Battle Royale: French Monarchs

We hope you are all enjoying the festive season! We have a very special Christmas present for you all this year, and it's the gift of the scandal, skullduggery and saucy shenanigans that are in store as we commence our much-anticipated spinoff series ranking all the official mistresses of France from Agnès Sorel to Madame du Barry. Thank you to Rob from the Totalus Rankium podcast for composing ou...

He may be "Charles the Victorious", for finally ending the Hundred Years' War, but this king has a somewhat mixed reputation among historians. This episode, we learn what happened after Joan of Arc and the Regents of Madness, and how France recovered from a century of devastation. ⚜️  Visit our Wordpress for episode images, score summaries, contact details and more! Make sure you leave us a review...

It's all downhill from here.🔥⚜️Recommended reading from this episode: Helen Castor, Joan of Arc: A History Larissa Juliet Taylor, The Virgin Warrior: The Life and Death of Joan of Arc Nancy Goldstone, The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc ⚜️  Visit our Wordpress for episode images, score summaries, contact details and more! Make sure you leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Sp...

The Maid of Orléans is well-known for having taken the intricate chessboard of the Hundred Years' War, tipped it upside down, kicked it across a field and scored a game-changing goal for the Blues after decades of decline. In the first of her well-earned 2-parter, we follow Joan of Arc's rise to prominence from peasant to saviour, and conclude at the moment of her greatest glory. But that means it...

It's now time to review the life and deeds of the "mad king" himself, Charles VI. In this episode, we talk about what the king was like before his mental illness took over, and what the darkest period of the Hundred Years' War was like from his tragic perspective.⚜️Music used in this episode:"Virtutes Instrumenti", "Lagoa v2"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attrib...

Our final two Regents of Madness bring the Hundred Year's War to its apotheosis. Henry V's brother Bedford was Charles VI's regent at the very end of his life, but Ben has uncovered that this English occupier was so much more than just a villain in our story. Meanwhile Veronica from Passed Podcast joins us once again, this time to take us through Charles of Orléans epic journey from orphan to rebe...

Katy from Queens Podcast joins us for the showdown of showdowns: Isabeau VS Yolande, the Queen of France VS the "Queen of Four Kingdoms". As we go through their lives, we see the Hundred Years' War from the women's perspective and address some of the most controversial aspects of these queens' lives - from Isabeau's alleged affair during her husband's madness, to Yolande's ambitious conspiracy to...

Get your tickets for Intelligent Speech Online (November 4th 2023) and use discount code ROYALE Josh Zucker from the Grand Dukes of the West podcast joins us to talk about yet another Duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless. And while John may not match his father for statecraft or shrewdness, he more than makes up for it in scandaliciousness. How will Ben's rival candidate, Bernard of Armagnac, fare...

Veronica from Passed podcast joins us for our second foray into the regents of Charles VI. This time, we're covering his two remaining uncles. Veronica will cover Louis II, Duke of Bourbon (the nice uncle) while Ben covers John, Duke of Berry (the fun uncle). Which of them will Eliza deem to be the superior regent? While Bourbon looks out for his nephew's best interest and Berry throws another rau...

Josh Zucker from the Grand Dukes of the West podcast joins us for the first episode in our 5-part miniseries on the regents of King Charles VI of France. This episode, we're pitting Josh's candidate Philip of Burgundy against Ben's candidate Louis of Orléans, and seeing which of them Eliza deems to be the supreme regent. In this episode, we'll see the kickoff of the infamous rivalry between the Or...

Go to intelligentspeechonline.com to get your early bird tickets for 4 November! And stay tuned for more announcements about when Ben will be speaking and what his topic will be. Remember to use the discount code "Royale" to get a further 10% off!⚜️ Visit our Wordpress for episode images, score summaries, contact details and more! Make sure you leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or where...

To celebrate both the National Day of France and the second anniversary of the podcast, Ben is running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with Eliza and three special guests, inspired by the beast of Gévaudan, the legend of Saint Ulphia, and numerous other easter eggs from the podcast which astute listeners can find!  Check out Roberto’s podcasts History of Saqartvelo Georgia and Tsar Power, as well a...

