peter J. The Restoration of Rome: Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014.

Martindale, J.R. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. II. vol. 2, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1980. 3 vols. The Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/prosopography-later-roman-empire/PLRE-II/mode/1up.

Wolfram, Herwig. History of the Goths. Translated by Thomas Dunlap, University of California Press, 1990.

479 to 488

Rocky relations between Theodoric and Zeno lead to ups and downs for the Ostrogoths, along with many diversions and detours in their search for a stable home. Finally, an opportunity arises in Italy, and Theodoric moves boldly in the direction of one last gamble.

Maps for this episode.

Support the show

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com

c. 460 to 479 CE

We welcome to the stage Theodoric, soon to be Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. In the process we catch up on the overwritten soap opera that was politics in Constantinople in the 470s. It’s a wild ride.

Webpage for this episode

Maps

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

455 to 490 CE

Odoacer is a name that is little known and little celebrated. This episode illuminates the career of the soldier who closed the book on the Roman empire, who was he, and why don't we know him better? 

Episode Website

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References

Bury, John B. 1967. The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians. Edited by Fossey John C. Hearnshaw. New York: Norton.

Eugippius. 1965. Commemoratorium Severinus. Translated by Ludwig Bieler. Washington, DC: Catholic University Press.

Frassetto, Michael. 2003. Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.

Goldsworthy, Adrian K. 2009. How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Heather, Peter J. 2014. The Restoration of Rome: Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Wolfram, Herwig. 1997. The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples. Translated by Thomas Dunlap and Thomas R. Dunlap. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This the first episode of Season 2 takes a broad look at what the waging of war looked like in the dark ages, from weapons to tactics and funding. It's good to be back.

For the transcript of this episode, along with images and links, visit www.darkagespod.com.

Now you can support the podcast at ko-fi.com/darkagespod, the digital tip-jar. Help me keep the lights on around here with just a few bucks, if you can.

Links: 

Full text of "The Battle of Maldon"

A reading of "The Battle of Maldon"

Music:

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

474 to 476 CE

In which we kill off the Western Roman Empire, and then dig through the remains to try and figure out what happened. More importantly, where do we go from here?

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod at Free Music Archive
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

c. 367 to c. 460 CE

The much-promised episode about post Roman Britain arrives, to explore what a real Dark Age would look like.

Sources

Music Credits:

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod at Free Music Archive
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Other Music:

"Pippin the Hunchback", "Nordic Wist", & "Moorland", all by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

453 CE to 460 CE

Out of the wreckage of Attila's empire, new peoples emerge. New actors inject new elements into the political game of the late Roman empire

British Museum entry for the Gepids, with some artefacts

History Files Article and Regnal List of the Gepids

Scirian Earring found at Bakod Puszta

Sources

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod at Free Music Archive
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

466 to around 473

The Visigoths break out, under the leadership of their new and aggressive King Euric. Inside the empire, another emperor falls to Ricimer's scheming.

An appropriate map for this episode is here.

Sources are here

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod at Free Music Archive
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

461 to 468 CE

The East and West combine forces in one great push to take Africa backs from the Vandals and make everything all better.

Sources

Title Music:
"The Britons" and "The Vikings" by Kevin MacLeod at Free Music Archive
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com

456 to 464 CE

Emperor Majorian and his Right-Hand man Ricimer attempt to pull the empire back from the brink after the departure of Avitus.  But there's a snake in the grass, a fly in the ointment, and a bad apple in the barrel.  It all leads to the creation of a new entity called the Kingdom of Soissons.  Or does it?

Map of Majorian's Campaigns

Sources

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incomptech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com and zapsplat.com

The Franks, Part I

280 to 480 CE

We welcome the Franks onto the stage of Europe, and look at their origins, early history, ferocious reputation, and the way modern politics work their way into the telling of history.

Fittings from the Sword and Scabbard found in Childeric's tomb.

Childeric's Ring at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France

Childeric's Bees

Sword and Scabbard Decoration from Childeric's Treasure

Sources

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incomptech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

418 to 456 CE

A senator by the name of Eparchius Avitus is dragooned into filling the imperial shoes left behind by the well-aimed brick that took out Petronius Maximus. His life gives a framework for discussing the place of southern Gaul within the Roman empire, and how the Visigoths were settling in.

The full text of Sidonius' letter describing Theodoric.

Sources

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incomptech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The Vandals Part III

439 to 455 CE

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be therefore as wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Matthew, 10:16

Gaiseric weathers Roman attempts to recover the African provinces, and begins to set his house in order. Marriage deals are made and broken, and an ancient version of gunboat diplomacy is used by the new king. Meanwhile, jealousy and paranoia lead to big changes in the Roman government, and the consequences are severe. The Vandals play their most famous role in Roman history in this episode.

Sources

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incomptech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com and zapsplat.com

c. 450 to c. 482 CE

Saint Severinus was a holy man who was active in Noricum Ripensis, in modern Austria and Bavaria. His life coincided with the end of Roman rule in the west, and the biography that was written by his disciple Eugippius includes several insights into the world as the ancient social structures changed and were replaced by new anxieties and dangers. In this episode we'll talk about those changes and the new role religion was taking on in the formerly Roman West.

