Thugs and Miracles: A History of France

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Thugs and Miracles! In this first episode of the podcast that looks back at 1,500 years of history through the eyes of the kings and queens of France, we'll set the scene for you. With the Western Roman Empire collapsing and on its way out, a power vacuum developed in the areas that the legions once kept under the control of emperors; now, barbarian kings, many who had ties to the old Empire, are left to fight it out for supremacy. This is the world of 476 CE, the beginning of the Medieval Era, and a time filled with more violence, spirituality and drama than any television show or movie could even hope to capture. This is a time of long-haired, mystical kings; of queens making power plays in a male-dominated society, and stories of patricide, fratricide, and every other type of -cide possible. It's the history of court members making power grabs and overthrowing regimes; of deals made to unite religions and compel alliances; and of miracles, saints and relics appearing through the years to change the course of events and make the impossible possible. Professor Paul Freedman may have said it best when he said of these times, “we're into what certainly seems like a combination of thugs and miracles.”

What happens when Roman gods, pagans, and people looking for larger-than-life leaders all come together? Merovech. The first king of the Merovingian Dynasty, he was said to have been born from the dual fathers of a sea monster and a normal man. Then again, if you look deeper, maybe he never existed at all. Sometimes, a myth can be more enduring than the truth...

Around 455CE, the Salian Franks of Belgica Secunda, an area that in modern times falls in and around Northern France and Belgium, were facing a crisis. They were fresh off of having helped to push Attila and his Huns out of Roman Gaul, and were generally gaining strength due to their military prowess and their ties to the Roman Empire; however, their leader, the great king Merovech – who as we discussed last time, was rumored to have been descended from the Roman gods themselves - had just died, leaving his young son Childéric in charge of the Franks. In a hereditary system where most elders die before the age of 50, having a very young leader in charge of a group of people was most certainly not out of place. But make no doubts about it, a 15-year-old king is an unknown quantity, and one should not be surprised if the new king allows his newfound power to go to his head. Well, this was the case with Childéric. He had been raised from birth to expect to wear the crown, and he had also been raised to learn that what he wants, he gets. And what Childéric wanted more than anything, at the testosterone-fueled age of 15, was to make time with every single girl who came near him. Of course, many of the Frankish leaders probably thought it was great, at least for a moment, that their daughter may be a tool for them to get close to their new king and the power he wielded. But after many, many of the daughters had been sent back home to their families, dishonored and no closer to wearing the crown of queen than before they spent the night with the king, the Franks got fed up. Or did they? Skewed histories and altered perceptions have given us this story of Childéric as a wanton defiler of young female Frankish virtue, penalized by his own people to live outside of the tribe for eight years until he could fix his lustful ways. In reality, it is much more likely that he was actually acting as a de facto Roman general during his eight years away from home; however, the story of a fallen king being given a second chance to redeem the wantonness and wickedness of his ways made for better allegorical reading. No matter which story you believe, the end result is that Childéric spent from roughly 455-481 as the king of the Franks, laying the groundwork for his son Clovis to eventually take the reins of this small northern tribe and transform them into the preeminent military and cultural force in Western Europe. Childéric played a role similar to that of Phillip II of Macedonia almost a thousand years earlier, with both leaving an inheritance to their sons that would allow them to make incredible gains at a very young age and in a relatively short amount of time. Besides a few great stories and an unimaginable inheritance for Clovis to capitalize on, Childéric's other great contribution to history was his grave, which was discovered in Tournai in the 17th century. This tomb, and the amazing artifacts therein, served to give us tangible proof of a king living in a time between two worlds. With an assortment of Roman artifacts mixed into a grave that would have made any Germanic chieftain proud, Childéric's legacy shows us how people in the 5th century made the transition from a Roman world to a new world wherein Rome was only a memory. Childéric touched both; he crossed worlds.

Clovis's rise to power began after the death and ornate burial of his father, Childéric, but it wasn't as simple as being the next in line for Clovis to take power. Clovis came to his position at the age of 15 or 16, an age which, nowadays, most people barely trust a kid with a car. He had to firmly seize his right to take power, then step on anyone who would dare challenge him. Clovis and his advisers were able to make sure the transition of power went smoothly by putting on one of the most ornate funerals seen in Gaul, before or since. And after that, Clovis started his campaign of crushing those who dared to stand against him by heading southwest into the Domain of Soissons, calling out and then crushing that area's would-be king in a single battle. He also stood against those in his own tribe that would stand against him, as we'll see when we get to the story of the Vase of Soissons. It may be needless to say, but Clovis embodied the saying, "If you come at the king, you'd best not miss." In addition to Clovis, we introduce his wife, Clotilde, a woman who would ultimately lead Clovis to convert to Catholicism and who would then stage manage the succession of her children as Kings of Francia following the death of Clovis. Clotilde is an underreported and outsized figure from this time, and her story plays into the narrative just as much, and maybe even moreso, than her husband's.

The artwork for T+M depicts Clovis at the Battle of Tolbiac, and it's the starting scene for today's show as we focus on his conversion to Catholicism and the many different, sometimes competing, influences that brought him to the Faith. Did he convert because of an immediate battlefield need, the insistence of his wife, or was his close lifelong affiliation with Catholics throughout Frankish society the driving factor that led him to the baptismal font? Also, to what extent did Clovis emulate the example set by Emperor Constantine? Did he try to be like the great Christian leader, or was his likeness to Constantine a dramatic embellishment added years later? We'll cover all of this and more in this installment of Thugs and Miracles.

Clovis had taken all of the steps he needed by the year 500 to set the stage for the Franks to go from being a small regional tribe in the north to being the preeminent power in post-Roman Gaul. His conversion to Catholicism earned him support from Gallo-Romans living in Arian Christian areas, and would also draw the attention of the Byzantine Emperor. Meanwhile, he had worked to weaken the Burgundians to his southeast and pacify the Visigoths to his southwest, all before making his power move against them in 507. At the Battle of Vouillé, things were set for Clovis to either take over take over most of Gaul or die trying.

I normally like to start off by introducing a grand story from one of the monarchs that we're discussing and then break that story down to better understand what was happening in the region that set the conditions for that scene to happen. This week, however, we're going to alter that approach, just for an episode, because this week it's my great honor to work with David Powell, an alumnus of Villanova University. David spent his graduate studies focused on the evolution of late antique and early medieval urban and suburban morphology in Western Europe - and in particular Gaul - making him the perfect person to talk to about some of the dynamics that were taking place in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. One of his papers, edited here for length, discusses in brilliant detail the life of the common person at this time and makes for a nice understanding of the world we're looking at from an angle other than top down. So this week, we'll be looking up at the long-haired kings as they parade themselves in front of us, and we'll be wondering what the arrival of Clovis in Paris really meant for a peasant – Rusticus, in this case, as David named his fictional peasant – whose life was so hyper-local that the thought of visiting the sea, even from Paris, would have seemed an unimaginable journey. This week, we'll try to understand what it felt like for a normal person to live in a time of Thugs and Miracles.

Clovis never passed a day in his life as King without thinking about how he could expand his Kingdom and provide loot and booty to the lieutenants he trusted to burnish his hold on power. However, Clovis was pragmatic enough to sense that there were times when he could get more by using his brain rather than his brawn. The most obvious example of this is his conversion to Catholicism, but that wasn't his only moment of inspired intelligence. He planted the seed of patricide in his rival Clodéric's mind, leading to the downfall of both Clodéric and his father; he convinced another king's chiefs that he was a better King, leading them to turn their back on their boss and hand the kingdom to Clovis; and he never forgot a slight, real or imagined, and used these as justifications for power grabs. Once Clovis had his Kingdom, he solidified his hold on it; to do this, Clovis went down three paths. The first of these was the construction of The Church of the Holy Apostles, a project designed to simultaneously show the King's great piety and his great wealth. The second path was the writing of the Salic Law, bringing Clovis's domain under his written control. And the third path was the First Council of Orléans in 511. This Council established a strong link between the Crown and the Catholic episcopate, with one its main tenets being "the obligation of the approval of the king and of the local civil authority for priestly ordinations." Clovis is said to have died on 27 November 511. He had done about as much in 30 years as could be expected of any 15-year-old who was handed the keys to the kingdom. It would be easy to sit back and say that Clovis was barbaric, that he was lied and cheated and relied on brute force. But to do so would be to overlook the fact that Clovis was actually very intelligent. He responded to the times in which he lived with the level of force and the attitude of realpolitik necessary to ensure that he not only survived, but thrived. He was the right person, in the right place, at the right time to take advantage of the situation that presented itself.   To get more T+M, check us out in the following places: Website: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThugsAndMiracle Facebook: https://facebook.com/thugsandmiracles Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thugsandmiracles/

This week we're going to explore what exactly happened after Clovis's ended his 30-year reign and passed the torch to his sons Theuderic, Chlothar, Chlodomir and Childebert. Theuderic was Clovis's oldest child by nearly a decade. He was born around 487, just a year or so after his father led his army to victory against Syagrius in Soissons. Not much is mentioned about his birth or his childhood except that Gregory refers to his mother as a “concubine” who had had a child with Clovis prior to him having met Clotilde. Well, Theuderic grew up tall and he grew up right, and by the age of twenty he went on campaign with his father in Vouillé. Following Clovis's victory against Alaric in the main event, he sent his son to clean up in Visigothic areas to the east of the battle. According to Gregory, Theuderic “went, and brought under his father's dominion the cities from the boundaries of the Goths to the limit of the Burgundians.” As a result of all of this, Theuderic had a commanding lead over his half-brothers when it came time to determine the line of succession for their father. Clotilde's three boys ranged in age from 14-16 years old at Clovis's death, and would have had little, if any, military experience by this point. Although it's possible that Clotilde may have tried to push her own children to the head of the line of succession, their status as minors, Theuderic's claim as the first-born, and his military success alongside of his father guaranteed he would in no way be passed over. When all was said and done, a strong argument can be made that Clotilde did well to barter for as much as she was able to get for her boys. In the end, Clotilde was willing to bide her time and wait for an opportunity to push the career of all three of her sons. This event came about when myriad considerations came together to make an attack on Burgundy politically advantageous. Clotilde was not new to the political scene of this time and would have received an education both from the tragic events of her youth and from having been in Clovis's presence for nearly two decades. She would have known the geography and she would have known the general location of her threats, her stepson included. She would have had all sorts of intelligence indicating for her that now was the time, and as a mother wanting to set her children up for success, she likely would have pushed them to move fast and hard. She may even have used a little Catholic mother guilt to get the job done, but what I find extremely unlikely is that she simply cried and wailed due to her “ungovernable passions” in an attempt to get her kids to avenge the deaths of her parents some thirty years prior. To believe otherwise is to rob Clotilde of her agency, and she showed on multiple other occasions in Gregory's writings that she was intelligent, pious and headstrong.

This week we're going to explore the Frankish war in Burgundy and the fallout from the death of Clovis and Clotilde's son Chlodomir. Remember, this war may have been fought by Clovis's boys, but it was instigated for any number of reasons by the great king's wife. In the end, it would be her who would experience, more than almost anyone else who survived to a natural death in our history, the truly vicious and zero-sum game nature of this first half of the 6th century. So let's look at Chlodomir. This oldest son of Clotilde and Clovis to survive infancy was born in 495, making him just shy of 30 years old when he would have been waging war in Burgundy. He had been granted the region of Orléans following his father's death in 511, and had gone on to marry a woman named Guntheuca in 517. Long story short, Guntheuca had been the granddaughter of the Burgundian King Godegeisel, the King murdered in Vienne after Clovis allowed Gundobad to escape the siege of Avignon way back in Episode Six. Godegeisel was Chlodomir's great-uncle, hence making the husband and wife first cousins once removed. Together they produced three boys, Theodebald, Gunthar, and Clodoald. Now keep in mind, assuming Guntheuca and Chlodomir got pregnant almost immediately and she had her baby on time, that means the oldest child from their union would have been born in 518 and would have been no older than six at the time of Chlodomir's death in 524. This becomes particularly important when looking at the events that occurred just after his death. Long story short, this week's episode takes a hard look at the power politics of the 6th century. Power moves came in many shapes and sizes, but the story today is perhaps the most repugnant of any of them: the murder of two small boys. Given the choice between good brothers who would see their oldest sibling's children raised to fill the throne he left behind, or being greedy middle-aged child-murderers, the Frankish kings Clothar and Childebert chose the latter. And to do so, they exploited their mother's love and good faith to get control of their dead brother's children, then put her on the spot to consider whether she would rather have the boys robbed of their birthright or executed. And then they carried out the murder of the two kids, boys who look at them as father figures, while they screamed and cried in shock, pain, fear and disbelief. I mean, holy brutal... As always, the music used for the show comes from Josh Woodward and includes his songs “Bully” and “Lafayette.” For a free download of these songs or hundreds of other great tracks, check out his site at joshwoodward.com. Notes on this episode and a list of sources is available online at thugsandmiracles.com; please check out the site and sign up for the e-mail list so we can keep you up-to-date on all things T+M. Speaking of email, you can write to us at thugsandmiracles@gmail.com, you can hit us on Twitter at @thugsandmiracle, with no “s” at the end, or you can leave a comment on Facebook and Instagram at @ThugsAndMiracles. Finally, if you enjoyed the show, I ask you to keep spreading the word! Your word-of-mouth does more than anything else to allow the show to grow. If you want to go a step further, leaving a review on whichever platform you get your podcasts is awesome and would really get this new decade started off right!

