Podcasts about french king

Retired attorney, former President of the Lafayette chapter of the Sons of the Revolution, and all around General Lafayette expert Dale Henley sits down with David to talk about the Marquis de Lafayette and his visit to Lexington in 1825. They talk about Lafayette's background, from joining the Musketeers at the age of thirteen to defying the French King and sailing to the American colonies to advance the cause of liberty at just nineteen years old. Dale shares book recommendations for learning more about Lafayette's role in the Revolutionary War, his abolitionist views, and his 1825 visit on the invitation of President Monroe. He also tells us about the events in Lexington in May 2025 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lafayette's visit.The opening music for this episode is the “Brandywine Quickstep” named for Brandywine, Pennsylvania where Lafayette took part in his first battle of the revolution and was subsequently wounded. The recording is by the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps and is in the public domain.

Edward of Woodstock, famously known as the Black Prince, was held up as the epitomy of Medieval Chivalry. Matt Lewis is joined by the Black Prince's biographer, Michael Jones to discuss King Edward III's eldest son; how he took command of the English vanguard at the Battle of Crécy at just 16 years old, captured the French King at Poitiers, his potential as a king, and the enigmatic origins of his nickname.Gone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. It was edited by Amy Haddow. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on

Edward III's son and heir, the Black Prince, rides through France in a reign of terror and destruction. He aims to goad the King of France into a fully fledged battle. When the French King finally reveals his hand, that battle suddenly seems like a very bad idea. Find out more about Proton Mail at proton.me/thisishistory A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Written and hosted by Dan Jones Producer - Georgia Mills Executive Producer - Louisa Field Production Manager - Eric Ryan Marketing - Kieran Lancini Sound Design - Amber Devereux Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Rerun: Jean Bernadotte's dad, a local prosecutor in the southwestern French city of Pau, intended for his son to follow in his footsteps as a lawyer. Instead, Jean became heir to the Swedish Crown on September 26th, 1810, and his descendants still sit on the Swedish throne to this day. Shortly after he moved to Sweden, the new crown prince was joined by his wife, Désirée, and their 11-year-old son, Oscar. But it's fair to say Désirée wasn't exactly enamoured with the new land her husband was set to rule; she swiftly returned to France and didn't come back for another 13 years. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look into why Napoleon became an accidental Swedish kingmaker; explore why it is best to do all your conquering just before declaring yourself to be neutral; and ask why no one has yet made any of us the monarch of their country. Further Reading: • ‘Centenary of Sweden's proud Bernadotte dynasty' (The New York Times, 1910): https://www.nytimes.com/1910/05/15/archives/centenary-of-swedens-proud-bernadotte-dynasty-founded-one-hundred.html  • ‘The French Army Officer Who Became a Scandinavian King' (Real Scandinavia, 2019): http://realscandinavia.com/jean-bernadotte-the-french-soldier-who-became-king-of-sweden/  • ‘A Royal family keeping up with the times' (The Swedish Royal Palace, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bTZDGn4SUE  ‘Why am I hearing a rerun?' Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday…  … But

Jacques Cartier planted a 30-foot wooden cross overlooking the bay of Gaspé (Quebec, Canada) on first exploration trip in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, symbolizing the ownership of the territory on behalf of the French King, Francis I, on July 24th, 1534. Enjoy this HISTORICAL JESUS Extra — The STORY of AMERICA. Check out the YouTube versions of this episode which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams, at https://youtu.be/aXZkwrI3V10 Jacques Cartier books available at https://amzn.to/3qnUoW6 New France books available at https://amzn.to/3Hb1uDq   America History books available at https://amzn.to/3yqoQ6q         THANKS for the many wonderful comments, messages, ratings and reviews. All of them are regularly posted for your reading pleasure on https://patreon.com/markvinet where you can also get exclusive access to Bonus episodes, Ad-Free content, Extra materials, and an eBook Welcome Gift when joining our growing community on Patreon or Donate on PayPal at https://bit.ly/3cx9OOL and receive an eBook GIFT. SUPPORT this series by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at no extra charge to you). It costs you nothing to shop using this FREE store entry link and by doing so encourages & helps us create more quality content. Thanks! Mark's TIMELINE video channel at https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkVinet_HNA  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu Podcast: https://parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@historyofnorthamerica Books: https://amzn.to/3j0dAFH                                                                              Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization      LibriVox: Mariner of St. Malo, A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier by S. Leacock, read by K. McAsh & S. Denney See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Jacques Cartier's first exploration trip in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, he planted a 30-foot wooden cross overlooking the bay of Gaspé (Quebec, Canada) symbolizing the ownership of the territory on behalf of the French King, Francis I, on July 24th, 1534. Enjoy this Encore Presentation!  Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/aXZkwrI3V10 which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams. Jacques Cartier books available at https://amzn.to/3IkZgBF  THANKS for the many wonderful comments, messages, ratings and reviews. All of them are regularly posted for your reading pleasure on https://patreon.com/markvinet where you can also get exclusive access to Bonus episodes, Ad-Free content, Extra materials, and an eBook Welcome Gift when joining our growing community on Patreon or Donate on PayPal at https://bit.ly/3cx9OOL and receive an eBook GIFT. SUPPORT this series by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at no extra charge to you). It costs you nothing to shop using this FREE store entry link and by doing so encourages & helps us create more quality content. Thanks! Mark Vinet's HISTORICAL JESUS podcast is available at https://parthenonpodcast.com/historical-jesus                                                            Mark's TIMELINE video channel at https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkVinet_HNA  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu Podcast: https://parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@historyofnorthamerica Books: https://amzn.to/3j0dAFH                                                                              Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization  LibriVox: Mariner of St. Malo, A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier by S. Leacock, read by K. McAsh & S. DenneySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the canonical figures from the history of political thought. Marsilius of Padua (c1275 to c1343) wrote 'Defensor Pacis' (The Defender of the Peace) around 1324 when the Papacy, the Holy Roman Emperor and the French King were fighting over who had supreme power on Earth. In this work Marsilius argued that the people were the source of all power and they alone could elect a leader to act on their behalf; they could remove their leaders when they chose and, afterwards, could hold them to account for their actions. He appeared to favour an elected Holy Roman Emperor and he was clear that there were no grounds for the Papacy to have secular power, let alone gather taxes and wealth, and that clerics should return to the poverty of the Apostles. Protestants naturally found his work attractive in the 16th Century when breaking with Rome. In the 20th Century Marsilius has been seen as an early advocate for popular sovereignty and republican democracy, to the extent possible in his time.With Annabel Brett Professor of Political Thought and History at the University of CambridgeGeorge Garnett Professor of Medieval History and Fellow and Tutor at St Hugh's College, University of OxfordAnd Serena Ferente Professor of Medieval History at the University of AmsterdamProducer: Simon Tillotson In Our Time is a BBC Sounds Audio ProductionReading list: Richard Bourke and Quentin Skinner (eds), Popular Sovereignty in Historical Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2016), especially 'Popolo and law in Marsilius and the jurists' by Serena FerenteJ. Canning, Ideas of Power in the Late Middle Ages, 1296-1417 (Cambridge University Press, 2011)H.W.C. Davis (ed.), Essays in Mediaeval History presented to Reginald Lane Poole (Clarendon Press, 1927), especially ‘The authors cited in the Defensor Pacis' by C.W. Previté-OrtonGeorge Garnett, Marsilius of Padua and ‘The Truth of History' (Oxford University Press, 2006) J.R. Hale, J.R.L. Highfield and B. Smalley (eds.), Europe in the Late Middle Ages (Faber and Faber, 1965), especially ‘Marsilius of Padua and political thought of his time' by N. RubinsteinJoel Kaye, 'Equalization in the Body and the Body Politic: From Galen to Marsilius of Padua' (Mélanges de l'Ecole Française de Rome 125, 2013)Xavier Márquez (ed.), Democratic Moments: Reading Democratic Texts (Bloomsbury, 2018), especially ‘Consent and popular sovereignty in medieval political thought: Marsilius of Padua's Defensor pacis' by T. Shogimen Marsiglio of Padua (trans. Cary J. Nederman), Defensor Minor and De Translatione Imperii (Cambridge University Press, 1993)Marsilius of Padua (trans. Annabel Brett), The Defender of the Peace (Cambridge University Press, 2005)Gerson Moreño-Riano (ed.), The World of Marsilius of Padua (Brepols, 2006)Gerson Moreno-Riano and Cary J. Nederman (eds), A Companion to Marsilius of Padua (Brill, 2012)A. Mulieri, S. Masolini and J. Pelletier (eds.), Marsilius of Padua: Between history, Politics, and Philosophy (Brepols, 2023)C. Nederman, Community and Consent: The Secular Political Theory of Marsiglio of Padua's Defensor Pacis (Rowman and Littlefield, 1995)Vasileios Syros, Marsilius of Padua at the Intersection of Ancient and Medieval Traditions of Political Thought (University of Toronto Press, 2012)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the canonical figures from the history of political thought. Marsilius of Padua (c1275 to c1343) wrote 'Defensor Pacis' (The Defender of the Peace) around 1324 when the Papacy, the Holy Roman Emperor and the French King were fighting over who had supreme power on Earth. In this work Marsilius argued that the people were the source of all power and they alone could elect a leader to act on their behalf; they could remove their leaders when they chose and, afterwards, could hold them to account for their actions. He appeared to favour an elected Holy Roman Emperor and he was clear that there were no grounds for the Papacy to have secular power, let alone gather taxes and wealth, and that clerics should return to the poverty of the Apostles. Protestants naturally found his work attractive in the 16th Century when breaking with Rome. In the 20th Century Marsilius has been seen as an early advocate for popular sovereignty and republican democracy, to the extent possible in his time.With Annabel Brett Professor of Political Thought and History at the University of CambridgeGeorge Garnett Professor of Medieval History and Fellow and Tutor at St Hugh's College, University of OxfordAnd Serena Ferente Professor of Medieval History at the University of AmsterdamProducer: Simon Tillotson In Our Time is a BBC Sounds Audio ProductionReading list: Richard Bourke and Quentin Skinner (eds), Popular Sovereignty in Historical Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2016), especially 'Popolo and law in Marsilius and the jurists' by Serena FerenteJ. Canning, Ideas of Power in the Late Middle Ages, 1296-1417 (Cambridge University Press, 2011)H.W.C. Davis (ed.), Essays in Mediaeval History presented to Reginald Lane Poole (Clarendon Press, 1927), especially ‘The authors cited in the Defensor Pacis' by C.W. Previté-OrtonGeorge Garnett, Marsilius of Padua and ‘The Truth of History' (Oxford University Press, 2006) J.R. Hale, J.R.L. Highfield and B. Smalley (eds.), Europe in the Late Middle Ages (Faber and Faber, 1965), especially ‘Marsilius of Padua and political thought of his time' by N. RubinsteinJoel Kaye, 'Equalization in the Body and the Body Politic: From Galen to Marsilius of Padua' (Mélanges de l'Ecole Française de Rome 125, 2013)Xavier Márquez (ed.), Democratic Moments: Reading Democratic Texts (Bloomsbury, 2018), especially ‘Consent and popular sovereignty in medieval political thought: Marsilius of Padua's Defensor pacis' by T. Shogimen Marsiglio of Padua (trans. Cary J. Nederman), Defensor Minor and De Translatione Imperii (Cambridge University Press, 1993)Marsilius of Padua (trans. Annabel Brett), The Defender of the Peace (Cambridge University Press, 2005)Gerson Moreño-Riano (ed.), The World of Marsilius of Padua (Brepols, 2006)Gerson Moreno-Riano and Cary J. Nederman (eds), A Companion to Marsilius of Padua (Brill, 2012)A. Mulieri, S. Masolini and J. Pelletier (eds.), Marsilius of Padua: Between history, Politics, and Philosophy (Brepols, 2023)C. Nederman, Community and Consent: The Secular Political Theory of Marsiglio of Padua's Defensor Pacis (Rowman and Littlefield, 1995)Vasileios Syros, Marsilius of Padua at the Intersection of Ancient and Medieval Traditions of Political Thought (University of Toronto Press, 2012)

Hey, Hi, Hello, this is the History Wizard and welcome back for Day 9 of Have a Day w/ The History Wizard. Thank you to everyone who tuned in for Day 8 last week, and especially thank you to everyone who rated and/or reviewed the podcast. I hope you all learned something last week and I hope the same for this week. This week we're going to be looking at infighting within Christianity. There are many differing opinions within the faith on the whos and whats and whys and hows, and very oft en they decide to kill each other over these, ultimately minor, differences. The Cathar Genocide, often known as the  Albegensian Crusade, was just such an event. It was a time when the Pope felt threatened by those who he deemed to be heretics and so decided to kill them. But, first it's time to craft our potions. Todays libations, gods I love that word, is called Melting Snow. Take two ounces of sake, 1 ounce of triple sec, 3-4 dashes of black lemon bitters, shake and pour into a rocks glass before gently pouring 1 tsp of grenadine syrup into it. The resulting drink should have the grenadine settle at the bottom initially making a lovely presentation. Though I'd mix it before actually imbibing. With that out of the way let's talk about who the Cathar were. The name Cathar comes from the Greek word katharoi, meaning “the pure ones”. Their other name, the Albegensians, comes from the fact that many adherents during the Crusade lived in or around the city of Albi. Catharism is described as a somewhat dualist, somewhat Gnostic heretical branch of Christianity. Though, it bears mentioning that both are likely exonyms and the followers of this particular faith often self identifies as Good Men, Good Women, or Good Christians. So what is dualism and what is gnosticism? Well in the case of the Cathars they were pretty much the same thing. Dualism is the moral or spiritual belief that two fundamental concepts exist, which often oppose each other. Gnosticism draws a distinction between a supreme, and hidden God above all, and a lesser deity (sometimes called the demiurge) who created the material world. Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance, but with illusion and enlightenment. Gnosticism preferred people to have personal knowledge and experience with the divine, something that threatened the power of the early Church. Cathar cosmology identified two Gods. One who created the perfect spiritual world and the other, the demiurge who created the imperfect and sinful physical world. The demiurge is often identified as Yahweh and is referred to as Rex Mundi, King of the World. All visible matter, including the human body, was created or crafted by this Rex Mundi; matter was therefore tainted with sin. Under this view, humans were actually angels seduced by Satan before a war in heaven against the army of Michael, after which they would have been forced to spend an eternity trapped in the evil God's material realm. The Cathars taught that to regain angelic status one had to renounce the material self completely. Until one was prepared to do so, they would be stuck in a cycle of reincarnation, condemned to suffer endless human lives on the corrupt Earth. Also, while they revered Jesus Christ, they also denied that he was ever a mortal man, instead believing that both he and Mary were Angels taking the semblance of a human form in order to teach our sin tainted flesh to grow closer to the purity of divinity. Other Cathar beliefs included the pescetarian diet, their view that women were pretty purely to tempt men away from divine purity and some Cathars believed that Eve had sex with Satan and gave birth to a race of giants who were all wiped out in the Great Flood. Cathars also rejected the Catholic priesthood, labeling its members, including the pope, unworthy and corrupted. Disagreeing on the Catholic concept of the unique role of the priesthood, they taught that anyone, not just the priest, could consecrate the Eucharistic host or hear a confession. There were, however, men selected amongst the Cathars to serve as bishops and deacons. Now, while the Cathar Crusade took place over a 20 year period between 1209 and 1229, the persecution against them began almost as soon as they were founded. The Cathars were denounced as heretics by 8 separate church councils between 1022 and 1163. However the true troubles wouldn't begin until 1208 when Pope Innocent III sent a legate named Pierre du Castelnau to chastise Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse for his lack of action against these heretical Cathars who lived on his land. Castelnau withdrew from Toulouse after 6 months of Raymond basically ignoring him. On January 15, 1208 Pierre was assassinated. Innocent suspected, and acted on the suspicion that the assassination was carried out by an agent of Reymond, although this was never proven.  Still, when has lack of evidence ever stopped the Church from killing people? The assassination of Pierre du Castelnau was causus belli for the Albigensian Crusade. The Albigensian Crusade, the Cathar Genocide, took place all around the area known as Languedoc, also known as Occitania. Today the province is a part of southern France, but for a while it was its own region with distinct culture and its own language. Occitan wasn't very similar to French, it was not mutually understandable. In fact it was closer to Catalan than it was to French. Now, because Catharism rejected both the authority of the French King and the Pope in favor of a far more egalitarian relationship with their nation and their God many nobles from France embraced Catharism, at least at a surface level due to their desire to also reject the authority of the King of France. This made Catharism not just a threat to the spiritual and material authority of the Pope, but also a threat to the material authority of the King. After the assassination of Castelnau Raymond VI Count of Toulouse was excommunicated from the Church. Although there was a very brief period when Raymond sent embassies to Rome and exchanged gifts. They reconciled and the excommunication was lifted, only for him to be excommunicated AGAIN on the grounds that he didn't properly meet the terms of reconciliation.  And so it was that in 1209, after assembling an army of about 10,000 men near the city of Lyons that Pope Innocent III declared his crusade against the Albigensians, stating that a Europe free of heresy could better defend its borders against Muslim armies. This crusade against the Albigensians also coincided with the Fifth and Sixth Crusades in the Holy Land. Most of the troops for the crusade came from Northern France, although there would also be volunteers from England and Austria. After some initial dispute over who would lead the quote righteous armies of the Lord unquote Papal Legate Arnaud Amalric was chosen as the commander.  As the Crusaders assembled, Raymond attempted to reach an agreement with his nephew and vassal, Raymond Roger Trencavel, viscount of Béziers and Carcassonne, for a united defense, but Raymond Roger refused him. Raymond decided to make an accommodation with the Crusaders. He was fiercely opposed by Amalric, but at Raymond's request, Innocent appointed a new legate, Milo, whom he secretly ordered to obey Amalric. On 18 June 1209, Raymond pronounced himself repentant. He was scourged by Milo and declared restored to full Communion with the Church. The following day, he took the Cross, affirming his loyalty to the crusade and promising to aid it. With Raymond restored to unity with the Church, his lands could not be attacked. The Crusaders therefore turned their attention to the lands of Raymond Roger, aiming for the Cathar communities around Albi and Carcassonne. Béziers would be the first major engagement of the Cathar Genocide, although at around the same time, another Crusader army commanded by the Archbishop of Bordeaux took Casseneuil and burned several accused heretics at the stake. The crusading armies arrived at Béziers on 21 July, 1209 and demanded that the Catholics of the city leave and that the Cathars surrender. Both groups ignored them and the city settled in for a long siege.  The siege lasted for exactly one day. The troops within Béziers attempted to sortie beyond the gates of their city and after being routed they were pursued through the open gates of the city and it fell within 24 hours. Amalric then proceeded to order the slaughter of every single person, adult or child, within the walls of the city. What follows is possibly apocryphal, a phrase which hears means made up, but allegedly when asked by his troops how they should distinguish between Catholic and Cathar Amalric said “Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius” The literal translation of which is “Kill them. The Lord knows those that are his own” There's some dispute over whether or now Amalric actually said this, but it is agreed that it captures the vibe rather well as the entire city of Béziers was killed. There were no survivors. The death toll is placed at around 20,000 people, though this is thought to be an exaggeration. Raymond Roger was not at Béziers when it fell. He had fled with most of his troops to the city of Carcassonne (yes, like the board game) intending to hold there. After the surrounding towns and villages heard about the slaughter at Béziers they all surrendered without a fight. This made Carcassonne the next major target of Amalric and his band of brigands. The 45 mile march to Carcassonne took the crusaders 6 days to complete. Once arrayed around Carcassonne they settled in for a siege that lasted slightly longer than the one at Béziers. But, after 6 days and after cutting the cities water supply Raymond Roger sought to negotiate. Amalric agreed to parley, but took Roger prisoner while speaking under truce. Carcassonne would not be the site of another slaughter though. All the people of the city were marched out of the city at sword point. They were naked according to Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay, a monk and eyewitness to many events of the crusade, but "in their shifts and breeches", according to Guillaume de Puylaurens, a contemporary. Rogers died several months later, either of dysentery or from being assassinated. In each city the armies approached, they reacted differently and treated the people differently. The fall of Lastours and castle Cabaret took much longer than the others, although this was largely because of the onset of winter. The area around Cabaret was full of communes like Lastours, Minerve, and Bram. After Minerve fell to bombardment from siege weapons, destroying the main well of the commune, it surrendered. The crusaders, now under the command of Simon de Montfort wished to be more lenient to the people of Minerve. He allowed to defending soldiers, the Catholics, and the non-perfecti Cathars. Perfecti was the title of those Cathars who were considered adept in the teachings of their faith. They were roughly analogous to deacons. The Perfecti were given the option to recant their beliefs and return to the Catholic faith. Of the 143 perfecti in Minerve, only 3 elected to do this. The rest were burned at the stake, many walking directly into the flames of their own volition, not even waiting for their executioners to force them. There were some successes for the Cathars though. The siege of Termes almost ended with the Cathar being slaughtered, but in the end them managed to abandon the city and escape before the walls could be breached, owning in part to a massive rain storm.  In May of 1211 the castle of Aimery de Montréal was retaken; he and his senior knights were hanged, and several hundred Cathars were burned. The crusade was turning towards its end. Montfort began to position his troops around the city of Toulouse meaning to crush one of the last major Cathar bastions in France. The Cathars, in their fear, turned to Peter II of Aragon for aid and support. Peter's sister Eleanor was married to Raymond VI. Peter, named a valiant hero for his actions against the Moors was able to use his influence to get Innocent to call a halt of the crusade and used that time to try and negotiate peace. When those peace negotiations failed Peter decided to come to their aid of Toulouse against Simon de Montfort, fearing that Montfort was becoming too powerful and gaining too much influence within the Catholic Church. This alarmed Innocent III who immediately declared the Crusade begun again. Meanwhile Raymond VI had had his excommunication lifted and then reinstated AGAIN during this time. Unfortunately for the Cathars and for Peter II, he would die in his first major engagement with Simon's forces. The Battle of Muret saw a devastating loss for Peter's forces. Despite outnumbering Simon's armies Simon had better tactics and carried the day. The next few years was a flurry of activity and victory fo Simon, who was eventually named the new count over all of Raymond VI's lands that had already been captured. Any land that had not yet been captured  would fall under the control of the Catholic Church who would hold onto them until Raymond VII, who was currently in England with his father, having fled a few years ago, was old enough to govern them himself. The crusade would continue for a few years more, though there were periods of confusion and relative peace. One such period was when Pope Innocent III died suddenly and unexpectedly and the crusade was taken over by the much more cautious King Philip II of France. The crusade was resumed with greater vigor in 1217 on orders from Pope Honorius III and for the remainder of it would center around Toulouse and maintaining control of it. By 1222 Raymond VII, who had returned from exile with his father had reclaimed all the lands that he had lost and the crusaders were firmly on the backfoot. Come 1225 Raymond VII was excommunicated, like his father (now deceased) and King Louis VII of France, son of Philip II (now deceased) renewed the Crusade. The Cathar heresy was going to be dealt with one way or another. The exact number of troops that Louis brought with him to renew the Crusade is unknown, but it is known that it was the largest force to be brought against the Cathars throughout the entirety of the genocide. Louis began his campaign in earnest in June of 1226 and quickly recaptured the towns of Béziers, Carcassonne, Beaucaire, and Marseille, this time with no resistance. Eventually the armies surrounded Toulouse and Raymond, not having the manpower to resist surrendered and signed the Treaty of Paris at Meaux on April 12, 1229. Now, something important to be aware of is that Historian Daniel Power notes that the fact that Peter of Vaux-de-Cernay's Historia Albigensis, which many historians of the crusade rely heavily upon, was published only in 1218 and this leaves a shortage of primary source material for events after that year. As such, there is more difficulty in discerning the nature of various events during the subsequent time period. With the war over we would transition into the next phase of the genocide, that of destroying Catharism as a cultural element and forcing surviving Cathars to repent and convert. With the military phase of the campaign against the Cathars now primarily at an end, the Inquisition was established under Pope Gregory IX in 1234 to uproot heretical movements, including the remaining Cathars. Operating in the south at Toulouse, Albi, Carcassonne and other towns during the whole of the 13th century, and a great part of the 14th, it succeeded in crushing Catharism as a popular movement and driving its remaining adherents underground. Punishments for Cathars varied greatly. Most frequently, they were made to wear yellow crosses atop their garments as a sign of outward penance. Others made obligatory pilgrimages, which often included fighting against Muslims. Visiting a local church naked once each month to be scourged was also a common punishment, including for returned pilgrims. Cathars who were slow to repent or who relapsed suffered imprisonment and, often, the loss of property. Others who altogether refused to repent were burned. The vast majority of those accused escaped death and were sentenced to a lighter penalty. Still, Catharism as a distinct religion was all but destroyed. Raphael Lemkin, who coined the word "genocide" in the 20th century, referred to the Albigensian Crusade as "one of the most conclusive cases of genocide in religious history". And, at the risk of making an appeal to authority fallacy, if the guy who invented the term and died fighting for its recognition in national and international law calls it a genocide, it is one. That's it for this week folks. No new reviews, so let's get right into the outro. Have a Day! w/ The History Wizard is brought to you by me, The History Wizard. If you want to see/hear more of me you can find me on Tiktok @thehistorywizard or on Instagram @the_history_wizard. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Have a Day! On your pod catcher of choice. The more you do, the more people will be able to listen and learn along with you. Thank you  for sticking around until the end and, as always, Have a Day.  

