Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong
Samuel Biagetti, PhD
So much of what we learn in a standard history class, and in the culture around us, are just cliff-note narratives, crafted to explain how things appear, rather than how things actually came to be. Peel back the layers of time and place with this thoroughly researched, college-level history podcast with over 200 episodes that uncover the forgotten forces that shaped – and that are still shaping – our world today.
There are no commercials in this long-form podcast. More information can be found at Historiansplaining.com, where you can hear Quick Samples of every episode, easily find related episodes based on topic, discover episodes by geographic location on a map of the world or on a timeline of world history, and much more.
There’s so much to explore with Samuel Biagetti, PhD, in these conversational lectures and interviews, each one presenting hidden landscapes from the past that put the moments and movements of today’s world in a tangible, thought-provoking light.
Press play for the joy of a great college-level course in history, without any of the homework!
Unlock the most content by becoming a supporter through Patreon. You choose the amount you want to contribute, and your support helps keep the podcast commercial free! Visit patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Support through Patreon from listeners like you is the only source of ongoing funding for this podcast.
There are no commercials in this long-form podcast. More information can be found at Historiansplaining.com, where you can hear Quick Samples of every episode, easily find related episodes based on topic, discover episodes by geographic location on a map of the world or on a timeline of world history, and much more.
There’s so much to explore with Samuel Biagetti, PhD, in these conversational lectures and interviews, each one presenting hidden landscapes from the past that put the moments and movements of today’s world in a tangible, thought-provoking light.
Press play for the joy of a great college-level course in history, without any of the homework!
Unlock the most content by becoming a supporter through Patreon. You choose the amount you want to contribute, and your support helps keep the podcast commercial free! Visit patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Support through Patreon from listeners like you is the only source of ongoing funding for this podcast.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 11, 2021 • 1h 41min
The Voynich Manuscript, the "World's Most Mysterious Book" -- A Historian's View -- pt. 1
The Voynich Manuscript -- often called the "world's most mysterious book" -- consists of 116 leaves of parchment covered in outlandish botanical and astrological drawings and thousands of lines of undeciphered text in an unknown language. A century after images of the codex were first published, still not one line has been decoded. What could it say? And more importantly from the historical perspective, who created it and why? This is the most balanced and impartial consideration of the evidence that you will find.
In this first part, we consider the physical features and visual content of the book.
In the second part, we examine the mysterious text, and evidence as to its provenance and chain of ownership: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/the-voynich-manuscript-the-worlds-most-mysterious-book-a-historians-view-pt-2
Please become a patron to hear all the Myths of the Month – www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Suggested further reading: Carlo Ginzburg, "The Night Battles" and "Ecstasies: Deciperhing the Witches' Sabbath"; Tucker and Janick, "Identification of Phytomorphs in theVoynich Codex," hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pdfs/hr44…1-phytomorphs.pdf
Jan 26, 2021 • 26min
UNLOCKED: History of the United States in 100 Objects -- 10: The Peregrine White Cradle, ca. 1620
Unlocked for the public after one year for patrons only:
--Made of willow wicker on a wood frame
--Made ca. 1620, most likely in the Netherlands
--Allegedly brought on the Mayflower; held by the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Mass.
This rocking cradle was reportedly stowed on the Mayflower in anticipation of the birth of Peregrine White, the first English child born in New England, who came into the world as the ship was temporarily anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Passed down for centuries in the wealthy, powerful, and embattled White and Winslow families, the cradle reflects both the Pilgrims' unprecedented ambition to create a self-perpatuating European society in exile, and their strict child-rearing practices that sought to shape the infant into a miniature adult.
Sign on as a patron to hear the next lecture in this series, on a Native American war club that landed up in a castle in Sweden: https://www.patreon.com/posts/37560119
For non-patrons, to hear all installments in this series on the history of the United States in 100 objects, you can purchase access through a single small payment: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2070759?view=condensed
Jan 13, 2021 • 1h 41min
Creating the Caribbean -- The Colonial West Indies, pt. 1, 1496-1697
How did a chain of sparsely populated islands, stalked by earthquakes, hurricanes, and deadly tropical diseases, become the most powerful and prosperous colonies on earth? We trace how bands of adventurers, including pirates and Crusader knights, took advantage of Spain's fragile hold on the Caribbean islands, superior seafaring skills, and the growing slave trade, to build unlikely new societies, while the Irish and African laborers that they forced into service adapted or struck out for freedom.
Image: 17th-century drawing of Tortuga, while it was ruled by the "Brethren of the Coast."
To hear all patron-only lectures from this podcast as soon as they post, sign on as a patron at any level: www.patreon.com/c/u5530632
Alternatively, to hear the patron-only lectures on the early modern age, including on Martin Luther, the Reformation, and Spain & Portugal in the age of the Inquisition, you can purchase access to the “Becoming Modern” playlist: www.patreon.com/collection/2026824?view=condensed
Inaugural episode of "God Save America," on religion in the United States: https://soundcloud.com/godsaveamerica/0-introduction
Dec 29, 2020 • 57min
Special Comment: Our Wonderful Year; & Teaser: The Winthrop Alchemical Physician's Chair
What to make of this wonderful year? I venture into a little punditry, and give a clip from my patron-only lecture on the enigmatic alchemical physician's chair that belonged to John Winthrop Junior, the "magus of Connecticut."
please become a patron! -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
56 snips
Dec 14, 2020 • 1h 37min
The Early Church, pt. 1 -- Christianity on the Road
How did a small movement of Jewish fanatics, devastated by the ignominious demise of their leader, rise to become the official state religion of the Roman empire, Armenia, Georgia, and Ethiopia? We trace the dramatic rise of the new faith through three centuries of preaching, prophesy, and persecution.