This week we're going to explore the relationships between the last three sons of Clovis, as well as the relationships with their potential successors. If you think about it, the Kingdom of Francia could easily have ended up in fractals if each of Clovis's sons split their share of the kingdom into equal parts to then bequeath to their sons. Chlothar and Childebert already took care of that problem with Chlodomir's kids, but eventually the remaining three would have to address this issue when one of them would finally die. Keep this in mind as we move forward… No matter what anyone thought of their culture, religion, or alliances, no one could deny that the Franks were a militaristic people who were not to be trifled with. They were a true force in the West, and it would have been better, at least until all of the rest of the enemies are dead, to ally with the Franks than to fight them. It appears that Justinian, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, had a pragmatic side that the Frankish kings were able to inspire. As Professor Freedman had alluded to earlier, Chlothar, Childebert and Theuderic may not have been the best kings, and they certainly could have gone further and enjoyed more success if they had been smarter and less petty in how they ruled, but nonetheless they were still able to hold their territory, expand their borders, and make moves that confirmed their right as sovereigns both in foreign affairs and domestically. By the end of this episode we are now down from six total children of Clovis to three. Ingomer died in his infancy, Chlodomir was struck down in battle, and Princess Clotilde died returning from Spain. Chlodomir's children were struck down by their uncles, and Princess Clotilde (not to be confused with her mother, Queen Clotilde) is not reported as having had any children, so up until this point the line of succession has been relatively well pruned, for lack of a better turn of phrase. This will change in our next episode, however, because we are going to pick up in 534 with the sudden illness of Theuderic. His son, Theudebert, was old enough to protect himself and had been hardened by war; if something were to happen to his father, he would not be cast aside so easily as the sons of Chlodomir. His story starts us off next time.

This week's episode explores the reigns of Theuderic's lineage, Kings Theudebert and Theudebald of Austrasia. I know this is supposed to be a “sons” of Clovis episode, and Theudebert is a grandson and Theudebald is a great-grandson, but I would point out that the former, Theudebert, was born in 504. Childebert was born in 496, and Chlothar was born in 497, making the nephew of the true sons in this case only a few years younger than his uncles. There was actually a bigger gap in age between Theuderic and his half-brothers! At any rate, the bulk of Theudebert's action is contemporary to the sons of Clovis, hence his discussion here. The same is true of Theudebald, mainly because he dies by the age of 20. Both of his great-uncles will outlive him. Anyway, Theudebert was kind of a stud! He was basically the Sonny Corleone of the Merovingian line. By the time he was a teenager he was commanding men in the field as a part of his father's army, and it was commonplace for Theuderic to dispatch his son to take care of issues for him. Recall back to Episode Nine: Theudebert sallied forth to meet the Danish invasion of France in 516, the first Viking encroachment of France, and destroyed the invaders with such utter certainty that a) they didn't bother coming back for 300 years after that, and b) he was immortalized in the epic poem Beowulf. I have said this before but it's for repeating: Theudebert did all of this when he was only 13 years old! However, the Merovingian kings always had something in their closet that needed to be cleaned up/locked away/yada-yada'd over, and Theudebert was no different, both in his tumultuous love life and his outsized ambition. Our episode will focus on those, and in particular the short shrift that is given to Theudebert's first wife, Deoteria. Deoteria comes down through history as a daughter-killing stalker type, but if you start peeling away at her history – written entirely by men with agendas – and suddenly she stops looking quite as psychotic - and possibly even sympathetic. Finally, we'll finish off the show by briefly discussing Theudebald's brief reign. He's basically the poster child for what bad regents can do to an unsuspecting child-king. Long story short, Theudebald doesn't have a long story. Alright, hit me with questions at thugsandmiracles@gmail.com, or go to the website at thugsandmiracles.com. I'll be putting up the full text of the episode, my sources, and also some maps that will help illustrate the areas we're talking about today. And if nothing else, find me on social media at Twitter, Facebook or Instagram!

Extra special thanks this week to Henry at the History of the British Isles podcast! Look for our interview together at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-the-british-isles/id1384286703 This week we are going to turn our focus on the last two sons of Clovis, Childebert and Chlothar. And to be honest, I'm going to give Childebert pretty small billing in this episode, mainly due to the fact that many of his other exploits – such as being the mastermind of the execution of his nephews, his “adoption” of Theudebert, and his constant maneuvering to take advantage of the weakened positions of his brothers and co-rulers – has been sprinkled in throughout the rest of the narrative. What's most important to remember about Childebert at this point is that a) he had no male heirs, and b) his enduring legacy to the Merovingian Dynasty was to build the church of St. Germain de Près, which still stands to this day in Paris's 6th arrondissement. So… Chlothar. This youngest son of Clovis lived a relatively long life, especially when compared with most of his brothers and his father. This is all the more impressive when one considers the sheer number of campaigns that Chlothar was involved in throughout his life. He came into his crown around the age of 14 in 511 and was engaged in wars in Burgundy alongside of his brothers on and off for the next 23 years, finally winning the territory when the Ostrogoths were unable to support the Burgundian king any longer due to the issues they were having in their territory. Chlothar fought alongside of his half-brother Theuderic in Thuringia, helping himself to a wife – Radegunda – while he campaigned. He also managed to evade assassination attempts by Theuderic while deployed into Germany. Chlothar fought in Hispania, modern-day Spain, alongside of Childebert in 542; however, according to historian Walter Perry, “The object of this invasion was simply predatory, the Franks soon after retired into Gaul with immense booty, and the Goths resumed possession of their devastated country.” With all of these conquests Chlothar expanded both his treasury and his borders, gaining holdings in various different areas, but much of these were scattered and disconnected. It was the childless death of Theudebald in 555 that brought Chlothar his greatest territorial advance. Anyway, what do we make of the legacy of Chlothar, Childebert, and the other sons of Clovis ? There's no doubt that they were every bit as ambitious as their father, and in most cases they were as successful as Clovis. However, with all of them, you can't look at the successes without also looking at the costs they paid for victory. Chlodomir paid for his ambition with his own life, and in a way, with the life of his sons. Theuderic and Theudebald seemed to be the stronger candidates for the title of King of the Franks, but they weren't able to overcome basically mortality to ever get to this prize, no matter their strength on the battlefield; ultimately, their line went down in history as quietly as Chlodomir's. Finally, Chlothar and Childebert both seemed to realize that there was a balance to be repaid for all they did in perpetuating the Merovingian Dynasty and its holdings and, especially in the later years of their lives, appear to have worked with the Catholic clergy in an attempt to expunge their mortal records. While it would ultimately be between them and their Creator to decide how well they had atoned – or if atonement was even an option for their actions – it's safe to say that their actions were certainly not forgotten by those left behind. As we'll see in the following episodes, their ambition, greed and general internal fractiousness became a staple of this period, an example to follow rather than a lesson to be learned from. The sons of Clovis set the standard and direction which the next generation would be all too willing to follow.

I normally start out with a story of some sort, but today we're going to recap our history a little and then take a look around the European world of the year 561. If you remember back to our earliest episodes, we started our history around 451 with the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains between Aetius and the Romans and Attila and his Huns. Well, 110 years later, it's safe to say that a lot has changed! The Western Roman Empire stopped being a thing, the Franks went from being a small tribe in the north of Gaul to being the hottest new kids on the block, and the Goths went from looking like a sure bet to be the next source of power in the region… until they weren't. In the midst of all of this we have seen four generations of Frankish kings, a timely conversion to Catholicism on the part of Clovis, the first appearances of the Vikings, the beginnings of cross-Channel troubles between the groups in Brittia and the groups on the Continent, and we've seen more infighting, backstabbing, double-crossing, sea-bull loving, nephew killing and just general silliness than you see in most “normal” histories. Honestly, if I presented all of this as a script to a movie producer, they would tell me that there's no way this could have happened. But I think we've established that most of these stories are true, or at a minimum, at least based in a cohesive cultural and historical narrative. Everything has brought us here, to the precipice of a new, fifth generation of Merovingians getting ready to ascend to the Frankish throne. We'll take a good long look at them starting in the next episode, but for now I want us to turn our attention outward, to those who they were fighting with in this early medieval period for power, influence and control. Some of these players – and in particular, the Armoricans – will be small but fiercely proud, unwilling to fall under the yoke of the Franks. Other groups, such as the Angles and Saxons, will compete directly with the Franks, but will seek out new lands to conquer as well when it becomes apparent that they won't be able to expand any further to the west. In the case of the Goths, we'll see how this once proud group – a faction who any betting person at the beginning of our history would have gladly laid money on to become the next rulers of Gaul – stumbled, divided and then fell. And finally, we'll look at those members of the Roman Empire who didn't stop considering themselves Roman simply because they had moved capitals, changed languages, and lost control of, you know, Rome: the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantines. Thanks to all of the following sites and podcasts that helped out and inspired this past week: The Year That Was: https://www.theyearthatwaspodcast.com/ The History Files: https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/index.html The History of Rome: https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/ Revolutions: https://www.revolutionspodcast.com/ The Fall of Rome: https://wondery.com/shows/the-fall-of-rome-podcast/ History of Byzantium: https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ The History of the British Isles: https://historyofthebritishisles.uk/ British History Podcast: https://www.thebritishhistorypodcast.com/ Our Fake History: https://ourfakehistory.com/ Hardcore History: https://www.dancarlin.com/

Today's episode starts with a look at King Charibert and his addition to history. The intent behind this was two-fold: first, to show the expanding power of the Church and its relation to the Frankish state, and two, to remove Charibert from the narrative relatively quickly. His two main additions to history were a) to be excommunicated, and b) to be the father of Bertha, the Frankish princess sent to Kent, in Brittia, who would ultimately succeed in bringing her pagan husband into the fold of the Church and open the door for Saint Augustine (not thatSaint Augustine) to convert the English. The church Bertha used in England for prayer and services was named in honor of Saint Martin of Tours, that same blessed Martin who has played such an oversized role in these first formative centuries of Frankish and Merovingian existence; it still exists and can be visited to this day. According to the UNESCO World Heritage website: “St Martin's Church, the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey and Christ Church Cathedral together reflect milestones in the history of Christianity in Britain. They reflect in tangible form the reintroduction of Christianity to southern Britain by St Augustine, commencing at St Martin's Church where Queen Bertha already worshipped, and leading to the conversion of King Ethelbert.…St Martin's Church has been in continuous use as a place of worship since the 6th century.” Beyond Charibert and Guntram, two of the Merovingian kings who proceed to get into the normal early-Medieval regal hijinks of backstabbing, betrayal and family murder, we also get to start looking at some new people on the scene who are going to shake our history right to its roots; enter Fredegunda and Brunhilda, the soon-to-be wives of Chilperic and Sigibert, respectively. We'll take a take a look at both of their ascents to Queenship and lay the groundwork for what will become the single most important interpersonal dynamic in all of Francia for the next 50 years. These two Queens will alter our history and change the game for the people in their time, as well as for centuries to come. Finally, if you're looking for other history podcasts to binge, be sure to check out the shows I mention in the closing notes of the podcast. All of them are listed on the Recommendations page of the podcast at https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/recommendations. Enjoy!

Brunhilda had everything. As a Visigothic princess she had been raised to appreciate the finer things in life, to enjoy learning, and to know how to use her position and authority to influence those around her. As a Frankish queen, she was put in a place where she was beheld as a wonder by all around her, even her husband and his staff, as she dazzled them with her grace and intellect. She was courteous, kind and modest at all times in public – but behind closed doors Brunhilda was as busy as anyone in Francia, setting up lines of patronage and loyalty that would help to ensure she and her children would always have a place at court. She was happy with her position, to the point where she was even able to start getting used to the colder and gloomier weather of the north. “Everything is perfect,” she would say to herself. In her mind, it was impossible to think that anything could go wrong. Then, as so often happens when such thoughts cross a person's mind, everything did go wrong. First, her sister was killed. This would have been a huge personal event in any day and age, but Brunhilda's sister was also the Queen of the neighboring Francian kingdom of Soissons. She had been strangled in a plot by the King and his concubine, a woman named Fredegunda. This led Brunhilda to push her husband to war to avenge her sister; it was all going well right until the end, and then it all went wrong. Fredegunda managed to get two assassins into Sigibert's camp and he was stabbed with poisoned knives. The attack changed everything. Instead of being the victor in the civil war to end all civil wars, Brunhilda was left sitting in a prison in Rouen, the guest of the royal couple who had murdered her sister, assassinated her husband, and who had just retaken their territory with little or no trouble. Luckily, she had smuggled her son to safety before she was captured. He was back in Austrasia, and now all Brunhilda needed was a way to get back to him. Luckily for her, she wasn't the only person having family problems, and she certainly wasn't alone in her hatred of Fredegunda... --- A quick note: The next two episodes are being moved up on the timeline to a 10-day release period timeframe instead of the normal 14. This might not sound like much, but what it means for you s that you'll have three total episodes of Thugs and Miracles to listen to during the time it normally takes to make just two - and this just happens to coincide with the length of the UK coronavirus lockdown. It may not be much, but it's at least something that we here can do to make your life there a little less boring while we all wait to see what comes next. I hope you enjoy; stay safe, and we'll see you again in 10 days!

Today, as the episode's title indicates, we're going to look at the history from Fredegunda's point-of-view. And it's a pretty intense ride, to the point where, instead of trying to come up with some sort of catchy phrase to sum up the events of history in three or four words in the title, we chose to just go with the Queen's name. Fredegunda, as we'll see, is summation enough. Fredegunda appears to have been a self-made woman. Gregory implies that she had been a servant, and according to the historian François Guizot, she “was the daughter of poor peasants in the neighborhood of Montdidier in Picardy, and at an early age joined the train of Queen Audovera, the first wife of King Chilperic. She was beautiful, dexterous, ambitious, and bold.” She was also murderous, dangerous, ruthless, and probably a hundred other similar adjectives; she was DEFINITELY the world's worst. Stepmother. Ever. As you listen to today's episode, keep one question in mind: Was Fredegunda a horrible person and murderer, or was she a competent administrator who was unafraid to do whatever was necessary for her family and herself? Your answer to that question is going to color how you view the woman. As always, the music used for the show comes from Josh Woodward and includes his songs “Bully” and “Lafayette.” For a free download of these songs or hundreds of other great tracks, check out his site at joshwoodward.com. Notes on this episode, a list of sources, a monarchy/family tree, and much more is available online at thugsandmiracles.com; check it out and be sure to sign up for the e-mail list. Speaking of email, you can write to me at thugsandmiracles@gmail.com, you can hit me on Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end), or you can leave a comment on Facebook or Instagram at @ThugsAndMiracles. Finally, I'd ask that if you have found yourself with a bit of downtime due to current events, consider taking the time to rate and review the podcast on whichever platform you use to listen; we always love to see five stars.

Before I get into the notes, I want to give a shout-out to my Dad on his birthday! This podcast has been a wonderful journey, and it's made even better by knowing that my family is supporting me by listening, offering encouragement, and providing feedback. My dad has always been there for me, and this experience has been no different; with all of that said, happy birthday and thanks for listening! Today we're going to take a quick pause from the back and forth of Brunhilda and Fredegunda to get our bearings and re-evaluate who's still in play. In all of the excitement, assassinations, illicit marriages and murders in the midst of the Easter Mass, it's easy to forget that there were more than two people who were vying for control of Francia at this time. The most prominent of these “other” fighters was Guntram, the last of the four sons of Chlothar remaining alive and still the King of Burgundy. Of the four, Guntram was the only one to be acknowledged by the Catholic Church as a saint, which is relatively surprising given the opening story. But then again, it was the sixth century and things were… different. So maybe we shouldn't be so surprised. We'll also get into the Gundovald Affair, an interesting attempt by a bastard child of Chlothar to leverage support from the Byzantine Dynasty to stake his claim to the throne. Beyond that, as I have come to realize that the narrative has taken on a bit of a Tarantino-esque, Pulp Fiction-style feel with characters arriving, getting fleshed out, and then eventually merging into the main narrative and overlapping with the other characters at key intervals, I chose to take a moment to take a quick review of the Merovingian world since the death of Chlothar in 561, just to sort out any possible confusion. Finally, I offer up a slew of other history podcasts you may like to try out while you have some time on your hands. I talk about them in more detail on the show, but as a quick who's-who, I offer you the following high-quality pods: Written In Blood History Happy Hour History The History of Byzantium The Year That Was Inside History The History of the British Isles Pax Britannica The Age of Napoleon The Siècle The French History Podcast Alright, enjoy the show and stay safe; the world will get back to normal again soon enough, so in the meantime let's enjoy this extra free time we have! And please, let me know if you have a show you think I should have included for everyone else to hear about; there's so much to listen to and we all love finding something new, so please feel free to share!

Welcome back! This week's episode begins with a narrative rundown of the Gundovald Affair, the invasion of Francia by one of Chlothar's illegitimate and unclaimed sons. He was backed by the Byzantine Empire and disaffected aristocrats in all three Merovingian Kingdoms, so Gundovald's story expresses more than just one man's quest for power: the Affair also exposed underlying issues with disloyal subjects, power-hungry courtiers, faithless clergy, interfering empires and troublesome family dynamics. After Gundovald, we take a look at how Guntram, Childebert II/Brunhilda, and Chlothar II/Fredegunda are getting along. Their varied ascendancies and the personalities behind each kingdom set the stage for what's yet to come. With that said, Fredegunda is... unpleasant. She likes to use torture to pay back and silence her enemies, and there's a rather long passage around minute 26 wherein some of her practices are discussed in further detail. I have a warning in front of this passage and give time to skip ahead three minutes, so be aware of this as an issue if descriptions of torture are not your thing. Finally, I've had the chance to talk recently with David over at The History of Spain podcast and he has given me a really brilliant slide presentation for his show that breaks down the Visigothic Empire during the same span of time that we've covered during the course of this show. It's an outstanding resource, as is his entire podcast, so be sure to check them out. Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles History of Spain: https://thehistoryofspain.com/

This episode, we're going to move between all three of our main subjects, Fredegunda, Brunhilda and Guntram; by the time we're done, we're going to see power shift yet again and, by the end, one of these three will be exiting the scene. As far as Fredegunda: despite her extremely brutal personality, she remains one of those people who inspired the loyalty of those around her. This is purely conjecture on my part, but I can't help but wonder if these Neustrian fanboys were more likely to be loyal because of her brutal nature, because they knew who she was and what she was capable of. Fredegunda was the archetype of the wicked queen, but at the same time, there seems to have been an honesty in knowing who she was and where she stood. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to assert that this forgives Fredegunda's many, many violent actions; however, it does go a long way toward explaining her allure.   As far as Guntram: well, Guntram was boring. He was vanilla. I mean, seriously, look at his brothers… Charibert lived short and fast and was ex-communicated for his wild lifestyle before he died. Sigibert was victorious in love and war – all except for that assassin that his guard let through to him. Even Chilperic had a crazy love life and was constantly pushing his luck for an advantage. And then, beyond his brother kings, throw in Brunhilda and Fredegunda, and we can then push outside of the Frankish Kingdom to talk about the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora, and then there's Gundovald as a usurper and, well, I stand by my assessment. Guntram was boring, and nothing I have found makes him really all that saintly either...   Finally, as far as Brunhilda and Childebert II: Childebert in this episode is 22 and has been sitting relatively idle for quite some time. As a result, he decides to pop off and go back on the offensive, but why? Perhaps he wanted to add a military victory to his resumé. Maybe he was bored. Maybe he was considering the conquest of Francia to be his personal manifest destiny. Maybe Brunhilda was whispering in his ear, telling him to fight. Or, perhaps, he was completely oblivious to military undertakings altogether. As a rich, pampered and sheltered monarch, it's not inconceivable that an army could have been assembled and placed in the field in his name, but without his knowledge. It's possible that Brunhilda had the army raised and sent out; she had been ruling in Childebert's name throughout most of his youth and young adulthood, and she easily could have signed off on military plans in his name. However it happened, war was coming to Francia. The kings and queens demanded it.   As always, we'd love to see reviews. If you have a chance to leave us a written review, that's great! We can't wait to read it. But if you only have a chance to leave five stars, well, we'd love to see that too! Thanks for listening and all you do! And Happy Mother's Day to all those moms out there, in the U.S. and all over the world!   Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

Don't be scared this week when my voice changes dramatically around minute 26; my wife, Jayme, decided to jump into the pod with me and lend her voice talents to a quote from the Byzantine Empress Theodora. I think it sounds great, and breaks up hearing only my voice for nigh these 21 episodes... With that said, when we left off last week, Fredegunda was sitting pretty after her victory in Droizy. While the battle was a clear victory for the Neustrians and an embarrassment for the Austrasians, it still wouldn't have had the effect of significantly changing the balance of power in Francia. The Austrasians were in control of much more territory, had much more access to a body of manpower from which to conscript new soldiers, and had an economic base to match all of this. In betting parlance, they were the “gorilla” sitting at the table: they didn't need to be better or more skilled than the other people in the game, simply because they could afford to make bets and take losses that those around them couldn't. Fredegunda could win all of the battles on her home turf that she wanted; she would almost never be able to break out. On top of all of that, battles were more costly for her due to the lack of resources at her disposal. If she got into a fight and was able to kill 3,000 of the enemy while only losing 1,000 of her men, it would seem like a win until she realized that 1,000 men equaled 10 percent of her available forces, whereas 3,000 only equaled three percent of her enemy's. Add to that the disparity in recruitment, and suddenly we realize that every person and resource in the Neustrian army is a precious commodity that can't be lost frivolously. Fredegunda would have been tied to asymmetric warfare and on the lookout for opportunities where she could get the most “bang for the buck.” With that said, she would have looked for low-cost, high-reward opportunities outside of military action to bolster her standing such as dynastic weddings and assassinations. Beyond Fredegunda and her shenanigans, what about Brunhilda? Well, here we are in 596. Brunhilda is 53, past those years in which she might become a mother, but still able to use her charm, innate beauty and – most of all – her intelligence to manipulate those around her. What she had lost in girlish prettiness had been more than made up for by her understanding of the kingdom and its government; if anyone wanted anything done, they came to her. Still, she had enemies. One was her son's Queen Consort, Faileuba. The girl, a quiet little waif of a concubine that Brunhilda had let into the King's presence in order to satisfy the young man's lustful urges, had worked her way up from simply being a companion to the king to being his wife. She had two sons by him, and she had started pressing her husband, as the King, to, well, you know... lead. This would have put Brunhilda in a bind. She needed to do something to reassert her control, to make sure her son and his moron wife didn't lead them all to death and damnation. She loved her son, but now he was in the way to her holding power as opposed to being her key to wielding power. He might just have to go... Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

