Footnoting History
307 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 months ago - ★★★★ - 456 ratingsFootnoting History is a bi-weekly podcast series dedicated to overlooked, popularly unknown, and exciting stories plucked from the footnotes of history. For further reading suggestions, information about our hosts, our complete episode archive, and more visit us at FootnotingHistory.com!
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Episodes
The History of Valentine’s Day
February 12, 2022 05:00 - 20 minutes - 21.6 MB(Kristin) Ever wondered about the origins of Valentine’s Day and whether it was purely the invention of the greeting card industry? Join Kristin this week on Footnoting History to explore the development of our modern celebration of St. Valentine’s Day.
The Origins of the Salem Witch Trials
January 29, 2022 05:00 - 26 minutes - 28.1 MB(Kristin) Think you know how the Salem Witch Trials started? You may be surprised. Join Kristin on this week’s episode of Footnoting History to explore the origins of the 1692 trials and find out what historians know … and what we only wish we knew.
Winnie-the-Pooh
January 15, 2022 05:00 - 20 minutes - 17.7 MB(Christine) Winnie-the-Pooh has lived in the the hearts of people of all ages since the 1920s. Here, Christine traces the life of the famous bear (and his friends) from his origins in the family of author A.A. Milne and his acquisition by the Disney Company, all the way to his current place of residence. For more information, please visit FootnotingHistory.com
History for the Holidays
December 11, 2021 05:00 - 17 minutes - 15.3 MB(Christine, Josh, Kristin) Join us as we say goodbye to 2021 with a series of historical anecdotes related to holidays, from Hanukkah to Christmas to New Year's. 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!
Uncle Remus, Joel Chandler Harris, and the South, Part II
November 27, 2021 05:00 - 17 minutes - 13.9 MB(Elizabeth) How did Joel Chandler Harris's stories on Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Bear, and Br'er Fox go from beloved to problematic in the mid-twentieth century? In this episode, Elizabeth traces the story of how Joel Chandler Harris's work became Song of the South. 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 ke...
Uncle Remus, Joel Chandler Harris, and the South, Part I
November 13, 2021 05:00 - 20 minutes - 14.5 MB(Elizabeth) By the end of the nineteenth century, Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus folktales were famous not only in the South, but throughout the United States. For much of the last century, however, they have been sharply critiqued for their presentation of antebellum plantation life. But who was Joel Chandler Harris? In this episode, Elizabeth dives into his story and the people from whom he learned these tales. Click here for tips for Teaching with Podcasts! Or here to buy some FH Mer...
History for Halloween VIII
October 30, 2021 04:00 - 15 minutes - 10.6 MBOh my gosh, we're back again! Our annual tradition continues as this year we bring you yet another round of creepy and fantastic history for the scariest holiday of the year. 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!
Ivanhoe and the Modern Middle Ages
October 16, 2021 04:00 - 18 minutes - 14.3 MB(Lucy) How did Ivanhoe become a wildly popular school text? And what happened to the interpretation of the text when it did? Across the Anglophone world, Scott’s medieval England became reified as a time and place of chivalric adventure, despite the novel’s often ironic tone and often pointed social criticisms. This episode examines how Sir Walter Scott’s imagined past became something very different as it was reinterpreted in popular culture, in sometimes sinister ways. Click here for ...
Ivanhoe and the Invention of Merry England
October 02, 2021 03:00 - 17 minutes - 15.5 MB(Lucy) There are some things that almost any Hollywood film set in the Middle Ages can count on. It will be set in England. There will be a lot of forests. The Norman nobility will oppress the Saxon peasantry. Other things are optional but frequent. There may be a tournament or a siege. There may be a reference to the Crusades. Robin Hood may turn up. There may be a trial for witchcraft. Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe contains all of these things, and since its publication in 1819, this runaway ...
Sicilian Vespers, Part II: The Massacre and the War of the Vespers
September 18, 2021 03:00 - 32 minutes - 26.2 MB(Josh) Manfred of House Hohenstaufen is dead; Charles of Anjou, in the name of the papacy, has claimed Sicily and awaits coronation. Across the Ionian and Aegean Seas, Michael Palaeologus looks to the Latin West and waits. In Germany, Conradin, son of the last "rightful" king of Sicily, desires to seize his own claim to the throne. And the House of Aragon begins to stir and look towards Sicily with its own ambitions. This week on Footnoting History, the thrilling conclusion to our saga of th...
Sicilian Vespers, Part I: The Uprising
September 04, 2021 03:00 - 27 minutes - 24.1 MBIn 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 af...