Henry III decides to reclaim the lost Plantagenet lands in France. He, his brother Richard and Simon de Montfort head out on an ill-fated campaign against the powerful French King, Louis IX. What goes down between Simon and Henry in France will set them, and all of England, hurtling towards war, death and destruction.  A Sony Music Entertainment production.  Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts  To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com  Learn more about your ad choices.  Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer and Story Editor - Georgia Mills Executive Producer - Louisa Field Production Manager - Jen Mistri  Composer -  Matt Acheson  Sound Design and Mixing - Chris O'Shaughnessy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Magna Carta has failed and the country is plunged into war. John devises a cruel plan that involves taunting his starving enemies with the delicious smell of bacon. Meanwhile, Louis the Lion, the son of the French King, prepares to invade England, while the Pope's representative race to beat him there. John is running out of time, but he's not going down without a fight.  This is History is a Sony Music Entertainment production.   Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts     To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com    Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer and Story Editor - Georgia Mills Executive  Producer - Louisa Field  Sound Design and Mixing - Chris O'Shaughnessy Production Manager - Poppy Thompson Composer -  Matt Acheson  Engineer - Matias Torres Sole  Marketing Manager - Emily Webb  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

King John's first real test of leadership arrives, in the form of a treaty with Philip Augustus, the wily King of France. Will John spot the French King's trap, or blunder straight into it? Meanwhile, a grim discovery in the river Seine sets the tone for the reign of England's most diabolical ruler.  This is History is a Somethin' Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.   Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts     To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com    Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer and Story Editor - Georgia Mills Executive  Producer - Dave Anderson and Louisa Field Production Manager - Jen Mistri and Poppy Thompson Composer -  Matt Acheson  Sound Design and Mixing - Chris O'Shaughnessy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Howdy, folks! You're host of Operation GCD Podcast, Double J, back here. Thanks for joining me here today to get a lil GCD, in today's podcast journey I welcome a guest Detective Portal – whom I became acquainted with as he is a subscriber to the aforementioned “The Farm” podcast hosted by Steven Snyder – as mentioned in the Part 1 of the Esoteric and/or Occulted History of Cincinnati series – and Detective Portal heard me on “The Farm” podcast & happens to be a fellow resident of the #1 drug overdose death capital of America – good ol Clermont County, OH – aka the east side of the city of Cincinnati. Today's podcast journey serves as a Part 2 to the esoteric and/or occult history of Cincinnati. Where Detective Portal and myself….uhhh, Double J here….discuss some of the HIGH-weirdness of historical events here in Clermont County. Of course we discuss the Society of the Cincinnati, the ancient architecture of America - the "Mounds", we also discuss even more Cryptids – which Detective Portal blows my mind hole with a Octopus cryptid incident that was widely sighted with numerous reports to media and police, and lastly we discuss the future French King living in Clermont County under an assumed identity during the Wars of 1776, otherwise known as the American and French Revolutions. I am not a library! But here are some links for today's show notes: 1. Future King of France living in Clermont County - http://clermont-county-history.org/historical-articles/king-of-france.html 2. Clermont County Octo-man Cryptid - https://astonishinglegends.com/astonishing-legends/2020/10/30/the-octo-man-from-ohio 3. Clermont County Nike Missile Base/alleged MK Ultra location orb sighting - https://www.nikeultra.com/ 4. Joseph Smith magical biz - https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Joseph_Smith/Occultism_and_magic/Jupiter_talisman#Question:_Did_Joseph_Smith_have_a_Jupiter_talisman_on_his_person_at_the_time_of_his_death.3F 5. More Joseph Smith magic biz - https://www.mrm.org/folk-magic 6. George Washington maps & surveys - https://www.loc.gov/collections/george-washington-papers/articles-and-essays/george-washington-survey-and-mapmaker/list-of-early-maps-and-surveys/#western-lands 7. The Society of the Cincinnati - aka. America's 1st "secret society" - https://www.societyofthecincinnati.org/president-generals-welcome/ 8. One of Cincinnati's high volume of "Mound" locations - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpin_site 9. Mothman sighting location on a "Mound" - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Riverside+Club+Of+West+Virginia/@39.0267758,-82.00766,17z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x8848884857b93a4b:0x3753512f4171705a!8m2!3d39.0267758!4d-82.00766!16s%2Fg%2F1tr7k23q?entry=ttu 10. Golf courses built on "Mounds" - https://www.indianz.com/News/2005/11/28/golf_course_in.asp 11. An alleged "haunted" cemetery in Clermont County Mound site - https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ohclecgs/cemeteries/smyrna/index.html --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jj-vance/message

“Brother, this is the greatest sorrow and the greatest trial that could happen to me in the whole course of my life. But don't despair; before you lose sight of him who did the mischief, you shall see yourself revenged by my hand.” — Benvenuto Cellini “Folk too gathered round us, for it had become clear that our words meant swords and daggers.” — Benvenuto CelliniItalian artists from the Renaissance often lived lives that would make artists-gangsters a la Biggie or Tupac blush. Born at a time and place when colorful individuals abounded, Benvenuto Cellini was the wildest of them all. He is remembered as one of the greatest artists of the era, and at the same time as a man of explosive passions, equally inclined to murder and disturbing sexual escapades. In this second episode: Cellini and his path to vengeance, summoning demons inside the Colosseum, the 48 Laws of Power at the court of the French King, escaping from prison, surviving poisonings, Perseus and Medusa, and much, much more. If you are looking for entertainment set in the Renaissance, you really can't ask for anything better. If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content. Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout. Big thank you to Babbel for sponsoring this episode. Right now, get up to 55% off your subscription when you go to https://babbel.com/HOFAlso, thank you to Hillsdale College for sponsoring this episode. Checkout Hillsdale.edu/historyonfire to have access to free online courses. Foto di Copertina: Paolo Villa

Annie Rauwerda ('Depths of Wikipedia'), J. Draper and Geoff Marshall face questions about sporting schemes, misty mirrors and Boston billboards. LATERAL is a comedy panel game podcast about weird questions with wonderful answers, hosted by Tom Scott. For business enquiries, contestant appearances or question submissions, visit https://www.lateralcast.com. HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. RECORDED AT: The Podcast Studios, Dublin. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Ricky James, Ryan G., Jared Pike, Charlie. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard comes roaring back onto the scene, having finally won his freedom. Now, he's got his work cut out, reclaiming the lands his brother gave away or lost to the French King. But also, there's the small matter of revenge. The people who dared put The Lionheart behind bars are about to get what's coming to them.  This is History is a Sony Music Entertainment production.   Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts     To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com    Written and presented by Dan Jones Producer - Clem Hitchcock  Series Producer and Story Editor - Georgia Mills Executive  Producer - Dave Anderson Production Manager - Jen Mistri  Composer -  Matt Acheson  Sound Design and Mixing - Chris O'Shaughnessy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jonathan Freedland takes The Long View of Spring Offensives. As Ukraine prepares for what is anticipated will be a Russian Spring Offensive, Jonathan is joined by two historians. Dr Michael Jones looks back at the spring offensive of 1356 in the Hundred Years War, which would lead eventually to the Battle of Poitiers and the capture of the French King. Professor Heather Jones of University College London discusses the German offensive of 1918 at the end of the First World War. In both cases the winter season forced the conflict to pause and allowed both sides to prepare for the Spring to come. The transition to spring is a time too for anxiety and tension. The actors Roger Ringrose and Leah Marks provide illustrative readings. The Producer is Tom Alban

As today's guest Tim Clayton explains, 'the late eighteenth-century mixed the extremely crude with the extremely fine in a fascinating sort of way.' The grand master of this potent concoction was the greatest political caricaturist of modern times: James Gillray. Gillray worked in raucous, restless times. He began in the wake of the American War of Independence and, having charted each twist and turn of the French Revolution, he died a short time before the Battle of Waterloo. In this time he pioneered a fearless new brand of political satire. No one was spared. He lampooned King George III; his son the Prince of W(h)ales; the prime minister William Pitt the Younger, and all the prominent cultural and political figures in London life. But how did he get away with it? What was his true motivation? How clever really was James Gillray? In this episode the historian Tim Clayton takes us back to 1792, a testing year for Gillray, to find out. The characters and stories that feature in this episode of Travels Through Time form part of Clayton's latest book. James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire is out now. Show notes Scene One: February/March 1792 London and Hannah Humphrey's house at 18 Old Bond Street. Scene Two: 21 May 1792. The Royal Proclamation against seditious writing. Scene Three: December 1792. The French King is on trial and Gillray releases his series of ‘pro bono publico' prints. Memento: A fire screen, painted on both sides by Gillray, as presented by the artist to Hannah Humphrey. People/Social Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Tim Clayton Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours Theme music: ‘Love Token' from the album ‘This Is Us' By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ See where 1972 fits on our Timeline

To comprehend Samuel de Champlain, we must understand the character of the French King he served so faithfully, Henri IV (1553-1610). Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/9pz_6dkKUOo which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams. Go follow our YouTube page to enjoy additional Bonus content including original short 60 second capsules at https://bit.ly/3eprMpO Mark Vinet's TIMELINE video channel at https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Get exclusive access to Bonus episodes, Ad-Free content, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on Patreon at https://patreon.com/markvinet and receive an eBook welcome GIFT or Donate on PayPal at https://bit.ly/3cx9OOL and also receive an eBook welcome GIFT. Denary Novels by Mark Vinet are available at https://amzn.to/33evMUj Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Twitter: https://twitter.com/TIMELINEchannel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu Podcast: https://anchor.fm/mark-vinet TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@historyofnorthamerica Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization AudioWorks: Champlain's Dream by D. Hackett Fischer, read by E. Herrmann (Simon & Schuster). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.

An Ayrshire Trilogy Dedicated to People in Scotland  : Originally written by James Miller for performance in the village of Dunlop, it was adapted for audio by Jill Korn. Robert Burns is Scotland's national poet and is famous for his poems and songs across the world. In 1786 he sent a copy of his first book of poems to an elderly widow called Mrs Frances Dunlop and they wrote to each other for almost 10 years. She advised and supported Burns. He married Jean Armour who loved him but he had many lovers. Burns was a republican who supported the French Revolution as well as the execution of the French King and Queen.  Mrs Dunlop was against this and she stopped writing to Burns, refusing to answer his letters. He died in poverty and it is not known whether Frances Dunlop answered his final letter to her. This is a complex play consisting of narration, songs by Robert Burns, extracts from real letters and dramatic scenes. CAST : ACTORS/ SINGER The Storyteller : Robert Donaldson Frances Dunlop : Diane Brooks Robert Burns : Lorenzo Novani The Maid and Jean Armour : Rachel Macpherson-Graham James Armour and Gilbert Burns : John McQuiston Songs performed by Rachel Macpherson-Graham PRODUCTION Writer and director : Jill Korn Sound production : John Boyd Sound recording : Paul Gallacher In Collaboration with Sound Escape Theatre Connect with us :   instagram.com/podcastaudios    facebook.com/podcastaudios    twitter.com/podcastaudios     Our Website : www.creativeaudios.in --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creativecellsaudios.in/support

This is the first of episodes regarding the life and legacy of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  While she is more known as the mother to English Kings' Richard and John, Eleanor was a major power player in her own right.  This April Queen was an early feminism who continually pushed back against the patriarchal systems built into the age.  This episode covers her upbringing, her marriage to the French King, and her role during the second Crusade.  It concludes with her divorce and subsequent remarriage to Henry II and the civil war that followed.   Contact the show at resourcesbylowery@gmail.com  If you would like to financially support the show, please use the following paypal link.  Any support is greatly appreciated and will be used to make future episodes of the show even better.   Expect new shows to drop on Wednesday morning except for during the Winter Break period and Summer. Music is licensed through Epidemic Sound  

While last week Charles V and Henry VIII slowly boxed Francis I in, this time the French King risks all on one more throw of the dice. And loses. The Battle of Pavia will see the French King become the prisoner of the Emperor, turning the tables upside down on the political life of pre-modern Europe.Check out the Website for more content: www.westerncivpodcast.comJoin the Patreon Feed for Ad-Free Versions of the Show: www.patreon.com/westerncivpodcastTry a Seven-Day Free Trial of Western Civ. 2.0: www.glow.fm/westernciv

Jean Bernadotte's dad, a local prosecutor in the southwestern French city of Pau, ​​intended for his son to follow in his footsteps as a lawyer. Instead, Jean became heir to the Swedish Crown on September 26th, 1810, and his descendants still sit on the Swedish throne to this day. Shortly after he moved to Sweden, the new crown prince was joined by his wife, Désirée, and their 11-year-old son, Oscar. But it's fair to say Désirée wasn't exactly enamoured with the new land her husband was set to rule; she swiftly returned to France and didn't come back for another 13 years. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly look into why Napoleon became an accidental Swedish kingmaker; explore why it is best to do all your conquering just before declaring yourself to be neutral; and ask why no one has yet made any of us the monarch of their country. Further Reading: • ‘Centenary of Sweden's proud Bernadotte dynasty' (The New York Times, 1910): https://www.nytimes.com/1910/05/15/archives/centenary-of-swedens-proud-bernadotte-dynasty-founded-one-hundred.html  • ‘The French Army Officer Who Became a Scandinavian King' (Real Scandinavia, 2019): http://realscandinavia.com/jean-bernadotte-the-french-soldier-who-became-king-of-sweden/  • ‘A Royal family keeping up with the times' (The Swedish Royal Palace, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bTZDGn4SUE  Love the show? Join 

Years before her pregnancy, Louise of Angouleme was given a prophecy. Not only would she have a son, but that son would go on to be the King of France. At the time the idea seemed fanciful. Charles VIII sat on the French throne she was married to a minor member of the royal extended family. But then the unexpected death and ascension of the childless Louis XII suddenly made it seem as if her dream might come true. Today we introduce Francis I and follow the French King through his roughly first ten months of kingship as he battles for Milan at Marignano. Check out the website for more content at: www.westerncivpodcast.comBecome a Patron for Ad-Free Versions of the Show at: www.patreon.com/westerncivpodcastSubscribe to hear Western Civ 2.0 at: www.glow.fm/westernciv

Some of the most popular songs from The Cult come from Sonic Temple, their fourth studio album.  They garnered some attention in 1985 when the single “She Sells Sanctuary” off their second album hit the US charts, and they had established a solid following as a “post punk” or “goth rock” band, but Sonic Temple would put them over the top with its more hard rock appeal.The band lineup for this album consisted of Ian Astbury on vocals and percussion, Billy Duffy on guitar, Jamie Stewart on bass and keyboards, and newcomer Mickey Curry on drums.  Prior to Curry, the band had relied on Eric Singer for the first demos, and Chris Taylor for second demos at the drums.While the critical reception was mixed with some considering the work too conventional, the commercial success was undeniable.  The album shot up to the top 10 in both the UK and the US, and was certified gold in the UK and platinum in the US.Creative differences would destabilize the group on their fifth studio album and the group would break up after 1998.  However several reunions took place over the years, and the group is back together as of 2022. Brian leads the discussion of this album.Sun KingAstbury and Duffy wrote this song, inspired by Louis XIV.  Known as the Sun King, Louis XIV is the French King who moved the royal court to Versailles.  The track is an explicitly masculine one.  “I'm a sun king, baby, let me take you by the hand.  Sun king, honey, we can rule across the land.”  Fire WomanThe first single from the album is this well known track.  As with all the tracks, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy wrote this hit which peaked at number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts.  Astbury has stated that this is a universal symbol, an archetype of the femme fatale.Edie (Ciao Baby)Edie Sedgwick is the inspiration for this song.  Sedgwick was an actress and socialite who traveled in Andy Warhol's circles in 1960's New York.  Sedgwick lived fast and died young of a drug overdose.  She was 28 when she died.  Her last film was “Ciao! Manhattan.”  This is not the only song inspired by Sedgwick, as Bob Dylan's “Just Like a Woman” is supposedly inspired by Edie Sedgwick as well.Sweet Soul SisterThis track was written in Paris, inspired by the Americanization of European culture.  It was the fourth single released from the album.  The song observes the love/hate relationship that comes with both the attraction and resistance experienced as a response to American culture, particularly in France. ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:The main theme from the television series "Saturday Night Live" Mike Myers joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, and original cast member Gilda Radner died in this month in 1989. STAFF PICKS:So Alive by Love and Rockets Rob begins the staff picks with a group that sounds a bit like INXS.  This single is off the self-titled fourth album from Love and Rockets.  “You're legs are strong and you're so, so long, and you don't come from this town.”  The single made it to number 3 in the U.S., and was considered the number 1 modern rock song in the U.S. for 1989.Walkin' Shoes  by Tora ToraWayne features a rock-blues number from a group out of Memphis, Tennessee.  This underrated song made it to number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the sound reminds us of Motley Crue and Led Zeppelin.  The group won studio time in a Battle of the Bands contest.  Tora Tora is still recording as of 2022.Dreams In the Dark by BadlandsBruce's staff pick is a hair band formed by former Black Sabbath members Ray Gillen (vocals) and Eric Singer (drums), former Ozzy guitarist Jake E. Lee, and former Surgical Steel bass player Greg Chaisson.  After Lee was fired from Ozzy's band by Sharon Osborne, he was motivated to form this band.  As mentioned previously Eric Singer had a hand in the demos of The Cult's album, and would go on to join KISS. Good Thing by Fine Young CannibalsBrian  wraps up this week's staff picks with the second big hit from FYC's album, “The Raw & the Cooked.”  Fine Young Cannibals hail from Birmingham, England, formed in 1984 and disbanded in 1992.       COMEDY TRACK:Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child  by Mojo NixonThis boogie-woogie comedy track is a good example of the type of parody song for which Mojo Nixon is famous.

We began this evening with Step 3 “On Exile.”The connotation of the word, as we discussed, can lead one to think of punishment or being removed from the things that are needed or loved. However, as we make our way through the step we begin to see that exile is a path to freedom. It is a gradual turning away or separating oneself from the world in order that one might become inseparable from God. At the heart of exile is a deep desire for God; the longing of the heart that leads one to run toward Him as the source of life. The more we begin to see this truth the clearer it becomes to us that we cling to things with a sense of needing them for meaning or purpose. Exile is so important because it removes that illusion. It shows us that so many things that we have had in our lives hold no lasting promise within them. God is to be the beginning and end of all things for us; and exile gives birth to the kind of detachment that allows us to be ever so confident in what He alone can provide. --- Text of chat during the group:  00:14:06 FrDavid Abernethy: page 63, para. #2   00:14:22 David Robles: Dear Father David, Thank you for inviting me to the meeting today. What step and section?   00:14:58 FrDavid Abernethy: page 63 par 2   00:15:02 FrDavid Abernethy: On exile   00:15:21 Robyn Greco: hi , Hope everyone is well   00:15:23 Sheila Applegate: This time the link said it was a malicious link.   00:15:37 Sheila Applegate: But the zoom one works.   00:16:12 Anthony: Do you spray with Copper Sulfate, Vicki?   00:16:14 David Robles: I'm not using your edition. I have the Holy Transfiguration Monastery Edition.   00:16:30 FrDavid Abernethy: Thats the edition we use   00:16:33 FrDavid Abernethy: 2012   00:17:28 Sr Mary of our Divine Savior solt: Greetings too!   00:18:07 Joseph Caro: fr   00:18:13 David Robles: Mine is 1991. Second edition   00:18:16 Fr. Miron Kerul-Kmec Jr.: I don't like being a boss! Haha   00:18:45 Joseph Caro: I have been meaning to thank you for the little book you sent awhile ago, but I keep forgetting!  thank you!   00:19:24 David Robles: Step 4 Obedience starts on page 20.   00:23:43 David Robles: Oh I see Exile. Found it   00:31:27 David Robles: Father, would you agree that the intensity and character of the exile for a lay person, a cenobitic monk or a hermit are different levels? Is there an interior exile that is the same for all?   00:32:29 David Robles: St Isaac the Syrian is pretty radical on this, as it is required of a hermit   00:36:04 Anthony: This keeping the "mind" inseparable from God, is he referring to cogitation, a constant stream of thought, or something else?  Is "mind" more like "nous" or heart or merely presence here?  I'm thinking it's not cogitation, since that can be exhausting and since the Fathers remind us our imaginations can willingly and unwillingly be the playground of evil.   00:39:25 David Robles: Dianoia is rational discourse   00:39:32 Sam Rodriguez: St Paul often talks about Sin and Death as Dominions. Where there is a Dominion of Sin, a Dominion of Death. Or, in other words, that we are born into a Lordship of Sin, a Lordship of Death, by virtue of Original Sin. And thus, to be "Delivered" as a Christian, represents being transferred from one Kingdom to another. To be transferred to the Kingdom where Jesus is Lord. And Has Dominion over our lives. Where our lives no longer belong to ourselves. Our bodies no longer belong to ourselves. They have been ransomed at a price. And thus, I'm wondering if this language of Exile is a restatement of a Deliverance process. Where its not that those things in our lives are bad, but that they require His Lordship in order for the Goodness of those Created things to be Received and Revealed and Shared. Being intentional about how we use our time. Or our phones. Or approach our relationships. That we are actively inviting Him to continually Conquer our attraction to those things, Exercise His Dominion over them.   00:45:35 Bridget McGinley: I recently came across the book The Way of a Pilgrim. I am memorized by his desire for separating himself from the active world to desperately seek the concept of unceasing prayer yet he does not enter a monastery and wanders the earth mixing with others. Unceasing prayer is a commandment from God, correct? This concept of exile seems unloving to the Eastern societies especially in our country where human contact is considered charitable. When we want to separate even from family and friends because they distract us we are sometimes accused of lacking "charity" but it is well understood in the Orthodox cultures that this is a great gift. I relate to what Robyn just said.   00:49:34 Joseph Caro: the idea of exile (separation) to keep us inseparable to God reminds me of marriage , where one keeps themselves from others in order to be in union with ones spouse.   00:52:27 Sam Rodriguez: Regarding what Father shared earlier, saying that we should perhaps genuflect before a newly-Baptized baby.... there's a beautiful story of St Louis IX, the French King. After one of his babies was Baptized, the Saint is reported to have joyfully picked up his baby and gave the baby a kiss, right where the baby's heart was, and exclaimed "Hello, Jesus!"   01:01:49 Ren: There is an interesting reversal at play here. Normally, when we say someone is exiled, it is exile from something/some place - a banishment from the good, the community, the kingdom - and the place of exile does not matter at all. Here, however, exile is an action taken for the sake of something, and the place of exile - that place in which the soul remains unseparated from  God - is the only thing that matters.   01:04:42 Ren: Much the same kind of reversal that turns the barren desert into a place of encounter with Life itself!   01:06:18 Erick chastain: how does exile give place to the demon of sensuality?   01:15:09 Ashley Kaschl: Exile being the mother of detachment makes a lot of sense. While we've been talking about exile in a way that it leads to greater intimacy with God, a direct confrontation with the passions, and a renunciation of the world, I learned it the other way around: that, almost by proxy, a choosing of Christ over everything else in the day-to-day life, moment by moment, leads one to be exile by default. Is this the thought of the West, that one winds up in exile through intimacy with Christ, while the East encourages exile to find that intimacy with Christ?   01:18:29 Rachel: YES!! Fantastic points!   01:19:31 Rachel:

Research borrowed from: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/were-there-female-pirates   https://www.piratesquest.co.uk/top-10-famous-female-pirates/   Mentalfloss.com   https://www.badassoftheweek.com/teuta There have been dramatic Tales of women sailing the open oceans and seas throughout history. Most of these legends began from the Golden Age of Piracy (1650 to 1720). However, there are stories of female pirates dating back thousands of years.    According to history, women weren't permitted to stay on ships once they had set sail. Sailor superstitions thought that women on merchant and military vessels were bad luck and could mean disaster at sea. The presence of women was believed to anger the water gods, which might cause storms, violent waves, and weather. Others thought that women would just distract the male sailors at sea and fall victim to harassment and even violence.  Women weren't allowed to hold jobs at sea until the 20th Century. Some women would disguise themselves as men, using a fake name, but there could be severe penalties if they were caught. So the only way for most women to participate in running a merchant vessel before 1900 was through their relations or marriage.  Only recently, women were allowed at sea within the British Royal Navy. In October 1990, during the Gulf War, the HMS Brilliant carried the first women officially to serve on a functioning warship. In 1998, Commander Samantha Moore became one of the first female officers to command a Royal Navy warship, HMS Dasher.    The superstitions and old-school customs for military and commercial vessels were also held for pirates. Historically, women who remained on ships at sea would have to do so illegitimately and in disguise. They would also need to learn the critical skills necessary for a life at sea before setting sail. Without this knowledge, it would have been tough to be a female sailor, let alone a pirate.  Piracy was a criminal act, so becoming a pirate could mean being arrested and even killed. It wasn't a decision taken lightly. Although pirates are often portrayed as swashbuckling heroes or villains, many were ordinary men and women forced into piracy to survive difficult times.    Piracy has been around since people first hopped on a boat, so it's likely women dressed like the women or as sailors of their time. But unfortunately, many of the depictions of male and female pirates we see today are glamorized accounts of the 17th Century's golden age of piracy. The rise of popular fiction tales in the 1800s dramatically affected our understanding of pirate attire. One example is "The Penny Dreadful," a famous book series of the 1860s - both in the United States and the British Empire. These cheap books told sensational stories of adventure. They featured pirates and highwaymen, likely a leading source for many tales and imagery of female pirates today.  As we mentioned, many women who became sailors often had to hide their identity and conceal their gender by dressing like men. However, the stories of Grace O'Malley, Mary Read, and Anne Bonny show that these pirates did not hide their gender. They wore whatever they wanted, depending on what they were doing. In the pamphlet "The Tryals of Captain John Rackam and other Pirates" published in 1721, people of the time said: "When they saw any Vessel, gave Chase, or Attacked, they wore Men's Cloaths; and, at other Times, they wore Women's Cloaths."   Ok, let's talk about some of the more famous lady pirates.    Queen Teuta of Illyria Queen Teuta of the Illyrians was a badass Classical Age warrior queen who oversaw a fleet of hardcore pirates. She tormented the Spartans in their own backyard, led armies and navies that conquered cities and islands along the Adriatic coast, and told the Romans to eat a bag of dicks. Then she went out on her own terms by hurling herself off a mountain after supposedly burying 6,000 pounds of gold in a secret location at a place called Devil's Island. Her last words were a curse that doomed the Albanian city of Durres to "never have a seafaring tradition." Yet, she's still a national heroine of Albania, appears on their 100 lek coin (basically the $1 bill), and is generally depicted in full armor with a take-no-prisoners demeanor.    Queen Teuta's husband was King Agron, a pretty brutal warrior-type dude. He ruled over one of the more powerful Illyrian tribes. Illyria is what Greeks called anyone who lived on the Adriatic coast north of Greece. Still, Agron and Teuta were almost certainly from present-day Albania. This detail bears mentioning mostly because the Albanians don't really like being confused with Serbs or Croats. In 231 BC, King Agron put together an awe-inspiring army, conquered Illyria in a whirlwind of blood, and set his sights south towards Greece. One tribe near the Greek border that was really pissing him off was the Aetolians. So when they laid siege on a city allied with Agron, the Illyrian King responded by launching 5,000-guys in a water-based night attack from the Adriatic Sea. The King captured the high ground, charged downhill with heavy infantry, destroyed their camp, and broke their Army's spirit. The victory was considered so awesome that everyone just went nuts and had this colossal rager party. In all of his amazingness, King Agron got so drunk that his lungs exploded.   Rule of the Illyrians technically passed to Agron's son, but he was only two years old. Teuta took over as the boss. She went right to work taking over where her hubby King Agron left off plundering, conquering, destroying everything in sight, and so on. She sent armies to the Peleponnese, sacking and ravaging the lands Sparta was supposed to defend. Her troops captured Phoenice, the wealthiest city in the Northern Greek region of Epirus. She held it for ransom and then gave it back to its people in exchange for money, slaves, treasure, and the undying loyalty of its citizens. When she wasn't dispatching armies to loot and plunder her enemies, she told any Albanian man with a rowboat and a scimitar to step up. She wasn't going to punish them if they raided, pirated, and plundered ships along the Adriatic… as long as she received a percentage of the profits. For the next few years, no ships were safe. The Illyrian pirate fleet destroyed Greek and Roman shipping, dominating the wealthiest and most trade-heavy waters on earth, taking whatever they wanted. Yes, they were killing it. However, this craziness didn't really go down well with the new power in the Mediterranean-- the Roman Republic. So Rome sent two brothers to talk to Teuta and tell her to knock it off.  They met her in her throne room in the city of Scoda. They demanded that she order a cease-fire on all Illyrian piracy and pay Rome reparations for all the ships and goods they lost.  Teuta was busy managing the Siege of Issa and all the other conquests she was undertaking. So (according to Roman sources), she told the brothers that "it was contrary to the custom of the Illyrian kings to hinder their subjects from winning booty from the sea." Or, eat one! Well, as you probably guessed, the Romans didn't like hearing this, especially from a woman. The ambassadors basically started lecturing Queen Teuta on manners, respect, and yadda yadda yadda. Naturally, Queen Teuta had that dude's throat cut, and his brother chucked into an Albanian prison.   Things were great until five or six years into Queen Teuta's reign when the Romans showed up with a big ol fleet and 20,000 legionnaires. All battle-hardened from the War with Carthage and drilled by professional Roman drill instructors. Teuta rallied the Illyrian defenses, but she was immediately betrayed by her top General named Demetrius. Teuta fought heroically but ultimately was forced to surrender to Rome in 227 BC. There are rumors that she took a bunch of treasure she'd accumulated from her pirates and armies and buried it in a cave on an island somewhere in her domain.   The Romans allowed Teuta to rule a small domain after she surrendered. Still, they made that traitor Demetrius the regent for King Agron's young son. Not long after, Rome decided to get rid of Demetrius, and of course, our fearless Queen. Upon hearing of Rome's plans, Teuta fled her palace. She climbed to the top of a nearby mountain, placed a curse on the city of Risan so that they'd never be able to build a good ship again, and then hurled herself off a mountain to her death.  Teuta is a pretty common name in Albania to this day. She appears on their money and has a special place in the hearts of the Albanian people. Go to the city of Durres. You'll see that the National Bank of Albania has a statue of her reclining on a chaise lounge and wearing nothing but a spear, a shield, and a helmet. Ladgerda Ladgerda (also spelled Lagertha) was a Danish Viking pirate who lived in the 9th Century AD. She was a shieldmaiden - Viking women who carried a sword and shield, known for their ferocity and skills in battle on land and sea.  With only a few accounts of her life known to exist, historians have controversy whether Ladgerda is, in fact, a legendary figure and a substitute for the actions of a group of women. One story suggests that she rescued her husband's fleet from a warring tribe but, on saving him, murdered him with a concealed knife and took his place as the leader of the tribe. You may have heard of her from the show "Vikings," kicking ass and taking names.   Jeanne de Clisson Jeanne de Clisson, the Lioness of Brittany. Noblewoman, wife, mother, pirate. Jeanne swore revenge against the French King after the execution of her husband. She raised a fleet of ships that terrorized the French and led a loyal army to sack many French strongholds for over a decade. And she did so alone in the 14th Century. Jeanne de Belleville was born in 1300 in Belleville-sur-Vie into the French nobility. She married her first husband, Geoffrey de Châteaubriant VIII, at only 12 years old. He was seven years her senior. In fourteen years of marriage, they had two children. In 1326, Jeanne was widowed. In 1328, she married Guy of Penthièvre, though this marriage was short-lived and annulled in 1330. The same year, Jeanne married for the third time, which would lead to her infamy. Olivier de Clisson IV was a wealthy Breton nobleman whose property included Château de Clisson, a manor house in Nantes, and lands at Blain. Jeanne had also inherited land in the province of Poitou, south of the Breton border, and these combined assets made them a real power couple of the 14th Century. Their marriage resulted in five children, including their son, Olivier V de Clisson, later known as 'The Butcher', due to his brutality in battle. Their eldest child, Isabeau, was born in 1325. At the time, Jeanne was still married to her first husband and Olivier to his first wife, who died in 1329. We know little of their relationship, but it's easy to note the timing of the annulment of her second marriage, in 1330, to the death of Olivier's wife a year prior. Their marriage was likely a rare love match. Amidst a complex backdrop of conflict, like so many wars, Jeanne and her husband supported Charles de Blois as Duke of Brittany. But for reasons unknown, Charles de Blois was mistrustful of Olivier de Clisson, questioning his loyalty.  Sources differ on the cause for this mistrust. Some claim that Olivier defected to join the English side. Another story points to Olivier's capture by the English during the capture of the city of Vannes in 1342. Olivier de Clisson had been acting as military commander alongside Hervé VII de Léon, in defense of the city when it fell. What is strange, however, was the terms of Olivier's release. He was released in exchange for Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford, a prisoner of the French, and for a suspiciously low ransom. Hervé VII de Léon, meanwhile, was never released. It is thought that the low ransom for Olivier's freedom gave Charles de Blois reason to distrust him. He made a devil's deal! Due to Charles de Blois' suspicion, in 1343, Olivier was captured with fifteen other Breton Lords at a tournament and taken to Paris to be tried in court. On August 2 1343, Olivier de Clisson was found guilty on several counts of treason and sentenced to be executed by beheading immediately. Olivier's trial shocked the nobility due to his guilt's lack of available evidence. However, his death was equally shocking, as the public desecrating/exposing a body was usually reserved for low-class criminals rather than members of the nobility. The death of her third husband was a turning point in Jeanne's life, and it is fair to say that she was never the same again. She took her two young sons to Nantes to show them the head of their father, displayed on a pike at the Sauvetout gate. She did this with the intention of searing hatred in their hearts. She swore her revenge against the French King, Phillip VI, and Charles de Blois in her fury. She considered her husband's execution to be an act of cowardice and murder. She sold the de Clisson estates, using the money to raise an army of men who had been loyal to her husband. Leading this Army, she attacked many French strongholds. First, her Army massacred the entire garrison, except for a sole survivor. Then, her Army rampaged along the Normandy coast, burning many villages to the ground. In 1343, Jeanne was found guilty of treason, confiscating her remaining lands. However, it seems she otherwise escaped the charge without punishment. That same year, King Edward III granted Jeanne income from English-owned lands in Brittany. Soon, she turned her attention to piracy, building a fleet of ships. Painted coal-black, their sails dyed blood red, others dubbed the ships "The Black Fleet." During this time, she earned her nickname, the Lioness, or Tigress, of Brittany. Jeanne named her flagship 'My Revenge.'   With the support of the English King, Jeanne's fleet scoured the channel, attacking any French ship that she encountered, massacring entire crews. However, she left a few witnesses to send a warning message to the French King. Jeanne continued pirating the English channel for another 13 years until the sinking of her flagship in 1356. Along with her two sons, she was adrift at sea for five days, during which Jeanne rowed non-stop in search of rescue. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, her son, Guillaume, died of exposure. Jeanne and her surviving son were eventually rescued and taken to Morlaix. It is said that Jeanne de Clisson's ghost still haunts Château de Clisson, her beloved third husband's castle, to this day. Lady Mary Killigrew Another fearsome pirate of the Elizabethan era, Mary Wolverston, or Lady Killigrew (before 1525 – after 1587) was known for her pirate activities along the Cornish coast. Mary was the daughter of Lord Phillip Wolverton, a former pirate. She later married Sir Henry Killigrew, a pirate who was later made a Vice-Admiral by Queen Elizabeth I.  While Henry was employed to uphold maritime law, some ex-pirates were engaged as "privateers," sailing under the favor of the Crown to amass illicit profits for England. Mary was known to be a champion of her husband's criminal activities. She redesigned their home at Arwenak castle to hide stolen goods, cut deals with smugglers, and raid ships. It is thought that the Queen turned a blind eye to this and even pardoned her in later life.  Grace O'Malley Grace O'Malley (a. 1530 - 1603) was a formidable Irish pirate and a decisive leader who successfully defended her lands against English governance and other hostile Irish clans. O'Malley was the daughter of a chieftain and was educated in seafaring by her father. After his death, she took to the seas (even giving birth to her first child while aboard a vessel).  As the English began occupying Ireland, O'Malley fortified important coastal defenses and offered her support to Irish rebels. She even met with Queen Elizabeth I in September 1594 at Greenwich Castle where they created a treaty in Latin.   Mary Read Mary Read was born in Devon County, England, in the late 17th Century. She had a harsh childhood. Her father had died before she was born, and her half-brother Mark passed away soon afterward. Nevertheless, Mary's paternal grandmother supported Mary and her mother only because she thought her grandson Mark was still alive. To keep the death of Mary's brother a secret from his grandmother, Mary was raised as a boy, pretending to be her older brother. When Mary Read was about thirteen years old, her grandmother died. Mary still dressed as a boy and had to find a job with boyish habits. She became a footboy to a wealthy French woman who lived in London. Unsatisfied with her current position, Mary escaped and boarded a man-o-war. A few years passed, and she became bored again. This time she joined the Army, where she met her future husband. After confessing love and her true gender to him, they left the Army, married, and opened an Inn called Three Horseshoes near Castle Breda.  Mary Read was always surrounded by death. After just a few months of marriage, her husband got sick and died. Desperate, she just wanted to escape from everything and joined the Army again. This time, she boarded a Dutch ship that sailed to the Caribbean. Mary's ship was attacked and captured by the pirate, Calico Rackham Jack, who took all English captured sailors as part of his crew. Unwillingly she became a pirate. Soon after, she started to enjoy the pirate way of life. When she could leave Rackham's ship, Mary decided to stay.  On Rackham's ship, she met the one and only Anne Bonny. Being the only women on the boat and sharing a lot in common, they quickly became good friends. Some people believe that Mary Read was in a romantic relationship with Anne Bonny, Rackham, or even crewmembers.  Mary's pirate career ended in October 1720. She was captured by Captain Barnet in a desperate battle. In Port Royal, they stood trial. Rackam and his crew were found guilty of piracy, but Mary and Anne were spared because they claimed to be preggers.  Mary Read died with her unborn child in prison from fever. She was buried at St. Catherine's parish in Jamaica.   Anne Bonny Most of what is known of Bonny's life comes from the volume A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates (1724), written by a Capt. Charles Johnson (thought by some scholars to be a pseudonym of English writer Daniel Defoe, not to be confused with the green goblin, Willem Defoe) and considered highly speculative. Anne was thought to be the illegitimate daughter of Irish lawyer William Cormac and a maid working in his household. Cormac separated from his wife after discovering his cheatin' ass ways and later assumed custody of Anne. Following his hookup with her mother, he lost most of his clientele, and the trio emigrated to Charles Towne (now Charleston, South Carolina). Anne's mother died of typhoid fever when Anne was 13 years old. Her father betrothed her to a local man, but Anne resisted. Instead, in 1718 she married sailor John Bonny, with whom she traveled to the island of New Providence in the Bahamas. Her husband became an informant for the governor of the Bahamas. Not happy with her marriage, she became involved with pirate John (“Calico Jack”) Rackham, which hopefully sounds familiar unless you're drunk like Logan. He offered to pay her husband to divorce her—a common practice at the time—but John Bonny “aw, hell Nah!” In August 1720, Anne Bonny abandoned her husband and assisted Rackham in commandeering the sloop William from Nassau Harbour on New Providence. Along with a dozen others, the pair began pirating merchant vessels along the coast of Jamaica. Rackham's decision to have Bonny accompany him was highly unusual, as women were considered bad luck aboard ships. Her fierce disposition may have swayed him: fictional stories claimed that when she was younger, she had beaten an attempted rapist so severely that he was hospitalized. Bonny did not conceal her gender from her shipmates, though when pillaging, she disguised herself as a man and participated in armed conflict. Accounts differ on when her female compatriot Mary Read joined the crew. Some state that Read—who had served as a mercenary while disguised as a man—was among the original hijackers of the William, while others claim that she was aboard a Dutch merchant ship that Rackham's crew captured. On November 15, 1720, Capt. Jonathan Barnet caught up with the William at Negril Point, Jamaica. Except for Bonny and Read, who fiercely battled their pursuers, the crew was too drunk to resist, and they were captured and brought to Spanish Town, Jamaica, for trial. Rackham and the male crew members were immediately found guilty and hung. Bonny and Read were tried on November 28. Though they too were found guilty and sentenced to death, their recently discovered pregnancies won them stays of execution. Read died in prison the following year, but Bonny was released, likely because of her father's influence. She returned to Charles Towne, where she married, had children, and lived out the remainder of her life. Jacquotte Delahaye Delahaye was born around 1630 in Haiti, though there is no evidence of her birth, and many of the stories seem to originate from 1940s writer Léon Treich. Legend believes that the British navy killed her father, and her mother died during childbirth. As she was destitute, she joined a pirate crew and later commanded a fleet of ships.  With striking red hair and the legendary status of surviving many dangerous encounters, she was named "Back From The Dead Red."   Ching Shih Contrary to popular belief, the most successful pirate-lord in recorded history was not Blackbeard, Henry Morgan, Sir Francis Drake, or any other human with a wiener. Instead, it was an extraordinary Asian woman known today by Ching Shih, which translates to ‘Ching's widow.' Her saga is nothing less than an exhilarating rag to riches story. At the height of her power, she commanded over 800 large ships, 1000 smaller vessels, and over 70,000 pirate crew, comprised of both men and women. In comparison, Blackbeard, at his peak, commanded only 300 ships and a few thousand pirate crew. Ching Shih was born as Shih Yang, in 1775, in the poverty-ridden society of Guangdong province, in China. Like many of the women of this period, on attaining puberty at the age of thirteen, she was forced into prostitution to supplement her family's income. She worked in one of the floating brothels, also known as flower boats, in the Cantonese port city. These boats would sail along the nearby coast with the customer on board. Back then, the Chinese perceived that the boat's rocking added an entirely new dimension to sexual pleasures and enhanced the overall experience. If the ships a Rockin… you get it. In a short period, young Ching Shih had become the talk of the town due to her striking beauty, poised nature, and lavish hospitality. These attributes attracted several high-profile customers, including courtiers of the royal palace, army military commanders, wealthy merchants visiting the port city, and many more. Apart from this, very little is known about her early life, given her humble origins. In 1801, Zheng Yi, a notorious pirate commander of the infamous Red Flag Fleet, encountered Ching Shih in the Cantonese port and was smitten by her beauty. Of course, he visited the floating brothel and met Ching Shih, expressed his feelings, and asked her to marry him. Ching Shih told him that she would marry him if “she was granted fifty percent share over his monetary gains and a partial control over his pirate fleet.” This demand showed that she did not want to end up as eye candy for her husband for the rest of her life. Drowned in his boner-filled love for her, Zheng Yi invariably agreed to her conditions, and they got hitched. The truth of this chain of events is often debated today. Historians claim that Zheng Yi had ordered his men to abduct Ching Shih from the brothel, forcibly marrying her. Regardless, it was Ching Shih who benefited the most from their union, and her encounter with Zheng Yi is often considered to be her stepping stone to greater glory, which in turn got her etched into history as one of the most successful pirates in recorded human history. Under the joint command of Zheng Yi and Ching Shih, the Red Flag Fleet began to grow and prosper like never before. The fleet grew from 200 ships, at the time of their wedding, to 1800 ships, in the next few months. Immediately after joining her husband, Ching Shih implemented some crucial changes and constituted the code of laws to be followed to the T by all the crew. Here are a few: 1) Pirates who gave unauthorized orders or those who refused to follow orders were executed on the spot without a chance to justify themselves. 2) All seized goods had to be presented for inspection. If any pirate was found hiding or under-reporting goods, a part of their body was chopped off depending on the scale of the crime. 3) Loyalty and honesty were greatly appreciated, and worthy pirates were rewarded generously, setting an example for the others. 4) Female captives needed to be treated respectfully. They were segregated based on their looks. The weak, pregnant, and ugly ones were freed as soon as possible. 5) The beautiful women captives were held back for ransom. The pirates were given the freedom to marry these attractive women under mutual consent. 6) Infidelity and rape were treated as serious offenses. These offenders were immediately hanged. In the case of consensual pre-marital sex, both the offenders were executed. In some instances, the man was castrated, and the woman was banished from the fleet.   Apart from these, several economic reforms were implemented, considering the crew's happiness as an expression of gratitude towards them. This addition resulted in many of the pirate groups of the region merging themselves unconditionally under the banner of the Red Flag Fleet, which resulted in it becoming the largest pirate fleet on the face of the planet. Meanwhile, unable to conceive a future heir, the pirate couple decided to adopt a young angler in his mid-twenties named Cheung Po from a nearby coastal village, which means that Cheung Po became the second in command to Zheng Yi and the most respected crew after him and Ching Shih. This move puzzled many crew members as to why the pirate couple chose to adopt a fully grown man. Let's find out! Just six years into their marriage, in 1807, Ching Shih's life took a sudden tragic turn; Zheng Yi passed away during a devastating storm off the coast of Vietnam. Their adopted son Chang Pao was instated as the leading commander of the Red Flag Fleet and the pirate queen Ching Shih's confidant. Amidst this tragedy, there was an internal rift for dominance amongst the power-hungry captains of partnering ships. The future of the Red Flag Fleet was in danger. Ching Shih managed to secure command of the fleet and win the support of factions loyal to Zheng Yi, including his nephew and cousins, by utilizing a few cunning business tactics. Soon after, the power-hungry traitors were captured and executed in public to set an example and deter any future possibilities of a coup.   Following this situation, stricter disciplinary measures and codes of laws were implemented, and the lawbreakers were hacked to death instantly regardless of their rank.   Less than two weeks after the tragic death of her husband, the pirate queen announced that she was getting married to her adopted son, the commander of the Red Flag Fleet. AH HA!! She had shared a relationship with him for a long time, which is why she was not conceiving from her first marriage. It was under her influence that her sucker husband, Zheng Yi, had adopted the young fisherman and declared him as his willful heir. Under the leadership of Ching Shih, the Red Flag Fleet set off to capture new coastal villages and flaunted total control and domination over the South China Sea. This onslaught added to the trouble British and French colonizers faced as the pirates regularly plundered their ships. The Red Flag Fleet was operating its businesses at an enormous scale. Not a single ship moved in the South China Sea without the knowledge of Ching Shih's army. Entire coastal towns worked for them, supplying them with food, goods, and other provisions. The pirates taxed ships that wanted to cross the South China Sea. If they refused, they were attacked and plundered immediately.   Nevertheless, the Chinese dynasty desperately wanted to end all this. So, the novice Mandarin navy vessels were sent out to confront the Red Flag Fleet in the South China Sea and destroy them. A few hours into the battle, the Mandarin navy began a humiliating defeat. Ching Shih used this opportunity and announced that the Mandarin crew would not be punished if they joined hands with the Red Flag Fleet. So, just like that, the Mandarin navy was absorbed by the pirates, and the Qing dynasty lost a considerable part of their navy.   The Emperor of China was enraged to think that a woman controlled such an enormous amount of the land, sea, resources, and people that belonged to him. So, in an attempt to ink a peace deal with the pirates, the emperor offered an amnesty to all pirates of the Red Flag Fleet, hoping to terminate Ching Shih's reign over the sea.  Meanwhile, the Red Flag Fleet came under attack from the Portuguese navy. That navy had already been defeated twice before. However, this time things were different because they came prepared with bigger ships and weapons. This superiority gave the Portuguese an upper hand, and the Red Flag Fleet could not return with an attack of the same size. The Europeans were slaughtering them in their own backyard. Ching Shih recognized no point in fighting; the Portuguese navy ruthlessly destroyed her fleet. So she readily accepted the treaty offered by the Chinese emperor. The entire crew of the Red Flag Fleet was forced to surrender. The emperor allowed pirates to take home all the loot they had accumulated over the years without facing any significant repercussions. Plus, several pirates were granted jobs within the Chinese bureaucracy. Ching Shih's adopted son and later husband Chang Pao became the captain of Qing's Guangdong navy. In 1813, she welcomed her first child, Cheung Yu Lin, followed by a daughter whose whereabouts have been long lost in history.   In 1822, her second husband lost his life at sea, after which she relocated to Macau along with her children and opened a gambling house with all the loot she had grabbed at sea. She was also involved in trading salt. Towards the end of her life, she opened a brothel in Macau, bringing her life full circle.   Ironically, after kicking so much ass, she died peacefully in her sleep at the age of, yep, “sixty-nine.”   Sadie the Goat – In 1869, Sadie the Goat joined the Charlton Street Gang, headquartered at a gin mill at the end of Charlton Street on the West Side of New York. Her real name was Sadie Farrell, but she became known as Sadie the Goat because of her favorite form of fighting: headbutting men in the stomach and having a male sidekick knock the victim out so they could steal his money and valuables. Before joining the gang, she prowled the streets of the Fourth Ward and was known as a brutal mugger. However, after a terrible fight with another female gangster, Gallus Mag, Sadie the Goat lost her ear fled. Gallus Mag had bitten the ear off entirely and stored it in a jar in a saloon she owned.  After Sadie lost the fight and her ear, she left the Fourth Ward and found a new home on the West Side with the Charlton Street Gang. Before her arrival, the gang had decided to become pirates and cause problems along the shores of the Hudson River, but they weren't very good at it. However, with Sadie stepping in, things began to turn around. With Sadie commanding the gang, they stole a ship and made her captain of their pirate crew. These pirates patrolled the Hudson River stealing and terrorizing, becoming rich in the process. It is said that Sadie the Goat was known for her cruelty and made several of her own men walk the plank throughout the pillaging. True to form, her ship carried the Jolly Roger flag. After a few months of pirate life, local farmers along the river banded together and engaged the pirates in gun battles. As a result, the Charlton Street Gang decided to call it quits and Sadie the Goat returned to the Fourth Ward. There, she surrendered to Gallus Mag, the gangster who ripped off her ear in their last fight. Honored by the gesture, Mag returned Goat's ear to her, and it's said Sadie the Goat wore it in a necklace, in a locket, for the rest of her life. Maria Lindsey – Maria Lindsey met notorious pirate captain Eric Cobham, and it was love at first sight. Cobham revealed his profession to Maria, but she was not put off – in fact, they were married the next day! The two left Maria's hometown of Plymouth and spent around 20 years sailing the seven seas as swashbucklers.   Rachel Wall Rachel Wall's biography is riddled with myths and legends, but if tales about her are true, she was one of the first and only American women to try her hand at piracy. As the story goes, Wall was a Pennsylvania native who ran away from home as a teen and married a fisherman named George Wall. The couple settled in Boston and tried to survive, but constant money problems eventually led them to turn to a life of crime. In 1781, the couple bought a small boat, hooked up with a few low-life mariners, and began preying on ships off the coast of New England. Their strategy was as ingenious as it was brutal. Whenever a storm passed through the region, the pirates would dress their boat up to look like rough seas had ravaged it. Rachel would stand on the deck and plead for help from passing ships. When the unsuspecting rescuers came near, they were promptly boarded, robbed, and murdered. Wall may have lured over a dozen ships to their doom, but her luck ran out in 1782 when a real storm destroyed her boat and killed her husband, George. She continued her thieving on land and was later arrested in 1789 for attacking and robbing a Boston woman. While in prison, she wrote a confession admitting to "Sabbath-breaking, stealing, lying, disobedience to parents, and almost every other sin a person could commit, except murder." Unfortunately for Wall, the admittance wasn't enough to sway the authorities. On October 8, she became the last woman ever executed in Massachusetts when she was hanged to death in Boston   Anne Dieu-Le-Veut   She was also from Brittany, and her name translates to “Anne God-Wants.” She came to the Caribbean island of Tortuga in the late 1660s or early 1670s. From there, she suffered some rocky years that made her a widow twice, as well as a mother of two. But, her second husband was killed by the man who'd become her third. Dieu-le-Veut insisted on a duel with Laurens de Graaf to avenge her late husband. The Dutch pirate was so taken by her courage that he refused to fight her and offered her his hand. They married on July 28, 1693, and had two more children.   Dieu-le-Veut set sail with de Graaf, which was considered odd as many seamen thought women on ships bad luck. Yet Dieu-le-Veut and de Graaf's relationship has been compared to that of Anne Bonny and Calico Jack, inseparable partners who didn't give a shit about superstition.   Dieu-le-Veut's legend took over as captain when a cannonball blast struck down de Graaf. Others suggest that the couple fled to Mississippi around 1698, where they may or may not have continued to pirate. And still, other tales claim that Dieu-le-Veut's spirit lived on in her daughter, who was said to be a badass in her own right by demanding a duel with a man while in Haiti. Awilda,  Aghast at the thought of marrying a snake-slayer named Alf, she took off, leaving the palace disguised as a man. She gathered a band of disgruntled women also keen to staying single, commandeered a ship and set sail for a life of piracy; Together Awilda & her female crew learned to weild axes and swords, quickly establishing a fearsome reputation across the Scandinavian seas. When they came across another ship, full of male pirates whose captain had just died, she managed to convince them all to follow her as their new captain! Word had spread of this growing band of pirates and the Danes sent their own ships to try and capture her. By this time Awilda commanded a large fleet, when her old flame Alf led an expedition to hunt her down, he found himself outnumbered. However, displaying the same courage & wit as he had when defeating those snakes, he managed to put ship after ship out of action until he finally made it to the lead ship where Awilda was waiting, sword in hand. He didn't know that it was Awilda he was hunting and the realisation only hit him when, in the midst of a swashbuckling swordfight he knocked the helmet clean off her head and recognised the girl he had risked life & limb for all those years before by killing all those snakes! Perhaps she was impressed by his sword skills or his willingness to stand down, perhaps she just had a change of heart or realised how perfect their names would sound together, either way she decided that Alf wasn't too bad after all and that she would take him as her husband. In true fairy tale style they lived happily ever after as Queen & King of Denmark. Sister Ping  Cheng Chui Ping, aka Sister Ping, was a woman who ran a successful human smuggling operation between Hong Kong and New York City from 1984 until 2000. She was arrested in Hong Kong in 2000 and extradited to the United States in 2003. She was held in U.S. Federal prison until she died in 2014 and nicknamed "The Mother of All Snakeheads," a translation of the Chinese word for "smuggler."