There are moments in life where, once they're done, you sit back and reflect on just how it was that you arrived at that moment in the first place. For me, I had one of those moments a few nights back when I had the chance to sit down and talk with Marco Cappelli from the Storia d'Italia podcast. You see, I could go way back in my life and talk about how I grew up as a kid in Wisconsin, not too far outside of Milwaukee. My life was possibly as local as any one kid's life could be at that time; I remember watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off and watching them run all over Chicago and thinking that felt like a different world to me – in reality, Chicago was less than 100 miles away. I tell you this not to give away my age and let you know that I can remember when Ferris Bueller was in movie theaters, but to give you an idea that if Chicago felt far away to me, then Italy may as well have been the moon. Fast forward a few years and I've had the chance to travel around someSd, but I still have a special place in my heart for the connections I make with people who I never, ever would have dreamt of having a reason to intersect with when I was a kid. Well, jump forward 30 years and now I'm a real boy, living in England and producing this podcast. And it's through that production that I ran into Marco; we share a love of medieval history, and we both happen to be talking about the 6th century right now! One key difference between the both of us is that he's talking about it in Italian, which I think is just showing off really. But seriously, he's 55 episodes into his show and he's the number one history podcast in Italy, so it was a tremendous privilege for me to get to steal some of his time and talk about the Goths and the Franks and the Lombards and podcasting and Italy and a whole bunch of other stuff. It was a fun conversation and his perspective literally helped me to see things in a new way during our talk. All of Marco's social media info is below and also on the Recommendations page of ThugsandMiracles.com. Alright, without further ado, here's a conversation about medieval Europe, Gaul and Italy, as told between an American guy living in England and an Italian guy living in Belgium. What can possibly go wrong?! Enjoy!   Storia d'Italia Info Storia d'Italia - https://italiastoria.com/ SdI IG - https://www.instagram.com/italiastoria/ SdI FB - https://www.facebook.com/italiastoria SdI YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vrv6OOwLNc&fbclid SdI Twitter - https://twitter.com/ItaliaStoria SdI Contact - https://italiastoria.com/contatti/   Thugs and Miracles Info Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

This week we're looking at the relationship of three people in particular: King Theudebert II, King Theuderic II, and their grandmother, Brunhilda. As we'll see from the opening story, things went south between Theudebert and Brunhilda pretty quickly, and she ended up spending the majority of the rest of her life in Burgundy with her other grandson, Theuderic. So, how did this all go down? Beyond looking at this initial split, we'll explore how Theudebert and Theuderic drew together to fight Chlothar, before ultimately splitting up to fight themselves. Of course, Brunhilda is said to be the mastermind of this rift, and that leads us to another important historical question: Was Brunhilda as bad as she was made out to be in the histories? Gregory of Tours would have us believe she was on the road to sainthood, but he died in 594; his historical successor, Fredegar, picks up by making her out to be the second coming of the Devil. So which story is true? Finally, we'll end today's episode with a look at the death of Theudebert. His ending is sad, tragic, and ultimately a Pyrrhic victory for his brother. More on that in the next episode! Welcome to the 7th century! Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week our focus is on Theuderic II and the constantly tightening spiral that Brunhilda finds herself in as she grows older. Theuderic himself is an interesting case to look at, insofar as how he dealt with his grandmother vice the way that his brother dealt with her. Remember, Theudebert ultimately kicked Brunhilda out of his Kingdom and tried to make his way in the world without her; this led to her turning against him in a sort of total war that is all that much more incredibly visceral due to the close relationship these people shared. Anyway, Theudebert rejected Brunhilda and Theuderic accepted her; we know how this turned out for Theudebert, so how about his younger brother? Also this week, we open with some Show Notes so as to set the tone for the next few months and the eventual start of Season Two. First off, you'll notice that the name of the episode is “The End of the Beginning.” Throughout the production of the show you may also have noticed that I list the episodes as Season 1, Episode Whatever… Well there's a reason for this. As far as the show title, I feel confident in saying that we have, in fact, come to the end of the beginning. We covered the formative events in the founding of the Merovingian Dynasty, ranging from the mythical to the exaggerated and everything in between, and we should now have a firm foundation upon which to build the rest of the history. That said, the rest of the history will continue in Season Two, which is scheduled to begin on 6 September 2020. I will finish out this first 25-episode season with this episode and then with the next two, and then everything will wrap up around 19 July. I'll then take that month-and-a-half window between Seasons 1 and 2 to work on a variety of things, ranging from cleaning up and updating the website, to compiling the episode transcripts into a full manuscript, and most importantly, researching deeper and deeper into our history. The coronavirus has put quite a damper on being able to get to the library and the bookstores to get more source documents, so hopefully we'll see virus rates stay low and libraries reopen shortly here in the UK so I can make the show as interesting – and, quite honestly, as historically accurate – as possible. Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

Just a quick warning before you listen to the next episode: there's going to be quite a bit of discussion about torture and executions which I can't get around talking about simply because it is the crux of the episode. So, if that type of thing is not your thing, well, now would be a good time to tune out. I just wanted to give you the warning before we get started. Thank you very much, and we hope you enjoy the episode! This week our focus is on the late, great Queen Brunhilda. Her execution and death is such a focal point for all of the histories that I felt the need to go into some amount of detail in the opening story. And while the event itself is an absolutely gory, and horrible, and macabre ending to her life, there's no doubt at all, in my mind, that the focus on this ending really actually detracts from what was otherwise an amazing and complex life. So, let's take this episode to consider just who Brunhilda was and how we should remember her – besides as the victim of multiple horses running in opposing directions. Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

This week we're going to take a look at Chlothar II and the first part of his reign pre-dating 613. He really was – and this is just my opinion here – the luckiest guy I have ever heard of. I mean, he was basically born a king. His dad died four months into his life, so there was never a moment in time that he would be able to remember where he wasn't in charge. And then he has this wicked, crazy, intelligent mom stage-mom who does everything she can to get him to the precipice of power. And then, when the time comes, he doesn't even have to fight to rule the whole lot; his knucklehead cousins kill themselves in an early medieval version of The Benny Hill Show (and if you don't get that reference kids, stop right now and do a search in YouTube. It's old, but it's still funny and the music is worth it). By the age of 30, Chlothar II had gone from being a fifth male son who shouldn't have even been thinking about the line of succession, to the notional ruler of an almost non-existent kingdom, to the monarch of a small but growing entity, and then to the ruler of all of Francia, all without doing much of the heavy lifting. Beyond Chlothar II, we're going to spend a little time this week looking back on Season 1; this is the final episode of our first year/season, and it's interesting to take a moment and think about the things that struck us the most. For me, it was finding out about just ow big Arianism was as a sect of Christianity, seeing how much influence women held in this incredibly patriarchal society, and learning that the Merovingians transferred their kingdom to all of their sons, not just the oldest. This, of course, led to more than a few civil wars... When we come back in 48 days (6 September), we'll be starting where we left off, with the advent of les rois fainéants and the battles that come about when people begin to fill the power vacuum left by leaders who don't want – or are not up to – their job. Beyond that, next season promises to bring us the rise of invaders who want to take what the Franks have: these include the Muslims coming up from the south and the Vikings coming down from the north. In both cases, the arrival of strong, religiously-alien and conquest-minded attackers will serve to panic the Franks, but also to make them stronger and more cohesive. Finally, if all goes well and we make good time, we'll see the fall of the Merovingians and the rise of the Carolingians, and we'll understand what transpired to make this transition a reality. The plan at the moment is to have all of this culminate with us meeting one of the greatest leaders in European and world history, a guy known as Charles the Great, a.k.a. Charles Magnus, a.k.a. Charlemagne. Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

This week we're picking up where we left off last season, with the arrival of Chlothar II onto the throne of the unified Franks in 613. As we can tell from the first part of our story, the deal he cut to get the throne probably sounded amazing. After all, in 612, Chlothar II was the ruler of the smallest kingdom in Francia and little threat, economically or militarily, to overthrow either of his larger rivals, much less both of them. Less than two years later, he was the King of All of the Franks! This was a tremendous deal, and one that anyone would have been hard pressed not to take. Still, the amount of credit he would have to extend to make this happen likely became a sore spot for Chlothar as time went on; one has to wonder if he didn't eventually develop some buyer's remorse, especially as he signed away more and more of his authority over time.   Links to social media and the website:   Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ https://historypods.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) @TimeTravelTalks @PodsOfHistory Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

Before we get going too far, I want to lead with two pieces of information. First, the podcast I mentioned on the show (and have mentioned on several shows previously) is Written In Blood History by Stephen DiJulius; you can find his show at https://writteninbloodhistory.com/ and you can find Stephen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SDijulius/. The second note I have is that T+M is now available on Amazon Podcasts! Anyone looking to enjoy their podcasts on their Alexa device can now simply as her to play the Thugs and Miracles podcast and - just like the Princess Bride - it will be just as you wish. Check out their site and the show at https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3ad5382f-5947-40f3-9567-41d7fd891a87/Thugs-and-Miracles. We've got over 30 episodes up, so if you're new to T+M there's plenty to catch up on! For this week, we're taking a look at the issues associated with monarchical succession, which sounds kind of dry at first glance, but is actually a gold mine of interesting topics when you dig a little deeper. When should a king admit that his territory is big enough and carve off some of it for the next generation? Is it smart to give a young potential competitor a head start? Is staying in power until death, then handing an entire government off to the next person, really the most effective way to administer a kingdom? And what do you do if you do decide to split the Kingdom, and then your knucklehead son nearly gets himself killed when he picks a fight with a lesser group - and loses? All of these were questions that confronted Merovingian Kings, and in particular, Chlothar II. And they were questions that led to that same King essentially going, Jon Snow-like, into battle against an army by himself - and somehow winning. There are times where, if it weren't history, you'd swear the stories were being made up; this week is definitely one of them! Join us as we explore Chlothar II, Dagobert, and the invention of plot armor, in Episode Two, Season Two, of Thugs and Miracles!   Links to social media and the website:   Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ https://historypods.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

Hey everyone, I just wanted to take a moment to give an update on the show. I apologize for having gone dark for a little while, and I can't blame anyone for being a little peeved with the absence. Anyway, I'm still alive (and thanks to everyone who reached out and asked exactly that!) and I still plan to continue the show. To be completely honest, I just simply got overwhelmed with what has been an incredibly busy period of time for me over here, and even though most of what I'm dealing with is very positive, with so much going on I have allowed social media, the site and the show to all go quiet for a few weeks. Believe me, I have been flagellating myself for letting my first love, this podcast, fall behind. It is my fervent hope that I have now come through this particularly busy time in my schedule, that I will get caught up and things will become smooth sailing once again. For what it's worth, I'm going to go back to an every-other-week format for the foreseeable future - rather than every 10 days - so I can hit a regular timetable for you, as you deserve. I'd love to keep up a 7 or 10 day rotation, but until I can retire from day job and do nothing but this, well… For what it's worth, it would also be nice to have proper library access back here in the UK. I feel like a kid who got to see the candy store, just to have the heavy door of COVID slammed in his face. Just like the other 7 billion of us, I'm looking forward to a vaccine, and normal life, and all of the goodness and promise of a New Year that is not 2020 just around the corner.   Moving on from that… this week, we're story-heavy as we manage to cover a 400 year period in our opening alone! I chose to do things this way this week because this was an opportunity to really highlight just how the mythology of France and the origin stories of the country really come into play all the way to the modern day. And this isn't the first time we've seen that happen; you may recall that early in Season One when I talked about Childebert that one of the major finds in his tomb were a number of jewel-encrusted golden bees. This symbol of the Merovingians was discovered by Napoleon, and when he needed a symbol to display to the world that he was a new Emperor, rooted in the history of the French but not beholden to the Bourbon's fleur-de-lys, the symbol of these first Kings made a triumphant return. However, the case of Dagobert is different, not in the sense that the symbols didn't begin with the Merovingians, but in the sense that the particular symbol that Dagobert is about to oversee the construction of lasted from his reign all the way to the present day. Unlike the bees, which were buried and rediscovered centuries later - over a millennia, in fact - the cathedral of Saint Denis has been at the heart of Paris in some shape or fashion ever since it was “rediscovered” by Dagobert during that fortunate 7th century hunting trip. In fact, the monument continues to recreate itself to this very day, with work having been slated to recreate the north spire of the cathedral starting just this year - work that could well take more than a decade to complete.   Links to social media and the website:   Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

This week we're going to finish 2020 the way it absolutely deserves to be finished: with the death of a King! And not just any king, but the guy who has been ruling Francia in some shape or fashion for 44 years. Seriously, he's been a part of our narrative since Episode 17 of Season 1, 12 episodes in total! For frame of reference, Clovis, the guy who really started us off, was around for about five!   Given that length of time in our feed, let's go back and do a quick highlight reel of Chlothar II's life. It's important to remember, Chlothar's path to the King of All of the Franks was definitely not the path we would have expected to see. After all, Chlothar hadn't been next in line to the throne; he had been 8th in the rotation! All seven of his older brothers, across two wives for his father, had to die to make room for his claim. He also needed his mother to safeguard his throne after the death of his father, Chilperic. This meant both going to war to fight for him, and going to court to prove his paternity. Seriously, everyone should have so devoted a mother as Fredegunda. Well, maybe not as devoted; she did kill a lot of people in the name of giving her kid the crown.   On a different note, and with all of that said, it's the holiday season! And if you're reading these notes, then you're clearly pretty deep into whichever podcast player you enjoy using. How about taking a quick moment out of your day to rate and review the podcast? Five stars would be outstanding! Thanks!   Links to social media and the website:   Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

This week we're going to take a look at Dagobert's rise to power. Unlike his father, who, as we described last week, had to rely on luck, illness and his homicidal mother to take care of the seven siblings that had stood between him and the throne, Dagobert had a much more conventional route. However, this isn't to say that he too didn't share in a bit of luck and intrigue to take his place as the King of All the Franks, and as we'll see, Dagobert himself was no less afraid than Fredegunda to kill whoever needed to get dead to get him to where he wanted to be.   * * *   Welcome to 2021 and happy New Year to all of you listening out there! It's exciting to be entering into T+M's third calendar year of existence, so much so that we couldn't wait to get the next episode out to you a few days early! Instead of Sunday, you get a fresh drop here on Friday the 1st; we hope to be in your ears as you work off the excitement of last night, or as you dig into some fresh projects and resolutions over the next three days of the long weekend, or as your start the drive home and head back after what we hope was an exciting, memorable and happy holiday season. With all of that said, let me ask that if you appreciate the show, the early drop, or you just want to start the New Year with some good karma (and you're reading these notes), take a moment to leave T+M a rating and review; we can't think of a better way to start the new year off right. On top of that, I invite you to consider a resolution I myself have taken myself, and that is to head over to Patreon and support the artists you love or, if your podcasts have ads, simply take a few seconds to listen to them rather than hitting fast-forward. Creating content isn't free; there's an investment in software, mics, storage and distribution fees, but mainly, creating quality content is time-consuming. And there's only a limited number of ways for us to get a return on that investment - and believe me, I don't think most of us are trying to get rich at this! So if you appreciate what you're hearing and want to enable people to make more of it, well, support us, whether its reviews, listening to the ads, or donations. And what better time to start than at the turn of this new year? Thanks!   * * *   Links to social media and the website: Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

“Overly addicted to debauchery, he had like Solomon, three queens and a multitude of concubines. His Queens were Nantilde, Vulfégonde and Berchilde. I would be bored to insert in this chronicle the names of his concubines, such as they were in great numbers. His heart became corrupted, and his thoughts strayed from God.”   This week we're going to take a look at what Dagobert did when he was the ultimate power in Francia. One particularly interesting thing about Dagobert, and a fact that I think sheds some light on his reign as a whole, is that he only spent one year of his life as the de facto King of All the Franks. He's listed, rightly, as one of the few early Merovingians to accomplish the task of unifying the Kingdom under a single throne, but court intrigue and an inability to properly tend to a large land mass made it all but impossible for him to properly extend his authority. As such, he would end up being the sole King come 632 and the death of his brother Charibert II, and would split the Kingdom in 633 when he placed his son, Sigibert III, on the throne in Austrasia. Now mind you, Sigibert was all of three years old when this happened and was clearly nothing more than a symbol for the Austrasian court to rally behind, but the fact remains: Dagobert unified the throne and sauntered about as the King of All the Franks for an exceedingly short period of time.   At any rate, for the rest of today we're going to explore Dagobert's reign through three factors, which make up the title of this episode: love, war and politics. His love life is significant because a) Dagobert's mindset of being easily swayed is on full display with how he flowed through his wives, and b) his heirs would take the throne at a very young age, either for the aforementioned reason of giving the Austrasians a “king” to rally behind, or because, spoiler alert, Dagobert won't end up living to a particularly old age. His succession, in particular, marks the beginning of “les roi fainéant” period of the Merovingian Dynasty, or the “do-nothing Kings.   * * *   Links to social media and the website:   Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

This week we're going to take a look at the end of Dagobert and the legacy he left. Going through all of the literature written about this king, one thing stands out time and time again: he is referred to as the last great Merovingian King, the last to expand the Kingdom and truly wield power before the dawn of les rois fainéants, the “do-nothing kings.” If I didn't know better, and I were willing to take these assessments at face value, I would be tempted to believe that Dagobert was a swash-buckling leader, ready to lead Francia into a new generation but cut short in his prime, a man with “the ruthless energy of a Clovis and the cunning of a Charlemagne.” But the problem with surface-level assessments is this: when you scratch them, the veneer usually comes off quickly and the truth, for better or worse, is often messy.   And in this case, it's "do-I-compare-him-to-Hitler-or-Torquemada"-level messy. Because most people seem to leave the whole part about Dagobert's pogrom conveniently outside of the narrative...   * * * Links to social media and the website: Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ / 20 Minute History Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

This week we're switching our attention away from Dagobert I and toward his sons, Clovis II and Sigibert III. Of these two Kings, Sigibert was actually the older, having been sired from a relationship between Dagobert and his concubine Ragnatrude. Clovis was actually a “legitimate” child, having been born to Dagobert's wife Nanthilde after Dagobert returned to their marital bed after having taken a long enough break from it to sire Sigibert. Now, nowhere in the research I conducted was I ever able to find any telling information about how these two Kings felt about one another. They were half-brothers, but Sigibert was sent off when he was still only a toddler to rule over Austrasia, before Clovis was even born.   Meanwhile, Bathilda was actually a few years older than the royal boys, and her story was definitely much more unlikely. According to Joy Mosbarger's, who wrote about the Queen in a 2015 article entitled, “From Slave to Queen to Nun”"Bathild's first occupation was that of slave. She was an Anglo-Saxon captive sold to Erchinoald, mayor of the palace for Frankish king Clovis II. Bathild distinguished herself in Erchinoald's household by serving him kindly, humbly, and faithfully. In addition, she served her elders by cheerfully and gladly washing their feet, bringing them water to wash themselves, and preparing their clothing. Though she found herself an enslaved captive, Bathild was committed to joyfully serving others. Bathild's service brought her to the attention of Clovis II, king of Neustria and Burgundy, who married her in spite of her status as a slave.Bathild's first occupation was that of slave. She was an Anglo-Saxon captive sold to Erchinoald, mayor of the palace for Frankish king Clovis II. Bathild distinguished herself in Erchinoald's household by serving him kindly, humbly, and faithfully. In addition, she served her elders by cheerfully and gladly washing their feet, bringing them water to wash themselves, and preparing their clothing. Though she found herself an enslaved captive, Bathild was committed to joyfully serving others. Bathild's service brought her to the attention of Clovis II, king of Neustria and Burgundy, who married her in spite of her status as a slave."   * * *   Links to social media and the website: 20 Minute History: https://play.acast.com/s/20-minute-history   Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

For a king to rise, one had to die... and another needed to be buried so deeply that no one would be able to find him...   This week we're taking a look, among others, at the older brother of the pair of Dagobert I's sons, Sigibert III. Now, I don't normally do this because I don't like to present too many names in an episode, but with the way today's episode unfolds I feel it's going to be easiest to give you a quick Cast of Characters to pay attention to right from the jump. If you pay attention to these five people and no one else, you'll follow the string of the story. The first person to keep track of - obviously - is King Sigibert; again, he's the third of his name. People #2-4 are the straight line of a single family. Beginning with Pépin de Landen, a.k.a. Pépin the First, he was the first Mayor of the Palace to Sigibert. He was also a notable turncoat against Brunhilda, and will be ascending to the Mayorship for the third time when he comes along to rule in Sigibert's name. After him, pay attention to Pépin's son Grimoald. He will be Sigibert's second Mayor. The third member of this family to watch out for is Childebert, son of Grimoald. He won't become a Mayor, mainly because his dad will try to make him a king. Finally, we come to Dagobert II, son of Sigibert III and heir presumptive to the crown. Keep these five personalities in mind as we go through today, and keep in mind what each one of them likely wanted, both for themselves and their family.   * * *   Links to social media and the website: 20 Minute History: https://play.acast.com/s/20-minute-history   Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

This week, we're posting a recording of an interview we did with David A. Bradbury of 20 Minute History just a little while back. David's show, now between Seasons 1 and 2, is a really enjoyable, very well researched history podcast that I honestly can't recommend highly enough. We get into the topics and personalities he covers on the show, his approach to history, and quite a bit more, so rather than me describing that to you here, I'm going to step aside and just let you listen! I hope you enjoy, and when you're done, be sure to head over to 20 Minute History to catch part two, where we switch roles and David asks me the questions. With that, enjoy this Rabbit Hole interview episode of Thugs and Miracles.   * * *   Links to social media and the website: 20 Minute History: https://play.acast.com/s/20-minute-history   Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

This week we're continuing the saga of the first attempted coup d'état that we've seen in our history so far. Sure, the Kings and Queens in our story have tried to overthrow one another pretty much non-stop since we've started, and there has also been a sizable list of people who have tried to invade. What makes this situation different is the fact that the coup is starting at the point where the monarchy should be the most protected: the Mayor of the Palace, the position responsible for guiding and advising the King - and especially the child Kings. So yes, we've seen armies raised and we've seen treachery before, but this is the first time that we've seen a conspiracy put into play that threatens to remove the Merovingians from power. And it could - foreshadowing - very well be a stepping stone on the path to developing the blueprint that does eventually succeed in removing this first dynasty from the throne.   So come along as we explore treason, the ultimate betrayal of trust, why a King is known to history as "The Adopted", and as we try to understand how such a significant historical event is hard to pin down, timewise, to within a decade.   * * *   Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

This week we're finishing the trilogy that began back in Episode Nine when Grimoald rode out into a field following the death of King Sigisbert III, collected up two boys - his son, Childebert, and the Crown Prince, Dagobert II - then sent the latter into exile while placing the former onto the throne of Austrasia. This coup almost worked; however, unlike horseshoes and hand grenades, where “almost” is good enough, well… as we've seen, it wasn't good enough to keep Grimoald from likely being tortured and executed, and it wasn't good enough to keep Childebert III (a.k.a. Childebert the Adopted) on the throne.   Now, just because the coup didn't succeed doesn't mean there were no aftershocks. And the person who gained the most from these was Queen (and eventual Saint) Bathilda. Her son Chlothar III would end up ruling in Paris, while the second oldest, Childeric II, would head to the throne of Austrasia in 660. The third child, Theuderic, had been born near to the time of his father's death, and was still very young, but would get his chance at a crown in due course. Altogether, these boys ensured that all parts of France were tied to Bathilda and her benevolence. She was Queen Dowager, Queen Mother and Queen Regent, positions she Usinnot have held if not for the Austrasian coup. She used the power available to her unique position to advocate for causes near to her heart: she ended unbearable taxes that led people to sell their children into bondage, or worse yet, to end the lives of infants that parents couldn't sustain. These same taxes restrained many from marrying, and the good Queen discharged her people from these burdens, earning their love and devotion. Past all of this, she worked to put an end to slavery; not too bad for a woman who arrived to Francia in chains...   So come along as we see the notion of unintended consequences in action in this, the final episode of our Coup d'État trilogy!   * * *   Links to social media and the website: The Paranoid Strain: https://play.acast.com/s/the-paranoid-strain   Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

This week we're going to run through four kings in short order. Up until this point we have been able to see most of the rois fainéants for what they were: well-meaning young kings who, by dint of having taken power at an exceptionally young age, were rarely out of their majority for long enough to make a large historical difference. A combination of bad health and bad luck led to most of them failing to live out their 20s; Chlothar II was the most recent ruler to see his 40s, dying in 629, and it would be over 80 years before another Frankish monarch could lay claim to having attained such an “ancient” age.   With that said, let me introduce you to the four kings we'll be discussing this week: Chlothar III, King of Neustria (oldest son of Clovis II and Bathilda), Childeric II, King of Austrasia (second oldest son of Clovis II and Bathilda), Clovis III, King of Austrasia (illegitimate son of Chlothar III), and Theuderic III, King of Neustria (youngest son of Clovis II and Bathilda). Altogether, these kings had a short tenure in power and were completely outmatched and overpowered by their Mayors of the Palace. When someone uses the term roi fainéant, whether they know it or not, these are the kings they're alluding to.   * * *   Links to social media and the website: That's Not Canon: https://thatsnotcanon.com/home   Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

