Podcast Episodes

Episode 257 - What Could Be More Trustworthy than a Brother?

Isaac Angelos does his best to secure his position and confront the Bulgarians. But he is overthrown by his brother at the head of a coalition of aristocratic families.

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Published on 2 years, 11 months ago

Episode 255 - The Third Crusade (part 1)

As soon as news reached the West that Jerusalem had fallen a new Crusade was called. The German, French and English Kings all led armies East but only Frederick Barbarossa went by land. He led a larg…

Published on 3 years ago

Episode 254 - Saladin the Strategist with Ben Duval

I speak to author Ben Duval, author of the book: "Saladin the Strategist: How the Crusaders Lost the Holy Land."

We go through Saladin's career starting with how he captured Egypt. Then how he built t…

Published on 3 years ago

Episode 253 - The Second Bulgarian Empire

Isaac Angelos begins his reign by defeating the Normans and making as many alliances as he can to secure his position. Unfortunately he rejects an offer from two Vlach Chieftains Peter and Asen. They…

Published on 3 years ago

Episode 252 - The Sack of Thessalonica

Andronikos continues to terrorise his relatives. Many leave Byzantium seeking help from foreign courts. One arrives in Sicily and calls on the Normans to help him. They launch an invasion and sack th…

Published on 3 years ago

Episode 251 - A Lion Pouncing on a Large Prey

When Manuel Komnenos died he left an 11 year old son as his heir. The Regency Council set up to protect him fails. Manuel's cousin Andronikos seizes the throne instead and begins a reign of terror. 

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Published on 3 years, 1 month ago

Episode 250 - Retaking Anatolia

We talk about why the Romans didn't have more success in fighting the Turks. Was there a better way to fight the nomads? Or was it not really about tactics but strategy?

Period: 1070-1180

Hosted on Ac…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

Episode 249 - Life in Byzantine Anatolia

We look around the Roman provinces in Anatolia to review their defensive situation and the lifestyle of its people. We also briefly talk about Turkic people who lived in Byzantium.

Hosted on Acast. S…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

Episode 248 - Life in Turkic Anatolia

We take a look around the parts of Anatolia which were controlled by Turkic peoples between 1080 and 1180 AD. We don’t have a huge amount of written sources to draw on but hopefully there’s enough in…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

August 2022 Update

On my last update I told you that because of my forthcoming fatherhood – I would be switching to a season by season format from now on. Where there are periods of silence followed by a run of episode…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago