Hanging with History

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Arctic Acoustic is back as we explore the reluctant beginnings of the Civil War and take it up to the creation of the New Model Army.  This episode has more Norwegian than is typical of English history podcasts.  That’s OK, a minimally murdery Civil War demands unusual coverage. We cover the period leading up to the Civil War, the key in...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Coverage of the constitutional issues that plagued the Stuarts in what looks like an attempt at Bourbon style despotic rule.    Seems  like the crown could have succeeded with the combo of Ship Money and the Army being organized in Ireland.  But the Scottish intervention blows the whole enterprise.   We discuss the tensions that result f...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Which war god came down to Earth in 1625 to lead the Stuart military adventures?  Was it Jehovah, Odin, Tyr or Thor?  Nope, it was a blind war god many have never heard of, Hod. The 30 Years War is the masterwork of the blind war god. We discuss Sweden’s role as Odin’s favorite child.  After dealing with this aspect of Stuart rule, we to...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. We look at economic and social progress and some of its obstacles, mainly self-inflicted obstacles.  A Joseph Ardennes episode.  We discuss new industries and coal.  Newcastle is the new Peru.  The limited rights of the poor within a context where even small farmers had a lot of rights under common law, but the necessity of paying for la...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. James as diplomat.  A Nightrider episode. The narrative takes us to James' death.  But first James attempts to hear cases like Daenerys Stormborn, knights cuts of beef, gives knighthoods to those who don’t want them and fines those who refuse them, raises money through forced “donations,”  commits a classic diplomatic blunder  and a...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. James Stuart VI of Scotland becomes James I of England after the death of Elizabeth.  We discuss the causes of the English Civil War and some of the ways the Stuart kings may have contributed to that upheaval.  A Valkyrie episode.  This is mainly a narrative history of James I reign in England though we do spend some time with his grand...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. The double episode concludes with  Galileo, Descartes and Newton.

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. We take a look at the birth of science in the first of a two part double episode.  Both starring Charlie's Angel.   We look at the beginning of the concept of discovery as a deliberate activity kicked off by the voyages of discovery. Then we look at issues of the birth of science through the Copernican Revolution to Newton and the P...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. This one is really strong, Attila The Bun's demon metaphor is a good one. We conclude with Fallacy 5        When the underlying economic conditions are changing your ideas about regulation are incoherent.  Too many moving pieces to get right,  Many examples are given, starch making, chapmen, malt vinegar, woad growing to indicate th...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Largely revised January 2021 , boy sometimes you get carried away with the ideas and don't realize the presentation and organization are crap.  This is much better. The Apples of Caernarvon Fallacy is the first of 4 covered this episode.  2 more fallacies to be covered next episode.  An Attila the Bun episode with Charlie's Ang...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. How did new Industries develop to allow Tudor England to catch up to the continent and later surpass it?  The Leisure Larry episode.  The Marshmallow Test provides framing for a discussion of cultural evolution in England.  England becomes a society able to pass the Marshmallow Test as sexual selection operates differently at this time. ...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. The conclusion of the Pirate Arc.  4th of the Elizabethan era.  Thermopylae or Agincourt? We begin with the story of the Revenge captained by Grenville.  A legendary charge at 55:1 odds that ended with 10 Spanish ships sunk, after God’s intervention the next day and defeat for their elite marines again and again.  Who would ever want to...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. The 2nd of the 3 episode Pirate arc.  The Bygdøy episode.  Revised for sound.  We cover 3 pirate voyages.  Drakes 1585 expedition to the New World, Drakes 1587 raid on Cadiz and its effects on the Armada and George Clifford’s raid on the Azores in 1589.   Clifford's Vikings had every experience, capturing a port by flying a false fl...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. It takes a few minutes to get to pirates, but the descriptions of Drakes voyages are good. A Quokka episode.  The first of 3 pirate episodes.  The greatest of Elizabeth’s Sea Dogs was Francis Drake, we cover two of his voyages this episode.  But what was Francis Drake really?  Will you figure it out before Camie does?  We also cover witc...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Don't let the title fool you, this is history with science context.   The Elizabethan era.  The Saltsrømmen episode.  Current ideas around Bostorm’s Simulation hypothesis and using RNA for computation are compared to the Elizabethan religious settlement.  The religious settlement is assisted by the Papal mercenaries invading Ireland...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Mary’s efforts to restore the Catholic faith backfire with the result that Protestantism gains strength, and anti-Spanish feeling grows.  A Fornebu episode.   We explore 3 characteristic failures with the greatest being that time when Dumbledore, I mean Gandalf, uh, Cranmer foxed the regime with the help of a divinely sent comet.  His he...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Very strong episode, very good for people who want to understand the medieval church and their relationship with death.  You get a feel for what Protestants are trying to overthrow. Mary Tudor and the dead are our subjects.  The Astraea episode.  The dead we cover in depth in the 2nd half.  First, we look at Mary’s history and how histor...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. One of the most popular episodes.  Lighter in tone, driven by the guest Cyrus, who is a visual artist, but also a comedic talent.   Again with the minimally murdery theme. Henry VIII Part 3, The Cyrus episode.  Henry’s romantic misadventures are portrayed as a somewhat pathetic and lame subject for History.  The execution of Cromwell she...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. This episode is potentially one of the most valuable in understanding England. The Reformation in England continues with Cromwell’s Act of Supremacy.  A minimally murdery Reformation.  This is an under appreciated fact of the English Reformation.   Parliament makes Henry head of the Church of England and the clergy goes along with it.  C...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. This is a really good episode. The Reformation in England; Henry VIII Part 1.  The first of a 5 episode arc.  The Reformation is dominated by Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell.  The stakes are high, the relationship between the living and the dead are at the heart of it.  This episode has a lot of narrative on Henry’s first marriage, the ar...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Reformation in Germany Part 2.  The bloody parts.  We start with the example of astrology as a belief of educated people in the 16th century and wonder what equally stupid things we believe today.  This leads to extended coverage of the Peasant’s Revolt, the largest until Bolshevik times.  The Reformation begins to spread but is limited...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. The Reformation in Germany Part 1.  Martin Luther, they didn’t have a prayer.  With the help of Kurt Gödel via Scott Aaronson we examine Purgatory and the related prayer industry.  How can we understand a prayer industry?  This leads to indulgences. The great weakness, the great mistake of the church.  We try to bring the scummy, scammy...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Introduction to an introduction to the Reformation.  The Outdoorsman episode.  Tools for historical analysis on the Reformation including Burke and Stirner.  We review where we have gotten so far in English history and talk about historical what-ifs.  Talk a little about the widespread understanding of corruption in the church.  We discu...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. The Agricultural Revolution arc concludes with a discussion of crop rotation, but first a good long look at the tragic element of economic and social upheavals.  We take some time to credit the Catholic kingdoms for their contribution to the miracle.  The role of rivalry in driving forward the industrial revolution cannot be ignored, was...

You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Enclosures: Efficiency and Tears.  Agricultural output increases 80% over rival France, with profits increasing greatly more.  We look at the rural landscape and take a look at how the Commons were integrated into village life.  We describe some of the situations as resembling a color blindness chart with a kaleidoscope of rights to farm...