This week, we're going to take our focus down just a little bit. Last week we discussed the reigns and fates of four kings; this week, we're going to look at just one: King Dagobert II. Now, to be honest, Dagobert II is almost completely superfluous to our story insofar as how he affected history. As a king, he only ruled from 675/6 until 679. He passed no sweeping laws or reforms, he added no children to the historical record to later vie for his crown, and his military/foreign affairs record was mixed. He signed a peace treaty with the Lombards, noted by Paul the Deacon in his book History of the Lombards, but his advisors also went to war with the Neustrians… and lost.   The story of Dagobert II is much more sad than the conspiracies would have you believe. The facts lead us to believe that this Merovingian King was the epitome of a pawn: he had his throne stolen from him; he was brought back (if it was even him that returned) when it suited someone else; he was killed when yet another person hoped to gain from his murder; and a future King had him canonized for no really good reason other than by doing so it helped that King. His skull, which is probably not his skull, has been revered as a relic, and his name and likeness has been used in forged documents to push a ridiculous conspiracy theory. Dagobert II may, in our opinion, be the single most victimized, abused, and misused person to yet pass through our history. His story expresses the exact opposite of agency, the idea of being in control of one's fate and decisions. The fact that he, or someone carrying his name, eventually became a King and a Saint is little solace for someone who, more than likely, died in 657, aged eight or younger, all so that a greedy, power-hungry Mayor could put his own son on the throne of Austrasia for a short period of time.   * * *   Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

This week we're finally looking at the do-nothing kings, les rois fainéants, as exactly that: kings who sat the throne, and besides the title and crown, had very little to say in the actual administration of the land over which they nominally ruled. In this case, we're looking at Theuderic III, whose Mayor of the Palace was the aforementioned Ebroin, and Dagobert II, led by Martin and Pépin d'Herstal. Looking deeper, we're going to examine the knife's edge that not only victory sits upon, but history as a whole. I say this because quite simply, and as evidenced in the opening story, things could easily have broken Ebroin's way as much as they did Pépin's. And let's face it: the two men were really not all that dissimilar, even though the scribes advocating for the Carolingians in later years would do their best to hide this fact. So with all of that said, let's get into the heavyweight fight that would determine the future of Francia. Ebroin and Pépin entered the ring nearly equally matched; the difference between winning and losing, between immortality and obscurity, danced on a knife's edge... * * * Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

Click here to check out the Listenable course mentioned at the end of this episode! This week we're looking at the end of Theuderic III… which just happens to also be the beginning of Pépin d'Herstal as princeps, the Prince/Duke of the Franks. Remember, Theuderic and Pépin went to battle twice before Pépin took over in his new role, so to say that the two men had a good working relationship would be a complete lie. Their relationship, if it can even be called that, is more akin to a master and servant, but in this case the roles were reversed. A king in almost any other context would be served by his advisors, but in this case the king is in place for no other reason than to legitimize the advisors. In losing at Tertry, Theuderic became little more than an object to be possessed, and for the rest of the Merovingian Dynasty, this was all that the kings would be. * * * On a different (yet related) note, in the past month I've been working with an audio course company called Listenable to create a truncated version of what we've learned so far. The course, unsurprisingly called “History of the Merovingians (451-613),” breaks down the first half of the Merovingian Dynasty into bite-size chunks: 15 lessons of less than 10 minutes each. If you're new to the podcast and want to get the Cliff Notes version of what we discussed in Season 1, or if you just want a quick refresher without having to go through all 12 1/2 hours and 25 episodes, then you should head on over to Listenable to give them a try. On top of my course, they also offer powerful, bite-sized audio courses authored by well‑loved experts on a variety of subjects. It's a perfect format for listening and learning, especially on-the-go. You can give them a try for seven days completely free; just click one of the links to check it out! If you appreciate the content we've brought to you so far and want to help the show out, this is a perfect way to do so. I'm pretty excited about the whole experience and like that I have a new way to get this amazing story out to the world, so please, click the link and check out Listenable.io or search for Listenable in the Apple App Store. * * * Links to social media and the website: Listenable: https://frstre.com/go/?a=76205-87a7d9&s=1771309-31fae8&p_affiliate.referral_code=benjaminbernier Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

This week, we're going to wrap up what has been a three-part examination of the life and achievements of Pépin d'Herstal, a.k.a. Pépin II, a.k.a Pépin the Younger, a.k.a. Pépin le Gros. Pépin was a larger-than-life figure, a man who ruled Francia in part or in whole for nearly three and a half decades through legitimacy gained by the force of his will. He was the physical embodiment of two great houses, the Pippinids and the Arnulfids, coming together, and during his time in power he transcended the reigns of five kings: Dagobert II, Theuderic III, Clovis IV, Childebert III and Dagobert III. As this show purports to be a history of France, as seen from the eyes of her Kings and Queens, well, the eyes of the monarchy at this time were pretty much glued to Pépin and doing his bidding. He was the king in all but name. For what it's worth, we're going to spend this show looking at how Pépin stabilized his family and legacy. He didn't stray far from the established way of doing things: he had children. The women he had these children with were every bit as strong and willful as their husband, and the fight they'll put up in the wake of Pépin's death to get their progeny seated into power will define history as much as any action Pépin took himself. So sit down, strap in and get ready: the ladies are taking over this week! * * * Links to social media and the website: Listenable: https://frstre.com/go/?a=76205-87a7d9&s=1771309-31fae8&p_affiliate.referral_code=benjaminbernier Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles Patreon (Who I Support): https://www.patreon.com/user/creators?u=47488268

Hello and happy Memorial Day to all of you out there enjoying a long weekend in the States; for all of my U.K. listeners, happy Spring Bank holiday! I'm not going to lie, that's possibly the least sexy way of saying “long weekend” that I've ever heard, but I digress. For everyone else, welcome to the last day of May. Today, we're actually going to take a bank holiday ourselves from the normal T+M timeline, but this doesn't mean that we're leaving you stranded with nothing to listen to. Quite the opposite, in fact… Today we have the pleasure of working with Kristin Robyn Terpstra of the History Cache podcast. She has been gracious enough to allow me to download one of my favorite episodes from her show and highlight it here, and I think you're honestly going to love it. First off, it features one of the great female personages of all time, Olympias. If you're not familiar with her, don't worry, Kristin is going to get you up to speed. But as a quick introduction, Olympias is best known as being the mother to Alexander the Great and wife to Phillip II of Macedon. She's known for being an absolutely imposing figure and ruthless mother, as well as someone who enjoyed keeping snakes in her bed, because who doesn't keep snakes in their bed, amiright?! All of that leads us to point number two, which is that Olympias is actually far more compelling than these simple anecdotes about her would lead people to believe. She was a complicated, fascinating person, and Kristin does a wonderful job of moving past the stereotype to help us understand a little bit more about who the real Olympias may have been. And all of that leads me to Kristin; if you're not already listening to the History Cache, seriously, what are you waiting for. This lady can tell a story like no one else, and her ranges of topics are so varied that there's something available for everyone. Tribes in the Amazon rainforest? Check. Shackleton and Antarctic exploration? Check. Multiple real life 20th century heist stories? Check and check. All of this is to say that Kristin is standing by to tell you something that you may or may not already know, and either which way, she's going to tell it to you in a way that will have you binging in short order, and sad when you get to the end of her 43 episode catalogue. With all of that as prologue, please, settle in and get ready to enjoy Part 1 of Kristin's Olympias trilogy. And when you're done, be sure to subscribe to History Cache to catch the rest of the story. I'm going to stand to the side now and let my friend and fellow podcaster do the rest of the talking; Kristin, take it away!

This week, welcome to Charles “The Hammer” Martel. I'll be honest, up until this point you would be excused if you hadn't heard of most of the names we've covered on this show. Clovis, Chlothar, Brunhilda, Fredegunda and Theuderic are not exactly household names; hell, even in France, the name of Dagobert is really mostly remembered because of the nursery rhyme associated with him and putting his pants on backwards. Charles Martel, however, is a name that most people are at a minimum aware of, and for many, the name is quite well known. With that said, however, I offer a disclaimer: Charles Martel, as we'll see in just a few episodes, is best known for his defeat of the Saracens at the Battle of Poitiers in 732. It is because of this victory that many far-right groups in our current day and age have appropriated the memory of Charles Martel as a symbol of armed resistance to “invaders.” This has sickeningly manifested to a point wherein the Christchurch, New Zealand, perpetrator of two mosque shootings claimed to have been inspired by Charles Martel, and in the United States, the Charles Martel Society is an American white nationalist organization that is apparently quite active to this day. Honestly, I found a few things in the research that turned my stomach, so be careful and be aware if you decide to look up things about Charles yourself. Beyond that, let me just say right now that we think that the entire notion of white extremism is gross, reprehensible and idiotic, so if you're here in the hopes of hearing us glorify Charles Martel as some sort of medieval protector of whiteness, well, you've come to the wrong place. You're gross and reprehensible, and you can go away; to paraphrase signs from what you probably think was a “better time”: we don't serve your kind here. Okay, moving past that unfortunate disclaimer, let's look at the actual history of the man who would come to be known as “the Hammer.” And let's start with that awesome, WWE-like surname. Here's the thing: it actually is a WWE-like surname that was bestowed on Charles, especially after his victory in Poitiers in 732. At the time we're talking about Charles in the opener he would have simply been known as Charles, a 26-year-old last-best-hope to keep Austrasia from being wiped off of the map altogether. * * * Links to social media and the website: Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613 Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Patreon: Who We Support

This week we're getting ready for the big event, the royal rumble, the epic battle for the ages that would, one way or another, seal the fate of Europe as either a Christian or Muslim land… Okay, okay, I'm getting a little carried away with the UFC/WWE fight build-up, but given the way that some commentators talk about the Battle of Poitiers/Tours, well, it's easy to get spun up. And this hype gets a touch of official recognition: if you remember back to the first episode of this podcast, we discussed the Gallery of Battles in Versailles and all of the paintings in that hall that depict the military glories of France up until the Age of Napoleon. Well, the painting of the Battle of Poitiers is, on the historical timeline, the second painting that we will be getting to, the first having been Clovis and his outstretched arm at the Battle of Tolbiac (also known as this show's cover art!). This means that out of all of the other battles we have discussed up until this point, a period covering about 240 years since Tolbiac, this is the first battle that is deemed important enough to have made it to the Gallerie. Here's the craziest thing about this battle, IMO, and we'll be discussing it quite a bit in today's build-up episode to Poitiers: there's an argument to be made that the savior of Francia was not Charles Martel, but Odo of Aquitaine! Odo had already defeated the Umayyads once, in 721, when they marched on Toulouse. He landed a crippling blow, killing and wounded thousands of Umayyad fighters and killing their commander at that time. Later, in 732, it was Odo who faced the reconstituted Umayyad forces at Bordeaux, and it was Odo who called in Charles Martel for back-up. Odo even made one of the key flanking maneuvers in the actual 732 battle (more on that next week!). With all of this said, Charles wouldn't have had time to build his armies if Odo hadn't given him the space to do so. Charles may not have known the Umayyads were headed his way if not warned by Odo, and they may have had much larger numbers and a better base of operations if Odo hadn't beat them in 721. But does anyone recall Odo today? Not many. Let's fix that! * * * Final note for the day: I wanted to take a quick moment to let you know about another project we're working on here at T+M. In a few weeks, in the mid to late part of July, Amazon plans to roll out a new feature for Kindle called Vella. Vella is a platform for serialized fiction, stories told episode by episode, and we've decided to publish one of the projects we're working on to this new platform, to be one of the first published when it goes live. What's cool about this is that we've been working on a story based around Fredegunda and Brunhilda pretty much since we first talked about them here on this podcast. Their story is dark, thrilling, and audacious, and is absolutely perfect to be broken out in more scope and detail. And Vella seems the perfect place to do this, as telling serialized stories over time is kinda what we've been doing for the better part of the past two years!  With all of that said, be on the lookout for Kindle Vella, and when it goes live, look for our story on there. The title is Queens of Blood, and we'll be sure to let you know if there and any changes and the Vella launch date here and on the socials. Anyway, if you've ever wanted to help the show and you've already rated us and left a review, well, here's another way! We hope you'll check it out and enjoy! * * * Links to social media and the website: History of Spain Podcast: Apple Podcasts Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Patreon: Who We Support Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week, we're finally there, finally to that glorious battle depicted on the walls of the Gallery of Battles: the Battle of Poitiers. To begin this week, the opening story brings us from the build-up noted in last week's episode and delivers us at the beginning of the battle. We note numerous factors that played into the event, and almost all of them play on the military intelligence that the commanders of both units were able to bring to bear, the morale of their soldiers, and ultimately, the goals each commander had as he entered into the fight. Two would enter, one would leave... * * * Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Patreon: Who We Support Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