In the second half of our Charles V episode, we give him his scores and decide whether or not he should be admitted to the Battle Royale Tournament. In this episode, we get to see in great detail what Charles's court was like, thanks to the writing of Christine de Pizan (A WOMAN?!), plus we delve into some trouble in paradise between him and his cousin-wife Joan of Bourbon. Also he, like us, is a...

The Hundred Years' War rages on, and the young Dauphin Charles upon becoming king is one of the most scrawny, disease-addled kings we've ever had. But with some strategic alliances, some tax reforms, and a bit of help from a random knight emerging from the woods, he just might be able to turn this ship around. Listen to the end for "Pope Slap 2: Revenge of the Pope" (AKA the Western Schism). And s...

How good was John the Good?  Despite his dedication to honour and chivalry, John's reign is a hot mess, starting with the first outbreak of the Black Death, escalating into a murderous blood feud with Charles the Bad, and ending with a fun "holiday" with the Black Prince. Is John's personal courage and hutzpah enough to get him into the tournament, or will his lack of patience and wisdom be his do...

There's SO MUCH to cover in this episode! We didn't plan for a 2-parter and the recording ended up being very long, so we put a poll across our social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) and a narrow majority voted for us to release it all at once, so DEAL WITH IT.You'll hear a snippet of Gustav Holst's "Mars" (performed by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra) at the halfway point when the Hundr...

As the final capstone to the Direct Capetian Kings of France, we've invited Gary from THE French History podcast to talk power centralisation, the Crusade craze and the original Louvre fortress. We also get Ben recapping our history in a bad Scottish accent, and Eliza airing a controversial opinion about the Supermario brothers. In 2 weeks we will return with the first king of a fresh spicy new fa...

Before we delve into the Valois kings and the Hundred Years' War, it's time to take a breath and have a look back at the dynasty of Hugh Capet, and how they've compared to kings that came before. This latest series of episodes has certainly had its share of dark horses and shocking upsets. To follow our discussion today and see how all our kings and emperors are ranking, head to our new Leaderboar...

Born into scandal and passed over for the throne several times, Little Jeannette finally got herself a throne at the age of 16, albeit not the one she had probably wanted... Nonetheless, Joan made the best of a bad situation and proved herself just as good as (if not better than) her male usurpers... that is, until a certain plague came knocking. Memento mori. - Remember, you will die. The main so...

In 1325, the Queen of England returns to her native France, and this time the She-Wolf is out for blood...Oh, and Charles IV is also here! Will the runt of the Capetian litter be able to break the Curse of the Templars? Well, the short answer is a big fat NOPE. With the Hundred Years' War and the Black Death right around the corner, the omens are looking ominous. The Golden Century of St Louis is...

Philip the Tall is not only built like a maypole, but has some fantastic ideas about how to get France out of its crisis period. As the middle son of the great Philip IV, he may have been overlooked in his youth, but now it's time for him to step over the corpse of his infant nephew, shove aside his 4-year-old niece and claim the crown for himself.  While he definitely gets an A for Effort, Philip...

John the Posthumous (born after the death of his father) had a long and successful reign. The end. We also have a quiz this episode! Have a look on our Wordpress for the quiz questions and this episode's Enchanté Images. ⚜️ Make sure you leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen! You can also support the show on:Ko-Fi, where you can buy us a coffee and contribute a small...

Louis "le Hutin" (the Turbulent, Quarrelsome or Stubborn) is yet another Louis with big shoes to fill - both from his formidable father Philip IV and from his zealous namesake Saint Louis IX. But Louis has very little time to deal with famines, curses and civil unrest. He's too busy playing his favourite new sport: tennis! As if he didn't have enough balls in his court (see what I did there?), Lou...

Philip the Fair, also called "the Iron King", is about to prove himself a real dark horse in our little competition! Quiet but cunning, from a young age he proved himself a very prudent man but not afraid to execute ruthless moves when he needed to. As well as fighting wars on all fronts, Philip consolidated and improved upon the gains of previous kings using a very special new weapon ... LAWYERS....

Joan I became Queen of Navarre at 18 months old, and Queen of France at 12 years old. Due to her age and gender, she was prevented from taking a very active role in either kingdom. Her life saw an endless barrage of men trying to dim her light - from the cold man she married, to the foes invading her lands, to the vindictive bishop who may have cursed her with witchcraft. But throughout her tragic...