Tides of History

The Italian Wars changed the face of Europe, but what was it like living through them? Today, we follow the lives of two composite characters to see both how war changed and how it affected the people who participated in them. Support this show by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info...

Planning a summer vacation and looking for something fun to read? Patrick and Leah have you covered with a few suggestions. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In our second episode on the Italian Wars, we explore how Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's vast territories ratcheted up the conflict from a dynastic squabble to a continent-spanning contest of great powers. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

What creates civilization, in the most basic sense? According to Professor David Frye, who joins me this week, it's walls - Hadrian's Wall, the Great Wall of China, city walls, and thousands more over the millennia. Support this show by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

The Italian Wars were the defining conflict of the sixteenth century, bridging the gap between the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Today, we explore their origins in medieval dynastic infighting and their opening stages, as King Charles VIII of France rolled south into Italy and changed European politics forever. Support this show by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://...

It's a concept! It's a feeling! It's... been a long time since we talked about it. We're throwing it back to 2017 and tracing the evolution of war in the 15th and 16th centuries. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Friend of the show Keith Pluymers returned for a great chat about fuel, environmental history, and why the seventeenth century is worth studying. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of Stitcher Premium, go to  stitcherpremium.com/wondery  and use promo code WONDERY. Support this show by supporting our spon...

In Renaissance Italy, war was simultaneously art, science, and big business, waged for profit and glory by hired contractors known as condottieri . Today, we follow one condottiere as he makes his way through the dangerous world of mercenary warfare in the fifteenth century. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of St...

Renaissance Italy was a political minefield, where backstabbing dukes, ambitious republics, and disloyal mercenaries created a laboratory for political innovation. This environment produced professional armies, the roots of state finance, and modern diplomacy, a legacy Italy left for the rest of Europe. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Pr...

We're revisiting an episode of Tides of History we originally released in January 2018. Pay close attention, we're going to be spending a LOT of time in Italy this summer. What was it like to have a front-row seat to the explosion of learning, art, and culture in Renaissance Florence? In this episode, we follow two people as they lived in the linked worlds of business and humanistic learning in th...

We catch up a bit more on Jakob Fugger's personality - or lack thereof - along with some of the other important south German trading firms of the age, the development of the Antwerp financial market, and the connection between banking and the patronage of Renaissance art. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info...

At the end of the fifteenth century, the center of European banking suddenly swung from its birthplace in Italy to south Germany. The key figure in that transition was Jakob Fugger of Augsburg, maybe the richest man who ever lived. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of Stitcher Premium, go to  stitcherpremium....

The Medici name still carries echoes of power and labyrinthine politics. But the Medici got their start as bankers, and built a financial empire that spanned fifteenth-century Europe. Popes, kings, and merchants all did business with the Medici, and the family's power over Florence grew out of its fiscal wizardry - at least until it all fell apart. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of Hi...

The Civil War and its decades-long aftermath continue to define American life well into the twenty-first century. Today we chat with Stanford's Professor Richard White, author of The Republic For Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 , to get a grip on this pivotal and under-discussed era of history. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of Hi...

Let's chat about some of the other interesting things Patrick discovered in his research for this month's episodes: messianic rulership and military revolutions in the Spain of Isabella and Ferdinand. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Queen Isabella of Castile was one of the great state-building monarchs of the later Middle Ages, but state-building had a dark side: the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews, and the beginnings of a decades-long war that would consume western Europe for three generations. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free mont...

Queen Isabella of Castile was the greatest of the state-building rulers of the late Middle Ages. During her rule, she sent Columbus to America, married Ferdinand of Aragon to launch modern Spain, and finished the centuries-long Reconquista, ending centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free mon...

We talked to bestselling novelist Philippa Gregory about her views of history and historical fiction, and her perspective on the Wars of the Roses, where she has spent many years. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of Stitcher Premium, go to  stitcherpremium.com/wondery  and use promo code WONDERY. Suppor...

1492 was a big year, and not just because a certain Genoese navigator set sail into the unknown. Europe was on the cusp of enormous changes. Follow along as we travel all across the continent and get a feel for Europe on the brink. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of Stitcher Premium, go to  stitcherpremium....

1492 was a truly wild year, and there is no one better to talk about it with than one of Patrick's favorite historians, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, author of many excellent books on Columbus and exploration. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Premium. For a free month of Stitcher Premium, go to  stitcherpremium.com/wondery  and use...

States didn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps, driven solely by the will of indomitable rulers; instead, they benefited from the services of a class of highly educated and dedicated civil servants. They administered finance and justice and executed the royal will with competence and ruthlessness. You can listen to the back catalog of Tides of History, completely ad-free, only on Stitcher Pr...

When Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, met the business end of a Swiss halberd in 1477, his 19-year-old daughter Mary was set to inherit all of his vast possessions. But her position was precarious, surrounded by rapacious neighbors and rivals. The decisions she made about her future set in motion a chain of political events that would define Europe for centuries to come. Support this show by su...

The Valois dukes of Burgundy were kings in all but name. Originally a branch of the French royal family, they fought for control of the French crown, accumulated vast lands, and nearly carved out a kingdom for themselves in the borderlands between France and the Holy Roman Empire. But eventually their ambition stretched too far, and they disappeared in a haze of gunpowder and blood. Support this s...

Surprise: Patrick loves Game of Thrones. Bigger surprise: GoT is actually a pretty accurate portrayal of late medieval politics - except for the dragons. Patrick's friend Albro Lundy, a very funny and smart TV writer, joins us to talk about it. Follow him on Twitter @bromanconsul. Support this show by supporting our sponsors! You can find all episodes of Tides of History 6 months and older, plus a...

The Wars of the Roses are infamous, but practically every European kingdom, not just England, was wracked by serious bouts of infighting in the second half of the 15th century. In a time period known for the growth of state power, why were there so many civil wars - and why were they all happening at the same time? Support this show by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.c...