A conversation with Alasdair Grant (University of Hamburg) about the captivity and enslavement that many Greeks (Romaioi) experienced in the late medieval period, a period of state collapse during which they were subject to Italian and Turkish raids and attacks. We talk about the differences between captivity and enslavement, the prospects for being ransomed, and the religious basis of one's legal status. The conversation is based on Alasdair's book, Greek Captives and Mediterranean Slavery, 1260-1460 (University of Edinburgh Press 2024), which is freely available online here.

London’s finest are gathering for 1397’s party of the year, but this isn’t a time to be celebrating… unless you’re Richard II. The 30-year-old king is emboldened, stronger than ever, and hell bent on retaliation. This leaves Henry Bolingbroke with a stark choice.  If you can’t get enough of This Is History, we’d love to welcome you to the royal court over on our Patreon. There, you get bonus episodes, PLUS extra perks including dispatches from Dan and the team, the chance to vote on future subscriber episodes, and lively chat rooms with fellow history nerds.  We’d love to see you there: patreon.com/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  Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon  Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole  Production Manager - Jen Mistri  Production coordinator - Eric Ryan  Sound Design and Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

<p>John VIII Palaiologos asks the Pope for an Ecumenical Council to reunite the churches. To his surprise the Pontiff says yes and a huge Byzantine contingent travels to Italy.</p><br /><p>Period: 1425-48</p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<p>For most of its history, the Roman Republic had little to do with the Greek East. That changed at the end of the third century BC. As the war against Hannibal reached its conclusion, momentous things were happening in the eastern Mediterranean, as the system of great powers that had defined the Hellenistic world for a century collapsed almost overnight. Now, Rome would have to make a decision about what to do, and the consequences changed the political map for the next thousand years or more.</p><p>Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: <a href="https://bit.ly/PWverge." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/PWverge.</a> And check out Patrick's new podcast The Pursuit of Dadliness! It’s all about “Dad Culture,” and Patrick will interview some fascinating guests about everything from tall wooden ships to smoked meats to comfortable sneakers to history, sports, culture, and politics. <a href="https://bit.ly/PWtPoD" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/PWtPoD</a></p><p>Listen to new episodes 1 week early, to exclusive seasons 1 and 2, and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App <a href="https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistory" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistory</a></p><p><br /></p><p>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.</p>

There are a lot of gamechanging inventions that shifted the trajectory of the Middle Ages, but one machine managed to hit at just the right time and place to create a massive enterprise in medieval Europe, with consequences that touched the entire globe: Gutenberg's printing press. This week, Danièle speaks with Eric White about Johannes Gutenberg’s life, his early entrepreneurship, and the invention that changed the world.<br /><br />Support this podcast on Patreon - <a href="https://www.patreon.com/medievalists" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><b>https://www.patreon.com/medievalists</b></a><br /><br />This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

In 1392, nobody in the Plantagenet realm was expecting one of their own to be gored to death by a wild boar. The grim reaper’s busy. More shock deaths befall the Gaunt and Bolingbroke household, and Richard is made a widow. While the king puts on the waterworks, Richard turns grief into opportunity. Remember, you can always keep the discussion as a royal favourite subscriber on our Patreon. Following this episode, we want to talk about other novel ways to die. Choose your untimely demise at: patreon.com/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 Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric  Ryan Sound Design and Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Historian and broadcaster William Dalrymple (“The Company Quartet“, “Empire“) joins the podcast to discuss his latest book “The Golden Road“. A survey covering from antiquity to the early medieval period, the book seeks to address India’s far-reaching (and often forgotten) influence across the entirety of Eurasia, from tracking the spread of religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, investigating the growing evidence of Indo-Roman trade, and even down to the invention of “Arabic” numerals based on Indian scripts and mathematics. Episode Notes: (https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/06/15/interview-the-golden-road-how-ancient-india-transformed-the-world-with-william-dalrymple/) William Dalrymple: https://williamdalrymple.com/ https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/golden-road-9781639734146/ https://x.com/DalrympleWill Social Media: Twitter (https://twitter.com/HellenisticPod) Facebook (www.facebook.com/hellenisticagepodcast/) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/hellenistic_age_podcast/) Show Merchandise: Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/HellenisticAgePod) Redbubble (https://www.redbubble.com/people/HellenisticPod/shop?asc=u) Donations: Patreon (https://patreon.com/TheHellenisticAgePodcast) Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/hellenisticagepodcast) Amazon Book Wish List (https://tinyurl.com/vfw6ask)

A conversation with Ioanna Sitaridou (University of Cambridge) about a Greek language (Romeyka) still spoken in northwestern Turkey, though now endangered, whose grammar retains interesting archaic features. The ancestors of its current speakers were not exchanged in 1923 because they were Muslim; the primary language in their communities today is Turkish. We talk about Romeyka itself, why it was not impacted by the standardization of modern Greek, and the ethical and political care that field-work must take. See here for the Romeyka Project. For Ioanna's study of its grammar, see her article 'The Romeyka Infinitive: Continuity, Contact and Change in the Hellenic Varieties of Pontus,' Diachronica 31:1 (2014) 23-73.

<p>The Hellenistic world stretched from Sicily to India and encompassed tens of millions of people for centuries, as new kingdoms sprang up, new ways of life emerged, and the distant edges of that world were brought together by trade and migration. Yet the Hellenistic world never escaped its violent roots, and more than any other phenomenon, war defined it for the entirety of its existence.</p><p>Patrick's book is now available! Get The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World in hardcopy, ebook, or audiobook (read by Patrick) here: https://bit.ly/PWverge. And check out Patrick's new podcast The Pursuit of Dadliness! It’s all about “Dad Culture,” and Patrick will interview some fascinating guests about everything from tall wooden ships to smoked meats to comfortable sneakers to history, sports, culture, and politics. https://bit.ly/PWtPoD</p><p>Listen to new episodes 1 week early, to exclusive seasons 1 and 2, and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App <a href="https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistory" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://wondery.app.link/tidesofhistory</a></p><p>Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at <a href="https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletter</a></p><p><br /></p><p>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.</p>

Given that the term literally means “rebirth”, the Renaissance throws some not-so-subtle shade on the period that comes before it. So, where did the idea of the Renaissance actually come from? And was it truly a golden age? This week, Danièle speaks with Ada Palmer about Petrarch, Machiavelli, atheism, and how we should look at the period formerly known as the Renaissance.<br /><br />This podcast is made possible by the generous support of listeners like you! To find out how to help spread the joy of medieval history, please visit patreon.com/themedievalpodcast

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Henry Bolingbroke, exasperated at the parochial pettiness of Richard II’s court, decides it’s time to get out. After proving his mettle with the greatest warrior in the western world, he embarks on a whistle-stop tour of the known world to smash pagans and shop for exotic animals. He comes back to England on a high and sees the fruits of his growing family — one that already overshadows Richard II’s. Learn more about Plantagenet-style tournaments way back in season one, under the reign of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. You can find that and more on our Patreon, where you can joust with fellow royal favourites in our chatrooms, and shape future episodes. Choose your destiny at: patreon.com/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 Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Simon Poole Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production coordinator - Eric Ryan Sound Design and Mixing - Amber Devereux Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices