Fortune's Wheel: A Podcast History of the Late Middle Ages
132 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 days ago - ★★★★ - 4 ratingsThe Middle Ages is an oft-overlooked era in Western Civilization when many of our modern borders, cultures, and traditions came to be. Using in-depth research, the story of our medieval ancestors comes to life in vivid detail with an emphasis on tying the myriad storylines of the time together, to highlight the spider's web of European, African, Islamic and Asian entanglements proving once and for all our modern world was not created in a vacuum.
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Episodes
031: In Which Harald Serves A Foreign Emperor, Part 1
January 25, 2021 20:58 - 54 minutes - 50.1 MBToday, we talk about 1035, Varangians, the warrior mindset, and so much more. Harald seems to have his hands in everything! Please keep sharing the podcast with those you know and on your social media accounts. Don’t forget to tag us, too, if you share us on Twitter (@WheelPodcast), or drop a quick line about the latest episode on Facebook (Search: Wheel Podcast). I would love to hear from you, so email the show at [email protected]. Also, if you are so inclined, please conside...
030: In Which Harald Enters Miklegard
January 20, 2021 00:48 - 50 minutes - 46.2 MBSeason 2: Here Come the Normans! Episode 30: In Which Harald Enters Miklegard Years: 1034 - 1035 Settings: Kievan Rus Territory, Black Sea, Constantinople Today, we join Harald as he leaves Kiev for adventure in the south...and lands beyond. We experience the Black Sea and the Bosporus as countless Rus, Slavic, Pecheng, Khazar, Greek, and Arab traders would have in those days, and we enter Miklegard alongside Harald taking it all in as he tours the city. Context is key before we move on ...
029: In Which Harald Learns
January 11, 2021 05:00 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBSeason 2: Here Come the Normans! Episode 29: In Which Harald Learns Years: 1015 - 1034 Settings: Rus Territory, Poland Today, we talk about a young man in exile picking himself up with the aid of a friend with major influence and power. This teenage Norse warrior (yeah...teenager!) is swept up by the stories of far off lands, a city in particular while serving effectively and bravely at the head of his host’s armies. I hope you enjoy the show. Please keep sharing the podcast with those ...
028: In Which Harald Flees
January 04, 2021 22:43 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MBSeason 2: Here Come the Normans! Episode 27: The Battle of Stiklestad Years: 1015 - 1030 Settings: Norway, Kievan Rus Territory, Sweden Happy New Year, folks! Today, we talk about how a young man transforms from a boy to a leader of men. On this episode, we begin our own saga of Harald Sigurdsson, one of the Viking Age’s greatest products. Please keep sharing the podcast with those you know and on your social media accounts. Don’t forget to tag us, too, if you share us on Twitter (@Whee...
027: BONUS: The Kievan Rus
December 31, 2020 05:00 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MBSeason 2: Here Come the Normans! Episode 27: BONUS: The Kievan Rus Years: 800 - 1019 Settings: Kievan Rus Territory, Poland HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVE, FOLKS! I wanted to leave 2020 behind with a big THANK YOU. This is my longest episode to date and it adds some great context to the mini-series we have coming up, so I hope you all enjoy! Also, please remember that this is the last BONUS episode offered for free on the podcast, so please consider supporting the show on Patreon if you find this ...
026: William the Duke
December 28, 2020 05:00 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBSeason 2: Here Come the Normans! Episode 26: William the Duke Years: 1040 - 1047 Settings: Normandy Today, we talk about the way in which William overcame his childhood traumas manifesting them into the fuel necessary to establish not only his legitimacy as heir but also his reputation as a warrior and leader not to be underestimated. On this episode, "William the Legend" begins to take shape. Please keep sharing the podcast with those you know and on your social media accounts. Don’t f...
025: William the Bastard
December 20, 2020 22:23 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MBSeason 2: Here Come the Normans! Episode 25: William the Bastard Today, we talk about how a fearful young boy becomes a bold young leader amidst the anarchy of Norman and Frankish politics in the 1030s and 1040s. Please keep sharing the podcast with those you know and on your social media accounts. Don’t forget to tag us, too, if you share us on Twitter (@WheelPodcast), or drop a quick line about the latest episode on Facebook (Search: Wheel Podcast). I would love to hear from you, so ema...