Hello boys and girls, and Happy 4th of July to all of my American listeners who are hopefully listening to this podcast while headed out to watch a baseball game or enjoy a picnic and fireworks somewhere and enjoy our nation's celebration of its independence from those tyrannical Brits. And… hello and welcome to all of my British listeners; happy Traitor's Day! I know that you could probably care less about the 4th of July as it all happened 245 years ago and lots has changed since then, but for what it's worth, you got to get rid of a bunch of ungrateful colonists and keep cricket and good beer, so it really wasn't all that bad in the end, amiright? Plus, I'm here and living amongst you now, so really, how lucky can one country get? Anyway, this week is going to be a down week for the podcast insofar as our main historical line, but that doesn't mean we're leaving you empty handed. Just like we did a few weeks back with The History Cache Podcast, we've partnered up with another awesome indie podcaster to bring you one of their top shows, one that falls right in line with this pod's themes. This week we're working with Stephen DiJulius of the Written in Blood History Podcast; a little while back he did an outstanding show on Arminius, the German commander who led his people against a mighty Roman legion - and won! You'll recognize the tribes Stephen talks about as the predecessors of the Franks and all of those we've talked about here on T+M, and the show as a whole gives you an idea of just how far we've come in our history. Rome, once all powerful, withered and fell. The tribes that were once held under their thumb would eventually rise to fill the void, and from there we get on the path that began in Episode 1, Season 1. Think of this, then, as a kind of prequel. Again, happy 4th of July to everyone listening! Now, step back in time to the beginning of the first millennium, circa 9 CE, and remember: History is people. These are their stories. They are Written in Blood. * * * Links to social media and the website: Written in Blood History: Evergreen Podcasts Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Patreon: Who We Support Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week, the show that purports to look “at history through the eyes of the Kings and Queens of France” is going to be just a little bit blind, because with the death of Theuderic IV… we have no King. We have no Queen. And we have no heir apparent. In the nearly 300 years this show has covered to date, we've had plenty of problems with too many people wanting to be king; we've seen civil wars, usurpations, murdered relatives, executions, and God knows what else. What we absolutely have not had to deal with is no one stepping up to the position. But that's exactly what Charles Martel did when Theuderic died in 737; by not taking the crown, he put himself in a position where he was unquestionably the most powerful man in Francia - the position that should arguably belong to the King - but by not taking the scepter, orb and crown, he avoided all of the shenanigans that come with the position. So, for the rest of this episode, we're going to look at just what Charles accomplished after he stopped the Umayyad advance in 732, and then we're going to consider the logic and efficacy of Charles' decision of omission; was he crazy to avoid this honor, or was he smart to avoid it like the plague? Was Charles a Middle Ages Cincinnatus, a medieval George Washington turning away the trappings of power - or was he simply taking on all of the power Francia had to offer, with none of the risks? * * * Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week, we're going to take a look at the end of Charles Martel, the naming of his two legitimate sons as heirs, and consider just how different the world is now from the world we started with in 451. I mean, think of how much has changed: the Franks adopted Nicene Christianity and converted most of their people and the surrounding groups to that faith, breaking them from either the Roman- or Germanic-style paganism that most had practiced when we began this show. Those who were not yet converted were faced with missionaries such as Boniface, who operated in the name of the Pope and under the protection of the Franks. On top of that, the Franks had become such a force in the world that they now had the Pope sending envoys asking for help and protection of himself and Rome in addition to the Church's missionaries in Germania. Staying along these lines, we've seen the people pressuring Rome transition from the Ostrogoths to the Lombards; while they're a different group, they present the same general problems for the Catholic institutions of Italy. And we've also seen a dramatic weakening of the power structures of the Eastern Roman Empire; compare where we're at now, with the Pope asking Charles Martel for assistance in the face of the threats from both the Lombards and Constantinople, to where we were in 507 when Clovis I won the Battle of Vouillé and was invited to be a consul of Rome by the East. In that earlier case, the recognition from Constantinople was a sign of respect; now, over 230 years later, the Franks are on a more even footing with the Emperor. Finally, moving past all of the groups we've traditionally seen the Merovingians and Franks have to deal with, we have seen a new group of people sally forth with a religion that is, at first glance, far different than anything Christianity has to offer. The Umayyad Caliphate successfully ran through every part of what had once been a part of Rome in North Africa and destroyed or appropriated entire groups - and for the Franks, this was encapsulated most notably in the Visigoths. The Ummayads had to have looked unlike anything the Franks had ever known, and when they started coming into Francia around 720, they would have changed the way the Franks viewed their southern border. One can only imagine if this interaction made Charles Martel and his subordinates wonder about any other groups out there that they hadn't yet met. It's possible that the knowledge of that first Danish raid in 516 into Francia was remembered within the realm, as Gregory of Tours had written about it in his _History of the Franks_, but how much a story from over 200 years earlier would have concerned the current Franks about the possibility of an invasion by the Northmen is questionable. So this is the world of 741 that Carloman and Pépin are about to inherit. Christianity is growing exponentially and Frankish power is aligning with that growth; the Byzantines are weakening, but new groups are still available in the world to surprise and destabilize the known order. Charles Martel fought one of these back in 732 in the form of the Caliphate, but that doesn't mean other groups wouldn't come along looking for a soft underbelly to strike. And with all of this going on, the matter of leadership - king-wise - is still an issue. Since 737, we've not had a Merovingian king, and while no one seems any worse for the wear for this being the case in the past four years, that was all under the firm hand of Charles. It was all but an inevitability that someone would come along and challenge the brothers, on this issue if on no other. * * * Links to social media and the website: Academia.edu: Life After Rome Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week, we're going to look at the abdication of a powerful figure, a man who loomed over Francia and French politics in the mid-8th century - but this man was not the King! This week we'll be looking at Carloman, the Austrasian Mayor of the Palace, and trying to figure out what drove him to give up all of his worldly authority and possessions. Was it a political hot job? Did he have an honest-to-goodness spiritual conversion? Or did he have a mental health crisis at a time in history when mental health was not really a thing? Considering that he may have had 1,000 people put to death right before his decision to become a monk, you can guess where we're placing our bets! Before we get into all of that though, a quick programming note: I'm recording this week's episode while on holiday in Wiesbaden, the heart of the area whose history we're looking into. That part is pretty cool, and I'm staying in nice accommodations, but it's pretty much made out of cement and ceramic tiles and not exactly the stuff of recording studios so... No worries, I'll be back into the normal-sounding digs next week, but that's why this week we're sounding just a little bit odd! * * * Links to social media and the website: Academia.edu: Life After Rome Kindle Vella: Queens of Blood Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week, we have finally made it to the last day of the last Merovingian King, Childéric III. And what can we say about this event other than it has been a really, really long time coming. I mean seriously, we're talking about a Merovingian king still sitting the throne in 751; that's nearly a century after Grimoald made his coup attempt in the wake of the death of Sigibert III, and it's 117 years since the death of Dagobert I, who is arguably the last Merovingian king of any stature or importance. 117 years is just a long time to be dealing with ineffective royal leadership, guys who were basically holding onto the crown simply because that's what their father and their grandfather had done. Add into the mix that upwards of five of these guys were probably pulled out of monasteries and told to say that they were “Merovingians” - to include the latest and last king - and then add into the mix that the Carolingian precursors had been dealing with all of this for basically the entire 117 years, and all of a sudden Pépin's move doesn't look so much like a coup d'état as it does an incredibly slow-moving inevitability. Well, the inevitable happens... this week! On a related note, I was listening recently to the Prologue episodes of Dirk Hoffmann-Becking's History of the Germans podcast recently and I heard him describe the entire situation with the Mayors of the Palace as being akin to the fictional “Stewards of Gondor” from the Lord of the Rings books and movies. Honestly, I thought this was a great parallel: the Stewards sat for centuries waiting for the absent King to reappear, and in that time they became more and more powerful, acting as de facto kings themselves. In both cases, everyone seemed fine with the situation even though, to an outside observer, they seem rather silly; why not just create a meritocracy and put a good fit on the throne? Well, that's what the Mayors of the Palace eventually got around to. If the Stewards of the Throne in Tolkien's books had taken the final step and tried for the throne themselves, they pretty much would have been the Carolingians! * * * Links to social media and the website: Academia.edu: Life After Rome Kindle Vella: Queens of Blood Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week, at long last and well overdue, we have made it to the end of Season 2 of the podcast! Having wrapped up all of the Kings and having put us on the road to Season 3 with the Carolingians, we're taking this week to look back on the past 300 years of podcasting and two years of history. Wait, I think I got those backward... As a special treat and to try something new this week, I've chosen to do something which - to me - felt completely crazy: this episode is script-free. No safety net. No sweet comfort of written words. I've spent so much time in the past few years thinking, researching and writing on this topic that I felt I had a solid 30 minutes inside of my mind with which to make this final episode, and sure enough, I did! What follows is, I hope, a less filtered and more open discussion on my feelings toward the Merovingians, the early Franks, and just why I feel it was important to start the podcast in 476. To know where you're going, know where you've been... and frighteningly enough, some of the lessons from this first of Europe's dynasties are still applicable today. In some ways - some good, some bad - human beings never seem to  change. * * * Links to social media and the website: Academia.edu: Life After Rome Kindle Vella: Queens of Blood Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

Hello everyone! I'm popping up in your feed today... not to begin Season 3 - that's still a little ways off yet! No, what I'm hoping to do today is to introduce you to a new friend of mine and his show, History of the Germans. I'm talking of course about Dirk Hoffman-Becking; I've mentioned him on several recent episodes, and with good reason, so let me give you a few: First, Dirk's podcast is simply very well done. He starts off in 919 with Henry the Fowler, and will gladly explain to you why he chose this date in his four-part introduction to the history. Now, Dirk and I have a difference of opinion on start dates, but that's okay! He makes a compelling argument for why 919 makes more sense to begin with than 476, for German history anyway, and I appreciate that. Beyond the history and where to start, Dirk's delivery is spot-on and he has clearly done his research. And he does a really, really good job of bringing his passion for the past into his storytelling, and he hits the right notes along the way. You can tell that he cares about what he's talking about. Now personally, I have to admit that I have a bit of a backstory about why I especially love the History of the Germans podcast. Long story short, over the past two years of T+M I have realized that so much of the history that we've covered is not really so much just French history as it is European history. There's just no way to tell the story of a single group without a discussion of how they interacted with outsiders, and well, the Franks have a very long and storied history of trading, intermarrying and fighting with the groups on the east side of the Rhine. There would be no France without a Germany and the multiple kingdoms that comprised that country prior to its full integration in the mid-19th century. Honestly, Charlemagne - who we'll dwell on at length when we get to Season 3 - is a figure who both sides can arguably look at as having been “theirs.” I think that listening to History of the Germans alongside of T+M will give you a really well-rounded view of Western European history, and will do so with a lot of similarities - but also with the enough points of friction to allow you, the listener, to form your own opinions.  Now, beyond the grand history, I have to say, I'm moving to Germany myself in just a few months now and there's no small amount of serendipity in finding myself talking to and listening to another podcaster who is looking at a very similar place and time to myself. And to hear discussions of Aachen and Cologne while actually driving through Aachen and Cologne is something that kind of made the hair on the back of my neck kind of stand on end! Serendipity... it's a thing. Alright, with all of that as intro, please let me stand aside and introduce to you Episode 1 of the History of the Germans and Dirk Hoffman-Becking. We hope you enjoy it, and when you do, be sure to give Dirk all of the appropriate ratings, reviews and subscriptions. Both of us thank you in advance, so please enjoy. Dirk, take it away... * * * Links to social media and the website: Academia.edu: Life After Rome Kindle Vella: Queens of Blood Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

