Western Civ

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

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. WebsiteWestern 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 TrialWebsite

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, through dynamic portraits of eighteen individuals who helped to define it.Books have transformed humankind by enabling authors to create, document, and entertain. Yet we know little about the individuals who brought these fascinating objects into existence and of those who first experimented in the art of printing, design, and binding. Who were the renegade book-makers who changed the course of history?From Wynkyn de Worde’s printing of fifteenth-century bestsellers to Nancy Cunard’s avant-garde pamphlets produced on her small press in Normandy, this is a celebration of the book with the people put back in.Buy the book HERE. Support the show HERE.

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 TrialWebsite

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 Rhône to the Pyrenees, they were the first royal house to adopt the fleur-de-lys, displaying this lily emblem to signify their divine favor and legitimate their rule. The Capetians were at the center of some of the most dramatic and far-reaching episodes in European history, including the Crusades, bloody waves of religious persecution, and a series of wars with England. The Capetian age saw the emergence of Gothic architecture, the romantic ideals of chivalry and courtly love, and the Church’s role at the center of daily life.BUY THE BOOKSUPPORT THE SHOW

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 the dramatic story of these seven incomparable women, vividly recapturing the lost world of Hellenistic Egypt and tracing the kingdom’s final centuries before its fall to Rome. The Cleopatras were Greek-speaking descendants of Ptolemy, the general who conquered Egypt alongside Alexander the Great. They were closely related as mothers, daughters, sisters, half-sisters, and nieces. Each wielded absolute power, easily overshadowing their husbands or sons, and all proved to be shrewd and capable leaders. Styling themselves as goddess-queens, the Cleopatras ruled through the canny deployment of arcane rituals, opulent spectacles, and unparalleled wealth. They navigated political turmoil and court intrigues, led armies into battle and commanded fleets of ships, and ruthlessly dispatched their dynastic rivals.       The Cleopatras is a fascinating and richly textured biography of seven extraordinary women, restoring these queens to their deserved place among history’s greatest rulers.    Buy The BookWebsiteSupport The Show

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. WebsitePatreon 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 architecture and the Paris skyline, Paris’s slums were plagued by disease and gang violence. The era, now remembered as a high point of French art and culture, was also an age of intense political violence, including anarchist bombings, organized right-wing mobs, and assassinations.Buy The BookSupport the Show

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. WebsitePatreon Free Trial