Sarah from America

This episode explores the unsettling idea that much of modern life still operates inside standards set more than a thousand years ago by Charlemagne . Rather than framing him as a distant historical figure, the piece examines Charlemagne as a systems builder whose true power came from standardization, not spectacle. By unifying measures of value, currency, law, literacy, time, and obligation, he c...

In this episode, we trace the origins of January 1st as New Year’s Day and discover that our modern calendar has far more to do with war, empire, and governance than with personal renewal. Beginning in the winter of 152 BC, we follow Roman soldiers freezing in Hispania and senators in Rome confronting a hard truth: traditions built for a seasonal city-state could no longer govern a far-flung empir...

Sarah traces her surprising bloodline to five Mayflower families and the ship’s only sea-born child, revealing what Thanksgiving history gets right—and wrong. A quick, curious journey into ancestry and American lore. Get full access to INTREPID at intrepidinterior.substack.com/subscribe

In our last post, we explored the family tragedy that influenced Charlemagne’s early military victory, which might have earned him the title of “The Great” —both in his own time and what it might take to earn that title today. We left off with three large-scale accomplishments: * Your story is beautifully told at scale in a way that endures. * An act of unexpected public consecration by culture, i...

In our last post, we explored what it meant for Charlemagne to be called “The Great” —both in his own time and what it might take to earn that title today. We left off with two large-scale accomplishments: * Your story is beautifully told at scale in a way that endures. * An act of unexpected public consecration by culture, institutions, or by the networked hive mind. But what other achievements w...

One of the genealogical societies that reached out to me after contacting a few was the Colonial Order of the Crown . While not an active society, my great-grandmother had joined during her lifetime, granting me access to do the same. The order was founded in the 1890s as a patriotic lineage society, whose members have to have lineal descent from Emperor Charlemagne. I knew who he was vaguely from...