“What are servants of God good for, if not for moving the hearts of men and elevating them to spiritual joy?” St. Francis

“I’ve come to help you all. Where can I find the best beer and the most beautiful women?” Drukpa Kunley

“I tried going to hell, but the path there was so packed with hypocritical priests that I had to turn back.” Drukpa Kunley

For once, here’s an episode about individuals who didn’t build their reputation by killing. Considering much of recorded history is the history of warfare and politics, of glorified violent gangsters hiding behind lofty titles of nobility, this doesn’t happen too often, so I hope you enjoy the change. Today, I’ll tell you the tales of two men, St. Francis of Assisi and the ‘divine madman’ Drukpa Kunley: one lived in the 1200s in Italy, and the other in the 1400s in the area between modern-day Tibet and Bhutan. Even though they were very different from one another, both had an uneasy relationship with the established religious authorities of the day. Both ended up being considered saints in their respective traditions (respectively, Christian and Buddhist). Both were regarded as highly eccentric.

St. Francis was the son of a wealthy merchant, but he turned his back on his birth family, gave away all earthly possessions and embraced a life of voluntary poverty serving lepers and the rejects of society (something for which he would later be heavily criticized by Martin Luther). Besides starting a new religious order, being named patron saint of ecology and becoming the author of the first piece of literature written in modern Italian, St. Francis had the guts to go preach among Muslims smack in the middle of the Crusades.

Drukpa Kunley was a wild, wild man. It’s more or less impossible to separate history and folklore when it comes to his life. What emerges from the sources is a sort of trickster whose brand of enlightenment came with a heavy dose of laughter, strong sex positivity, and a general hostility to the religious establishment. A master of freestyle battle rap before rap even existed, Kunley was a wandering teacher known for his escapades with the ladies and for defeating demons by swinging his ‘flaming thunderbolt of wisdom’.

As different as these two men were, both remind me of the heyokas of Lakota tradition, heroes of a kind of crazy wisdom at war with dogmatic thinking.

If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon to access plenty of bonus content.

All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at our LinkTree

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This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/hof  

Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started Purest Mushrooms where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount.

Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at Dakota Pure Bison. History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.

This episode is supported by Arizona State University. Learn more about how ASU supports all learners through all stages of life at https://www.asu.edu/ 

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“No matter how big a guy might be, Nicky would take him on. You beat Nicky with fists, he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun. And you beat him with a gun, you better kill him, because he'll keep comin' back and back until one of you is dead.” From the film Casino

“The condition of the people was pitiable to behold. They sickened by the thousands daily and died unattended and without help. Many died in the open street, others dying in their houses, made it known by the stench of their rotting bodies.” Giovanni Boccaccio

“If anyone can refute me—show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective—I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.” Marcus Aurelius

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl

“Severe to himself, indulgent to the imperfection of others, just and beneficent to all mankind.” Edward Gibbon

Marcus Aurelius would have loved nothing better than studying philosophy for the rest of his days. Instead, destiny chose him to be the head of the Roman Empire. As a philosopher- emperor, Marcus turned to Stoicism to help him deal with more drama than any human being should have to deal with. Most of his children died before reaching adult age. Rome’s old rival, Parthia, engaged the empire in a brutal war for supremacy. Germanic tribes raided the frontier and invaded Italy. Marcus’ adoptive brother and co-emperor died early, leaving to Marcus the burden to lead the empire under dreadful circumstances. And then there was the pandemic… a terrifying plague that would kill large chunks of the population, cripple the economy, disrupt travel, and create a very well justified climate of fear. Marcus’ ability to navigate all this and more thanks to his philosophical practices enshrined his name among those of the best emperors Rome ever had.

