History of the World podcast

A catch up on the listener messages and reviews and a brief mention on who Saxo Grammaticus was and what influence he had on Denmark and literature.

A state of the podcast address with some important and exciting news about the next full episode.  We also discuss the origin of the nation of Switzerland by looking at the alliance of cantons that symbolises the beginnings of this modern country.

The usual state of the podcast updates and all of your kind messages and reviews in one place.

A quick dive into the Scandinavian dynasty also called Gorm and Jelling, descended from Vikings and producing the mighty multi-national king Cnut the Great.

An off the cuff focus on the younger brother of King Harold II of England and his unique story.

A long awaited update from the History of the World podcast including an update on what's been going on in June, plus a look forward at what we may expect in July.

A look forward to the special episodes coming soon thanks to the ideas put forward by members of the History of the World podcast illuminati, including the latest listener messages and review.  We look forward to the Chalke Valley History Festival and the podcast's fourth birthday.

We catch up with all the listener messages and reviews from the last two weeks and welcome the new members of the History of the World Podcast illuminati.

Find out about my visit to the Podcast Show 2022 in London this past May, and we fondly remember our good friend Nick Barksdale who sadly passed away this month.

1066 - Both the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy had matured into states that faced each other across the English Channel, and had their futures entwined with each other as a consequence.  One powerful duke of Normandy called William had great ambitions for his neighbours across the water.

845 - 1194 - The Normans take up a much larger role than many initially know and this episode looks to tell the entire story of the Normans of Normandy.

1014 - The story of the history of Ireland and the Irish folklore legend of Brian Boru and how he managed his unlikely inheritance in a medieval world of fierce competition on both local and national levels.

878 - The inevitable showdown between the Danish Vikings whose intensity against the Anglo-Saxons reached breaking point.  We discover more about King Alfred the Great and how he set the foundations for the nation that would become England.

1179 - 1241 This episode tells the life story of the Icelandic saga  writer and statesman who lived during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries during the closing years of Icelandic independence.

862 - 1242 - The story of the creation of the medieval nation state that was the birth of a unique modern culture with a rich history that would have a fortune changing influence on European and global politics.  The fusion of Viking and Slavic cultures.

793 - 1035 - Glorious literature tells us that the Vikings were savage raiders who sailed the seas and plundered from others.  This episode investigates what we do know about the Vikings and their history and whether those preconceptions are completely fair.

410 - 939 - From the abandonment of Britannia by the Romans, the island became a place of tribal warfare for many centuries, but from the chaos emerged the beginnings of a modern English nation.

43 - 848 - When the Romans invaded Britain they discovered people who  had decorated their bodies with bright colours.  Who were these people  and what became of them?

955 - East Francia was a struggling new nation facing the threat of new European invasions from the peoples of the steppe.  It would take military intelligence and bravery for East Francia to be able to deal with the threat of the Hungarians on this occasion.

778 - The battle that involved Charlemagne and gave us a surprising result.  It is immortalised by the Song of Roland, but this episode looks to revise the later medieval romantic poetry and find out the truth from the contemporary voices.

715 - 987 - Early Medieval France was as important as any nation of Europe in its history.  This episode deals with the rekindling of kingship through the Carolingians and their relationship with the Papacy, and how their succession tradition proved to damage the empire and make way for the fragmentation of the Frankish Empire.

732 - The Frankish expansion was impressive but the Umayyad expansion was intercontinental and seemingly unstoppable.  It would fall on the shoulders of a man called Charles Martel to unlock the solution to the insatiable desires of the Muslims.

451 - 718 - A number of culturally linked Germanic tribes were initially united by King Clovis who expanded their realm significantly.  The kings would gradually lose power, to be led by their senior statesmen until the time when Asiatic peoples entered Europe, this time from the west.

476 - 774 - The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 did not signal the end of romanitas in the Italian peninsula, but it does signal the injection of Germanic culture there.  It should have added depth to the peninsula, but instead it brought bloodshed and poverty.

238 - 712 - The Visigoths were one of two major branches of Gothic tribes who originated in eastern Europe and migrated to the west where they carved out their own fortune and cemented their place in the evolution of the modern countries of the Iberian peninsula.