The blade fell at 10.22am, after which it is reported that a number of members of the public rushed forward to dip their handkerchiefs in Louis' ...

When we talk about climate change, we usually talk about how we have to fly less, drive less, eat less meat, cut down our plastic, etc. What we don't often talk about is the impact of cities, yet cities are responsible for 80 percent of all greenhouse emissions! And cities are only expected to grow. With approximately half of the global population living in cities right now, we're expecting to see that number increase to two-thirds in 2050. So how do we rise to this challenge? Is it really possible to make cities net-zero or even net-positive?That is what we'll get into in this conversation with Benoit Bazin, CEO of Saint-Gobain!Our GuestBenoit Bazin is the current CEO of Saint-Gobain, one of the top ten oldest corporations in the world, and an aspiring worldwide leader in sustainable construction. The company was first founded in 1665 by the French King's minister Colbert, with the intention to get France ahead of the mirror-making business, and ended up producing all the glass for the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.With 167,000 employees spanning 110 different nationalities and industrial operations in no less than 70 countries, Saint-Gobain is a company we want with us on the sustainability ride! You currently find their windows in Le Louvre, The Statue of Liberty, the Whitney Museum, and other impressive buildings around the world.Sign up for the 10-week Climate Optimist Challenge: https://theclimateoptimist.substack.com/CONNECT + FOLLOW:Podcast Instagram: @heychange_podcast Anne Therese:Website: https://theclimateoptimist.com/Instagram: @annetheresegennari Robin:Website: https://parentsxplanet.com/https://www.joinlocalallies.com/Instagram: @robinxshawIntro + outro music: No Copyright Music by Sapajou See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On Jacques Cartier's first exploration trip in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, he planted a 30-foot wooden cross overlooking the bay of Gaspé (Quebec, Canada) symbolizing the ownership of the territory on behalf of the French King, Francis I, on July 24th, 1534. Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/aXZkwrI3V10 which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams. Denary Novels by Mark Vinet are available at https://amzn.to/33evMUj Learn more about History with The Teaching Company's Great Courses Wondrium FREE Trail, which offers streaming access—on your TV, computer or mobile device—to thousands of unlimited ad-free video courses, lessons, documentaries, travelogues and more. Follow our custom link for FREE Trail access to mind-blowing educational experiences: https://thegreatcoursesplus.7eer.net/MarkVinet Surf the web safely and anonymously with ExpressVPN. Protect your online activity and personal info like credit cards, passwords, or other sensitive data. Get 3 extra months free with 12-month plan by using our custom link at http://tryexpressvpn.com/markvinet Want a FREE audiobook of your choice? Get your Free audiobook with a 30 day Free membership by using our customized link http://www.audibletrial.com/MarkVinet Join our growing community on Patreon at https://patreon.com/markvinet or Donate on PayPal at https://bit.ly/3cx9OOL and receive an eBook welcome GIFT of The Maesta Panels by Mark Vinet. Support our series by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/33evMUj (Amazon gives us credit at no extra charge to you). It costs you nothing to shop using this FREE store entry link and by doing so encourages, supports & helps us to create more quality content for this series. Thanks! Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Twitter: https://twitter.com/TIMELINEchannel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 YouTube Podcast Playlist: https://www.bit.ly/34tBizu Podcast: https://anchor.fm/mark-vinet Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WadeOrganization LibriVox: Mariner of St. Malo, A Chronicle of the Voyages of Jacques Cartier by S. Leacock, read by K. McAsh & S. Denney

Adhamy, Amir. “What Did a Lady-in-Waiting Actually Do?” HistoryExtra, 26 Nov. 2020, www.historyextra.com/period/what-did-lady-ladies-in-waiting-do-role.Akingswhore. “Akingswhore.” A King's Whore, 1 Feb. 2018, akingswhore.tumblr.com/post/170353396161/diane-de-poitiers-3-sep-1499-25-apr.Andy. “Everything You Need to Know About Edible Gold Leaf.” Cooked Best, 15 Feb. 2021, cookedbest.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-edible-gold-leaf/#:%7E:text=Uses%20of%20Edible%20Gold%20leaf%3A,-Edible%20gold%20leaf&text=The%20gold%20leaf%20flakes%20add,or%20in%20pre%2Dfab%20flakes.Author, Guest. “Beauty Secrets of a Royal Mistress.” DC on Heels, 17 Feb. 2015, dconheels.com/2015/01/30/beauty-queen.Bates, Claire. “Dying to Look Good: French King's Mistress Killed by Gold Elixir of Youth.” Mail Online, 22 Dec. 2009, www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1236916/Dying-look-good-French-kings-mistress-killed-gold-elixir-youth.html.Beck, Shari. 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Bloomington, IN, iUniverse Booksellers, 2011.Biller, Lauren Davis And Diana. “7 Ways That People Died Trying To Become Immortal.” Io9, 16 Dec. 2015, io9.gizmodo.com/7-ways-that-people-died-trying-to-become-immortal-1691947345.Burkovski, Amanda. “Henry and Diane: A Love/Sad/Fantastic Story Illustrated With the Character's Real Portraits.” Medium, 15 Nov. 2019, medium.com/@AmandaBurkovski/henry-and-diane-a-love-sad-fantastic-story-27d255735225.Carley, Claudia Suzan. “Diane de Poitiers vs. Catherine de Medici.” WordPress.Com, 14 Oct. 2015, castlesandcoffeehouses.com/2015/06/15/diane-de-poitiers-vs-catherine-de-medici.CeeGunn. “Jousting Rules in Medieval and Modern Times.” HowTheyPlay, 19 Mar. 2021, howtheyplay.com/misc/Medieval-Jousting-Rules.Charlier, Philippe. “A Gold Elixir of Youth in the 16th Century French Court.” The BMJ, 16 Dec. 2009, www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b5311.full.---. “Fatal Alchemy: Did Gold Kill 16th Century French Courtesan And Favorite Of Henri II.” British Medical Journal, Dec. 2009, www.bmj.com/bmj/section-pdf/186428?path=/bmj/339/7735/Diagnosis.full.pdf.Climans, Kyle. “Extravagant Facts About Diane de Poitiers, Royal Mistress.” Factinate, 29 Jan. 2021, www.factinate.com/people/facts-diane-de-poitiers.Cloud, Amanda. “Gender Roles of Women in the Renaissance.” Cedarcrest.Edu, Cedarcrest.edu, www2.cedarcrest.edu/academic/eng/lfletcher/shrew/acloud.htm. Accessed 13 Apr. 2021.Consort, Newberry. “Queen of the Arts: Catherine de' Medici.” The Newberry Consort, 25 Feb. 2019, www.newberryconsort.org/queen-of-the-arts-catherine-de-medici/#:%7E:text=When%20Catherine%20moved%20to%20France,sons%2C%20be%20trained%20in%20dance.Context Travel Contributors. “Royal Rivalry: Diane De Poitiers and Catherine De Medicis.” Context Travel, 2 Mar. 2020, www.contexttravel.com/blog/articles/royal-rivalry-diane-de-poitiers-and-catherine-de-medicis.DA SOLLER, CLAUDIO. “THE BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN MEDIEVAL IBERIA: RHETORIC, COSMETICS, AND EVOLUTION.” Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri-Columbia, 2005, pp. 1–201, mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/4175/research.pdf.Delors, Catherine. “Diane De Poitiers Returns to Her Grave… « Versailles and More.” Versailles and More, 2010, blog.catherinedelors.com/diane-de-poitiers-returns-to-her-grave.Dhwty. “A Mistress with the Midas Touch: Her Hunger for Gold Would Be the Death of Her.” Ancient Origins, 13 Feb. 2018, www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/mistress-midas-touch-her-hunger-gold-would-be-death-her-009589.“Diane De Poitiers...Three Cold Baths a Day and a Perfectly Disciplined Body...the Beauty Secrets That Made the Ladies of the Court Enragees.” Vogue | The Complete Archive, 1 Oct. 1969, archive.vogue.com/article/1969/10/01/diane-de-poitiersthree-cold-baths-a-day-and-a-perfectly-disciplined-bodythe-beauty-secrets-that-made.Dovey, Dana. “No Fairy Tale: Tiny Bacteria Spin Gold From Toxic Heavy Metals.” Newsweek, 7 Feb. 2018, www.newsweek.com/gold-bacteria-heavy-metal-toxic-798615.Encyclopedia.com Contributors. “Diane de Poitiers (1499–1566) | Encyclopedia.Com.” Encyclopedia, 2020, www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/diane-de-poitiers-1499-1566.Enviromental Protection Agency. “Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining Without Mercury.” US EPA, 16 Nov. 2020, www.epa.gov/international-cooperation/artisanal-and-small-scale-gold-mining-without-mercury#:%7E:text=In%20many%20countries%2C%20elemental%20mercury,mercury%20to%20obtain%20the%20gold.Food and Drug Administration. “Edible Gold Leaf FDA Certificates. Host Your next Event, Style Your Menu and Make a Memorable Experience for Your Guests.” Ediblegold.Com, 2019, ediblegold.com/fda.html.GardensOnline Pty. Ltd. “Chateau de Chenonceau.” GardensOnline, Gardens Online, 2021, www.gardensonline.com.au/inspiration/gardensoftheworld/show_92.aspx.Greenberg, Jake. “Drinking Gold Did Not Help the 16th-Century French Elite Fight Aging.” InsideHook, 21 Sept. 2018, www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/news-opinion/drinking-gold-16th-century-french-aging.“Heavy Metal Poisoning: What You Should Know.” WebMD, 22 Jan. 2018, www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-is-heavy-metal-poisoning.Johnson, Jon. “Mercury Poisoning: Symptoms and Treatment.” Medical News Today, 9 Jan. 2018, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320563#causes.Kate. “Drinking Gold for Youth: Beauty Treatment Kills Woman.” The Belgravia Centre, 27 Oct. 2010, www.belgraviacentre.com/blog/drinking-gold-for-youth-beauty-treatment-kills-woman-473.Katy, and Nathan. “Queens Podcast - Side Hustle: Diane De Poitiers, Episode 18 on Stitcher.” Stitcher, uploaded by Queens Podcast, 5 Feb. 2018, www.stitcher.com/show/queens-podcst/episode/side-hustle-diane-de-poitiers-episode-18-53157060.Kynaston Bowden, Caroline Mary. “FEMALE EDUCATION IN THE LATE SIXTEENTH AND EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES IN ENGLAND AND WALES: A STUDY OF ATTITUDES AND PRACTI CE.” Institute of Education University of London, 1996, pp. 46–60, discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10019233/1/389405.pdf.Lindsay Holiday. “Queen Catherine de' Medici.” YouTube, uploaded by Lindsay Holiday, 4 Aug. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGHfRrzRMOM.Malone, Noreen. “Waity Katie's Ladies.” Slate Magazine, 15 Apr. 2011, slate.com/human-interest/2011/04/kate-middleton-s-ladies-in-waiting-what-will-they-do.html.Marquez. “A Brief History of The Medici Family.” YouTube, uploaded by Marquez, 26 Mar. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGEyzt47VYU.McDowall, Carolyn, and Carolyn McDowall. “Diane de Poitiers – Moon Mistress and Woman of Influence.” The Culture Concept Circle, 9 June 2014, www.thecultureconcept.com/diane-de-poitiers-moon-mistress-and-woman-of-influence.Mejia, Paula. “Drinking Gold Was a Grisly Anti-Aging Trend of 16th-Century France.” Atlas Obscura, 7 Jan. 2019, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-did-people-prevent-aging.Michael Jiroch. “A Walk Around Château de Chenonceau, Loire Valley, France.” YouTube, uploaded by Michael Jiroch, 30 Jan. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KujZuJ8syQ.Milne, Andrew. “24 Hours at Château de Chenonceau with Diane de Poitiers.” Explore France, 29 Oct. 2019, us.france.fr/en/loire-valley/list/diane-de-poitiers-chateau-chenonceau.Montagne, Renee. “NPR Cookie Consent and Choices.” NPR Morning Edition, National Public Radio, 18 Dec. 2009, choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121600083.National Center for Enviromental Health. “Hypothermia|Winter Weather.” Center for Disease Control, 26 Feb. 2018, www.cdc.gov/disasters/winter/staysafe/hypothermia.html.Nicholson, Joseph. “How Is Mercury Used to Purify Gold?” Sciencing, 2 Mar. 2019, sciencing.com/how-mercury-used-purify-gold-4914156.html.Osterloff, Emily. “What Is Ambergris?” Natural History Museum, www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-ambergris.html. Accessed 13 Apr. 2021.Paris, By Henry Samuel In. “French King's Mistress Poisoned by Gold Elixir.” The Telegraph, 22 Dec. 2009, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6865939/French-kings-mistress-poisoned-by-gold-elixir.html.Quora Contributors. “What Happens When You Eat Gold.” Quora, 4 Feb. 2020, www.quora.com/What-happens-when-you-eat-gold.Sidney, Deana. “Beauty, Brains and Style –– Diane de Poitiers and Renaissance Potage-Green Sauce.” Lost Past Remembered Blog, 15 Mar. 2015, lostpastremembered.blogspot.com/2015/03/beauty-brains-and-style-diane-de.html.The BMJ. “Fatal Alchemy.” YouTube, 4 Jan. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSvaf-4Cbj4.“The Garden of Catherine De Medicis.” Chenonceau, 29 May 2017, www.chenonceau.com/en/gardens/the-garden-of-catherine-de-medicis.The Italian Tribune. “How Did the ‘Mona Lisa' End up in France?” Mona Lisa's Florence, 30 Mar. 2019, becomingitalianwordbyword.typepad.com/monalisabook/2016/03/how-did-the-mona-lisa-end-up-in-france.html.Tran, Christine. “Raunchy Facts About King Francis I, Father Of The French Renaissance.” Factinate, 26 Feb. 2021, www.factinate.com/people/41-raunchy-facts-about-king-francis-i-father-of-the-french-renaissance/#:%7E:text=Francis%20I%20of%20France%20passed,of%20his%20lungs%20in%20shreds.%E2%80%9D.U of M Medicine. “Hypothermia and Cold Temperature Exposure | Michigan Medicine.” University of Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, 26 Feb. 2020, www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/aa53968spec#:%7E:text=Hypothermia%20can%20occur%20when%20you,(21%C2%B0C)%20water.User, Super. “Gold Chloride.” Espi Metals, espimetals.com/index.php/msds/137-Gold%20Chloride. Accessed 13 Apr. 2021.Weather and Climate Contributors. “Average Monthly Water Temperature in Nice (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur), France - (Celsius).” World Weather & Climate Information, weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-water-Temperature,nice,France. 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The French King and his family attempt to flee France but are quickly discovered and returned to Paris.  Concern for their safety led to the Declaration of Pillnitz in 1791.  It urged European powers to intervene in France on behalf of the beleaguered King and Royal Family.  The French took it as a declaration of war.  The summer of 1791, saw the Massacre of Champ de Mars in Paris.  In the fall of 1791, the National Assembly finally adopted and push out the first French Constitution. During this period of time political factions appear in the National Assembly.  Most notably, the Jacobins, a radical left group, begin their rise to power. By the end of 1968, China was at war with itself and the foreigners that inhabited China, and anyone associated with foreigners. Revolutionary Committees had replaced the Red Guards and the Culture Revolution Group.  More fear, mayhem, and death. Chairman Mao changes tact and orders that students and Red Guards be sent to the countryside for indoctrination and to gain control over the chaos.  The countryside movement did not get off to an auspicious start.  Before the countryside movement was over, tens of millions of students and their families would be permanently affected.

Today is a bit of a throwback to a video that was made for the Life on the Wrist YouTube channel. We have a series where we pay respect to some of the influential watchmakers who came before us. These are the bright minds that created the incredible discoveries that led to many of the watches we have on our wrists today. The watchmaker for today is Ferdinand Berthoud known for his various sea chronometers made for the French King.The original video can be found here.Our article about Ferdinand Berthoud can be found here.You can find us on our Website, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook Want to be part of the Launch of our clothing line? Check out Life on the Wrist Merch!

In this third episode on the background for Dante's Epistle I to Cardinal Niccolò da Prato in 1304, we'll look at the events and chaos that comes when the French Prince Charles of Valois enters Florence, and until the final banishment of the Bianchi in April 1302.  In a little over two years, the Black Guelphs and Corso Donati have then taken full control of the city, but at a very high price, and the tensions between Pope Boniface and the French King have also increased.  Dante is now in Exile, in which he will remain for the rest of his life.  Thanks for listening! 

