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The End of the Crusades and the Fall of Acre: An Interview with Historian Roger Crowley
Season 3 Episode 32
Popular historian Roger Crowley returns to the show to discuss his new book, The Accursed Tower: The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades, which covers the last great siege of the Crusades at the…
Published on 6 years, 1 month ago
Was the Protestant Reformation Inevitable?
Season 3 Episode 31
Was history destined to happen as it did? That's what counterfactuals - alternative scenarios of how things might have gone - are useful for answering. In this episode, we apply them to the Protestan…
Published on 6 years, 1 month ago
Medieval Merchants
Season 3 Episode 30
The medieval economy underwent a profound transformation, becoming ever more commercialized and monetized. Merchants helped drive that change, moving goods from place to place and profiting on the re…
Published on 6 years, 1 month ago
Persecution, Toleration, and the Rise of Modernity: An Interview with Historian Mark Koyama
Season 3 Episode 29
Religious freedom is a core value of the modern West, but how did it emerge, and why does it matter? Economic historian Mark Koyama, of George Mason University, joins me to discuss his recent book (c…
Published on 6 years, 2 months ago
The Commercial Revolution
Season 3 Episode 28
The roots of the modern economy, based on markets, money, and exchange, lie deep in the Middle Ages. The Commercial Revolution remade the European economy, paving the way for the explosive growth tha…
Published on 6 years, 2 months ago
The Venetian Empire
Season 3 Episode 27
Venice was a commercial hub, the hinge of the medieval economy, but it was also the center of a remarkable empire that spanned the sea lanes and trade routes of the Mediterranean. The Venetian Empire…
Published on 6 years, 2 months ago
The Crusades: An Interview with Dan Jones, Part 2
Season 3 Episode 26
Here's the rest of our conversation with historian and bestselling author Dan Jones. In Part 1, which you should absolutely listen to if you haven't already, we covered the Crusades in general; this …
Published on 6 years, 2 months ago
Why Rome Never Rose Again: An Interview with Professor Walter Scheidel
Season 3 Episode 25
Alone among the world's regions, western Europe only had one major, long-lived imperial experience: that of Rome. When it fell, nothing like it ever returned again. According to Stanford's Professor …
Published on 6 years, 3 months ago
We Join Professor Sheilagh Ogilvie's Guild (And You Should, Too!)
Season 3 Episode 24
When it comes to medieval and early modern economic history it is important to understand guilds, how they functioned, and their effects on society. Professor Sheilagh Ogilvie joins me to talk about …
Published on 6 years, 3 months ago
The Crusades: An Interview with Dan Jones
Season 3 Episode 23
The Crusades defined the Middle Ages and left a long legacy behind them. We chat with Dan Jones, author of the upcoming book Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Land, about why this …
Published on 6 years, 3 months ago