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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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