    The Mongols were famous for their ultimatums of destruction and submission. No shortage of thirteenth century states received demands for their unconditional surrender to the Great Khan granted divine mandate to rule by Eternal Blue Heaven. Initially, the Mongol imperial ideology was extremely black and white: you could submit to Mongol rule, or face total annihilation. There was no room for other relationships, for the Great Khan had no allies, only subjects. But as the thirteenth century went on and the dream of Chinggisid world hegemony slipped away as the divisions of the Mongol Empire went their separate ways, the Mongol Khans in the west began to seek not the capitulation, but the cooperation of western Europe to aid in their wars against Mamluks. For the Ilkhanate's sixty-year struggle against the Mamluk Sultanate, the Il-Khans sought to bring the Popes and Monarchs of Europe to a new crusade to assist in the defeat of the Mamluks, an ultimately fruitless endeavour, and the topic of today's episode. I'm your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.       The first Mongol messages to the Kings of Europe came in the late 1230s and 40s, accompanying Batu and Sube'edei's western invasion, asking the Hungarians how they possibly could hope to flee the grasp of the Mongols. We know the Mongols sent a number of envoys to European monarchs and dukes, and employed a variety of peoples in this enterprise, including at least one Englishman. Over the 1240s and 50s, European envoys like John de Plano Carpini or William of Rubrucks to the Mongol Empire returned from Karakorum with orders for the Kings and Popes to come to Mongolia and submit in person.While Rus' and Armenian lords and kings did do so, there is little indication that European rulers even responded to these demands. For the Mongols, who seemed poised to dominate everything under the Eternal Blue Sky, there was little reason to adopt more conciliatory language. From their point of view, the Europeans were only stalling the inevitable: soon Mongol hoofbeats would certainly be heard in Paris and Rome. The Mongols treated the European states as their diplomatic inferiors, subjects basically in a state of rebellion by fact that they had not already submitted. Cruel, threatening and demanding letters were the norm, and it's safe to say any future efforts at alliance were greatly hampered by this opening salvo. The rare diplomatic exception was an embassy sent to King Louis IX of France during his stay in Cyprus in 1248 just before the 7th Crusade. There, messengers came from the Mongol commander in the west, Eljigidei, an ally to the reigning Great Khan, Guyuk. Headed by two Christians in Eljigidei's service, the embassy bore letters from Eljigidei. These letters called Louis ‘son,' and had no demand of submission, but mentioned Mongol favouritism to Christians, urged the French King not to discriminate between Latin and non-Latin Christians as all were equal under Mongol law, and wished him well in his crusade. The two Christian representatives of Eljigidei asserted that he was a Christian and that Guyuk himself had already been baptised. The urged Louis to attack Egypt, and prevent its Ayyubid prince from sending forces to aid the Caliph in Baghdad, who the Mongols were soon to attack.     Louis, is should be noted, almost certainly had not been anticipating any cooperation from the Mongols; he had  been well aware of their attacks on Hungary only a few years before, learned of Mongol demands and treatment of foreign powers from travellers like Carpini, and apparently received Mongol ultimatums for his submission in 1247. Further, a devout Christian, it is unlikely he would have gone looking for allies among “pagans,” even for fighting against Muslims. Still, he reacted well to Eljigidei's messengers and sent a return embassy with gifts with them back to Eljigidei which were to be sent on to Guyuk, while the initial letter was forwarded back to France and ultimately to King Henry III of England. Ultimately, it was for naught. Guyuk was dead even before Louis received Eljigidei's letter, and  Eljigidei himself was soon put to death in the following political turmoil. Little is known of the embassy Louis sent back with Eljigdei's representatives, but from the little heard of it through William of Rubruck a few years later, it seems to have achieved nothing beyond meeting Guyuk's widow and the regent, Oghul Qaimish, who portrayed Louis' gifts as tokens of the French King's submission.  Following the meeting on Cypress, Louis IX suffered a humiliating defeat in Egypt at Mansura, captured and was ransomed by the newly emerging Mamluks. By the time he returned to France and received Oghul Qaimish's reply, not only was she dead, but the responding letter was essentially another demand for his surrender. This first non-threatening Mongol embassy succeeded only in making the King of France feel like he had been tricked, especially since the new Great Khan, Mongke, sent a letter back with William of  Rubruck that disavowed Eljigidei's embassy. It has been speculated that Eljigidei was using the embassy to spy on Louis, as he was wary of the sudden arrival of Louis' army in Cyprus, and a desire to find out his military intentions, rather than any genuine interest in cooperation at this point.  His hope may have been to ensure that this new army attacked Mongol enemies, rather than get in the way of the Mongols.       The halting of the Mongol advance at Ayn Jalut by the Mamluks, and fracturing of the Empire into independent Khanates after Great Khan Mongke's death left the new Ilkhanate in a precarious position. Surrounded by enemies on all sides, the only direction they could expand not at the expense of fellow Mongols was against the Mamluks, who fortified their shared border with the Ilkhans. Even a small raid could trigger the arrival of the full Mamluk army, a dangerous prospect against such deadly warriors. Yet the Ilkhans could not bring their full might to bear on the shared border with the Mamluks in Syria, as it would leave their other borders open to attacks from the Golden Horde, Chagatais or Neguderis, in addition to the trouble of provisioning an army in the tough, hot and dry conditions of the Levantine coastline, a route the Mamluks secured and fortified. Opening a new front against the Mamluks was necessary, and there were already convenient beachheads established  in the form of the remaining Crusader States.   A shadow of their former selves, the Crusader states were represented by a few major coastal holdings like Antioch, Tripoli, and Acre, and inland fortifications like Krak de Chevaliers and Montfort, as well as the Kingdom of Cyprus, whose ruler, Hugh III of Cyprus, took the title King of Jerusalem in 1268. The Crusader States had shown neutrality to the Mongols, or even joined them such as the County of Tripoli did in 1260 after the Mongols entered Syria. In early 1260, the papal legate at Acre sent an embassy to Hulegu, most likely to discourage him from attacking the Crusader holdings. Along with information from the Kings of Armenian Cilicia, their most important regional vassals, the Mongols would have had a vague knowledge of western Europe and their crusading history. The Ilkhanate's founder, Hulegu, sent the first letter to the west in 1262, intended once more for King Louis IX, though this embassy was turned back in Sicily. This letter was friendlier terms than most Mongol missives, but still contained threats, if rather subdued. Pope Urban IV may have learned of the attempt, and the next year sent a letter to Hulegu, apparently having been told that the Il-Khan had become a Christian.  Delighted at the idea, the Pope informed Hulegu that if he was baptised, he would receive aid from the west. In reality, Hulegu never converted to Christianity, and died in 1265 without sending any more letters.       His son and successor, Abaqa, was the Il-Khan most dedicated to establishing a Franco-Mongol alliance and came the closest to doing so. Due to conflict on his distant  borders with the Golden Horde and Chagatayids, as well as the troubles of consolidating power as new monarch in a new realm, for the 1260s he was unable to commit forces to the Mamluk frontier. As a good Mongol, Abaqa was unwilling to allow the enemy total respite, and made it his mission to encourage an attack from the west on the Mamluks. His first embassy was sent in 1266, shortly after becoming Il-Khan, contacting the Byzantines, Pope Clement IV and King James I of Aragon, hoping for a united Christian front to combine efforts with the Mongols against the Mamluks, inquiring which route into Palestine the Christian forces would take. The responses were generally positive, Pope Clement replying that as soon as he knew which route, he would inform Abaqa.       Abaqa sent a message again in 1268, inquiring about this progress. James of Aragon found himself the most motivated by the Il-Khans requests, encouraged by the promises of Abaqa's logistical and military support once they reached the mainland. James made his preparations, and launched a fleet in September 1269. An unexpected storm scattered the fleet, and only two of James' bastard children made it to Acre, who stayed only briefly, accomplishing little there.        Not long after, King Louis IX set out for Crusade once more, making the inexplicable choice to land in Tunis in 1270. Despite his well planned efforts, the Crusade was an utter disaster, and Louis died of dysentery outside the walls of Tunis in August 1270. Prince Edward of England with his army landed in Tunis shortly before the evacuation of the crusaders, and disgusted by what he saw, set his fleet for the Holy Land, landing at Acre in May 1271, joined by Hugh of Lusignan, King of Cyprus.  Edward's timing was good, as Abaqa had returned from a great victory over the Chagatai Khan Baraq at Herat in July 1270, though had suffered a major hunting accident that November.       The Mamluk Sultan Baybars was campaigning in Syria in spring 1271, the famous Krak des Chevaliers falling to him that April. Tripoli would have fallen next, had Baybars not retreated back to Damascus hearing of the sudden arrival of a Crusader fleet, and was wary of being caught between European heavy cavalry and Mongol horse archers. Soon after landing Edward made his preparations for an offensive, and reached out to Abaqa. Abaqa was delighted, and sent a reply and orders for Samaghar, the Mongol commander in Anatolia, to head to Syria. Edward did not wait for Abaqa's reply, and there is no indication he ever responded to Abaqa's letter. He set out in mid-July, ensuring his army suffered the most from the summer heat, while missing the Mongols who preferred to campaign in the winter. Suffering high casualties and accomplishing little, he withdrew back to Acre. In mid-October Samaghar arrived with his army, raiding as far as to the west of Aleppo while an elite force of Mongols scouted ahead, routing a large group of Turkmen between Antioch and Harim, but was soon forced to retreat with the advance of the Mamluk army under Baybars.       Missing Samagahr by only a few weeks, in November Edward marched south from Acre at the head of a column of men from England, Acre, Cyprus, with Templars, Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights. They ambushed some Turkmen on the Sharon plain, forced the local Mamluk governor to withdraw, but with the arrival of large Mamluk reinforcements the Crusaders fled, losing their prisoners and booty.  That was the closest the Mongols and the Franks came to proper coordination. Edward helped oversee a peace treaty between the Mamluks and the Kingdom of Jersualem, but the heat, difficulties campaigning, political infighting and an assassination attempt on his life permanently turned him off of crusading. By September 1272, Edward set sail for England. A  few weeks after his departure the Mongols again invaded, besieging al-Bira but were defeated by the Mamluks in December.        Edward's brief effort in Syria demonstrated the difficulties prefacing any Mongol-Frankish cooperation. The Mamluks were a cohesive, unified force, well accustomed to the environment and working from a well supplied logistic system and intelligence network, while the Franks and Mongols were unable to ever develop a proper timetable for operations together. The European arrivals generally had unrealistic goals for their campaigns, bringing neither the men, resources or experience to make an impact.       Abaqa continued  to organize further efforts, and found many willing ears at the Second Council of Lyons in France in 1274, a meeting of the great powers of Christendom intended to settle doctrinal issues, the division of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and plan the reconquest of the Holy land. Abaqa's delegation informed the Council that the Il-Khan had secured his borders, that peace had been achieved between all the Mongols Khanates, and he could now bring his full might against the Mamluks, and urged the Christian powers to do likewise. The current Pope, Gregory X, fully supported this and made efforts to set things in motion, but his death in 1276 killed whatever momentum this process had had. Abaqa sent another round of envoys, who reached the King of France and the new King of England, Edward. The envoys brought the Il-khan's apologies for failing to cooperate properly during Edward's crusade, and asked him to return. Edward politely declined. This was the final set of envoys Abaqa sent west. Perhaps frustrated, he finally organized a proper invasion of Syria, only an army under his brother Mongke-Temur to be defeated by the Mamluks at Homs, and Abaqa himself dying soon after in 1282. His successors were to find no more luck that he had.        The most interesting envoy to bring the tidings of the Il-Khan to Europe did not originate in the Ilkhanate, but in China: Rabban Bar Sawma, born in 1220 in what is now modern day Beijing, was a Turkic Nestorian priest who had set out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem before being conscripted to act as a messenger for the Il-Khan, in a journey which is a fascinating contrast to that of his contemporary Marco Polo. Even given him his own dedicated episode in this podcast series, but we'll give here a brief recount of his journey. Writing his accounts down upon his return to Baghdad later in life, he described how he brought messages and gifts to the Byzantine Emperor Andronicos II Palaiologus, marvelled at the Hagia Sophia, then landed in Sicily and made his way to Rome, having just missed the death of Pope Honorius IV. Travelling on to France, he was warmly welcomed by King Phillip IV, and then on to Gascony where he met the campaigning King Edward of England, who again responded kindly to the Il-khan's envoy.  On his return journey, he met the new Pope Nicholas IV in 1288 before returning to the Ilkhanate.    Despite the generous receptions Rabban Sauma was given by the heads of Europe, and despite the Il-khan's promises to return Jerusalem to Christian hands, the reality was there was no ruler in the west interested, or capable of, going on Crusade. By now, the act of Crusading in the Holy land had lost its lustre, the final crusades almost all disasters, and costly ones at that. With the final Crusader strongholds falling to the Mamluks in the early 1290s, there was no longer even a proper beachhead on the coast for a Crusading army. The sheer distance and cost of going on Crusade, especially with numerous ongoing issues in their own Kingdoms at hand, outweighed whatever perceived benefit there might have been in doing so. Further, while Rabban Sauma personally could be well received, the Mongols themselves remained uncertain allies. From 1285 through to 1288, Golden Horde attacks on eastern Europe had recommenced in force. Even the new Khan of the Golden Horde, Tele-Buqa, had led an army into Poland. For the Europeans, the distinctions between the Mongol Khanates were hard to register; how could messages of peace from some Mongols be matched with the open war other Mongols were undertaking? All evidence seems to suggest that the western Franks did not understand that the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate were separate political entities. Recall earlier the conflicting letters Louis IX had received in the 1240s, where one Mongol general offered friendship, only to be tricked in seemingly submitting to the Mongols and then receive letters in the 1250s telling him to discount the previous envoys. Together these encouraged unease over perceiving the Mongols as allies, and served to further dampen interest to pursue these alliances.       In contrast, the Mamluks had somewhat greater success in their own overseas diplomacy: in the 1260s Baybars initiated contact with the Golden Horde, ruled by the Muslim Berke Khan, encouraging him to keep up his warfare with his Ilkhanid cousins. Sultan Baybars also kept good relations with the Byzantine Empire and the Genoese, allowing him to keep the flow of Turkic slave soldiers from the steppes of the Golden Horde open, the keystone of the Mamluk military. There is also evidence they undertook some limited diplomacy with Qaidu Khan during the height of his rule over Central Asia and the Chagatayids. While the Mamluks and Golden Horde never undertook any true military cooperation, the continuation of their talks kept the Ilkhanate wary of enemies on all borders, never truly able to bring the entirety of its considerable might against one foe least another strike the Il-Khan's exposed frontiers. But, did the Golden Horde, in the 1260s, perceive this as an alliance? We only have Mamluk accounts of the relationship, but scholarship often supposes that the Golden Horde Khans perceived this as the submission of the Mamluks, and any cooperation was the cooperation between overlord and subject. As many of the Mamluk ruling class were Qipchaqs, so the Mongols had come to see as their natural slaves, it may well be that Berke saw the submission of the Mamluks as a natural part of their relationship, especially since he already ruled the Qipchaq homeland. This alliance, alongside never resulting in direct cooperation, was also never always amicable. When the Jochid Khans grew annoyed with the Mamluks, they would halt the trade of Qipchaq slaves and threaten to deprive the Mamluks of their greatest source of warriors. During the long reign of Mamluk Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad, a daughter of the Golden Horde Khan Ozbeg was wed to him, in an effort to cement the relationship after a rocky start to the 1300s. Al-Nasir soon accused her of not actually being a Chinggisid, insulting her and infuriating Ozbeg. Yet the relationship survived until the invasions of Emir Temur at the close of the fourteenth century, when the Mamluks and Golden Horde once again took part in a doomed west-Asian effort to ally against Temur.       Ilkhanid-European contacts continued into the 14th century, but with somewhat less regularity after Rabban bar Sawma's journey. An archbishopric was even founded in the new Ilkhanid capital of Sultaniyya in 1318, and Papal envoys would travel through the Ilkhanate to the Yuan Dynasty in China until the 1330s. A few envoys came from the Il-Khans still hoping to achieve military cooperation; Ghazan Il-Khan continued to send them before his invasions, including the only one that actually defeated the Mamluk army and led to a brief Mongol advance down the coast, occupying Damascus. News of Ghazan's successes did spread rapidly, for the Spanish Franciscan Ramon Llull learned of it and promptly sailed all the way across the Mediterranean, hoping to be among the first missionaries to land in the newly reclaimed Holy Land. But upon arriving in Cypress, Llull learned of Ghazan's equally quick withdrawal. The combined news of a Mongol victory followed by sudden Mongol withdrawal must have only affirmed the opinion of many of the futility of taking part in any more crusades with the Mongols.  Military operations against the Mamluks mostly ceased after Ghazan's death, until a formal peace was achieved between them and the Ilkhanate at the start of the 1320s. Naturally, no further messages for alliances with the powers of Europe were forth coming, and consequently putting an almost total end to European interest and contacts with the Middle East for the next five centuries. European-Mongol relations would continue for some time longer in the territory of the Golden Horde, where the attention of our podcast moves next, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast for more. If you enjoyed this and would like to help us continue bringing you great content, then consider supporting us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I'm your host David, and we'll catch you on the next one.   

You will lead a small tour group that believes they are about to watch the Battle of Agincourt. In our timeline, Henry the 5th invaded France in 1415. The French King gathered together all the knights in the realm to slaughter the invader in one great charge. He failed. Will the multiverse serve up this same battle, or will something very, very different happen? Something perhaps involving Caesar and his Roman legions?

In the middle of the 13th Century, a violent uprising began on the island of Sicily in an attempt to oust the French King, Charles I of Anjou, that left approximately 13,000 people dead over the course of six weeks. This violent uprising also sparked a wider pan-Mediterranean war between the Spanish crown of Aragon, the Angevin Kingdom of Naples, the Byzantine Empire, and the Kingdom of France. In part one of this two-part series, Josh explores the causes of the uprising and the immediate aftermath. (Josh)   Click here for tips for Teaching with Podcasts! Or here to buy some FH Merch! We are now on Youtube with accessible captions checked by members of our team! And you can find out how to support us through our FH Patreon to help keep our content open access!

Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) tell the story of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.----more---- This is a time of knights and castles. William the Conqueror had come from France to conquer England. This meant that English Kings now owned land in France. The lost some in battle, but gained other parts through marriage – especially the lands of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Often English Kings would be married to French princesses to help keep the peace between the two lands. However, when the French King died the next in line to the throne was the King of England. The French did not want an English King. So they changed the rules and said that descendants of Princes were more important than descendants of princesses. The King of England, Edward III was furious. He declared war on France. The French were confident of victory because they had many knights. They thorught their knights were invincible. However, the English had armed their soldiers with a longbow. Properly used they could destroy the French knights. At the first major battle at Crecy that is exactly what happened. The French were destroyed by the English Archers. The same happened at the Battle of Poitiers where the French King was captured by the English King's son, the Black Prince. The French carried on fighting. So Edward and France did a deal. The English released the French king and the French promised Edward III could rule some of the French lands. However, once their king was safe the French refused to give England all the promised land. War continued. However, the Black Prince died and slowly France regained all her land. For 40 years there was relative peace. This was broken by England's new King, Henry V. He invaded France and crushed the English at Agincourt. The French agreed that he could be King after the old French King. However, Henry V died first leaving an infant son. The French were not scared of him and fought on. Then a peasant girl called Joan of Arc claimed that God was telling her to fight the English. She persuaded the French ruler to lend her his army. She attacked and destroyed the English army. The English captured her and killed her as a witch. Later the final English Army met the French in Battle. However this time the French had a sneaky plan up their leaves. They had cannon. The cannon could fire further and it destroyed the English Archers. The Hundred Years War (which lasted 116 years) was over. France had won. PATRONS' CLUB If you liked this episode then do please join our Patrons' Club. You can find details at www.patreon.com/historystorytime.

Louis XIV embodies absolute monarchy more than any other French king. The Sun King, who ruled from 1643 to 1715, left his mark on many places in France, from Versailles to Saint-Jean-de-Luz and the Gobelins tapestry factory in Paris. Even today, his legacy lives on in all of them. FRANCE 24 takes you on a tour.

Come learn about the French King who believed he was made of glass.

Back to 14th century France for this week's episode, which focuses on one of the biggest scandals in Medieval Europe. Two wives of French princes, the daughters-in-law of the French King, are caught having affairs with a pair of Norman knights. Was it really true, or was it just an attempt to discredit the princesses? Were they victims of a wider political scheme?The Ministry of History is a podcast that aims to take a look at some of history's lesser known characters and stories. Each series of the podcast focuses on a different theme: Series one focuses on historical murders and true crime, while plans for further series' include a focus on historical disasters, scandals and political events.Explore the blog for more great content! https://www.theministryofhistory.co.uk/SUPPORT THE SHOW donating at buy me a coffee, OR by becoming a patron and receive great benefits! I need your support to help keep the show going. £1 or £3.50 a month is not much to you, but it makes a world of difference to me! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tomMOH https://www.patreon.com/ministryofhistoryThank you

Amanda and Sarah pull a freaky Friday by taking on subjects the other would most likely do. Sarah taps into Amanda's secretive, shit-talking Scorpio nature with an amusing look at poison pen letters. Amanda makes a go at being Sarah with the very historical, very French case of Madame de Montespan, La Voisin, and the Affair of the Poisons. Other subjects covered include touching circus animals, being Bonnie Raitt, and impersonating Julia Child.  Recommendations: Amanda recommends the book The Pisces and the FreeFrom TV show Cruel Summer. Sarah recommends the true crime-based horror film Lizzie, now playing on Shudder.  Sources:  Project Gutenberg (MEMOIRS OF MADAME DE MONTESPAN, By Madame de Montespan) Headstuff (Catherine Monvoisin And The Affair Of The Poisons) Grunge (The Most Extreme Poisoning Cases in History) Château de Versailles (Madame de Montespan) Wikipedia/Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan Wikipedia/La Voisin Wikipedia/Affair of the Poisons Forgotten Lives (The Dark Life of the French King’s Satanic Mistress | Madame de Montespan) Newspapers.com (Poison Pen Notes Bestir English Town. A Doris Hewitt in the story.) Eastern Daily Press (‘The Unknown Hand’: the curious case of Sheringham’s poison pen letters) Shedunnit (Poison Pen) CrimeReads (THE POISON PEN LETTER: THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY'S STRANGEST CRIME WAVE) For updates on future episodes and other fun stuff, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or check out our Patreon. 

Sophie (age 7) & Ellie (age 5) tell of the fall of Napoleon - Spain, divorce, Russian disaster to Waterloo and St Helena.----more---- In the third of our Napoleonic series our episode starts with Napoleon at the height of his power. Europe lies before him. Only Britain remains still opposing him. Napoleon decides to launch economic war on Britain. He bans European countries from importing British goods. But people in Europe want the goods. So they keep trying to trade with Britain. Everytime they do, Napoleon invades them. But he bites off more than he can chew when he invades Spain and Portugal. Britain’s brilliant general, who later becomes the Duke of Wellington, protects Portugal. The Spanish people rise up in rebellion. The Spanish are not the only country to resent French rule. In an effort to stop attacks on his soldiers Napoleon makes people walk on the other side of the road so it is harder for them to attack his soldiers. So is born the fact that Europe (which Napoleon conquered) drives on the right; but Britain (which he did not) drives on the left. Napoleon is desperate for a son. So he divorces Josephine even though he loves here. He marries an Austrian princess hoping for a son an a friendship with Austria. He gets the son, but Austria still does not like him. Then Napoleon makes a terrible mistake. He invades Russia with a mighty army. But the Russians refuse to fight him. They retreat deep into Russia chased by Napoleon. A huge battle is fought before the gates of Moscow. Napoleon wins the battle but many of his soldiers are killed. However, Napoleon captures Moscow. He marches into the city in triumph, expecting victory. But the Russians have other ideas. Not only do they not surrender, they burn Moscow to the ground. Napoleon is forced to retreat. But the winter comes. The Russian cold and ice destroy his army. All of Europe turns on him. He raises another army but it is not as good as the one he lost in Russia. He is forced out of Germany and into France. He is still the best General in Europe but the numbers are too great. Paris falls and his generals abandon him. He is forced to give up the throne of France. The Tsar and Austrian Emperor take pity of him and give Napoleon the small island of Elba to rule. But the new French King is unpopular. Napoleon escapes and becomes Emperor of the French again. Europe again turns to fight him. This time Napoleon is defeated at the battle of Waterloo. He is exiled to St Helena. There is no escape. But before he dies he tells people his side of the story. He creates a legend which makes people forget the wars and invasions and remember instead the good things he did and the battles he won. NAPOLEONIC EPISODES This is the final part of a three part series. The other two episodes are: Emperor Napoleon Emperor Napoleon (historystorytime.com) The Young Napoleon The Young Napoleon Bonaparte (historystorytime.com) We also previously did an episode all about the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo (historystorytime.com) PATRON’S CLUB If you liked this episode please do join our Patrons’ Club. This series was chosen by one of our Patrons. We also have exclusive episodes including an episode all about the love between Napoleon and Josephine. You can join here: www.patreon.com/historystorytime

Sophie (age 7) & Ellie (age 5) tell of the young Napoleon Bonaparte from his birth, the French Revolution, his marriage to Josephine, and to his Italian victories in 1797.----more---- Napoleon Bonaparte is born in Corsica to a poor but noble family. His noble blood means that he is sent to a military school. Ellie tells the story of the snowball fight and how it marked him out already as a military strategist. Napoleon is excellent at maths so he joins the artillery where they need mathematicians. However, promotion in the French Royal Army is about nobility not merit. So Napoleon’s progress is slow. But the French Revolution changes everything. The Bastille is stormed and later the French King is executed. But there is suspicion of Napoleon because of his noble blood. He has the chance to leave France, perhaps to return to Corsica. But he commits to France. Meanwhile the French city of Toulon rebels. People there want the old King’s family back again. British ships sail into the harbour to protect the city. Napoleon is summoned because of his artillery skills. He works to capture hills and then his cannon force the British fleet to withdraw. Toulon is saved. Later Napoleon finds himself in Paris. While in Paris there is another rebellion by French royalists. The French government are scared and call on Napoleon for help. Napoleon quickly gets cannon into position in the city. As the mob come around the corner Napoleon opens fire. The mob are destroyed. The revolution and the government are saved. Meanwhile Napoleon starts to make friends in the parties of Paris. He meets a captivating lady called Josephine. She is very funny and has many boyfriends. Napoleon falls in love with her and they are married. But there is not much time for honeymoon. Napoleon is made a General and given a small army and asked to conquer Italy. Italy is controlled by the powerful Austrians. But their armies are slow and used to fighting a much more sedate type of warfare. Napoleon is fast and aggressive. He throws the Austrians out of Italy. Along the way he peronally storms a bridge and also lays a cannon himself. His army are totally loyal to him. At the end of the episode the French Government look at Napoleon with nervousness. He has won great battles but what will he want to do next? This is the first in a three part series on Napoleon. Next week we have the zenith of Napoleon’s rule. PATRONS CLUB If you liked this episode then please do join our patron’s club. We have exclusive new episodes there. Our latest one is just out and it is a companion episode about Napoleon. We tell in detail the story of his great love with Josephine in our “Napoleon and Josephine” episode. It’s an exhilarating story as we follow Josephine’s life and her relationship with Napoleon through to his final words on his deathbed.  You can join on www.patreon.com/historystorytime

Eugene was a French aristocrat born in the 17th century. After being snubbed by the French King for his ugly face and frailbody, he rose through the ranks of the Austrian military and bought the Arrogant French King and his army to its knees. Attributions/Notes:https://anthologyofheroes.wordpress.com/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sophie (age 7) & Ellie (age 5) tell of Eleanor of Aquitaine. But Eleanor has been Queen of France. Now she becomes Queen of England.----more----This is the second in our series about Eleanor of Aquitaine. But you don't need to have listened to the last episode to enjoy this one. Last week we learned how 800 years ago Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, married the King of France. But she didn’t much like him. He was unhappy they didn’t have a son. So they divorced.   But no one expected what happened next. Eleanor married the dashing young pretender to the English throne. His name was Henry and he was ten years younger than her. The French King was furious. With Eleanor's help Henry took the throne of England. Now he was King of England and ruler of most of France. Eleanor was his Queen.   Furthermore, it turned out that Eleanor could have sons after all. Lots of them. She had eight children, four of them boys. For years she raised them. Then she set up her own Court. The Court of Love with minstrels and knights and her ladies in waiting.   Meanwhile, Henry got himself a girlfriend. Eleanor did not like that. Their children were also angry with Henry. He kept treating them like children even though they were quite grown up. They all rebelled against Henry. But Henry was a skilled General. He defeated Eleanor and his sons. He forgave his sons but put Eleanor in prison for 15 years.   She was only released when her son Richard became King. She then supported her son Richard and later her son John.   We tell how her story is ignored by many later writers like the Disney film Robin Hood because often women are ignored in history.   She died aged 81 years old and is remembered today as one of the greatest women in history. Other episodes If you liked this episode about Eleanor of Aquitaine you might also like our Matilda episode. It’s set around the same time in history with knights and castles. and tells you what is happening in England while Eleanor of Aquitaine is married to the King of France. It’s a another story about a powerful woman. https://link.historystorytime.com/Matilda You might also like to try our Jousting with the Royal Armouries episode. We made it with the world famous Royal Armouries in England. We tell the story of knights, tournaments and jousting. All the sorts of things that Eleanor and her knights and nobles enjoyed. https://link.historystorytime.com/Jousting Patrons Club If you liked this episode you might like to join our Patrons’ Club. There you can listen to exclusive new episodes, help choose an episode or be in an episode. You can join on www.patreon.com/historystorytime

On today’s date in 1738, a once-successful French composer died destitute in an asylum of Charenton. It was a lamentable end for the 56-year-old Jean-Joseph Mouret, who had once served the French King at the Palais Royal and whose operas had once graced the stage of the Paris Opéra. How ironic, then, that Mouret would achieve belated fame in 20th century America when the "Rondeau" from his “Symphonies and Fanfares for the King's Supper” was chosen as the theme for the “Masterpiece Theatre” TV series on PBS. Christopher Sarson, the original executive producer of “Masterpiece Theatre,” recalls how this came about. “In 1962 my future wife and I went to one of the Club Med villages in Italy. We were in these little straw huts and every morning we were summoned to breakfast by that theme. It was just magic... I wanted to use it for Masterpiece Theatre but there was no way I could bear to put a FRENCH piece of music on something that was supposed to be English. I went through all kinds of English composers and nothing worked. So, Mouret became the theme.”

