Empire-Builders

The third chapter in a six-part docuseries on the Burgundians. This part is focused on Philip the Bold.

The first chapter in a four-part series on the Normans. This one traces their journey from Scandinavia to Normandy.

The second chapter in a four-part series on the Normans. This one traces their journey from Normandy to Italy.

This is the FIRST chapter in a docuseries on the Burgundians, covering the events of 406-534. The series will culminate with the Grand Dukes of the West (the Valois).

Frederick II (1194-1250) was once the most powerful ruler in Europe. He was a Renaissance Man before the Renaissance. A scientist before the scientific method. An enlightened despot before the Age of Enlightenment. Yet his wide-spanning interests and unconventional methods eventually brought him into conflict with the papacy, who declared him "the forerunner of the Antichrist." Was he as bad as the popes say, or was he simply ahead of his time? Find out in this comprehensive documentary about the life & times of Frederick II Hohenstaufen.

In January 897, Pope Stephen exhumed the corpse of Pope Formosus and put it on trial. He had a deacon serve as Formosus’ voice and proceeded to scream at the corpse at the top of his lungs...Why did he do it? And could it be that this infamous trial, known as the Cadaver Synod, invalidates the whole papal succession from Formosus to Francis?

This is the SECOND chapter in a docuseries on the Burgundians. This chapter covers the events of 534-1361. Remaining parts will focus on the Valois Dukes, continuing to the 16th century.

Video essay about THE GREATEST MOVIE NEVER MADE

Audio-only. Video is available on YouTube.

Sources:

Arendt, Hannah. On Revolution (1963)

Gay, Peter. The Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Paganism (1995)

Hamilton, Alexander; Madison, James; Jay, John. The Federalist Papers (1788)

Polybius. The Histories (c. 2nd century BC)

Ricks, Thomas. First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country (2020)

Tacitus. Agricola and Germania (Penguin Classics, 2010)

Founders Online (Correspondence and Other Writings of Seven Major Shapers of the United States

Audio-only. Video is available on YouTube.

Sources:

Beard, Mary & Hopkins, Keith. The Colosseum (2011)

Futrell, Alison. The Roman Games: Historical Sources in Translation (2008)

Futrell, Alison & Scanlon, Thomas. The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World (2021)

Jacobelli, Luciana. Gladiators at Pompeii (2003)

Mellor, Ronald. The Historians of Ancient Rome (1997)

Wiedemann, Thomas. Emperors and Gladiators (1992)