In this final episode of this series about him: the first time Rome is ruled by two emperors at the same time, the party animal that was Lucius Verus, persecuting Christians, war with Parthia, a con man with his glove puppet, the movie Casino, Robert Greene’s book The 48 Laws of Power, Romans reaching China, a deadly pandemic, snake gods & Tulsa Doom, great ideas and not-so-great ideas in The Meditations, the Hagakure, Viktor Frankl, Deepak Chopra vs. Joe Rogan, the Dread Pirate Roberts, Germanic invasions, rebellions, marrying your adoptive uncle who was once engaged to your mom, the strange case of Commodus, and much more.

If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon to access plenty of bonus content.

All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at our LinkTree

Including the HOF YouTube Channel, Substack, Instagram, and TikTok.

Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started Purest Mushrooms where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount.

Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at Dakota Pure Bison. History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Rise up and do battle.” Homer

“Discipline is freedom, and the companion to imagination. Discipline makes it possible for you to become whatever you want to be.” Deng Ming Dao

Marcus Aurelius would have loved nothing better than studying philosophy for the rest of his days. Instead, destiny chose him to be the head of the Roman Empire. As a philosopher-emperor, Marcus turned to Stoicism to help him deal with more drama than any human being should have to deal with. Most of his children died before reaching adult age. Rome’s old rival, Parthia, engaged the empire in a brutal war for supremacy. Germanic tribes raided the frontier and invaded Italy. Marcus’ adoptive brother and co-emperor died early, leaving to Marcus the burden to lead the empire under dreadful circumstances. And then there was the pandemic… a terrifying plague that would kill large chunks of the population, cripple the economy, disrupt travel, and create a very well justified climate of fear. Marcus’ ability to navigate all this and more thanks to his philosophical practices enshrined his name among those of the best emperors Rome ever had.

In this first episode, we cover: Lost, Marcus’ pep-talks, the power of rituals, the genesis of the empire, Marcus Aurelius’ early life, the impact of Greek culture in Rome, Emperor Hadrian’s murderous ways, Stoicism, Antoninus’ reign, and much more.

If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon to access plenty of bonus content.

All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at our LinkTree, including the HOF YouTube Channel, Substack, Instagram, and TikTok.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/hof

Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started Purest Mushrooms where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount.

Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at Dakota Pure Bison.

History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” Mario Puzo

“Grant me revenge!” from Conan the Barbarian, 1982

“I am immortal” Nezahualcoyotl

I originally created this episode years ago, as I was researching the Spaniards’ invasion of the Mexica (aka Aztec) empire, when I run into this little nugget of a story, which predates the arrival of the Spaniards. This is the first time this episode gets to be released to the public outside of any paywalls. This is basically a real historical version of what would happen if we were to mix the plot of The Godfather with the plot of The Lion King in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Our key characters include Tezozomoc, a ruthless, Machiavellian genius power-player who ruled over much of the Central Valley of Mexico, and his nemesis Nezahualcoyotl, the poet-king of Texcoco. This episode features political intrigue, Mafia-style hits, the surprise of seeing a beheaded enemy show up with a head on his shoulders, human sacrifice, an unyielding quest for revenge, and a glimpse at the early days of the Aztecs. With characters named Angry Stone Face and Hungry Coyote, you know this has to be a good story…

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"Barbarism is the natural state of mankind… Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph." Robert E Howard

“Becoming a barbarian was often a bid to improve one’s lot.” James C Scott

“We are riders; our business is with the bow and the spear, and we know nothing of women’s work. But in your country no woman has anything to do with such things—your women stay at home in their wagons occupied with feminine tasks, and never go out to hunt or for any other purpose” A speech by an Amazon quoted by Herodotus

“Persian, such is my nature: I have never run away for fear of any man, nor am I fleeing now from you. I am wandering, as I always wander in time of peace. You ask why I did not fight you at once. May I remind you that we have neither cities nor cultivated land of our own; since we are not afraid of our territory being ruined and plundered, we had no reason to fight you outright… Not will we, until we see fit. Instead of earth and water, I will send you other gifts, of the kind you deserve; and you will weep bitter tears for having claimed to be my ruler.” Idanthyrsus

Typically, I prefer when the episodes I create have a clearly identifiable main character. This particular one doesn’t have a lead character. But what it does have instead is people drinking from the skulls of their enemies, and tattoos, and sweat lodges, and cannabis consumption, and blood brotherhood rituals, and getting drunk on fermented mare milk. In case, that’s not enough, it also has Amazons and Wonder Woman’s golden lasso, centaurs and King Arthur, and a whole lot more. So, I hope you shall forgive the lack of a lead character. Today, we won’t focus on a particular individual but on a culture, specifically some of the steppe nomadic cultures from roughly about 2,500 years ago among people like the Scythians and the Sarmatians.

If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.

All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli 

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“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” John Brown

 “If you seek my blood, you can have it at any moment without the mockery of a trial.” John Brown

“John Brown, and a thousand John Browns, can invade us, and the Government will not protect us. To secure our rights and protect our honor we will dissever the ties that bind us together, even if it rushes us into a sea of blood." Mississippi congressman Reuben Davis

“John Brown began the war that ended American slavery and made this a free Republic.” Frederick Douglass

"I looked at the traitor with unlimited, undeniable contempt."  John Wilkes Booth

“Had I interfered in the manner which I admit… in behalf of the rich, the powerful… the so-called great… every man in this Court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.” John Brown

The subject of this series is easily one of the most divisive individuals in U.S. history. The man we are talking about is Mr. John Brown. Many, in fact, see Brown’s actions as the spark that ignited the Civil War. He has been described as a civil rights hero, a terrorist, and everything in between. Some have argued he was clinically insane. Others believe he was the most principled man of his age. Regardless of how we interpret his story, certain facts are beyond dispute. Throughout his life, slavery was the law of the land in much of the United States. With hardly any abolitionist willing to do more than use words against slavery, while pro-slavery forces demonstrated they were quite skilled at using violence to further their worldview, it seemed inevitable that slavery would last for the foreseeable future. To John Brown, that was an unacceptable option. Allowing it to continue for one more second was cowardly and evil. If pacifist means weren’t enough to bring about the end of slavery, then John Brown was more than ready to speak the language of violence. For the sake of destroying slavery, he would shed the blood of his enemies, the blood of his family, and his own blood.

In this final episode of this series, we’ll cover: John Brown’s meeting with Harriet Tubman, a raid to free slaves and bring them to Canada, the loyalty of Shields Green, Dangerfield Newby dying to save his family, the attack on Harpers Ferry, stealing George Washington’s sword, drunkards shooting corpses, Silas Soule’s jailbreaking skills, the trial of John Brown, the dangers posed by Zombie John Brown, guest appearances by Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, John Wilkes Booth and Jeb Stuart, and much more.

If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.

All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli 

Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q

Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelli

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast

Thank you to today’s sponsor, Fabric by Gerber Life, a term life insurance. If you are interested in life insurance, please check them out at https://meetfabric.com/HISTORYONFIRE

Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started https://purestmushrooms.com/ where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount.

Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this first episode of a three-part series, we’ll introduce the early

part of John Brown’s life

and his crusade against slavery. Among today’s topics, we’ll have the

ethics of punching a

Nazi, how the beating of an enslaved child set Brown on his path, how both

pro and anti-

slavery forces used Christianity to justify their stances, racism

masquerading as

philanthropy, the Nat Turner rebellion, grief & PTSD, the Underground

Railroad, the

murder of Elijah Lovejoy, and much more.