Article on the Noricum Limes - with Map

The Huns, Part IV

450-453 CE

Attila unleashed his fury on the Western empire in two back to back campaigns. The first culminated in the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields. The second ended with the famous meeting between Attila the Hun and Pope Leo I.

Map of Attila's Invasion of Italy

Sources

War dominates the scene on today's episode, as it does on today's headlines. The inevitable consequence of war is the displacement of those caught in its path. If you can, please donate to one of the organizations working to help Ukrainian refugees, and people all around the world who are victimized by the violence of the powerful and the greedy. Links to a few of them are below. Thank you.

The International Rescue Committee

Global Giving

Doctors Without Borders

Music

"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incomptech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

c. 448 CE

In the spring, a diplomatic mission set out from Constantinople for discussions with Atilla the Hun. One of the men on the trip later wrote out his experience in one of the most detailed accounts of life among the Huns. This episode condenses the writing of Priscus of Panion, diplomat and historian. 

Title Music:
"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound effects from freesound.com and zapsplat.com

408 - 439 CE

The Vandals, along with their allies, the Alans and Suevi, ravage Spain before moving into Africa.  There, under the leadership of their king Gaiseric, they will achieve something no other Barbarian tribe has yet accomplished.

Map of the Vandal Invasion of Spain

Roman Provinces of Africa

The Peutinger Tabula

Music

Title: "The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod http://www.freepd.com

Incidental Music by Andrew Sitkov

c. 200 BCE to 408 CE

I introduce the Vandals with a cold.  The Vandals don't have a cold, I have a cold. So, sorry about that.

The Vandals rose up next door to the Goths, with whom they would have a complicated relationship.  This episode tracks their early migration into Gaul and then Spain, and talks a little bit about what their home life would have been like.  There's also a bonus tribe, as we sketch a bit about the Alans.

And as promised, I learned to pronounce "Przeworsk"

Report on the Archaeology of the Przeworsk Culture in Hungary

Sketches of various Przeworsk artifacts

Article on with Maps and pictures

Some photographs of Wielbark Artifacts for comparison

Music:

The Britons by Kevin MacLeod freepd.com

435 - 446 CE

The scourge of God rises from the Hunnic horde.  The Romans have to deal with him while also facing earthquake, flood, and plague.  Straight up not having a good time, bro.

Map of the Roman road network.

Another map of the geography of the Balkans in late antiquity.

Music "The Bretons" By Kevin MacLeod freepd.com

395 - 435 CE

Contact with the wealth of the Roman empire gradually changes the Huns and sets the stage for their most famous ruler.

Map of Roman Provinces

Music "The Bretons" By Kevin MacLeod freepd.com

c. 370 - 395 CE

Where had the Huns come from? Who were they? How did they fight? What made them so scary?

I'll look for answers in this episode, and may even find some.

Information on cranial modification is here and here

An image of the patera is here

Music "The Bretons" By Kevin MacLeod freepd.com

The Goths, Part 5

410 - 451 CE

The Visigoths move out of Italy, into more years of privation. Along the way there's a royal marriage, long marches, sieges and naval blockades. Ultimately the Goths find what they've been looking for for nearly half a century - a home. But there's another, even greater test on the horizon, and a chance to face an old enemy.

Music:

"The Bretons" By Kevin MacLeod freepd.com

"The Black Knight" By Raphael Krux freepd.com

"Epic Strike" By Andrew Sitkov freepd.com

Music is for this episode is by Andrew Sitkov, Keven MacLeod, and Raphael Krux

Sources can be found here

The Goths, Part 4

408-410 CE

The death of Stilicho leaves Alaric and the Visigoths high and dry.  Negotiations break down, and Alaric takes drastic action.  The Sack of Rome of 410 is pointed to as one of the points where the Roman Empire fell and the resonance of the event would be felt down through the centuries.

Music :

"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod freepd.com

"Rulers of our Lands" by Raphael Krux freepd.com

The Goths, Part 3

378 - 408 CE

The Gothic Wars end in stalemate as Goths and Romans try to come to terms with new realities.  A new leader appears to push for dignity and power for his people, who will take the fight into the heartland of the Roman world.

Map of Alaric's invasion of Greece

Map of Alaric's First Invasion of Italy

Bust of Eutropius

Music:

"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod freepd.com

The Goths, Part 2

c. 264-378 CE

The Goths face challenges at home and abroad.  An ambitious Roman Emperor seeks to shore up his reign at their expense.  Religious controversy and rivalry threatens internal stability.  But the greatest challenge arises in the East, and the Goths must abandon their way of life.

The Lord's Prayer in Gothic

Map of the Adrianople Campaign

Music:

"The Britons" by Kevin MacLeod freepd.com

The Goths, Part One.

The Goths appear on the Roman border and quickly become a force to be reckoned with.  This episode deals with the Goths origins, early history, conflicts with Rome in the third century, and some things about their culture. Who was a Goth when he was at home? (Spoiler, he didn't wear black or think much about vampires.)

This episode covers a period from about 100 BCE to 271 CE.

Music "The Bretons" By Kevin MacLeod freepd.com

The mentioned map can be found here.

References are here.