024: William the Illegitimate
December 07, 2020 05:00 - 51 minutes - 47.1 MBToday, we take on Normandy’s inferiority complex, sneak a peek at feudalism in its most basic form, and follow a young boy through his first seven years of training to be his father’s heir to the Duchy of Normandy. That’s right! We’re back to William the Illegitimate and we’re here for a just a little while as we continue Season Two’s theme of “Here Come the Normans!” Oh, and we go off on a couple tangents and learn about last names and horses, too, so...there’s that. Please keep sharing th...
023: The FIRST First Crusade?
November 30, 2020 05:00 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBToday, we deviate from the original plan and find ourselves following another Norman family not to southern Italy, per se; rather, we introduce another part of Europe we haven’t taken a look at yet in the hopes of enriching the Norman impact on the Middle Ages. Today, we learn about al-Andalus and follow Roger of Tosny! I hope you like the show. Please keep sharing the podcast with those you know and on your social media accounts. Don’t forget to tag us, too, if you share us on Twitter (@Wh...
022: Of Empires & Mercenaries, Part 2
November 23, 2020 05:00 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MBToday, we talk William de Hauteville, George Maniakes, and the fate of southern Italy with sprinkling in of some political intrigue. I hope you enjoy the show. ***** Please keep sharing the podcast with those you know and on your social media accounts. Don’t forget to tag us, too, if you share us on Twitter (@WheelPodcast), or drop a quick line about the latest episode on Facebook (Search: Wheel Podcast). I would love to hear from you, so email the show at [email protected]. ...
021: Of Empires & Mercenaries, Pt.1
November 17, 2020 22:39 - 46 minutes - 42.3 MBWelcome to Italy! Well, almost, but we will get to Italy in this episode. I'll be honest - I'm crazy excited about this season and I hope you are, too! Have a listen and, please, be sure to share the show with all you know and on social media! Tag us when you do! @WheelPodcast (Twitter) Fortune's Wheel Podcast (Facebook) Contact: [email protected] And, if you are able and willing, please consider supporting the show on Patreon.
020: Tancred the Fertile
November 09, 2020 05:00 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MBWe're heading south today! Heading south toward Normandy, where the second chapter of our story begins. This season - Season 2 - will be called "Here Comes the Normans" because, well, here they come. And they will arrive with a burning passion for wealth, fame...and land. One family, in particular, will head this new adventure that will span the breadth of medieval Europe. Have a listen and enjoy! And, please, consider what you hear at the top of the show. I appreciate any and all of the su...
019: BONUS: A Church For A Tomb
October 29, 2020 04:00 - 22 minutes - 21 MBThank you so much, everybody, for your support in the podcast so far! This is our fourth and final episode in our short series focusing on the weirder side of medieval life and I've got something for you today that I had a lot of fun putting together. We take a look at Bishop Thietmar's account reporting from the borderlands between the Holy Roman Empire and pre-Poland Slavic territories as the Holy Roman Empire was on the move. It was a brutal time and the Slavs put up a good fight...even i...
018: BONUS: So the Dead Shall Not Rise
October 28, 2020 04:00 - 21 minutes - 19.8 MBThis latest decade-long fad of zombie shows and novels is hardly the beginning of our obsession with the undead reanimating and coming back to pay a nefarious visit. No, those hollowed-out eyes, that drooling lethargy, the blood thirst driving these inhuman abominations to feast upon the life force of the living...see, this wasn't even a new idea when the legendary George Romero filmed "Night of the Living Dead." The idea of zombies goes back centuries, if not millennia, and on today's episo...
017: BONUS: The Edge of the Coin
October 27, 2020 04:00 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBWhat. can a 12th-century English monk teach us about ghosts? Well, for one, they exist. They exist right alongside the goings-on of the kingdom. Also, they cannot be separated from everyday life. A 12-century monk can teach us that, to the medieval mind, the secular and the spiritual realms coexist and those ethereal entities who visit us in the dead of night are just as real as the person sleeping next to you. Enjoy these tales of ghostly encounters from the 12th century! WARNING: This sho...
016: BONUS: The Wild Hunt
October 26, 2020 06:00 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBWelcome to the first episode in a short series about the stranger side of the Middle Ages. In this series, we will explore the culture and events that were everyday parts of a person's life throughout Europe during this medieval period of history. This was a time in which the world was still full of magic and mystery and, yes, terror. Today, we climb into the minds of those intrepid and hardy folks who peopled the unbelievably hard lands in the north and who feared, in the bleakest hours of...
015: Normandy Stirs
October 26, 2020 03:00 - 35 minutes - 32.1 MBSince the days of Rollo, Normandy fought tooth and nail to be a legitimate presence within the Frankish kingdom. For a large part of the previous century, regardless of the headway the Normans made in shedding their Viking attachments and settling down to both a mainland Christian lifestyle as well as morphing their language to be closer to the nobility they were now a part of, Normandy was still derided as "less than" amongst the Frankish duchies. Even with the likes of Richard the Fearless...
014: Emma of England...Again
October 19, 2020 05:00 - 24 minutes - 22 MBEmma is a survivor...whether you like it or not. She does what she needs to do, even if it means marrying the man who just deposed her last husband and outlasted her former step-son. But, again, like water, she moves forward. Always forward. Today, we take a look at how she adjusts to being the queen consort to a Danish king ruling over the same English kingdom she once ruled. We've covered a lot of ground in these last few episodes, but we've also seen the events play out from a different p...
013: Emma of England
October 13, 2020 02:46 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBOn today's show, we will see Emma make the transition from the sister of the duke to the queen of an island kingdom. Emma will marry Aethelred and we will watch the events of the 1000's and 1010s unfold at breakneck speed...through her eyes, in a way. Buckle up, as we experience Emma's view of things and how her early life will shape the woman she transforms into in innumerable ways. I hope you enjoy the show. Thank you all for downloading, listening, and sharing the show. Seeing the numbe...
012: Emma of Normandy
October 09, 2020 03:29 - 28 minutes - 26.3 MBThank you so much for coming back. I understand it's been quite a while - seven weeks, I believe! - and believe me when I say that it's been painful not doing this. But, the transition into a virtual learning space for my students has been established and things are finally at a point where I feel like I just might be getting ahead of things, so...HERE WE ARE! And, if this is the first time you're joining us, THANK YOU. On today's episode, we take a little stroll backward to the year 1002....
011: Cnut (Not Quite) the Great
August 24, 2020 20:59 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MBOn today's episode, we're going to say goodbye to Edmund Ironside and give a big hearty welcome to King Cnut, because, well, whether you liked it or not, he was still king so it's probably best with a guy like him to just accept that fact. Cnut's going to handle himself very differently than his first official solo decision a few years earlier when he, in a fit of puerile rage, maimed and disfigured hundreds, if not thousands, of his future subjects before heading back to Denmark to raise a ...
010: Because Aethelred
August 10, 2020 13:13 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBWhat does Aethelred do after he's given a second chance at kingship and his enemy abruptly leaves to regroup? Well, he does the most Aethelredian thing he can, of course - he Aethelredly listens, in my opinion, to Eadric Streona! And with a new lease on ruling England, he Aethelreds it up as only an Aethelred can! (I'm learning that the name Aethelred is like the "f-word"...there's almost an unlimited number of usages depending on the context. It'll catch on after a thousand years, don't wor...
009: A Snake in the Grass
July 23, 2020 19:36 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBWe're revving up here for the collapse of one ancient dynasty and the rise of another! I hope you enjoy the show!
008: Sermo Lupi ad Anglos
July 21, 2020 21:31 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MBThis one's a little different. On this episode, we break down one of the most famous Anglo-Saxon era documents that has (miraculously) survived these ten centuries, given in the midst of the Danish takeover of the House of Wessex's claim over the bulk of the island. England is suffering through a tumultuous couple decades at the hands of the dreaded Viking horde from Denmark; however, Wulfstan Archbishop of York, points to other reasons as to why England is suffering so. Wulfstan was a fiery...