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“This is how 70,000 horsemen of the Taira died, buried in this one deep valley; the mountain creeks ran red with their blood and the mound of their corpses was like a small hill.” The Tale of the Heike

“Tomoe had long black hair and a fair complexion, and her face was very lovely; but she was also a fearless rider, who could not be thrown by neither the fiercest horse nor the roughest ground; and with such skill she handled sword and bow that she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to battle against gods and demons. Many times she had taken the field, fully armed, and won great fame in duels against the bravest captains, and so in this last fight, when all the others had been killed or had fled, among the last seven there rode Tomoe.” Tale of the Heike

“Cut off my head and show it to Yoritomo!" Kiso Yoshinaka in The Tale of the Heike

“The feat they were accomplishing seemed beyond mortal capacity, a fit undertaking for demons.” The Tale of the Heike

“I whipped my mount over precipitous cliffs, heedless of life in the face of the enemy; I braved the perils of wind and wave on the boundless sea, ready to sink to the bottom as food for monsters of the deep. Battle dress was my pillow; arms were my profession - yet, as in the past, my sole desire was to comfort the unhappy spirits of the dead.” Minamoto Yoshitsune in The Tale of the Heike

It’s the finale of this series on the Genpei War (1180-1185); the showdown between the two most powerful clans of the age. This episode is one of the most drama & action packed that I have ever covered in History on Fire. We’ll discuss Minamoto Yoritomo’s Godzilla-sized ego, the Minamoto killing each other when they are not busy warring against the Taira, the legendary female samurai Tomoe Gozen, a ritual suicide to urge your commander to stop having sex and concentrate on military maneuvers instead, the charge at Ichi No Tani, the mythical fight between Kumagai Naozane and Taira Atsumori, a victory party in Kyoto parading enemy heads, Yoshitsune’s utter fearlessness, a feat of archery so amazing that it convinced the enemies to stop battle and cheer for the archer, the child emperor’s grandmother drowning herself and her grandson, samurai crabs, Benkei being a pal and holding back an army so that Yoshitsune can kill himself, and much more.

If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.

All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli 

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“The sound of the Gion Shoja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.” The Tale of the Heike

“When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I'll be waiting.” Kill Bill

"Let those in the distance hear me! Let those close at hand see me with their own eyes! I am Matataro Tadatsuna, son of Ashikaga no Taro Toshitsuna and descendant in the tenth generation of that Tawara no Toda Hidesato who won rewards by destroying the enemies of the emperor. Seventeen is my age! A mere warrior devoid of rank and office wielding bow and arrow against an Imperial Prince risks the wrath of the gods, but let’s see who is favored by the gods of the bow. If any among Lord Yorimasa' s men consider themselves my equals, let them come forward. I'll meet them!" The Tale of the Heike

“When I die, do not build a temple or pagoda. Do not perform any ceremonies for me. Instead, you must send an army at once to vanquish Yoritomo. You must cut off his head and hang it before my tomb. I ask for nothing more." Taira Kiyomori in The Tale of the Heike

The Genpei War (1180-1185), pitting against one another the two most powerful clans of the era, the Minamoto and the Taira, is one of the most crucial turning points in Japanese history. Movies and video games have usually overlooked this conflict in favor of the civil wars of the warring states period of the 1500s. Big mistake since the story of the Genpei War is packed with drama and larger than life characters—from the tragic hero Minamoto Yoshitsune, his brother in arms the gigantic warrior monk Benkei, the female samurai Tomoe Gozen and many others. And on top of it, this civil conflict ushered major changes in Japanese society, shifting power from a nobility made of imperial bureaucrats into the hands of landowning samurai families. In this first of two episodes dedicated to the Genpei War, we’ll tackle one of the most important works in Japanese literature, Buddhist impermanence, the 1156 Hogen Rebellion, the 1160 Heiji Rebellion, revenge, exorcisms, the rise of the Taira family, emperors struggling with loss of power, warrior monks, the battle at the Uji River, announcing your family lineage before cutting heads off, inviting the gods to witness battle, Minamoto Yorimasa’s suicide, Yoshitsune learning swordsmanship from the demons of the forest, the duel between Yoshitsune and Benkei, the Taira burning down the monasteries of Nara, Kiyomori’s death, and much more.

If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.

All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli 

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