Western Civ

The swelling tide in France finally explodes in August 1572. Just as it seems like the marriage of the Protestant Henri of Navarre prepares to wed the Catholic Princess Margot and solve the religious crisis once and for all, the kingdom explodes into an orgy of violence.  Website Patreon Free Trial

Catherine D'Medici does her best to continue charting a course of conciliation but, in this episode, her luck finally runs out. France lurches into not one but two wars of religion in this episode, leaving the kingdom torn and Catherine convinced conciliation with the Huguenots is no longer possible.  Website Patreon Support

Today I sit down with author DW Gibson and discuss his latest book: One Week to Change the World: An Oral History of the 1999 WTO Protests . One week in late 1999, more than 50,000 people converged on Seattle. Their goal: to shut down the World Trade Organization conference and send a message that working-class people would not quietly accept the runaway economic globalization that threatened thei...

Catherine d'Medici and Charles IX take a grand tour of France while religious turmoils continue to simmer.  Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial Website

In this two-part episode, we follow Elizabeth as she deals with a major northern uprising and potential treason surrounding Mary Stuart. Then we pause and, about twelve years into her reign, look at Elizabeth as a queen in general.  Website Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial

In this episode, we follow Queen Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots, as they deal with similar issues. Elizabeth continues to grapple with demands that she marry which are more persistent and problematic due to her financial problems. Mary has a husband but Lord Darnley proves her undoing as Mary ends the episode as a permanent "guest" of the English monarch.  Western Civ 2.0 Free Tri...

Today I sit down with historian, Adam Smyth, and we discuss his latest book:  The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives . Books tell all kinds of stories—romances, tragedies, comedies—but if we learn to read the signs correctly, they can tell us the story of their own making too. The Book-Makers offers a new way into the story of Western culture’s most important object, the book, th...

Queen Elizabeth falls ill, bringing the nation up to the cusp of a complete succession disaster. Immediately afterwards Parliament pressures the Queen to wed immediately. Elizabeth, however, continues to resist. Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial Website

In  House of Lilies , historian Justine Firnhaber-Baker tells the epic story of the Capetian dynasty of medieval France, showing how their ideas about power, religion, and identity continue to shape European society and politics today. Reigning from 987 to 1328, the Capetians became the most powerful monarchy of the Middle Ages. Consolidating a fragmented realm that eventually stretched from the R...

Today I sit down with historian, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, and discuss his latest book: The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt .  One of history’s most iconic figures, Cleopatra is rightly remembered as a clever and charismatic ruler. But few today realize that she was the last in a long line of Egyptian queens who bore that name.        In The Cleopatras, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells...

Despite her best efforts to reach a compromise, the Massacre at Vassy finally pushed France over into its First War of Religion. Spoiler alert, it won't be the last. Website Patreon Support

Today I sit down for an interview with historian Mike Rapport to discuss his latest book: City of Light, City of Shadow: Paris in the Bellé Epoch . In City of Light, City of Shadows, Mike Rapport uncovers a Paris riven by social anxieties and plagued by overlapping epidemics of poverty, political extremism, and anti-Semitism. As the Sacré-Cœur and Eiffel Tower rose into the skies, redefining archi...

Elizabeth deals with the continued fallout from the death of Amy Dudley while word from France arrives that Mary, Queen of Scots, believes she has a better claim to the English throne. Website Patreon Free Trial

This is a bonus sneak-peak of what I do over on the paid feed: Western Civ 2.0. (The actual paid feed does not have ads.)  In this episode, I cover the First Punic War. Rome came consistently close to losing this war to Carthage and it is fascinating to think how different the outcome would have been had that happened.  The First Punic War (264-241 BC) marked a pivotal moment in ancient Mediterran...

The death of Henry II thrusts his fifteen-year-old son Francis into the throne. From the word go Francis II is uninterested in running his kingdom. Nor will his sickly frame allow him to. Francis' brief reign is dominated by his mother, Catherine d'Medici, and the powerful Guise family. More than anything else, his reign features the beginning of a difficult period for the French Kingdom, which qu...

In this episode, we break down the changes that Robert Dudley might become the next King of England. Spoiler alert, he doesn't. While Elizabeth I might have truly loved her favorite, the reality was she could not marry him. Marrying Robert would have isolated England even further as we will see. Then, when Robert's wife dies under mysterious circumstances, the door closes forever on the idea of Ro...

Elizabeth is often known in history books as the "Virgin Queen". As we will see in this episode, to remain unwed was a conscious choice she cultivated from the very beginning of her reign. It gave her independence. And it allowed her to chart England's religious course, very much a compromise, without foreign interference. Website Patreon Support

Today we begin Queen Elizabeth I, one of the most important British monarchs in history. Elizabeth takes over for the deceased Mary with England in absolute turmoil. She appoints William Cecil her Secretary of State and together they begin the process of righting England's ship. Website Patreon Free Trial

The Dutch Rebellion is the longest domestic revolt in modern European history. Over 80 years the Dutch slowly but surely ground Philip II into bankruptcy. While Philip had what he thought was an inexhaustible pool of Mexican and Peruvian gold and silver to draw from, what he did not understand were the modern forces of inflation and interest. In the end, more even than the Dutch people, Philip fou...

In today's episode, the reign of Queen Mary I of England comes to an end. Mary's efforts to burn England free of heresy fails and Princess Elizabeth assumes the throne. Website Patreon Support

Now we get to the Queen Mary I of England everyone knows. In the span of just over two years, Mary burned more heretics than Edward VI or Henry VIII combined. All of this was an effort to reunite England with the Papal See. Reginald Pole, the papal legate, remained confident in the project. But the enthusiasm in England for a return to the age before Henry's schism was waning and time was very muc...

Queen Mary I of England survives the first challenge to her power and emerges with the sense that she is God's ordained monarch. As a result, the pace of religious change quickened by the fall of 1554. Website Patreon Free Trial

With the death of Edward VI and the failure of Jane Grey to seize the throne, Queen Mary's ascent seemed likely to mean there would be a dramatic and immediate change in religious policy. The evangelical faction was now firmly out of power - many would flee to the continent in fact. But at least initially Mary and her court was a bit hesitant to push too hard too fast. For decades now the people o...

The English Reformation really heats up between 1551 and 1553. Unfortunately, the boy king, Edward VI, dies young leaving the dream of a final evangelical nation unfulfilled. Edward attempts to cut his half-sisters out of the inheritance and leaves the throne to Lady Jane Grey. but England isn't having it. Website Patreon Support

In this episode, Dudley, the Earl of Warwick, now dominates the Privy Council. As a result, the pace of religious reform decidedly quickens. The Mass is condemned. Altars are torn down. The "Old Religion" more or less disappears. This then brings matters to a head with a certain member of the royal family who remains an ardent Catholic: the Princess Mary. Spoiler alert, THAT is going to be a major...