The Ottoman Kafes or the Princely Cage
August 21, 2021 03:00 - 13 minutes - 10.2 MB(Elizabeth) Starting in the early 1600s, the Ottoman sultans switched from practicing fraticide to confinement as a means to preserve their rule from their grasping brothers. In this episode, Elizabeth examines how this treatment led a number of eventual sultans to have less than stellar qualifications and less than stellar legacies. 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...
Mohenjo Daro: Living City, Mound of the Dead
August 07, 2021 03:01 - 18 minutes - 12.4 MB(Lucy) Mohenjo Daro was a vast metropolis, with elaborate urban infrastructure… and largely mysterious urban organization. It was a center of the Indus Valley civilization. Located in what is now Pakistan and northwestern India, the cities of this civilization covered territory roughly the size of western Europe. Because its language still hasn’t been deciphered by modern scholars, there’s still a lot we don’t know about it. But this hasn’t stopped modern scholars, writers, politicians, and ...
The History of Tikka Masala
July 24, 2021 03:00 - 23 minutes - 16.9 MB(Kristin) One of the most iconic Indian curries has its origins in British colonial India. But was this dish created by South Asian cooks, working in Britain, or was it created in India and then eagerly adopted by the West? Explore the history of this delicious dish with Kristin this week on Footnoting History! 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...
Moe Berg, Baseball's Scholar and Spy
July 10, 2021 03:00 - 22 minutes - 15.5 MB(Christine) Morris "Moe" Berg played for multiple Major League Baseball teams in the late 1920s and 1930s. Then, during World War II, he worked as a spy. In this episode, Christine discusses Berg's unusual life and career trajectory. 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!
Christopher Columbus and the Book of Prophecies
May 29, 2021 04:13 - 25 minutes - 28.7 MB(Josh) Christopher Columbus inaugurated unprecedented global changed when he sailed from Europe to the Caribbean in 1492. But he brought with him expectations that his “discovery” of this new found route to “India” would see the beginning of the end of the world. He wrote about these expectations in his Book of Prophecies. Come behold the apocalypse on today’s Footnoting History. Click here for tips for Teaching with Podcasts! Or here to buy some FH Merch! We are now on Youtube with accessi...
Stede Bonnet, the Gentlemen Pirate
May 15, 2021 03:00 - 29 minutes - 32.3 MB(Kristin) What do you do when you’re bored with the genteel life of a plantation owner? You take to the seas and become friends with Blackbeard, of course. Follow the fascinating life – and peculiar choices – of Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate, this week on Footnoting History. 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 P...
Empress, Strategist… Saint? Irene of Byzantium
May 01, 2021 03:00 - 18 minutes - 12 MB(Lucy) Plucked from obscurity to become the wife of an emperor, Irene of Athens went on to become regent and empress in her own right. A ruthless strategist, an international diplomat, and an intelligent politician, she was also an influential participant in Byzantium’s early medieval controversy over icons, which some saw as threatening imperial power. This episode explores her life, reign, and historical reputation. Click here for tips for Teaching with Podcasts! Or here to buy some FH...
Florida: Frontier and Cracker History
April 17, 2021 03:00 - 16 minutes - 12.3 MB(Elizabeth) Before the land boom and amusement parks, Florida was still seen as part of the US's frontier. In this episode, Elizabeth explores the state's history of white settlement and the term "Cracker". 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!
Anne Neville and the Wars of the Roses
April 03, 2021 03:00 - 27 minutes - 21.8 MB(Christine) In the 15th century, Anne Neville married twice, once to each side fighting in the Wars of the Roses. Her first husband was the Lancastrian heir and her second became a Yorkist king. In this episode, join Christine for a look at Anne’s life and the people in it, including her two husbands, and her sister Isabel. 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...
Divorcing in Revolutionary France
March 20, 2021 03:00 - 18 minutes - 12.2 MB(Christine) Revolutionary France Series: During France's long revolutionary period, a lot of things changed, including how you could end your marriage. In this episode, Christine takes a look at the introduction of divorce in France, including some of the ways you could (and couldn't) legally split from your spouse from the dawn of the French Revolution through the Napoleonic years and beyond. Click here for tips for Teaching with Podcasts! Or here to buy some FH Merch! We are now on Youtu...