007: BONUS - Man Under the Mountain
July 16, 2020 23:39 - 51 minutes - 47.5 MBI'd like offer a little mid-week BONUS episode! What's it about? Well, it's a BONUS episode, so I guess you're just going to have to download and listen. Seriously, I'm really excited about this one as it just ties so much..."background information"...into our larger narrative so far. As always, please continue to Download (and Subscribe) on your favorite podcast app or site, such as Apple Podcast, Spotify, Anchor, Podcast Addict, Breaker, and so on. Also, search for us on Facebook (Fortune...
006: Imperator Scottorum
July 13, 2020 04:29 - 53 minutes - 48.5 MBBrian just won't stop. In fact, he's even got a cool new nickname: Brian Boru. Today, we see the end this Irishman's story and we ask ourselves an important question: What exactly is "revolution"? I hope you enjoy the show. Please don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app or site, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Podcast Addict, and more. You can find us on most social media, including Facebook (Fortune's Wheel Podcast), Twitter (@WheelPodcast), and Insta...
005: The Rise of Brian Boru
July 06, 2020 13:15 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBAh...the Emerald Isle. This mysterious land was also impacted by Vikings, though in a much different way than their English and Welsh neighbors. See, these Vikings kept to the coasts and harbors, but due to the trade initiated, Ireland became a very interesting place, especially since the main points of conflict didn't lie with the Vikings exactly...the Irish were notorious for territorial infighting. This is the first of two parts establishing Ireland as another critical component to the st...
004: Off the Map
June 29, 2020 15:23 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBWe shift our attentions away from Anglo-Saxon England's death spasms and sail westward on the longboats of Norwegian and Icelandic explorers in the late 900s and early 1000s. We will see how they settled Iceland and Greenland, and beat Christopher Columbus to the New World by more than 500 years! Today, we're catching up on some of the contemporaries of historical giants like Sweyn Forkbeard, Aethelred the Unready, Emma of Normandy, and Olaf Tryggvason, and meet some familiar names from our ...
003: A Storm In Every Port
June 22, 2020 15:13 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBBuckle up, folks! This episode will span about two decades, but everything that happens between 991 and 1012, despite what it may seem like at first, is merely the beginning of the chess game being played in the Saxons' waning years as undisputed rulers of England. From King Aethelred II struggling to maintain power to Sweyn Forkbeard's relentless onslaught, this period in European history sets up everything that is about to go down. We discuss military engagements and Aethelred's growing f...
002: The Battle of Maldon, 991
June 14, 2020 22:03 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MBWhen we last left the marshes outside Maldon, Essex, England, in 991, the ealdorman, Byrhtnoth, held his fyrd, or militia, at bay while he surveyed the scene: a band of Viking raiders who had already terrorized the southern coasts of Kent, presumably under the leadership of the future king of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason, was amassed on Northey Island, a small patch of barely visible land right smack in the middle of the mouth of River Blackwater. Byrhtnoth was undermanned, but he had a plan. A b...
001: The Saxon & the Viking
June 08, 2020 19:18 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBMedieval Europe is a largely forgotten yet incredibly dynamic time period in world history. The sheer number of players on the scene is staggering. We begin our story in 991, halfway through the period known as the Middle Ages in Western Civilization, a time when the Dark Ages start to show the sparks and flickers of enlightenment. In 991 - as the Vikings rage across northern Europe as well as Sicily and Anatolia, as horse riders descend from the plateaus and steppes of central Asia, as the ...
000: A Brief Introduction
June 08, 2020 19:10 - 5 minutes - 5.3 MBLet this stand as the introductory episode of "Fortune's Wheel: A Podcast History of the Late Middle Ages." If you like what you hear, please check back each week for new episodes as we dive headfirst into the latter half of the Middle Ages and explore the beginnings of the world we know today. Also, please leave a rating and review on your chosen podcast site, as well as share this podcast on your social media to create an ever-expanding community of listeners who are as eager to understand...