On today’s date in 1738, a once-successful French composer died destitute in an asylum of Charenton. It was a lamentable end for the 56-year-old Jean-Joseph Mouret, who had once served the French King at the Palais Royal and whose operas had once graced the stage of the Paris Opéra. How ironic, then, that Mouret would achieve belated fame in 20th century America when the "Rondeau" from his “Symphonies and Fanfares for the King's Supper” was chosen as the theme for the “Masterpiece Theatre” TV series on PBS. Christopher Sarson, the original executive producer of “Masterpiece Theatre,” recalls how this came about. “In 1962 my future wife and I went to one of the Club Med villages in Italy. We were in these little straw huts and every morning we were summoned to breakfast by that theme. It was just magic... I wanted to use it for Masterpiece Theatre but there was no way I could bear to put a FRENCH piece of music on something that was supposed to be English. I went through all kinds of English composers and nothing worked. So, Mouret became the theme.”

At the beginning of 1468, after having crushed a second uprising in Liège in the space of two years, Charles the Bold set about the all-important task of figuring out to whom he was going to marry. At the same time, he was once again being dragged into affairs in France as petulant nobles there began once more to grumble militarily about his nemesis, French king, Louis XI. Although Charles and Louis’ enmity stretched back to before either of them had taken the reigns of power, it had become focused on the region of the Somme towns, which Charles’ father had remarkably ceded to Louis before his death, but which Charles had re-taken possession of in the treaty of Conflans. While preparing to go to war against France once again, Liège erupted once more into revolt. A papal legate named Onofrio de Santa Croce was sent to Liège in order to try to find a peaceful resolution to this on-going social unrest, and although he did a remarkable job in trying to find a pathway through the murkiness, in the end he was unsuccessful. On October 30, 1468, Charles the Bold, accompanied by a no doubt unhappy French King, Louis XI, would begin a final sack of Liège which would see the city burn for 7 weeks. With thanks to Stefan Campmans, Paul Trufasu and Matthew Kocian for their Patreon support. SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-31-a-luckless-legate-in-liege PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode Annie Sargent talks to Jason Sager about the difficult relationship between French Kings and the Catholic church. And we couldn't get through this topic without talking about the French Wars of Religion. And it’s not just Kings, all of France has a complicated relationship with the Catholic church, even today! Just this morning I was talking to one of my neighbors and she brought up the fact that she goes to church regularly but she’s not a grenouille de bénitier. I bet you’ve never heard that expression. A grenouille de bénitier is a person who goes to church so much that she’s compared to a frog who lives in the font where they keep the holy water at the entrance of a Catholic church. You don’t have an expression like that in English, do you? That’s because as far as I know there is no English-speaking country where being a "churchy" person makes you stand out as an odd duck. You’ll get a heavy dose of French history and French culture in today’s episode. French People and the Catholic Church To set the stage, in the early 1500s world-wide you have Columbus sailing off from Spain. A lot of Chateaux were being built on the Loire Valley. François I wanted to be Emperor (but didn't manage). Leonardo da Vinci moved to France. But this is also the time when the wars of religion were happening in France. The Reformation Martin Luther's reformation also happened at that time. 1517-1522 is when he was excommunicated from the Catholic church. This began as a German reformation movement but it moved into France rapidly with John Calvin particularly who started his own reformed church in France. French Protestants are known as Huguenots in France. Huguenots This is something French Kings didn't like to see because they saw themselves as the protectors of the Catholic faith and they didn't want to see a different religion thrive in France. And the Huguenots religion spread very quickly in France, which made it an even bigger perceived threat. By 1560 about 10% of France was already Protestant. Members of the nobility also converted to the new religion. A lot of Bourbons were Protestants. The King of Navarre became a Protestant. Henri II before he died in an accident established a "chambre ardente" with the goal to eliminate the Huguenots from France. He died too soon to see if it worked. By 1560 there were already a lot of Protestants in France. France was supposed to be "la fille ainée de l'Eglise" or the eldest daughter of the church. François I wanted to be called "the most Christian King" to reinforce his relationship with the Catholic church. Henry XVIII in England wanted the title "defneder of the faith" from the Pope to establish himself as an equal to the French King. A Dangerous Situation By 1560 there are a lot of tensions between the Catholics and the rising Protestant minority in France. When Henri II died an untimely death it rattled the structure of power in France. He had 3 sons, but they were too young, so his wife, Catherine de Medici, became the regent. She was terribly unpopular because she was Italian and also a woman. The king, François II was the official king, but he was always in poor health and died of tuberculosis 18 months into his reign. His brother Charles IX succeeded him, but he was also too young to reign by himself. The situation was volatile and uncertain, especially when you take into account the high level of religious strife. Catherine de Medici always tried to find compromises between the Catholics and the Huguenots because she didn't think eliminating the Protestants would work. On the other hand, the Guise family who were ultra Catholic really believed in eliminating the Protestants. Duc de Guise at Vassy The Duc de Guise went through the town of Vassy where Protestants were allowed so long as they didn't worship within the walls of the city. He realized that they were breaking the law and worshiping inside the city. He sent his men to stop them from doing so and a firefight broke out.  Several Protestants were killed and this is one of the events that ignited the French Wars of Religion. This event is what convinced the Condé family and the Bourbons that it was time to take up arms to defend their Huguenot faith.  The Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars that went on for about 40 years. St. Bartholomew's Day massacre The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre took place under Charles IX in August 1572 and it's a bit of a mystery what started it. The Admiral Gaspard de Coligny (who was a Protestant and had been advocating for war against the Dutch) was shot but not killed. And this set off a chain of events between Protestants and Catholics that turned Paris into a powder cake. It is probable that the King himself sent a message to kill all Protestants on the night of August 24th. He might have done that because his sister married into the Navarre family (who were Protestants) and a lot of high-ranking Protestants were in Paris for the occasion. He was hoping to eradicate the new religion that way. About 3000 Protestants were killed that night in Paris alone and another 10,000 died all over France in the next couple of weeks. The level of indiscriminate violence the Catholic forces used against Protestants is shocking. The Wars, Massacres and Troubles of Tortorel and Perrissin is one hard to find book that illustrated the horrors of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Henri IV and the Edict of Nantes Henri IV was raised a Protestant and only became a Catholic to suit his political needs. The Edict of Nantes was signed in 1598 and that's what attempted to give some freedom to practice the Protestant religion. The Edict of Nantes is seen as the official end of the Wars of Religion although it was rescinded by Louis XIV one hundred years later. In a sense the Wars of Religion didn't end until the late 1600s. Were the Wars of Religion truly about religion or were they a political conflict between powers?  It was probably both. The noble families were using religion as leverage to gain power. But there was also a lot of religious fervor at the time and a lot of violence was perpetrated by people who were acting out of fanaticism. There were people who saw their neighbors as a cancer just because they didn't share the same religious beliefs. Louis XIII and his Confessor Jean Arnoulx Henri IV was assassinated by a Catholic, Ravaillac, who didn't believe the King had truly converted. He is followed by another Regency (by his mother Marie de Medici) and then Louis XIII. Louis XIII is the young king who hired strong man Cardinal Richelieu to help his side-step the power of his mother. Both Jean Arnoulx and Richelieu wrote in opposition to the Protestant religion. They wanted to secure the support of the Catholic church for the French King because in the past the church said they weren't doing enough to get rid of the Protestants. There were pamphlet wars in which people accused one-another of being bad subjects to the King (and therefore bad French people) because they weren't Catholic. In their view, in order to be French you also had to be a Catholic. The retort to that was that no Protestant had killed a French King yet, that it was crazy Catholics who did this sort of thing. Catholics never had a good response to that because it was indeed true. The Catholic Church in France Even today when you visit France, you will see that there are giant Catholic churches in tiny villages. That's because everyone went to church back then.  The Church was the biggest organizing force in French life until the Revolution and by then French people truly hated the church. French Kings since Clovis have been defenders of the Church, so when the Monarchy went, the church went with it. Jean Bossuet, under Louis XIV said the King was the representative of God on earth. Everybody in France, even Victor Hugo, though that the Kings represented on the facade of Notre Dame were the French Kings. In reality they were the Kings of Israel. There was a complete conflation of church and State in France until the Revolution. And then the divorce was brutal. Louis XVI got in big trouble with the people of Paris because he didn't want the priests to have to pledge to the new Constitution. And this is one of the major reasons why he didn't survive the Revolution, because he was seen as continuing to side with clergy. Jason's Favorite Places in Paris The Basilica of Saint Denis: It is a masterpiece in many regards, but the stained glass is marvelous there. Notre Dame de Paris Walking through streets like Rue Saint Jacques and knowing what happened there in the 5th arrondissement (where rue Saint Jacques and rue Saint Germain intersect). Cluny Museum More episodes about French history   Email | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter   Did you get my VoiceMap Paris tours yet? They are designed for people who want to see the best of Paris neighborhoods and put what they are looking at into historical context. There are so many great stories in Paris. Don't walk right past them without having a clue what happened there! You can buy them directly from the VoiceMap app or click here to order activation codes at the podcast listener discount price.   Discussed in this Episode What's grenouille de bénitier? Fille ainée de l'Eglise French Wars of Religion Duc de Guise and Vassy The Edict of Nantes Bastides were established with commerce at their center instead of the church No Protestant ever killed a French King but two Catholics did! The French King is branded as Christ on Earth Louis XVI refuses to subject priests to the new Constitution Jason's favorite places in Paris The Basilica of Saint Denis Notre Dame Cluny Museum Support the Show Tip Your Guide Extras Patreon Audio Tours Merchandise If you enjoyed this episode, you should also listen to related episode(s): Lourdes, Episode 100 A Great Visit to the Chateau of Pau, Episode 191 Read more about this episode Guest Notes  Category: French History

Good morning, RVA! It’s 66 °F, and while we’ve got rain on the schedule for this morning it may (finally) clear up by this evening. Honestly, this weekend’s weather looks pretty excellent, and I’m excited to get out there and enjoy it.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,101↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 36↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 86↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 28, Henrico: 35, and Richmond: 23). Since this pandemic began, 352 people have died in the Richmond region. VDH still has Wednesday’s note up about death data backlogs, and I’m not sure if that applies to yesterday’s data or not. 36 deaths reported in a single day is still pretty high, and it wouldn’t surprise me if VDH staff still has a big stack of data left to enter into whatever database. Here’s the last six months of deaths reported by day for context. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve written about the CDC’s change in guidance around testing people who’ve come in close contact with a known positive COVID-19 case. Luckily, in Virginia, our Health Department continues to recommend that people without symptoms still need to get tested if they’ve spent time near actual people with actual coronavirus. The New York Times is reporting that the change in CDC testing guidance came despite objections from scientists at the CDC: “officials told The Times this week that the Department of Health and Human Services did the rewriting and then ‘dropped’ it into the C.D.C.’s public website, flouting the agency’s strict scientific review process.” Freaking yikes. That NYT piece also says the CDC (or HHS??) could update testing guidance today, so I’ll keep an eye out for it. Finally in coronanews, I have no idea what to make of this VCU survey asking would folks get vaccinated if a free vaccine existed today (PDF). 58% of folks said they’d be “very likely” or “somewhat likely,” while 40% of folks said they’d be “not too likely” or “not at all likely.” Is this reluctance some antivaxxer stuff? Or maybe fear of a dangerous, not-ready-for-primetime Trump vaccine?In-person early voting starts today! That means you can go to the registrar’s office today (more on that below), show ID, and cast a ballot. Today! It also means that the Department of Elections has started sending out absentee ballots to everyone that has requested one. You can check the status of your ballot or apply for one over on the Department of Elections website. Because we live in the Kevin Costner post-apocalyptic film The Postman, if you’ve requested a mail-in ballot, you really need to keep an eye out for it and then send it back (or stick it in a drop box) as soon as possible. Those mail-in ballots need to be postmarked by Election Day (November 3rd) and received by November 6th. But, like, why wait? Just do it as soon as possible, avoid whatever election or Postal Service shenanigans, and check it off your todo list. The last day for you to request an absentee ballot is October 23rd, and the last day to go vote early in-person is October 31st. Remember! You don’t need an excuse to do any of these early voting options this year.Jakob Cordes at VPM has some frustrating updates on the City’s decision to move the General Registrar’s office out to the end of Laburnum Avenue, far from any useful public transit. Here’s the part that really gets me: “Kirk Showalter, Richmond’s general registrar, says she asked GRTC to change their bus route, but with little success. ‘I was only seeking to have one bus stop moved a couple of blocks closer, and I got some feedback that was not encouraging,’ she said.” Uhh yeah, you don’t get to re-plan the public transportation system because you didn’t consider non-car access to core City services before moving out there and signing a lease. Actual transit planner Scudder Wagg has a good thread about why “only moving one bus stop a couple blocks” can and would disrupt the entire #91 bus route (and might even cost more money). I’ve written about this whole registrar situation before, but I bring it up again not just because of the frustrating quotes, but because just this week the City created the new Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility. In my view, weighing in on the transportation aspects of other department’s decisions is exactly the sort of thing this new office should be doing. I’d love to see the new Office figure out how to solve this problem—which doesn’t necessarily mean running new buses or building new bus stops. I’d also like to hear the Office talk about how they’ll prevent problems with access to core government services in the future.Also at VPM, Roberto Roldan says Councilmembers Lynch and Robertson have introduced a pair of resolutions asking for more money for public defenders and an increase to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Those are fine and good papers, but, remember, resolutions are nonbinding. I’m more interested in Councilmember Jones’s response to this story: “I am for affordable housing. I believe if we are serious about this - lets forgo a Resolution and simply support a budget amendment. This can not be a process by which we wait and see what’s left over in a fund balance or see if it’s a priority. Council approves the budget.” You do not know how incredibly refreshing it is for me to hear a member of our City Council say “Council approves the budget.” This is true and not controversial! Council approves the budget! If Council wants to amend the Mayor’s budget, they can just do that thing. In fact, it is part of the job we elect them to do. I don’t know what it means that I’m truly stoked to hear a sitting councilmember just describe one of their legislative duties outloud, but I think it’s progress?Unfortunately, I have a survey for you to fill out about roads and highways. VDOT would like to know what you think about the current I-95/I-64 at Belvidere Street Interchange. I think that it is…bad? The area around the interchange is one of the most dangerous places to walk, roll, or ride through, and whatever VDOT decides to do in the future should include a near infinite number of bike and pedestrian improvements. I encourage you to take the survey and spend a good chunk of time marking up their map with places that make you feel unsafe—it’s not like there’s a shortage of them!The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a ton of pictures from Richmond in the 90s that you should scroll through. That picture of Sixth Street Marketplace! I had no idea Richmond’s bête noire was so pastel.This morning’s longread9 Female Pirates You Should Know AboutI mean, I feel like this one does exactly what it says on the tin.The widowed de Clisson sold all of her land to buy three warships, which she dubbed her Black Fleet. These were painted black, draped with blood red sails, and crewed with merciless privateers. From 1343–1356, the Lioness of Brittany sailed the English Channel, capturing the French King’s ships, cutting down his crew, and beheading with an axe any aristocrat who had the misfortune to be onboard. Remarkably, despite all her theft and bloodshed, de Clisson retired quietly. She even remarried, settling down with English lieutenant Sir Walter Bentley. Believed to have died in 1359, some say she has since returned to de Clisson Castle in Brittany, where her grey ghost walks the halls.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Led by Bedford, the English in France attempt to snuff out the remaining resistance under the Dauphin. Suddenly, an unexpected challenge rides to the future French King's rescue: a young peasant girl that history will come to know as Joan of Arc. Together, Joan and Charles VII push back the English as Bedford struggles to hold Lancastrian France together as the Hundred Years War reaches its final stages. 

Sophie (age 7) and Ellie (age 5) want a story of a girl knight. So they tell the story of Joan of Arc, the French heroine who turned the tide of The Hundred Years War.----more----   We learn how England’s Henry V and his archers crushed the French knights at the Battle of Agincourt. He then agreed to that he will succeed the old French king. Everything is thrown into turmoil when Henry V dies. The French King’s son, the Dauphin fights back. But the English archers are invincible, the English occupy Paris, and the Dauphin can’t even be properly crowned King at the traditional Cathedral of Rheims.   Then a French peasant girl, Joan of Arc, appears at the French Court. She had made her way there across enemy territory disguised as a man. She says that angels have told her to help throw the English out of France. At first the Dauphin does not believe her. But he and the priests test her and she passes every test.   They give her armour and a banner and she leads his armies in battle at the critical battle of Orleans. Joan and her army smash through the English lines and save the city. Then in the pursuit there is a pitched battle between the English and the French. This time the French knights ride down the English archers in a stunning victory. The military power of the English is broken. Joan and the Dauphin march on Rheims and the Dauphin is crowned King. Joan continues fighting. But the French nobles do not support her. In one battle she is pulled off her horse and captured. The English put her on trial for saying that angels were talking to her and for dressing as a man. They find her guilty and she is burned to death at the stake. But her efforts had turned the tide. The French went on to win The Hundred Year War. If you liked this episode you might like our episode on “Jousting with the Royal Armouries” which includes a description of a Tournament in the Hundred Years War. https://www.historystorytime.com/e/jousting-with-the-royal-armouries/ Or you might like our story of Richard III and the Wars of the Roses. https://www.historystorytime.com/e/the-wars-of-the-roses-and-richard-iii/  