The Martyrs of Thana
March 06, 2021 04:00 - 22 minutes - 14.2 MB(Josh) In the early fourteenth century, four Franciscan friars set out for East Asia to preach the Gospel among the Mongols. In the city of Thana (modern Mumbai), however, they met their end after running afoul of the local administrators. We explore their story, a Latin Christian understanding of Asia, and more in this episode of Footnoting History. 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 member...
The Forme of Cury
February 20, 2021 04:00 - 21 minutes - 14.4 MB(Kristin) Ever wondered what would be on the menu in medieval England? Take a look with Kristin at one of the oldest English cookbooks, The Forme of Cury, and see what Richard II was having for dinner in this week’s episode of Footnoting History! 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 conten...
From Hwaet to the Ring Shout: Lorenzo Dow Turner
February 06, 2021 04:00 - 15 minutes - 10.7 MB(Lucy) What does Beowulf have to do with the linguistics of African-American history? The same man studied them both… and his scholarship on medieval literature helped frame his search for linguistic communities. This podcast examines the career of Lorenzo Dow Turner, celebrated linguist known as the Father of Gullah Studies. Turner studied the language, ideas, and culture of Black island communities in the southeastern United States, and created recognition for that culture in so doing. C...
The Origins of American Eugenics
January 23, 2021 04:00 - 14 minutes - 9.98 MB(Elizabeth) Starting in the late 1800s, forward thinking progressives embraced the idea that human evolution needed a little help in order to make sure that only the best (in their view) produced. Eventually, this idea became codified in legislation and even the Supreme Court of the United States supported it. Join Elizabeth as she examines the formulation of this idea and its impact. Click here for tips for Teaching with Podcasts? Or here for some FH Merch! And you can find out how to su...
Hurrem Sultan: the Woman Who Changed Ottoman Queenship
December 12, 2020 04:00 - 19 minutes - 13.3 MB(Elizabeth) In the Ottoman Empire, royal women were to be neither seen nor heard - after giving birth to the Sultan's child, they were supposed to recede into the background, focused on raising that potential heir. And, yet, in the 1500s, a young concubine captured the heart of one of the greatest leaders of all history. By doing so, she ushered in a period known as the Sultanate of Women. And we don't even know her real name. In this episode, join Elizabeth as she examines the history of th...
Revolutionary France Series: Marie Louise, Napoleon's Second Empress
November 28, 2020 04:00 - 20 minutes - 12.2 MB(Christine) Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria became Emperor Napoleon I of France's second wife in 1810, only a few years before he was overthrown. This episode covers the ups and downs of Marie Louise's life before, during, and after her time with Napoleon. Click here for tips for Teaching with Podcasts? Or here for some FH Merch! And you can find out how to support us through our FH Patreon.
Marie Louise, Napoleon's Second Empress
November 28, 2020 04:00 - 20 minutes - 12.2 MB(Christine) Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria became Emperor Napoleon I of France's second wife in 1810, only a few years before he was overthrown. This episode covers the ups and downs of Marie Louise's life before, during, and after her time with Napoleon. Click here for tips for Teaching with Podcasts? Or here for some FH Merch! And you can find out how to support us through our FH Patreon.
Milicent Patrick and the Creature
November 14, 2020 04:00 - 21 minutes - 14 MB(Josh) While most of us imagine life in Hollywood’s golden age as glamorous and full of star-studded extravaganzas, for Milicent Patrick, it was anything but. Working behind the scenes and on the sides of the sound stage, Patrick designed perhaps the most famous monster in movie history: The Creature from the Black Lagoon. In this episode, we trace the incredible intersections Patrick’s life had in history as well as her should-be-celebrated film career. Click here for tips for Teaching ...
History for Halloween VII
October 31, 2020 03:00 - 22 minutes - 15.8 MBWe're back at it again! Get in the Halloween spirit with this selection of short, eerie, historical anecdotes hand selected by our historians. With ghosts and ghouls around, you might want to keep the light on while listening... Interested in our tips for Teaching with Podcasts? Or some FH Merch? Click here to help support us through our FH Patreon.
Surviving the Plague in 1665
October 17, 2020 03:00 - 17 minutes - 11.1 MB(Lesley) Plague has taken over settlements throughout history, causing sickness and death to spread among the inhabitants. In 1665, one English town decided to stand against the resurging Plague. For 14 months, the Derbyshire town of Eyam self-isolated. No one was allowed in, no one as allowed out. Neighboring villages supported the isolated town by leaving supplies in a field. This week, Lesley discusses the consequences of their strategy. Interested in our tips for Teaching with Podcasts?...
William Miller and the Great Disappointment
October 03, 2020 03:00 - 27 minutes - 20.4 MB(Josh) In the Bible, Jesus tells his disciples the following about the end of the world: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angles in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matthew 24:36). Despite this, William Miller, a popular minister in New York, preached that he had calculated the precise day on which the world would come to an end. He was wrong. Twice. In this episode, Josh explores William Miller’s conversion to evangelical Christianity, his calculations about t...
Beyond Sacrifice: Aztec Medicine and Healing
September 19, 2020 03:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MB(Lucy) The Aztecs are famous as conquerors, as sometime cannibals, and as, eventually, the conquered of an expanding European empire. This episode goes beyond human sacrifice to look at how Aztec beliefs about the body, religion, and nature were reflected in their practices of medicine and healing. Dismissed as sorcerers by some Spanish observers, physicians were significant to Aztec culture, and active in providing healing, surgery, and preventative care. Interested in our tips for Teac...
Jane Manning James
September 05, 2020 03:00 - 27 minutes - 17.2 MB*Christine and Elizabeth) Jane Manning James was a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the moment she was baptized in the 1840s. Here, Christine and Elizabeth discuss her experiences as one of the earliest Black women in the majority-white religion - including her interactions with the church's founder, Joseph Smith, and her fight for full inclusion. Interested in our tips for Teaching with Podcasts? Or some FH Merch? Click here to help support us thr...
The Male Witch
August 22, 2020 03:00 - 25 minutes - 14.9 MB(Kristin) Witchcraft in the late medieval and early modern European world was a highly gendered crime. The majority of victims were women but a significant percentage were men – and in some regions, men made up the majority of the accused. The male witch appeared wherever there were witchcraft accusations – he was known as a maleficius, a wicca, a sorcier, or hexenmeister … just don’t call him a warlock. Interested in our tips for Teaching with Podcasts? Or some FH Merch? Click here to hel...
Maya, Spain, and the Historical Record
August 08, 2020 03:00 - 18 minutes - 12.6 MB(Lesley) In 1562, Spaniard Diego de Landa destroyed 5000 documents recording 800 years of Mayan religion, culture, and history. The Spanish claimed to be fighting black magic and only 4 pages survived their destruction. In this episode, Lesley tells the story of the burning and the consequence of these actions. Interested in our tips for Teaching with Podcasts? Or some FH Merch? Click here to help support us through our FH Patreon.
Revolutionary Movies, Part II: Dr. Zhivago and The Last Emperor
July 25, 2020 03:00 - 1 hour - 59.7 MB(Christine and Elizabeth) In our last episode we discussed revolutions in the United States and France, and this time we turn our eyes toward China and Russia. Here, our Summer Special crossover concludes with Christine and Elizabeth chatting with Pod Academy’s Gil and Rutger about 1965’s Dr. Zhivago and 1987’s The Last Emperor. Want Footnoting History merch? Check https://www.teepublic.com/stores/footnoting-history/ Able to support us through Patreon? You can find us here: https://www...
Revolutionary Movies, Part I: The Patriot and Les Miserables
July 11, 2020 03:00 - 1 hour - 56.3 MB(Christine and Elizabeth) How do modern films portray revolutions? What are some of the things regularly included - and just as regularly left out? In the first of this special pair of episodes Elizabeth and Christine step away from their scripts and join Gil and Rutger of Pod Academy for a Summer Special conversation about 2000’s The Patriot and 2012’s Les Miserables. Christine and Elizabeth are joined by Gil and Rutger of Pod Academy Want Footnoting History merch? Check https://www.teepub...
Slavery and the Colony of Georgia
May 30, 2020 03:00 - 17 minutes - 11.9 MB(Elizabeth) Most likely, many of us have heard tales around how the colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe, a philanthropist, to be a haven for Britain's debtors but, as always, that isn't the whole story. In this episode, Elizabeth delves into how slavery of Africans was illegal early on in the colony and why that changed - including who drove the demand.
The Parnell Affair
May 16, 2020 03:00 - 23 minutes - 14.7 MB(Christine) In the late 1800s, Charles Stewart Parnell was a heavyweight in Irish politics - until his affair with a woman named Katharine O'Shea came to light. Join Christine for a look at the scandal that dominated headlines and rocked the career of the so-called "Uncrowned King of Ireland". To learn more about our episodes or see our further reading, please check our website Footnoting History Additionally, we'd love to hear from you on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook! You can find o...
Passing Exams in Imperial China
May 02, 2020 03:00 - 23 minutes - 9.7 MB(Lucy) The civil service examinations taken by the bureaucrats and administrators of imperial China were not merely academic. They also served as social rites of passage. Moreover, they were designed to test the moral aptitudes of test-takers for a lifetime of upholding Confucian ideals. Naturally, they were a source of individual stress, as well as a key part of imperial power and authority for centuries, outlasting several dynasties. This episode looks at the roles civil service examinatio...
The Other Anne Boleyn
April 18, 2020 03:00 - 23 minutes - 15.1 MB(Kristin) In 1536, there were two Anne Boleyns in the Tower of London. One was a queen who helped inspire the English Reformation and stood accused of treason; the other was the aunt whose testimony may have helped to convict her. Lady Anne Shelton, née Boleyn, was the sister of the queen’s father, Thomas Boleyn and the mother of one of Henry VIII’s alleged mistresses. She was to play a critical role during the reign and fall of Henry’s second queen – who was her namesake and who became her ...
Prester John
April 03, 2020 03:00 - 23 minutes - 15.4 MBPrester John, a legendary Christian king, endured in the imaginations of many medieval crusade theorists and geographers. Thought to be a savior who would assist the forces of Christendom to defeat Islam in a final crusade to take Jerusalem, Prester John occupied an important place in the minds of those who hoped for a successful crusade. In this episode, join newcomer Josh as he takes you on a whirlwind tour of Asia and Africa in search of this mythical figure. Podcaster: Josh
Footnoting Disney: Mulan
March 21, 2020 03:00 - 18 minutes - 12.9 MB(Lucy) Mulan is a story without a single historical precedent. From a medieval ballad to early modern narratives to plays and operas, it’s been told over and over again. Mulan’s exploits are always presented as having happened “once upon a time,” anytime from the Han dynasty to the early Tang period. These stories about a fierce heroine and her loyalties tell us a lot about changing ideas of gender and cultural identity in China.
Footnoting Disney: The Little Mermaid
March 07, 2020 04:00 - 17 minutes - 10.8 MB(Lesley) The first of Disney’s Renaissance films was a project in progress since 1930. Based on the writings of Hans Christian Andersen, the film updated the original tragic story for a modern family audience. In this episode, Lesley places the original story within the religious, cultural, and imperial context of its creation...while revealing a personal pain the author wrote into the mermaid’s story.
Footnoting Disney: Pocahontas
February 21, 2020 04:00 - 21 minutes - 15.1 MB(Christine) In 1995, Disney released Pocahontas, its first animated film based on a real person. Set in 1607, the film depicts the encounter between Pocahontas, an American Indian woman, and John Smith, an English settler, in what is now the state of Virginia. In this episode Christine uses the popular movie that gave us songs like "Colors of the Wind" as the starting point for separating fact from fiction and investigating the real life of Pocahontas.
Footnoting Disney: Aladdin
February 08, 2020 04:00 - 20 minutes - 15.2 MB(Elizabeth) The story of Aladdin is one of the most popular and most produced of the tales from the One Thousand and One Nights (also known in English as the Arabian Nights) and, yet, it isn't actually one of the original stories. In this episode, Elizabeth explains how the story of Aladdin entered the collection, including the young Syrian man who inspired a French author to write it.
Footnoting Disney: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
January 25, 2020 04:00 - 23 minutes - 17.8 MB(Kristin) When Victor Hugo wrote his novel, Notre-Dame of Paris in 1831, the cathedral of Notre Dame was over 600 years old and crumbling. The ensuing tale was one that inspired a massive renovation project and continues to stir imaginations today. In this week’s episode, Kristin talks about the story of Hugo’s Notre-Dame of Paris and its continuing resonance with modern audiences.
The Forbidden Holiday
December 14, 2019 21:34 - 17 minutes - 28.6 MB(Nathan) The English Civil War of the mid-17th century ended in the beheading of King Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth under of Oliver Cromwell. It also marked a turning point in the celebration of Christmas in Britain and its American colonies. In this episode, we will examine the rise of Puritan groups to power in the English Parliament, their attitudes toward the moral and ritual reform of the English Church, and how these groups in Britain and the colonies sought to pu...
Haitian Revolution, Part II: 1794-1804
November 30, 2019 13:00 - 23 minutes - 17.1 MB(Elizabeth) Between 1794 and 1804, the newly emancipated people of the colony of Saint-Domingue created a government under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture and defeated Napoleonic forces to become their own independent country. In this episode, Elizabeth explains the role of Louverture but also the international ramifications of the creation of Haiti.