Become a patron at any level in order to hear pt. 2, "Houses Divided," on the contending factions and beliefs, from Ebionites to Gnostics, that competed for control of the early church, and which ones ultimately won out: https://www.patreon.com/posts/45126005
Alternatively, purchase access to our full playlist on the roots of religion: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2010589?view=condensed
image: fresco of a woman at the 3rd-century house-church of Dura-Europos
suggested reading: E. Glenn Hinson, "The Early Church"
for context:
--on composition of the New Testament texts: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/who-wrote-the-bible-new-testament
--on the historical Jesus: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/the-historical-jesus
Dec 7, 2020 • 5min
TEASER -- Myth of the Month 14: Astrology
Teaser sample of "Myth of the Month 14: Astrology."
Become a Patron at any level to hear the complete Myths of the Month: https://www.patreon.com/posts/44717945
Description: Why do we divide history into epochs separated by "revolutions"? Astrology. How did Magellan chart his course around the globe? Astrology. How did Ronald Reagan schedule his acts of state? Astrology. We trace how the highest of the occult arts evolved from interpreting omens in ancient Babylonia, to containing medieval epidemics, to providing fodder for middle-brow magazines. Whether you are a believer or not, astrology is the secret rhythm of our lives.
Suggested further reading: Benson Bobrick, "The Fated Sky"; Nicholas Campion, "The Great Year," Julie Beck, "The New Age of Astrology," The Atlantic magazine; Elijah Wolfson, "Your Zodiac Sign, Your Health," The Atlantic magazine; Sonia Saraiya, "Seeing Stars," Vanity Fair magazine.
Image: Horoscope (birth chart) cast for Iskandar Sultan, grandson of Tamerlane, born 1384.
Nov 21, 2020 • 1h 28min
Age of Absolutism 3: Bourbon France, 1589-1789
When we speak of "absolutism," most of us think immediately of Louis XIV, the Sun King, and his splendrous court at Versailles. But those glittering images cover over a centuries-long struggle by the Bourbon dynasty to consolidate power by forging quiet strategic alliances with the lower and middle classes against the nobility, building up a precarious potemkin village that would soon collapse under financial strain, throwing all of Europe into confusion.
To hear all patron-only lectures from this podcast as soon as they post, sign on as a patron at any level: www.patreon.com/c/u5530632
Alternatively, to hear the patron-only lectures on the early modern age, including on Martin Luther, the Reformation, and Spain & Portugal in the age of the Inquisition, you can purchase access to the “Becoming Modern” playlist: www.patreon.com/collection/2026824?view=condensed
Image: Louis XIV as Jupiter, vanquisher of the Fronde, Charles Poerson, 1650s.
Nov 10, 2020 • 1h 16min
Colonial Latin America -- The Baroque Age, 1542-1764
How did a series of brutally conquered states and forced labor camps evolve over 200 years into a flourishing empire of trade, art, and culture? How did this new civilization manage land, money, and the status distinctions of ancestry and color? Why did Spanish America, one of the biggest imperial domains ever seen on earth, fail to benefit the mother country? And how did a cloistered nun in Mexico City come to be known as the first intellectual leading light of the Americas?
To hear all patron-only lectures from this podcast as soon as they post, sign on as a patron at any level: www.patreon.com/c/u5530632
Alternatively, to hear the patron-only lectures on the early modern age, including on Martin Luther, the Reformation, and Spain & Portugal in the age of the Inquisition, you can purchase access to the “Becoming Modern” playlist: www.patreon.com/collection/2026824?view=condensed
Image: Depiction of John the Evangelist in feather art, Mexico, 1500s, held by National Museum of Art, Mexico City
Suggested further reading: D.A. Brading, "The First America"; John Elliott, "Empires of the Atlantic World"
Oct 13, 2020 • 1h 45min
England, Interrupted: The Interregnum and Restoration, 1650-1685
What happened to England in the power vacuum left in the wake of the execution of Charles I? Why were the Puritans, so pious in morals and strict in governance, unable to create a lasting Commonwealth? And why did the return of the monarchy unleash a wave of lewd hedonism that is shocking even more than three centuries later? The explosion of empire, the slave trade, religious toleration, the modern metropolis of London, the enshrinement of theater as the English national art form, the two-party system, and the consitutional balance of power still in place in both Britain and the United States -- all of these have their roots in the tumultuous years from 1650 to 1685; if there is any period of English history that you must know in order to understand the present, it is this one.
To hear all patron-only lectures from this podcast as soon as they post, sign on as a patron at any level: www.patreon.com/c/u5530632
Alternatively, to hear the patron-only lectures on the early modern age, including on Martin Luther, the Reformation, and Spain & Portugal in the age of the Inquisition, you can purchase access to the “Becoming Modern” playlist: www.patreon.com/collection/2026824?view=condensed
Sep 8, 2020 • 1h 7min
Anglo-Saxon England and the Vikings, 757-1066
How did a set of seven fractious kingdoms unite into a new kingdom, known as "England," while under almost constant attack by Viking berserkers from across the North Sea?
Please support this podcast and hear all lectures, including the recent examination of the "historical" King Arthur -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Image: The Ormside bowl, an 8th-century Anglo-Saxon silver bowl found in the grave of a Viking warrior, photographed by JMiall
Music: A 1914 Edison Records wax-cylinder recording of "Rule, Britannia," provided by the University of California Santa Barbara Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