Welcome back and welcome to Season Three! As always, I'm Benjamin Bernier, and this week we're going to get right into it... Picking up where we left off at the end of last season, we're going to watch the newly crowned Pépin I of the Carolingians answer the call for help from the Pope... just three years after the call was initially put out, and after the death of the Pope who was calling. So much for timelines! However, when the Franks finally did get things in order in Francia well enough for them to come over the Alps, well, the Lombards were going to find out who the real power players in Western Europe really were. All of this action would lead to new realizations, a new map of Empire, and in the end, a Donation to the Church that would change the way the Papacy was viewed right up until the present day. On a more present note, with the inauguration of Season 3, we here at T+M also decided the time was right to start a Patreon account! We appreciate everyone who listens to the show and everyone who leaves reviews, and now we're asking, if your heart is big enough, to show the world how much you like us with a donation to help us cover some of the production costs. Over the past two years, we've done this show with almost nothing in the way of ads or other income, and well, it hasn't been the greatest business model, to say the least! What we're doing now is asking you to pick a level you're comfortable with, and with those levels you'll get access to some great extras, as well as the chance to join the Merovingians, Carolingians, Capetians or Napoleons: For $1 you can become a Merovingian, a founding supporter of the show; for that you'll get your name read out in our next episode! For $3 you can step up to being a Carolingian; at that tier you get your name read out, you get access to our Patreon Exclusive episodes, and the chance to vote on topics for upcoming Exclusives. We have five of our Bonus Episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 already migrated over to Patreon, and we plan on dropping a new Exclusive episode once a month going forward. For January, we'll be looking at what might have been if Charles Martel had lost at the Battle of Tours; if that interests you and you want to have a say in the show, this level is for you! Next is the Capetian level, offering you all of the other great benefits already mentioned. But wait, there's more! For $5/month as a Capetian, you'll get access to the ad-free feed of the show (because soon enough, the free stream of the pod will include staff-selected ads from companies with products we think our audience will like). If you don't want your listening experience sullied by intrusive adverts, then please head on over to Patreon and take advantage of becoming a Capetian. Finally, for anyone out there who dreams just a little bigger, we have the final level: Napoleonic! For $20/month, you get everything the show has to offer, plus you'll get your name mentioned in every single episode while your reign lasts. And there's a limit to how many Emperors we can have: just as there were only three Emperors Napoleon, this tier will also be limited to three. You just don't get much more exclusive than that, and we're sure that we'll have extra extras in store for you as time goes on. Thank you for supporting the show, and thank you for showing you care, either financially or with a nice review! We are looking forward to another great season, and can't wait to be back in your feed in 10 days! * * * Links to social media and the website: Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week we're going to look at what may have been the greatest forgery in the history of the world... or at least, one of the most impactful. You see, the Donation of Constantine, for all of its discussion of curing the Emperor of leprosy and how he was just so grateful for this miracle that he left the entirety of the Western Empire to the Papacy, wouldn't have been worth the vellum it was written on if it hadn't been for one thing: People believed it, and they believed it because the Papacy backed it... On a real-world note, have a happy holidays and be on the lookout on New Year's Day for a little surprise in your feed coming your way courtesy of myself and Dirk Hoffman-Becking over at the History of the Germans podcast. We wanted to ring in the New Year properly and nerdily, and we think we have found just the way, so look to unwrap that small gift in your podcatcher on the 1st. * * * Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613   Our Fake History "Who Is the Real Santa Claus?"": https://ourfakehistory.com/index.php/season-5/episode-101-who-is-the-real-santa-claus/

Hello everybody, and welcome to 2022! We here at Thugs and Miracles hope you had an enjoyable New Year's Eve, and if you're traveling home today or tomorrow, well, we're here to keep you company! And not just us! Nope, we're joined today for a talk with Dirk Hoffman-Becking of the History of the Germans Podcast; he's been running his show for about a year now, and we profiled his Episode #1 back in September on our feed. Dirk spoke with us for this on topics ranging from where he's from, to what compelled him to start a podcast and what drives him to keep going, to what his favorite bit of history that he's covered to this point has been, and also what he's hoping to cover in ‘22. It was a great talk, and so good in fact that we got together again later and he interviewed me for his show! So, if you are not already subscribed to History of the Germans, well, now's a great time to check Dirk out and to get even more T+M content for the New Year, as well as about 50 episodes of Germans. And, along those lines, now is as good a time as any to tell you that we'll have a new episode coming out tomorrow on this feed and our first Patreon Exclusive episode is going live on the 9th, so head on over to Patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles to check that out. Alright, with all of that, I shall step aside. Again, welcome to 2022; now, sit back and enjoy our interview with Dirk Hoffman-Becking of the History of the Germans Podcast; enjoy! * * * Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613  

This week we're going to look back one last time at the life and times of one of the most horribly underrated Kings in all of French history, a guy who may have done more to establish the foundations of modern-day France than any other individual out there, and yet whose name remains lost to all but the most intrepid history nerds - and yes, I'm looking at all of you! - because he happened to sire the one name that everyone knows: Charlemagne. So, we're going to take a look at what King Pépin I did after he returned back to Francia from Italy in 756 and how he spent the last decade and some change of his life. After that, we'll break down the entirety of his reign using our Monarch W.A.R. rating, and we'll see where he stacks up against the Merovingian kings who came before him. On a more contemporary note, Happy New Year ‘22 to you! If you're still looking for a resolution, may we suggest donating to the shows and artists who you enjoy? Even a small contribution goes a long way toward helping with the costs of the show, but more than that, it tells us that you appreciate what we're doing. We hope that's the case, and if nothing else, there are perks to being a T+M Patron. Find out more by clicking on the link below: thanks! * * * Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week we're going to take a look at the first few years of Charles and Carloman's reign as seen through the eyes of their mother, Queen Bertrada. Honestly, she's a tremendous woman who took her shot when she had it; however, when you listen to today's opening story, you will notice that I cribbed a line from Neville Chamberlain, “peace in their time.” Bertrada really thought she had a diplomatic solution all figured out, a path to peace and security that couldn't possibly backfire. Well, just like Chamberlain, a few overwhelming personalities and the general tide of history served to make empty that promise of peace in just a few years. So what happened? * * * Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week we're going to take a look at what exactly happened between Charles and his brother Carloman. The two are referred to in all of the histories as having had a troubled relationship, and this is another one of those situations where, if you poke around on the Internet a little, you can find people asking the counterfactual question of, “What if Charlemagne had died rather than Carloman?” Because, belated spoiler alert, Carloman is going to die shortly, in 771. And it's interesting to think of what might have happened if he had lived. It's also interesting to consider how he died, because it was rather convenient for Charles that his pesky little brother up and kicked the bucket for no well-documented reason at the age of 20. Now, people died young all the time back at this time, and quick illnesses with tragic endings were really not all that uncommon. And that could have been the case... it was just very convenient for Charles.     * * * Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week we're going to take a look at how, for the third time in less than two decades, the Franks and the Lombards came to blows. However, the Franks would be under new management for the fight this time. Would the change of leader make a difference in the outcome of the war? Let's return to 771, where the newly minted King of the Franks has a Queen and a Prince on the run for their lives. Why did Gerberga flee to Italy, and why did Charles allow it to happen? ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️ Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week we're going to take a look at what may be one of the great military miscalculations of all time. Charles was a solid tactician and an excellent logistician, and clearly very successful in most things he tried his hand at. Politics, religion, culture, war... there was no area in which he did not make an enormous impact during his life. Knowing this, how was it then that he so dramatically failed to see just how long and hard a campaign against the Saxons would be? Einhard, one of the first and most eminent biographers of Charlemagne, and a man who studied the whole of the great King's life, would describe it this way: “No war taken up by the Frankish people was ever longer, harder, or more dreadful.” This is both factually correct and a huge understatement. After all, we are not talking about an extra battle or two; we are talking about nearly 30 additional years of battle, plus additional pockets of resistance that would not be fully squelched until well after Charles's lifetime. Was it hubris, bad intelligence, an overestimation of his own military capabilities, or an underestimation of his enemies that led to all of this? Or was it a bit of all of the above? Finally, even with all of these factors in mind, did Charles really have a choice of whether or not to face the Saxons? I mean, was their fight inevitable, and if so, could it have been less bloody for both sides? ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️ Links to social media and the website: Shelley Puhak: shelleypuhak.com The Dark Queens: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Queens-Bloody-Rivalry-Medieval/dp/1635574919 TDQ Politics & Prose Launch Event: https://www.politics-prose.com/event/book/pp-live-shelley-puhak-dark-queens-bloody-rivalry-forged-medieval-world    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Wise: https://wise.prf.hn/click/camref:1100lmi64/creativeref:1011l34332  Audible: https://www.audibletrial.com/thugs    Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

Today on the show, we interview Shelley Puhak, the author of the soon-to-be-released book The Dark Queens! It is all about Fredegunda and Brunhilda, the rival Merovingian Queens who ran Kingdoms and fought against one another (we spoke all about them in Episodes 15-25 of Season One). The publisher gave us an advanced copy of the book to check out, and we can tell you... it is really good! The book has all of the murders, assassinations, plotting, intrigue, and general mayhem that went down during this time, and it is written in an incredibly engaging way. Believe me, as someone who has waded through more dense, boring, or just plain weird history books, we can tell you that The Dark Queens is a breath of fresh air. The history is readable without sacrificing details or accuracy. We cannot recommend the book highly enough. You can pre-order The Dark Queens for the U.S. at Amazon, Bookshop, or Barnes and Noble, or for the U.K. at Amazon U.K. or Foyles. Also, Shelley will have a Politics and Prose online launch event for the book on 27 February; register for free here! ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️ The Dark Queens Links: Shelley Puhak Author Website: https://www.shelleypuhak.com/  Politics and Prose 27 February online launch event: https://www.politics-prose.com/event/book/pp-live-shelley-puhak-dark-queens-bloody-rivalry-forged-medieval-world  Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Queens-Bloody-Rivalry-Medieval/dp/1635574919/  Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dark-queens-shelley-puhak/1136943153  Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/the-dark-queens-the-bloody-rivalry-that-forged-the-medieval-world/9781635574913  Amazon U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Queens-Bloody-Rivalry-Medieval/dp/180110915X/  Foyles U.K.: https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/biography/the-dark-queens-the-bloody-rivalry,shelley-puhak-9781801109154    Links to T+M social media and website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week, we're going to take a look at one of the great resistance leaders from the age of Charlemagne: Widukind. Because - news flash! - lots of people did not like Charlemagne. Before we get into everything, there is one more thing we should clarify to help keep us straight on where we are in the chronology: The majority of today's episode is set between 777-785. This is a pretty big leap, time-wise, considering that it took us several episodes just to get through the first three years of Charlemagne's rivalry with his brother, and then another full episode to discuss the Lombard campaign and the taking of the Iron Crown in 774. We are also five years removed from our last regular episode of T+M wherein Charles cut down the Irminsul and took the religious site's attendant treasures. In those five years, Charles inflicted defeats and mass baptisms on the Saxons at least three times, in 772, 775, and 777.   And this was just the start. Hang on for what is one of the darkest episodes of Thugs and Miracles to date...   ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️   Links to social media and the website: Shelley Puhak: shelleypuhak.com The Dark Queens: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Queens-Bloody-Rivalry-Medieval/dp/1635574919   Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Patreon: Thugs and Miracles Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week, we're going to take a look at Charlemagne's 778 campaign into Spain. Since the most memorable part of the campaign is an epic poem entitled The Song of Roland - a poem focused on the tragic loss of part of Charlemagne's army and the death of his lieutenant, Roland - we can tell you that things don't turn out well for the Franks. Despite this, about the only thing that the Song gets right about the actual history is that the Franks were involved, and they suffered a loss.   The Song of Roland was written somewhere between 1040-1115 CE. And wouldn't you know it, the values and ideals put forth in Roland just so happen to line up with the time frame that incorporates the First Crusade. The events inside of the Song bear almost no resemblance to the actual events of 778, but all of that is extraneous. What was important for 11th-century France and this chanson de geste, this song of deeds, was to depict clear differences between Christians and Muslims.   So, how did we get from a sideline meeting in 777 at Paderborn between Charles and several Muslim walis, to an epic poem hyping up Christian warriors in the 11th century? Listen in and find out!   ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️   Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thugsandmiracles  Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613

This week we're going to take a look at what happened with Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria. This relatively minor-sounding player in the midst of Charlemagne's dynastic growth may sound unimportant, but he is a bellwether of just how strong Charles was becoming as King. You see, Charles and Tassilo were the most current iteration of an inter-family rivalry going back decades, hundreds of years even. They marked the high-water point of both groups and, as we will see, they also will symbolize just how much raw power the Carolingians had obtained by the late 8th century. ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️ Links to social media and the website: Patreon: Become royalty! Wise: The better way to send and convert money Audible: Try an audiobook for free!   Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/ Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end) Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles YouTube: Thugs and Miracles Academia.edu: Life After Rome Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613