We're Not So Different

folks, as you might know, there's a papal conclave coming up, what with the passing of Pope Francis and all that, so we decided to talk about the Medieval conclaves. now, technically, conclaves didn't begin until 1059 CE but we're not letting that stop us, we're going all the way back to The Rock himself, Peter, and talking about papal succession through the ages. mostly because, if you only start in 1059, you miss a lot of fun stuff like a barbarian king imposing a law on the Church to tell them to tone down the money spent on papal elections and something called the Pornocracy. then we get to the later Medieval and Early Modern papal conclaves, which are also fun.

folks, we're back with more patron questions to answer. we are still catching up, so we dive in and discuss Medieval reclamation of pagan myths, land management practices, political pragmatism, funerary customs, regional political differences, weird English town names, and whether the Catholic Church could've successfully reformed itself enough to stave off the Reformation. check it out!

English town names mentioned:

• Wolfardisworthy
• Goonhilly
• Westward Ho!
• Polzeath
• Tredinnick
• Alnwick
• Leominster
• Frome
• Wymondham
• Godmanchester
• Meopham
• Weston Super-Mare
• Yeovil
• Honiton

folks, we have once again stumbled upon some hilariously-insane social media posts and have decided to relate them back to the Middle Ages. the main gist is this: a twitter user posted about how the Catholic Virgin Mary was an unaging smokeshow and objectively the most beautiful woman to ever live as compared to that ugly hag Protestant Virgin Mary, who is apparently a totally separate individual. She then decided to do some clarifications and here we are. since this view is quite similar to that of typical European Medieval beauty standards, we decided to make fun of these posts and then talk about why Medieval people were so weird and contradictory like this.

https://x.com/BreeSolstad/status/1909651875856875800
https://x.com/BreeSolstad/status/1909986247843741924

folks, we're back with another installment of our occasional Medieval women series where we look back at two influential women from the Middle Ages. today, we look at two who couldn't be more different in most respects: the Byzantine princess and historian, Anna Komnene, and the English anchoress, mystic, and visionary, Julian of Norwich. we talk about what made each of them influential and how they made their marks in male-dominated fields of history, politics, and religion. check it out!

folks, we're back and it's time to talk about polling! specifically, a recent YouGov poll that asked Americans for their opinions on the European Middle Ages. and before you think the worst, the responses were quite heartening! the Dark Ages myth is now below 50% and seems to be far more popular with older generations and more Americans think about the Middle Ages on a weekly basis than they do about the Roman Empire. there's a lot more, which you can check out at the link below. but we good news is we got to ask David Montgomery, who conducted the poll, plenty of questions about what it means and what we should infer from the results. unfortunately, Dr. Eleanor had to join the recording partway through do to us working between multiple deadlines to get it done but Luke and David talk it through until then.

poll: https://today.yougov.com/entertainment/articles/51889-violent-dark-dirty-americans-middle-ages

David's podcast about French history after Napoleon to before WW1: www.thesiecle.com

folks, it's time for us to catch up on some more patron questions with another mailbag! we cover a whole host of topics including our favorite mad king and scheming vizier combos, fascist representations of the Middle Ages, whether city life or country life was preferable, Medieval snow shoveling, manly crying, and much more! Enjoy and subscribe to the patreon to have your questions answered: patreon.com/wnsdpod

folks, we are behind on our patron questions and so we're making it up starting today. we answer questions on everything from Medieval children's toys, pregnancy tropes, what the HRE would've looked like with sustained hegemony over Italy, the least worst rulers, and more!

folks, we love the weird side of Medieval life and one of the weirdest was the mystery play. these were living tableaux depictions of biblical stories that became huge, elaborate stage productions, which were performed during mass before the popes got mad and forbade the clergy from participating, at which point they became secularized by the guilds. but even better, we have guests to share in this weird Medieval fun with us as we welcome Josh, Brian, and AJ from The Worst of All Possible Worlds podcast to the show. The fellas specifically asked to come on and discuss this topic due to personal involvement with mystery plays and we simply couldn't say no. it's a lot of fun!

link to a review of the stage production mentioned: https://newyorktheater.me/2014/04/03/the-mysteries-the-flea-takes-on-the-bible-epically-irreverently/

https://www.worstpossible.world

folks, we've made it 209 episodes into the show and we still haven't done one on the end of the Middle Ages, well that stops now. we conclude out series on Constantinople with The Fall. and this one really lives up to the name, unlike the Western Roman Empire. we say goodbye to Constantinople, the Eastern Roman Empire, the Theodosian Walls, and all the rest as the Ottomans wash it away in a tide of gunpowder, olive oil, and so many soldiers. enjoy the spectacle as we talk the Fall of Constantinople.

folks, we continue the series on Constantinople with the real decline hours. last week, we started looking at the long, slow decline of the Queen of Cities and the Byzantine Empire but that pales in comparison to the final 400 years. after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, it's all downhill as the Byzantines step on rakes, shoot themselves in the foot, and are the victims of just plain bad luck and historical circumstance. from Manzikert to the Fourth Crusade to the Black Death to the final, bleak years before 1453, it's nothing but true, unmitigated decline leading to the inevitable fall next time.

artwork is The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, Gustave Dore