Especially in modern textbooks and broad historical surveys, the Mongol withdrawal from Europe in 1242 is presented as the Mongols ‘disappearing into the mists of the east,’ as far as the Europeans were concerned. But in the immediate wake of the 1242 withdrawal, Europeans needed to know more about this new foe. Rather than a ‘Mongol disappearance’ from the European mind, European diplomats and representatives made the trip to the Mongol Empire on behalf of Kings and Popes- even to distant Mongolia. A number of these travellers wrote down accounts of their journeys, providing us yet another viewpoint to events within the Mongol Empire. In this episode, we will discuss three of these accounts from the 1240s and 1250s- that of John de Plano Carpini, Simon of St. Quentin and William of Rubruck. I’m your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.   Our first journey is that of John of Plano Carpini, or Giovanni da Pian del Carpine. Like today’s other accounts, Plano Carpini was a member of a religious order, in this case the Franciscans, an influential group of Christian mendicants founded in the early 13th century by St. Francis of Assisi. Known for their rejections of wealth, simple brown habits, or robes, and often going about barefoot, since the lifetime of St. Francis they had worked closely with the Catholic Church in Rome. John of Plano Carpini was a leading figure among the Franciscans, having been at the forefront of their expansion into Germany. The impetus for Plano Carpini’s journey could not have come from a higher authority, that of Pope Innocent IV. This Pope had in 1245 organized the First Council of Lyons, one of those great ecclesiatical gatherings held every few years in the High Middle Ages to determine church doctrine and how to react to temporal matters. At Lyons in 1245, the biggest topics on the menu were two great foes of the Pope: Frederick II Hohenstaufen, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Mongols. While Innocent’s main concern was the Kaiser, there was great worry over the mysterious horsemen. On the initiative to learn more about them and establish diplomatic ties to avert a repeat of the horrors in Hungary, Pope Innocent sent the 65 year old John of Plano Carpini on the long road east in late 1245.   Aided along the way by the King of Bohemia and the High Duke of Poland, Carpini soon reached the Prince of Volhynia, Vasilko. Vasilko and his brother, Daniel of Galicia, were the westernmost princes of Rus’, and who escaped most of the destruction suffered by the other Rus’ principalities. With Vasilko, Carpini was provided the most up-to-date information on the Mongols one could have in Europe. Passing the ruins of Kiev and an emptied countryside, only at Kaniv did Carpini reach territory under direct Mongol rule. As official envoys of the monarch the Mongols dubbed “the great Pope,” Carpini and his small company were provided escorts and use of the yam system, the great continental messenger route.     Once on the yam, Carpini’s route picked up speed. They rode day and night over the steppe, changing horses three or four times a day as they reached yam stations. By April 4th 1246, they were in the camp of Batu. Batu did not return to Mongolia after the invasion of Europe, instead setting up his camp in the great swath of grassland along the Volga River which made up the middle of his territory, where he held immense power.  Carpini saw that Batu used King Bela IV’s linen tents as his own, taken as booty after the victory at Mohi. At Batu’s camp their letters from the Pope were translated into Russian, Persian and Mongolian, and then they were sent on their way. This stage of the journey is one Carpini had little love for. They rode their horses day and night, sometimes eating nothing except millet with water and salt, or only drinking snow melted in kettles.  They passed the ruins of the cities of the Khwarezmian Empire, the names of which Carpini had no chance to learn before they had moved on.    By July 1246, they were in Mongolia. The hard ride had a purpose, for Carpini arrived in in time for the election of the new Great Khan, Guyuk. As messengers of the Pope they were treated well, provided their own tent and provisions. Carpini gives a fantastic description of Guyuk’s enthronement and the accompanying ceremonies- one detail is a sudden hailstorm postponing Guyuk’s official enthronement until August 24th.  He noticed representatives of powers from across Asia: the Rus’ Prince Yaroslav of Suzdal’, Chinese and Korean representatives, princes from the Kingdom of Georgia and the ambassador of the Caliph of Baghdad, among many others. Carpini’s embassy spent little time with the new Great Khan, offering only a brief description of him: quote, “The present Emperor may be forty or forty-five years old or more; he is of medium height, very intelligent and extremely shrewd, and most serious and grave in his manner. He is never seen to laugh for a slight cause nor to indulge in any frivolity, so we were told by the Christians who are constantly with him.”   On the matter of Chrisitianity, Carpini shares rumours that Guyuk was on the verge of converting. Guyuk did have affinity for the religion, as some of his closest advisers were Christians of the Nestorian flavour. No such baptism for Guyuk was forthcoming, however. As for Carpini’s actual mission to Guyuk, it proved less successful. Guyuk explained that the slaughter wrought in Hungary and Poland was due to the failure of the Europeans to submit to Heaven’s will and Mongol authority. Further, more would come, and when Carpini departed Guyuk’s camp for Europe in November 1246, he left utterly convinced that Guyuk was intent on marching on Europe.    With this fear in mind, Carpini tailored his work as a manual to prepare for the Mongol return. He wrote a very accurate description of the appearance of the Mongols, their culture and society, to detailed descriptions of their armour, tactics, and strategy. He follows this with recommendations on how they should be countered. His solution is that European armies needed to copy the organization of the Mongols and their discipline: literally, they should adopt the decimal organization system and instil the same punishment for desertion or failure to advance. The importance of crossbows were emphasized; the need to not allow themselves to be flanked and to watch for feigned retreats; maintain reserve units to assist the line and always have the army covered by scouts to alert to Mongol movements. If relying on fortifications, they needed to be built in places inaccessible to siege weapons. Care should be shown to captured prisoners: using the descriptions he provides, he argues that Europeans needed to learn to identify the Mongols from those subject peoples forced to fight for the Khan. These peoples, Carpini says, would fight against the Mongols if provided the chance.   When Carpini is describing things he did not directly observe, he falls easily into accepting myths and rumours. In his account Jesus Christ and the scriptures are honoured in China (which he never visited), there are literal monsters under Mongol control, and the Mongols were repulsed from Greater India by its Christian King, Prester John. However, he provides a keen eye at Mongol politics at the start of Guyuk’s reign, listing the top chiefs and mentions Mongke and his mother Sorqaqtani, who he says “among the Tartars this lady is the most renowned, with the exception of the Emperor’s mother [Torogene], and more powerful than anyone else except Batu.”  On his return journey, Carpini remet with Vasilko of Volhynia and Daniel of Galicia, who sent with Carpini letters and envoys to Pope Innocent for cooperation, leading to Pope Innocent crowning Daniel King of Ruthenia, or Galicia-Volhynia, a brief flirtation of Orthodox and Catholic unity. Innocent provided no support for the newly independent monarch beyond this, and Daniel saw his autonomy crushed at the end of the 1250s with a major Mongol attack.   Carpini’s account, written on his return to Europe, was hugely disseminated through Carpini’s own efforts and its inclusion in one of the most popular medieval encyclopedias, Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum Historiale. It's clear, detailed descriptions of the Mongols, based entirely on observation, was hugely influential on the writings of other travellers. Some have even argued it spurned the beginnings to more analytic, scientific descriptions of the world, in part as it brought a detailed presentation on a world outside of Europe. It was not exactly a friendly world, mind you. Carpini returned with a letter from Guyuk demanding the submission of the Pope and all the monarchs of Europe, immediately, and in person- with the direct threat of horrific consequences if they failed to do so.   As Carpini returned from the Mongol Empire in 1247, another embassy reached the Mongols in what is now Armenia. Pope Innocent ordered a party of Dominican friars from the Crusader states to bear a letter to the Mongols, opening a second diplomatic front in the event Plano Carpini did not return. The Dominicans were another mendicant order founded in the 13th century, famous both as preachers and inquisitors, and visually distinctive in their black cloaks over white habits.  This group of Dominicans was led by a Friar Ascelin, but the account was written by another member of the embassy, Friar Simon of St. Quentin. An online translation has been made accessible online by our friend of the podcast Dr. Stephen Pow- check out www.simonofstquentin.org to read the full account, with maps!    The Dominican embassy arrived in the camp of the Mongol commander of the Caucasus- Baiju Noyan, on the 24th May, 1247. Learning of their arrival, Baiju sent a representative to enquire as to their purpose, and things immediately got off to a poor start. Upon being asked who they were the representatives of, Friar Ascelin replied, “I am the envoy of the Lord Pope, who among Christians is considered superior in dignity to all men and to whom they show reverence as to their father and lord.”   To which Baiju’s representative became immediately annoyed and responded, “How, speaking with such proud words, do you say that your lord pope is the greatest of all men? Does he not know that Khan is the son of God and that Baiju Noyan and Batu are his princes and thus their names are made known and exalted everywhere?” To which Friar Ascelin replied that the Pope knew none of these names, and that they were simply instructed to find the nearest Mongol army -wherever that might be- and to present a letter from the Pope urging a cessation to the slaughter of Christians.   From here, the meeting devolved. The representative returned to Baiju with the message, and returning in a new set of clothes, asked what gifts the Pope had sent for Baiju. The embassy had failed to provide any, stating that in fact, people sent gifts to the Pope! When he returned from Baiju, again in a new set of clothes, he scolded them for failing to show up with gifts- then inquired if they were at the head of any European armies being sent into Syria.  Before allowing the embassy to meet Baiju, they were then ordered to genuflect before him- which the Friars refused to do, fearing it was idolatry. One in their party who had some experience with Mongol customs informed them it wasn’t idolatry they were asking for- just a sign of the submission of the Pope and Catholic Church to the Khan. On this, the Friars proudly stated they’d rather be decapitated than imply the submission of the Church. They would genuflect and even kiss the soles of Baiju’s feet on the condition that he became a Christian. The response was… not ideal.   “You advise us that we become Christians and be dogs like you. Isn’t your pope a dog and aren’t all you Christians dogs?” the Mongols shouted at the party, and upon learning of this insolence Baiju ordered them all to be killed. Baiju’s advisers urged mercy- don’t kill all four of the friars, only two! Another suggested it would be better to skin the lead friar and send him back to Rome stuffed with straw. Or, have two of them beaten by sticks by the whole Mongol army! Another voice said the wisest course was to place them at the front of the army during a siege, and allow them to be killed by enemy missiles. Murder was only abandoned when one of Baiju’s wives talked him down from it- reminding him quite rightly it was poor conduct to kill envoys, and it would bring him into trouble with the imperial court.    Brought back from the brink- and this was still only the first day, mind you- Baiju’s representative inquired what would be an appropriate way for them to worship Baiju. No solution could be reached. The Mongols could not understand the stubbornness of the Christians in this regard: from their point of view, the Christians worshipped wood crosses and stone churches, and could not comprehend why the same respect could not be shown to Baiju, chosen by the Great Khan who was chosen by Heaven itself! The Friars’ explanations turned to theology, how St. Peter granted the keys to the Pope and so on. Lost in translation, the arguments went nowhere, until it was decided that Acelin would hand over the Pope’s letters but not appear before Baiju. The letter then needed to be translated for Baiju, which required Friar Ascelin explaining it word by word to Greek and Turk translators, who then explained it to Persian translators, who then translated it into Mongol, who then read it out for Baiju.   Annoyed by the initial proceedings, Baiju showed them disrespect after that. Left waiting in the hot sun, they were initially told they would be allowed to leave on the 12th of June, 1247, but this was rescinded when Baiju learned of the approach of Eljigidei to be his new superior. Eljigidei was a close ally of Great Khan Guyuk, sent west to resume military operations in the region.  Given only minimal bread and water, they could only wait. And wait. And wait. With no sign of Eljigidei and Ascelin fretting over continued delay, he finally got a councillor to plead on their behalf with promises of gifts. Baiju prepared a letter to send to the Pope, and things looked just about ready for the Dominicans to depart… when Eljigidei finally arrived. Then followed 7 straight days of feasting, drinking and celebrating before finally, some nine weeks after their initial arrival, on the 25th of July 1247 the Friars left Baiju’s camp.    Like Plano Carpini, Ascelin returned with a letter from the Mongols, this time from Baiju, and within it were only the strictest of demands. The Pope was to come himself, in person, and submit to the Mongols. Failure to do so meant he was an enemy to the Great Khan, and only one fate awaited the enemies of the Great Khan. By the end of the 1240s Pope Innocent IV had at least two letters from top Mongol leaders- one of them the Great Khan, Guyuk- demanding his immediate submission.  That’s a fairly strong indication that the Mongol high command was intent on the subjugation of Europe. Much like Carpini, Ascelin’s colleague Simon recorded considerable detail on the customs, habits and warfare of the Mongols, with information on the strategies and tactics they used in their expansion over Iran, the Caucasus and Anatolia- much of it from first hand sources. As much as they were failed conversion and diplomatic efforts, they were valuable sources of intelligence on a foe they had frustratingly little information on. The impression garnered over the 1240s was of an immensely antagonistic power interested in nothing less than mastery of the world.   Our final traveller for today is William of Rubruck, a Franciscan friar who also made the long trip to Mongolia carrying a letter from the King of France Louis IX- though insisting the entire time he was not a diplomat, merely holding the letter for a friend.  Rubruck’s mission both in structure and situation differed from his predecessors. There is no indication he ever met John de Plano Carpini: he was familiar with his work, but not enough that he could get Carpini’s name correct in his own account, referring to him as John of Policarpo. Rubruck provides one detail about himself in his own account: that he was rather on the large side. Stationed in the Holy Land, he joined  the crusading King Louis IX in Cyprus in winter 1248, and went with him on his disastrous Egyptian campaign of 1250- the Seventh Crusade. This campaign was a catalyst to the usurpation of the Mamluks in Egypt over the Ayyubids, something to have major consequences for the Mongols in a few years. Rubruck’s accounts do not indicate he was among them during the debacles further down the Nile in 1250, during which Louis was captured by the Mamluks, held for ransom and released. The following years the French King spent restoring local fortifications in Palestine, humbled and penitent. It seems in this period Rubruck spent quite some time with the King and Queen. Louis had already been in contact with the Mongols, having sent the Dominican friar Andrew of Longjumeau to the Great Khan’s court in the 1240s, and received envoys from Eljigidei in early 1249. This led to nothing: Guyuk was dead before the Dominican reached his court, and Eljigidei, as a close ally of Guyuk, was soon to follow him on Mongke’s orders.   Rubruck, as a good Fransciscan, was keen to spread the word of God among the heathens and had learned from Andrew of Longjumeau’s report of German miners carried east as slaves by the Chagatai prince Buri during the invasion of Hungary.  Keen to bring salvation to the Mongols, and peace to these slaves, it was Rubruck’s own initiative to travel to the Mongol Empire in 1253. Before he left King Louis provided Rubruck a letter to the Khan, as a sort of “while you’re going that way,” rather than an official embassy.. Learning that a Jochid prince, Sartaq son of Batu, was a Christian, Rubruck decided to make a stop at his court first, perhaps hoping to seek his assistance for the long trek. Taking his leave of King Louis likely at Jaffa, Rubruck set out north and reached Constantinople in April 1253, there getting a chance to preach in St. Sophia, the modern Hagia Sofia; he spoke with other men who had gone as envoys to the Mongols; and there picked up a companion, another Franciscan named Bartholomew of Cremona. Sailing across the Black Sea to Crimea, he travelled north into the steppes to the camp of Sartaq.    Sartaq was the first of many disappointments for Rubruck. His Chrisitanity Rubruck found lacking, and his secretaries admonished Rubruck for calling him a Christian, telling him “Do not say that our master is a Christian. He is not a Christian; he is a Mongol.” The customary gift giving resulted in much of his possessions being taken or outright stolen. In the four days they were there, they were not even provided food, only airag, fermented mare’s milk, though Rubruck took a liking to it. Rubruck stressed he was not an envoy, merely carrying a letter of friendly intent from King Louis. This made a real mess. This was not an area in Mongol diplomacy their world view accounted for. To quote historian Peter Jackson in his translation of Rubruck’s account, “the Mongols were in fact unable to comprehend why representatives of independent peoples should trouble to visit the imperial court if not to bring submission.” Sartaq, not understanding the purpose of Rubruck’s letter, decided this was a matter for his father Batu to settle. So Rubruck, at this time in his mid forties and trying to travel barefoot as in Franciscan tradition, was forced to follow Plano Carpini’s route over the Volga Steppe to the court of Batu.   He was amazed at the size of Batu’s camp, comparing it to a large city. Taken before the tent of Batu, he gazed upon the second most powerful man in Asia. Sitting upon a golden throne with a wife at his side, Rubruck provides us our only physical description of Batu Khan: “He regarded us with a keen gaze, as we did him. He struck me as being of the same build as the lord John of Beaumont, and his face was covered at this time with reddish blotches.” As numerous commentators have stated, it is a deep shame that we do not know what build John of Beaumont was. Through his interpreter, Rubruck spoke to Batu and the audience, in which he urged Batu to be baptized. Batu gave a slight smile, and the audience began laughing at Rubruck.    Batu interrogated Rubruck, having learned through spies of King Louis’ military expedition to Egypt. Telling the Khan that the purpose was to recapture Jerusalem, Rubruck was given airag and sent to the side. Batu decided it was best to send this representative of the French King right to the highest authority: Mongke Khaan, quite without Rubruck’s consent and with no choice in the matter. “There is no counting the times we were famished, thirsty, frozen and exhausted,” Rubruck says of the lengthy voyage in winter 1253 over Central Asia to Mongolia. Rubruck’s account, unlike that of Carpini, is full of personal opinions on matters: mainly in the form of how much he hated everything. Their hygiene and personal habits, such as relieving themselves in the middle of the open steppe right beside him he found ‘excessively tiresome.’   By the end of December 1253 William of Rubruck was in the camp of Mongke Khaan, some ten days journey from Karakorum. Unlike with Ascelin and Baiju, Rubruck was asked how he would like to make his obeisance to the Khan, per European custom or Mongolian. Rubruck would sing praises to God, then do as Mongke wished. Inside a tent Rubruck describes as covered in gold, the friar provides a brief description of Mongke. The Khan was seated on a golden couch with a wife, dressed in spotted fur, snub nosed, of medium build and about 45 years old. One of Mongke’s daughters was seated on the steps before him: Rubruck says she was very ugly. The initial meeting did not go very far. Alcohol was offered, and Rubruck’s interpreter helped himself. After Mongke’s first statement, “Just as the sun spreads its rays in all directions, so my power and that of Batu are spread to every quarter,” Rubruck’s interpreter was too drunk to translate, and the friar was quickly pushed to the side.   Rubruck did not have a good time in the Mongol court. Provided lodging and food, he found himself interrogated and often mistreated. The Mongols sought information on Europe, on what and how many goods and animals the French possessed, and if the Pope was really 500 years old. Rubruck had gone to convert the heathens and bring salvation to the captured German miners: he succeeded in converting only six people during his stay and learned the Germans were beyond his reach in Central Asia. Rubruck was stuck with Nestorian and Greek Orthodox Christians which he did not take a great liking too, there only to enrich themselves. The priests, among many others, were convinced Mongke was on the verge of converting to their creed. Rubruck saw that the Khan didn’t care for any of them, content to utilize all their prayers. Spending several months in Mongke’s camp and Karakorum, the imperial capital, Rubruck met persons from all over Asia. From ambassadors from the Nicaean Empire, the Delhi Sultanate, Baghdad and China to Europeans brought as captives to Mongolia. He met Hungarians, Germans, Russians and French. One was William Buchier of Paris, a goldsmith highly prized by the Mongols. He designed and built the famous silver tree of Karakorum: literally, a tree made from silver with conduits running through it, at the base through four silver lions and higher up coming down as spouts shaped as snakes. From the lions came airag, fermented mare’s milk; from the gilded mouths of four snakes poured grape wine; qaraqumiss, refined mare’s milk; bal, a honey drink, and a rice wine. At the top of the tree was a silver angel with a trumpet. On command, a man inside the tree would sound the trumpet, alerting stewards in another room to feed the alcoholic beverages through their respectives conduits. Below each animal was a vessel to collect the drinks, and when filled they were carried to the cheery guests, applauding at the show. Aside from this and the Khan’s palace in Karakorum, Rubruck found the city terribly unimpressive, likening it to a small town in France but with a very diverse population.    Rubruck endured a number of almost sitcom-like vignettes during his time there. On one occasion he joined with a Nestorian priest to ‘save’ one of Mongke’s sickly wives through a decoction of rhubarb and holy water. Most notable was a religious debate he took part in, sparked by a conflict between Rubruck and the Buddhist priests at Karakorum. While Rubruck gives a detailed and accurate description of the Buddhist customs he saw, he had little care for the Buddhists themselves. This spat turned into the Mongols hosting a religious debate- on one side, Rubruck representing the Catholic Church, with Nestorian Christians, Greek Orthodox Christians and Muslims, and on the other Buddhists lamas. Three umpires - a Buddhist, Christian and Muslim- judged. Mongke, in typical fashion, called for a respectful debate forbidding insulting remarks to opponents, on pain of death.   Rubruck’s version is that he was the star player, deftly disarming the arguments of the Buddhists while his own teammates proved incompetent. We lack any other accounts of this debate, so we should perhaps take it with a grain of salt. He does remark that even though his arguments were like, totally 100% awesome and really effective, no one was convinced to become a Christian because of it, and the debate ended with everyone drinking heavily with half his team singing loudly and presumably, off-key.    The most interesting portion of Rubruck’s narrative is his brief interview with Mongke Khaan, albeit through an interpreter. In this discussion, Mongke provides a fascinating explanation for his religious view:   “We Mongols believe that there is only one God, through whom we have life and through whom we die, and towards him we direct our hearts. But just as God has given the hand several fingers, so he has given mankind several paths. To you God has given the Scriptures and you Christians do not observe them. You do not find in the scriptures, that one man ought to abuse another, do you? And likewise you do not find that a man ought to deviate from the path of justice for financial gain. So, then, God has given you the Scriptures, and you do not observe them; whereas to us he has given soothsayers, and we do as they tell us and live in peace.”   After this, Rubruck was instructed to return to the west with a letter for King Louis, upon which he lamented he had no chance to attempt to convert the Khan. Mongke’s letter to Louis is preserved in Rubruck’s account, and it’s somewhat more cordial compared to the demands of Guyuk. I mean, it still has demands that the Kings of Europe come and submit to him, and that it would be foolish to trust in distance and mountains to protect them.  But it offered something of an apology- well, not quite an apology-  for inconsistent messaging by the envoys of Eljigidei, and for Andrew of Longjumeau’s journey which met not Guyuk Khan, but his widow Oghul Qaimish. On Oghul Qaimish, Mongke stated his opinion on her rather bluntly in his letter: “But as for knowing the business of war and the affairs of peace, subduing the wide world and discerning how to act for the best- what could that worthless woman, lower than a bitch, have known of this?” That he would so openly write this in an official channel- a letter to another monarch- is indicative of the malice he felt to her, and partially explains some of the violence Mongke ordered against the house of Ogedai.   Alas for William of Rubruck, but well for us, was that he was unable to return to King Louis to deliver the message in person. Believing Louis had remained in the Crusader States, after reaching the court of Batu in the Volga steppe, Rubruck cut south through the Caucasus- briefly staying in Baiju Noyan’s camp, where he heard of the approach of Hulegu, Mongke’s younger brother, and a massive army marching through Iran. Learning that Louis had returned to France, Rubruck’s Franciscan superiors ordered him to remain in Acre, forced to send Mongke’s letters alongside a written account of his journey, which luckily for us survives. Unlike Carpini’s account, Rubruck writes little on the warfare of the Mongols, spending more time on their customs and character, with remarkably astute, though not compassionate, descriptions of the cultures and religions he saw throughout his journey. It’s also a detailed geographical and observational survey, challenging views set out by ancient writers. For instance, noting that the Caspian Sea was not an ocean but a lake;  noting the proper courses of the Don and Volga Rivers; connecting the Chinese to the Seres mentioned in antiquity; noted linguistic connections between various groups and, upon finding no evidence for popular medieval monsters like the dog-headed people, argued against their existence. One of the few people to read Rubruck’s account in the 13th century was the English Franciscan Roger Bacon, who met Rubruck in Paris in 1257. Bacon was the first European to record the mixture for gunpowder in 1267. It’s sometimes suggested that Rubruck provided it to Bacon, but as Rubruck mentions nothing of the sort in his account, this is unlikely.    And that is a brief overview of three early European journeys to the Mongol Empire. Not as famous as the slightly later journey of one Messer Marco Polo, but fascinating nonetheless. Our next episode will be an overview of the reign of Great Khan Mongke, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast and to continue helping us bring you more outstanding content, please visit our patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. Thank you for listening, I am your host David and we will catch you on the next one!

In the final decade of his reign, Philip the Good was obsessed with the idea of a crusade against the Ottoman Turks. The complexities of the diverse state that he had built, however, would never allow him to fulfill this dream, as he would continually be distracted by local issues. Although Philip had been released from his personal vassalage to the French King, France still remained a threat to stability in Burgundy; the two men’s status as ‘frenemies’ was solidified when Charles VII’s son, the dauphin Louis, was given refuge at the Burgundian court. Philip’s heir, Charles, Count of Charolais, had major father issues of his own after their argument which had ended with Philip lost in the forest in Belgium. Despite the birth of his daughter, Mary, Charles became estranged from not only his father, but also the fine-workings of central governance. He retreated to Holland to worry about whether he would ever, indeed, actually receive his inheritance. When the dauphin Louis ascended to the throne in France, a sequence of events was set in motion which threatened to permanently splinter the Burgundian realm. But before this could happen, the Estates of the Burgundian Netherlands took the small step of organising a meeting on their own accord in order to secure Charles’s inheritance and force a reconciliation between the aging and deteriorating duke and his ambitious and aggressive son. And in so doing, the Estates General of the Netherlands had taken one giant leap onto centre stage of lowlander politics. With thanks to Jos van Ommeren, Zoe Tsiagkouris and Paul Roos for their Patreon support. SHOW NOTES: www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-28-the-strained-reins-of-a-waning-reign PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Poitiers, Edward III, and his son, the Black Prince were flying high. They had the French King, John II, in captivity, and France was in turmoil. But, the fortunes of the Hundred Years War are fickle. This time, we follow Charles V, the new French King, as he rolls back English gains. Then, after the deaths of the Black Prince and Edward III, Richard II takes the throne and faces the Peasants Revolt of 1381. 

On this trip report Annie takes you on a quest for the Maid of Orĺéans with her guest Kim Loftus. Have you ever wanted to go searching for Joan of Arc in rural France? She's in a lot of villages in northern France! That was the theme of Kim's latest trip to France and she tells us about several of the must-see sites related to this world-famous heroine. Book recommendation: Joan of Arc, a Life Transfigured Hotels Recommended in this Episode In Reims they stayed at the Hotel Campanile. This is a great location where you could walk to the city center and they have parking. Campanile hotels are typically inexpensive as well. In Reims they also enjoyed the restaurant Au Bureau near the Cathedral and Au Café de Reims. The best hotel of the trip was in Rouen: Best Western Hotel Gustave Flaubert Searching for Joan of Arc in Rural France Joan was born in the middle of the 100-year war which went poorly for the French, particularly with the terrible battle of Agencourt (listen to episode 89 for the story on how that went). France was being ruled by an English King. She was born in Domremy, which has now been renamed Domremy-la-Pucelle. You went there and will tell us what you saw there in a moment. Her father was a successful farmer and she was the oldest of 5 children. She was extremely pious and went to pray in the village church several times a day. Joan started hearing voices at age 13 telling her that it was her calling to deliver France from the wicked English rulers and put a French King on the throne again. At age 16 (or was it 17?) she set off to meet the rightful heir of the throne, raised an army, inspired French people to support the cause and she did it! She’s been a legend ever since as the unlikely savior of a country in big trouble. She was at the center of two big trials which is why her life is well-documented and also why it’s hard to talk about her without being a specialist because it’s complicated! There is also plenty of lore surrounding her life. But she was a real girl who died young in a tragic end and achieved amazing results by turning the 100-year war around in favor of the French. I found the Wikipedia page about her to be one of the best summaries out there of who she was and what she did. I also read the Wikipedia page about her in French and that’s got so many details that it’s horribly confusing. Château-Thierry Aisne-Marne Memorial Cemetery WWI Château-Thierry monument WWI Porte Saint Pierre, Joan of Arc entered the town of Chateau-Thierry through this stone gate. This is a fortress related to 100 Years War: The town was under the control of the English, Joan of Arc marched through and took it over for the French. Newly crowned King Charles VII was with her there. Reims This is where Charles VII was crowned and where many other French Kings were crowned too. Joan had to take the city from the English first, and then have him crowned. There is a Joan of Arc sculpture outside cathedral and chapel inside. You’ll have to find the statue of the smiling angel of the Cathedral too! Reims is a good place to stay when you go searching for Joan of Arc. They took day-trips to Domremy-la-Pucelle and Vaucouleur while staying in Reims. Domremy-la-Pucelle This is where Joan of Arc was born and raised, and she set off on her quest from here at age 16. What did you see there? L'Arbre des Fées, the gift shop staff was so fun for a Joan geek like me, maybe because I was the only one there. It was another chance to practice my French. Centre Johannique Joan’s childhood home and the garden where she heard the voices giving her instructions Remy church next to Joan’s home. Vaucouleurs Visitors Center, which is where you request to see Joan of Arc Museum. Next to the Visitors Center, a shop called Mercerie Lagny. Nathalie, owner, was so delightful. Bought French made socks, Berthe aux Grands Pieds. Eglise St. Laurent - chapel to Joan. Up the hill is the gate of France where Joan left the city with her troops to go the dauphin at Chinon. An old lime tree probably dates back to Joan’s time. Sign explaining only living thing remaining that would have been there to see her off in 1429. The old castle’s chapel were Joan attended the Mass on mornings and stayed for hours in front of the statue of Notre-Dame-des-Voûtes. It was not open. Compiègne Came through on a Sunday and everything except the Château de Compiègne was closed. Many half-timbered buildings in the city center. Joan of Arc on city hall and sculpture in the plaza. Joan captured nearby. Tour Jeanne d’Arc, origninally called La Grosse Tour du Roi. After Charles VII was crowned, he entered into pragmantic agreements with various Lords, some of whom used to be his enemies. Joan still wanted to get rid of all the English. When the English laid siege Compiègne the inhabitants send word to Joan of Arc that they needed her. She was able to rally 400 men to try and chase the English away from Compiègne but she was captured. They put her in various prisons, she tried to escape, no ransom was negotiated and she was burned at the stake in Rouen a year after her capture. Rouen Chemical plant explosion and awful smell in the air The Joan of Arc Historical, an immersive experience - quite moving. Rouen Cathedrale - light show in the summer months Eglise St. Jeanne d’Arc, Rouen right next to Place du Vieux-Marché - Joan’s execution site, marked with a towering sculptural cross. Best dinner at D’eux-Mêmes restaurant - Palet Breton, Tube Choco-dessert and a Daurade. Searching for Joan of Arc in Rural France Useful Links Joan of Arc cities website aka "villes johaniques" and map of the area in English Also a Facebook page for events in Domremy and Grand Email | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter   Did you get my VoiceMap Paris tours yet? They are designed for people who want to see the best of Paris neighborhoods and put what they are looking at into historical context. There are so many great stories in Paris. Don't walk right past them without having a clue what happened there! You can buy them directly from the VoiceMap app or click here to order activation codes at the podcast listener discount price.   Discussed in this Episode Aisne-Marne Memorial Cemetery WWI Château-Thierry monument WWI Porte Saint Pierre where Joan of Arc entered the town of Chateau-Thierry Reims Domrémy-la-Pucelle Vaucouleur Compiègne Rouen Subscribe to the Podcast Apple Google Spotify RSS Support the Show Tip Your Guide Extras Patreon Audio Tours Merchandise If you enjoyed this episode, you should also listen to related episode(s): The Battle of Agincourt, Episode 89 Chateau-Thierry and the Battle of Belleau Wood, Episode 256 A Perfect Day Trip to Reims from Paris, Episode 13 Categories: Alsace and Lorraine, Champagne Area, Hauts-de-France, Normandy & Brittany

On 13 October, 1307 France's Knights Templar were summarily arrested in a grand coordinated effort. They were accused of defiling the cross, worshipping false idols, and performing sinful sexual acts. In this episode, we uncover the French King's plot against the Templars, the satanic conspiracy that has dogged their reputation through the centuries, and their ties to the Holy Grail. Also, the Pope gets slapped.

In this week's short fictional episode, we join Francis Valois as he tries to destroy the Habsburg army facing him. The Spanish arquebusiers, Swiss and German Landsknecht, and French gendarmes all find themselves fighting for their lives outside the besieged city of Pavia. The French King wanted Milan and control of the Italian Pennisula, his Habsburg rival, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, wanted control of all Europe. Pavia was the decisive battle in a long series of wars known as the Italian Wars, and it was this battle that changed Francis I's life forever. To learn more about the fight, check out this week's main episode dropping Friday 28th. *As always, with these fictional episodes, some characters and events are fictitious or have been altered slightly. The purpose of this show is to entertain while also giving listeners a peek into a moment in time. Enjoy! Source - Thomas F. Arnold's The Renaissance At WarCover Art - Portrait of Francis I, King of France (ca. 1532-1533) by Joos van der BekeJourney in the New World by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Source: http://www.twinmusicom.org/song/258/journey-in-the-new-worldArtist: http://www.twinmusicom.orgHeavy Interlude by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100515Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Two years after The Guests on South Battery became a New York Times hardcover bestseller, Melanie Trenholm returns. Finally married to true-crime bestselling author Jack Trenholm, they are living in Melanie’s historic home with their 18-month old twins and Jack’s fifteen-year-old daughter. But domestic bliss can’t last for long. A new passel of spirits have taken up residence at Fifty-Five Tradd, and they need Melanie’s help to right old wrongs and solve a mystery. In THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET, Melanie should be anticipating the holidays with nothing but joy. But then she discovers that a long-lost Revolutionary War treasure may be somewhere on her property. A gift from the French King—brought to Charleston by the Marquis de Lafayette himself to help finance the Colonial war effort—it’s whispered that many have already killed, and died to possess the treasure. When it resurfaces in present day, someone will once again stop at nothing to possess it . . . even if that means destroying everything Melanie holds dear. Christmas is the perfect time to fall in love with the residents of Tradd Street, both living and otherwise. Certain to delight long-time fans and easy to jump into for newcomers, THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS ON TRADD STREET is a can’t-miss holiday release. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Karen White is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including the Tradd Street series, Dreams of Falling, The Night the Lights Went Out, Flight Patterns, The Sound of Glass, A Long Time Gone, and The Time Between. She is the coauthor of The Forgotton Room and The Glass Ocean with New York Times bestselling authors Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig. She grew up in London but now lives with her husband and two children near Atlanta, Georgia. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/steve-richards/support

Desperate to find a movie Fran loves more than Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves we watch 1991's 'Robin Hood', a British production starring Uma Thurman and 2018's 'Robin Hood', starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx and Ben Mendelsohn. Additionally, we interview King Louis the 16th of France who is planning his comeback to the throne following his imprisonment. SHOW NOTES Robin Hood is a 1991 British adventure film directed by John Irvin, executive produced by John McTiernan and starring Patrick Bergin, Uma Thurman, Jürgen Prochnow, Jeroen Krabbé and Edward Fox. Although originally intended for a theatrical release in the United States and South America, the film was premiered on the Fox network in those territories a month before the release of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It was released in cinemas in several countries in Europe and elsewhere, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Robin Hood is a 2018 American action-adventure film directed by Otto Bathurst and written by Ben Chandler and David James Kelly, from a story by Chandler. It is a quasi-contemporary retelling of the Robin Hood legend, and follows his training by John to steal from the Sheriff of Nottingham. The film stars Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin, and Jamie Dornan. King Louis the 16th was King of France until he was overthrown by the French Revolution in 1792.

In this episode we follow the reigns of King Richard I and King John as they battle to maintain their Plantagenent Empire against King Philip of France. We will see King Richard die after foolishly failing to wear armor one April evening. We will see King John battle the French King and his own nobles before eventually signing the Magna Carta. And we will see the final collapse of the Plantagenet Empire as England and France begin to form into nation states. 

Journalist Helen Lewis rehabilitates the reputation of the “Black Queen” of France, Catherine de Medici. Helen is joined by Dr Estelle Paranque, history lecturer at the New College of Humanities and author of a new book on the relationship between Catherine and Elizabeth I. Catherine’s life is a remarkable story of female resilience in the face of adversity. Born and immediately orphaned in Florence, Catherine’s Medici name meant she was married off to the French King’s second son. When she arrived in France, she was shunned. Her new husband was already completely in love with another far older and more beautiful woman. He showed little interest in her. And no one expected her to come to the throne. But, following a series of unfortunate deaths, Catherine would go on to become one of the most powerful women in Europe – Queen regent, and mother to three kings across decades of a volatile period in French history. Helen became fascinated by her aged ten when she realised with a kind of horror that had she been a medieval princess she was the right age to be shipped off to a strange land to marry some duke she’d never met. Helen Lewis is associate editor at the New Statesman. She argues that Catherine was a savvy political operator, and that her reputation as “the serpent of Paris”was largely due to the fact she was a female in power at a very difficult time. A fascinating insight into a major character little known over here. The presenter is Matthew Parris and the producer in Bristol is Polly Weston.

All good things must come to an end. And so must That Is The Question. Temporarily anyway. Whether you've listened from the beginning or are only becoming aware this is even a thing, the good news is, you can listen to this episode over and over again until we decide what to do for Season Two! Thanks to all our guests, audiences, and ourselves! As well as our main man...Thomas Middleton. (And Shakespeare, whatever) Listen in, enjoy, and stay tuned for more news from Shakespeare's favorite podcast!

The Knights Templar fought their last stand in the Holy Land (their last proper stand) in Acre in 1291 and shit was epic. They went down, but, they didn't go down easy. And then, less than two decades later, a corrupt French King forced a weak Pope into ending the long reign of the Knights Templar. And by 1312, according to historians, the Order of the Knights of the Temple had been completely dissolved. Or were they!?! Conspiracy theorists say no. They say the Knights have done all kinds of shit since then, like take the Holy Grail to Scotland, or maybe Oak Island. And they joined forces with the Freemasons to help take down humanity through the New World Order. And so much more. And we explore it all, today, on Timesuck! Timesuck is also brought to you by the Wild Card Podcast! Check it on iTunes or anywhere you listen to podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wild-card/id1392652002?mt=2 Timesuck is also brought to you The Great Courses Plus!Do yourself a HUGE favor and get a month of SO MUCH amazing, interesting, and informative content for FREE:https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/timesuck Merch  - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Want to try out Discord!?! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Here it is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cultofthecurious/ For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG, @timesuckpodcast on Twitter, and www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna be a Space Lizard? We're over 2500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast  Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. And, thank you for supporting the show by doing your Amazon shopping after clicking on my Amazon link at www.timesuckpodcast.com

Join Us in France Travel Podcast, Episode 191 In this episode we talk about  the "good" king Henry the 4th and his home town of Pau. Perched on the top of a cliff with a FABULOUS view of the Pyrenees mountains which are close by, Pau is charming and makes for a lovely stop along the way as you explore the southwest region and head either to Lourdes or the the Basque country further west. The castle, recently renovated, is a wonderful example of Medieval and Renaissance architecture, tower, turrets, and furniture included. It is fun to explore and imagine how different life was like when even a king had to worry about heating his home!! Henry IV was born in the Chateau of Pau and left a lasting imprint on Paris. He was the person who made the Place des Vosges and major parts of the Louvre, but in THIS episode you will hear about  his origins and his attachment to his home country in the principality of Bearn. Timestamps for this Episode [02:42] Henri IV, the French King whose first language was Occitan. [03:48] Pau, the city on top of the hill: geographical location and the Gave de Pau, the local river. [04:53] Circumstances surrounding the birth of Henri IV: the Wars of Religion that we’ll talk about at another time. [05:25] The Castle of Pau started out as a wooden fortified castle. Most castles were built of wood in the Middle Ages, but this is not something most people know because they didn’t survive as well as stone castles. [07:36] It makes sense to visit Lourdes and Pau on the same day. [09:49] Gaston Phoebus turned the wooden castle into a stone castle, and it was renovated again in the nineteenth century. [12:03] Henri IV’s parents were both of royal blood. His mother was a Protestant and his father a Catholic. [13:44] The garlic and wine story about Henri IV. [16:10] When Henry becomes king, the castle in Pau becomes his secondary residence. [20:06] Louis XIII, son of Henry IV, renovates the castle in Pau to make it more genteel. [22:40] The chateau in Pau at the French Revolution. [24:00] The castle in Pau that we see today is what is left from the Louis Philippe era. [25:30] The strange sleeping habits and sleeping arrangements of kings. [29:25] Napoleon III structural renovations. [31:51] The Béarn was annexed to be part of France under Louis XIII, not under Henri IV. [35:14] Local foods you can enjoy when you visit Pau. [36:30] How much time to spend in Pau and what else you can visit in the area. [41:20] Pau is a nice mid-size French city, not so big that it’s expensive, but not so small that it’s boring. [43:17] You can arrange to tour Pau with Elyse. We’ll talk more about Henri IV in other episodes because there is so much to say. [44:00] Thank you Patreon supporters and personal update. Hanging out with a Labrador Puppy. [46:00] French people don’t get fresh bread from the bakery for breakfast! [48:00] Please tell people about your favorite podcast episode and let them know that we’re on Alexa, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more. [49:22] Rail strike about to get under way in France. [51:30] Best way to connect with me. Subscribe to the email extras and bonuses Ask a question or leave a voicemail comment: +1 801 806 1015 To learn about Join Us in France Tours, visit Addicted to France Click here to support the show when you shop on Amazon Show Merchandise including shirts, totes, phone cases and more! Click here for show notes with time stamps for this episode. https://joinusinfrance.com/191 (apple podcast app does not display links embedded in words) Click here to review the show on iTunes. See Annie's photos of France on Instagram Join Us in France Book Group on Goodreads Send email feedback: annie@joinusinfrance.com Follow the show on Facebook

Edward the Black Prince, son of King Edward III of England, wins the Battle of Poitiers 1356. The French King, John II, is captured and ransomed, while civil war erupts in his kingdom See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If one of your party guests has a reputation for eating anything, perhaps you shouldn't pass him a prized family heirloom. Especially if it's the mummified heart of a famous King.

Eugene - Who's full french title was Francois-Eugene, prince de Savoie-Carignan was born in Paris in 1663. His Italian mother, Olympia Mancini, was niece to Cardinal Mazarin the Chief Minister of the French King (or in his case Kings as he served both Bourbon monarchs Louis XIII and Louis XIV). His father was the Italian-French nobleman Eugene Maurice, Count of Soissons. Dur: 21mins  File: .mp3�

In this week's award winning Five Stars segment, Matt and Dave discuss Halloween and a new installment in Bus Updates! Meanwhile, the Jetmen embark on a quest involving a diamond formerly owned by a French King that is definitely not the Hope Diamond. Watch this week's episode here: https://www.facebook.com/TheSuperSentaiNetwork/videos/2164232562015/ Email the show: Supersentaibrothers@gmail.com Find Matt Jay on Twitter: @supersentaibros Join the Facebook discussion: https://www.facebook.com/SuperSentaiBros   Toei Company's Choujin Sentai Jetman is the fifteenth season of the long running Japanese Super Sentai television program -- the franchise which inspired and  sourced the American Power Rangers franchise produced by Bandai! The Super Sentai Brothers podcast is brought to you by Retrograde Orbit Radio and the following dedicated Retrograde Orbit Radio Personalities: Your Dashing Hosts: Matt and Dave Jay Your Faithful Producer: Producer Mark

After the victory at Poitiers and capture of the French King, the English seemed to hold all the cards, and the Treaty of Bretigny in 1360 for a while maintained this illusion. Edward basked in his glories, and made sure he had provided for his thre eldest sons - Edward, Lionel and John. 

1356 saw one of the greatest exchange of arms of the war. Early in the year, the Duke of Lancaster attacked into Normandy and with lightening marches ran rings round the French King. Then in the south the Black Prince attacked into the Poitou, seeking to link up with Lancaster on a march towards Paris. The campaign would end of the field of Poitiers as once again an English army faced a much bigger French opponent.

AFTERBUZZ TV – The Borgias edition, is a weekly “after show” for fans of Showtime's The Borgias. In this show, host Maria Kanellis breaks down the sex and diseased filled episode in which Pope Alexander tries to create a relationship between Rome and Naples to counter the alliance between Della Rovere and King Charles of [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Music for the orchestras of Louis XIII and XIV, as well as works from the time of Louis XV.

How a British King's art collection became a French King's art collection.

How a British King's art collection became a French King's art collection.

Transcript -- How a British King's art collection became a French King's art collection.

Transcript -- How a British King's art collection became a French King's art collection.

Dominique Rizzo is the owner of La Boulangerie, a popular French bakery located on Magazine Street in New Orleans. Since we are in the Carnival Season, Dominique describes the original French King Cake and explains how it differs from our traditional New Orleans King Cake. He recalls his first impressions of New Orleans and shares his observations of how New Orleans is unique and distinct from other American cities.

This is episode 10 in the on-going epic saga of the Chinese Marco Polo – Rabban Sauma.Realizing he couldn't get anything done in Rome since there was no Pope, and that the dozen cardinals charged with the task of selecting him were competing for the post, Sauma decided to take his request for a military alliance between Christian Europe and Mongol Persia against the Muslims Mamluks in the Middle East, directly to the Kings of France and England.Leaving Rome, he stopped in Genoa on his way to North. Since Genoa had for some years maintained a thriving trade with the Ilkhanate, that is the Mongols in Persia, Sauma had every reason to expect a warm welcome. He wasn't disappointed. It didn't hurt that one of the interpreters who'd accompanied him from Persia was a native-born Genoese merchant.Genoa was at the height of its prosperity when Sauma visited, boasting a population of 70,000, one of the largest in Europe. Its merchants were savvy negotiators who'd been able to arrange deals not only around the Mediterranean but reaching into the Far East. While other Italian City-States like Naples and Venice set up lucrative trade routes with select partners, Genoa was able to walk a tight-rope of diplomacy across dozens of partners who were otherwise in conflict with each other. Because of their wide-ranging connections, many realms of thought and practice combined to influence the intellectual life of Genoa. It was a truly cosmopolitan city whose routine wasn't knocked off kilter by the arrival of an Embassy form the Far East.While the commerce of Genoa was well established, its government was another matter. Genoa seemed unable to find a political system that satisfied the city's need for longer than a decade. At the time of Sauma's visit, the city's ruler was called a Captain of the People, or Citizens. He rallied the population of Genoa to officially welcome Sauma's party. Sauma was confused; not able to understand how such a large city wasn't ruled by a king. Knowing how far-reaching Genoa's trade was, Sauma wondered if it might even have been better ruled by an Emperor.Once settled into the accommodations made available to him, Sauma plotted his next moves. If it occurred to him to ask the Genoese to join an alliance against the Mamluks, he quickly put it aside. The Genoese would not be drawn into a war with a force that dominated the entire Eastern Med. In fact, forging treaties was what they were known for. When they went to war, it was with their rival Italian City-States, all for the golden prize of increasing trade with everyone else. And Genoa was at that time gearing up for a campaign against their major rival Venice, which it would soon best.So, after visiting the religious sites in an near Genoa, Sauma once again packed up and headed north toward France.Sauma's hope of help from the French was keen. After all King Louis IX, known to history as St. Louis, had played a major role in 2 Crusades to liberate the Middle East from the Muslim presence. But his son, Philip III, known as Philip the Bold, had been more concerned with securing his control of France and her neighbors. His son, Philip IV, known as Philip the Fair and later as The Iron King, had only been on the throne for 2 yrs when Sauma arrived in Paris. Barely 20 yrs of age, everyone wondered if he'd reprise the career of his famous grandfather or his more mundane father. It seemed a most propitious time for the Rabban's embassy, as setting out on a new Crusade to liberate the Holy Land from the Mamluks would appeal to the energy and ambitions of a young ruler seeking to make his mark.Arriving at the French border in August of 1287, Sauma's party was greeted by a large force sent by the King to escort him to Paris. They entered the City at the end of September to much pomp & circumstance. Sauma was then ushered to palatial digs provided by King Philip. And  it was time for a break for the Chinese Monk-ambassador.The trip from Genoa to Paris took a month. While the journey was nowhere near as arduous as that which he'd undertaken a decade before from China to Persia, he was now in his 60's and the entire adventure was taken a toll on his aging body. He's been traveling for the past 6 months from Persia, to the Black Sea, Constantinople, Naples, Rome, Genoa, and now Paris. Keep in mind there were no Holiday, Ramada or Quality Inns along the way. The caravanserais they'd enjoyed earlier were far away in Asia. They overnighted either along the roadside or in small public houses where the bedding was rarely changed. The quality of the food was most often abysmal because it was the only thing to be had by travelers.So by the time Sauma arrived in Paris, he was exhausted and needed to rest. Philip recognized that and set aside three days for him to recoup. Then he sent a formal invitation for the Nestorian monk to attend an official audience with his majesty. When Sauma arrived at court, Philip rose to greet him; an unusual gesture for a European monarch at that time. Guests at court were usually required to process a long path to the dais holding the throne, stopping at the foot of the stairs, they then bowed and remained thus in a posture of supplication until told to stand. The entire time the king remained seated. Rising to greet Sauma was a surprising move on Philip's part because it signaled the court the French King viewed Sauma as an equal.Then, it was down to business. Why, Philip asked, as Sauma there? What did he want? Why had he come and who'd sent him?If Sauma was surprised by the bluntness of the king's query, he recovered quickly and responded in kind. He told Philip that while originally set on a religious pilgrimage endorsed and sponsored by the Great Khubilai Khan in China, he'd been made the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia's official envoy back to Khubilai's court. But before returning to China to fulfill that task, he'd been given a special assignment: Travel West to the Christian rulers of Western Europe, asking them for an alliance with the Ilkhanate against the Mamluks and recovery Jerusalem from Muslim control. Sauma then handed Philip the letter and gifts from Ilkhan Arghun. These gifts were most likely the kinds of things that would convey the seriousness of the embassy, but could be easily transported by individuals traveling light; jewels, small packages of luxurious silk cloth, so highly prized by the elite of Western Europe.Sauma reports the French King was favorable toward the proposed alliance. Philip was moved by the Mongols desire to free Jerusalem from Muslim hegemony, even though those Mongols weren't officially Christian. Philip remarked that Christian Europe ought to rise to the challenge presented by the Ilkhans. Rabban Sauma was equally impressed by the King's devotion to the Faith and his interest in embarking on a new Crusade. For the first time, Sauma's mission to the West seemed to be bearing fruit.BUT: Sauma wasn't hip to European politics which had shaped Philip's exuberant response. Philip was less interested in a Crusade to recapture the Holy Land as he was in securing his control over the contested domains of his north. Ever since ascending the throne, he'd been in contention with England's King Edward I who owed him fealty in Gascony. In the Spring of 1286, Edward went to Paris to pay Philip honor as his suzerain. But Philip never bought this show of fealty. He had reason to distrust Edward since England backed France's enemies in the contentious affairs in Aragon. Tensions between the two rulers grew until war broke out in 1294.Another trouble Philip dealt with was a degenerating relationship with the Roman Church. Needing funds in his campaigns to secure the North, the French monarch confiscated the tithes destined for Rome. His nobles already struggled with the burdensome taxes the crown had levied. The only place to secure the much-needed funds was the Church. So in an appeal to nationalism, Philip said French gold and silver ought to stay in France, not shipped off to Rome and the interests of the Pope, whose schemes were cast as contrary to French well-being. All of this would later lead to the major rift that occurred between the French crown and Papacy that we covered in Season One of CS.While Philip's enthusiastic response to Sauma's appeal was no doubt sincere, on further reflection, Philip realized mounting a new Crusade wasn't practical. At least not in the short term. Maybe after movement on his domestic fronts, a Crusade could be staged.On Sauma's part, having achieved seeming success on the official phase of his embassy, he turned to his personal adventure; visiting the religious sites of Paris and its environs. Philip assigned him an escort and off they went visiting churches and shrines; Sauma once again focusing on relics rather than the marvelous architecture and art.The Rabban was stunned by the large number of students in Paris, which was one of the sites of the new centers of learning called universities. He reports there were 30,000 students in the City.And that brings up a point of historical tension it might be wise for us to skim the surface of.As many subscribers know, the value of numbers in reporting of history has been a contentious issue for a long time. The tension comes over the almost universal tendency of ancient historians to give big numbers while many modern historians are committed to reducing those numbers to a tenth of the original. We see that here. Sauma says Paris had 30,000 students. Modern historians say the City of that time had maybe 3,000. This assumed inflation of numbers by the ancients and chroniclers of yore is just about universal among modern historians. Some wonder if that skepticism is valid. The fact that nearly ALL pre-modern accounts give much larger figures than modern historians allow is provocative. Recent archaeology has caused historians to revise their estimates of population upwards in some cases, significantly.It'll be interesting for those of us who are historically interested, to watch what happens in the realm of statistics over the next few years as researchers review past assumptions in light of new evidence. Since I tend to give the ancients more credit for veracity, I suspect we'll see a revising of the numbers upward, dramatically.The University of Paris's primary course of study was theology. But the school quickly branched out into other areas, including law, medicine, philosophy, rhetoric, and math. The pursuit of these subjects was boosted by a renewal of interest in the recently-published works of Aristotle.As a self-taught scholar who'd studied everything he could get his hands on back in China, Sauma quite impressed with Paris' schools.Sauma's chronicle relates his impression of the gorgeous Church of Saint-Denis where French monarchs were interred. He mentions the Chapel of Sainte-Chapelle, but he gives no mention of the nearby Notre Dame; the pride and joy of Paris whose spire could be seen from anywhere in the city. Indeed, Notre Dame and Paris become synonymous. So why does the Rabban omit it from his account? Several opinions are given, probably the best of which is the most obvious. Sauma was a Nestorian monk. He belonged to the Church of the East, a branch of the Faith severed from the West over the identity of Mary. Was she Theotokos, the Mother of God as the West said, or Christotokos, Mother of Christ, as the East said? The Cathedral of Notre Dame was all about the Virgin Mary. Sauma most likely left off mentioning his visit to Notre Dame because of his desire to not end up saying a bunch of critical things about his stay.We'll finish up his time in Paris and get into his trip north to meet the King of England in our next episode as we move to conclude the amazing tale of Rabban Sauma.