Norman Centuries | A Norman History Podcast by Lars Brownworth
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Norman Centuries | A Norman History Podcast by Lars Brownworth
Lars Brownworth, author of "Lost to the West" and creator of the "12 Byzantine Rulers" podcast presents "Norman Centuries", a podcast on the Normans. While popular Norman history focuses on the regions of France and England, Norman Centuries covers the lesser known Italian Normans as well. Visit us...
Recent Episodes
20 episodes
Episode 20 - The Norman Achievement
The Principality of Antioch outlasted the Norman Kingdom of Sicily by a century, and its founder by nearly two. This unlikely survivor was a testament...
Episode 19 - Bohemond - Part 2 - Bohemond in the East
The First Crusade fell like a present into Bohemond's lap. Italy wasn't big enough for his ambitions (especially with his uncle blocking him at every...
Episode 18 - Bohemond - Part 1
A great father can be both a blessing and a curse, and no one was more aware of that than Bohemond de Hauteville. The first-born son of the adventurer...
Episode 17 - Stupor Mundi
Frederick II was the most polarizing figure to rule as king of Sicily. To some he was the antichrist - a heretical monster whose harem and open contem...
Episode 16 - Tancred of Lecce
Tancred of Lecce came to the throne of Sicily in its darkest hour. Mocked by his critics as the 'Monkey King', he was weakened by civil and religious...
Episode 15 - William the Good
William II presided over a golden age of internal peace and prosperity, and when he died suddenly in the flower of his youth, he was mourned as no oth...
Episode 14 - William the Bad
If Roger II had been the 'baptized Sultan', his son William forgot the water. Despised by his legendary father and never intended for the throne, Will...
Episode 13 - Rogerios Rex
In the Spring of 1133 the new Norman Kingdom of Sicily seemed about to be shattered. Roger II, its creator and first king had backed the anti-Pope Ana...
Episode 12 - Rise of a King
Roger II was never supposed to inherit his father's possessions. He was the youngest of 18 children, and only five when the Great Count died. The nobi...
Episode 11 - The Great Count
Roger de Hauteville was a strange conqueror. The youngest of twelve sons he was the last to come to Italy and treated as the least capable of the sibl...
Episode 10 - The Byzantine Wars
By 1071 Robert Guiscard had risen to the height of power in Italy. The grumbling Lombards had been forced to grovel before him, the proud Norman baron...
Episode 9 - The Rise of Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard arrived in Italy as a simple knight, hoping to benefit from his brother's wealth and power. Instead he found his path blocked at every...
Episode 8 - William Iron-Arm
In Duke Richard II's Normandy an impoverished knight named Tancred de Hauteville struggled to provide for his twelve sons. The eldest of them - Willia...
Episode 7 - After Hastings
King Harold wanted nothing more than a peaceful reign, but was destined to spend his time on the throne preparing for war. He had been crowned under t...
Episode 6 - The Two Harolds
England on the eve of the Conquest was torn between the old King Edward the Confessor and the powerful house of Godwin. With no clear heir apparent ch...
Episode 5 - William the Conqueror
The young Duke William seemed destined not to survive his childhood. Orphaned before he was ten, he became a plaything of powerful nobles as one by on...
Episode 4 - Magnificent Devil
The reign of Robert I began under the dark suspicion of murder and descended into chaos as the young Duke struggled for control. Dogged by rumors of f...
Episode 3 - Richard the Good: Inventing the Past
At the start of Richard II's reign northern Europe was once again subjected to a wave of Viking attacks. The young Duke was faced with the question of...
Episode 2 - Richard the Fearless
With the death of Rollo and his son, Normandy seemed poised on the brink of disaster. Its nobles were in open revolt and the King of France had seized...
Episode 1 - Rollo and the Viking Age
They were the great success story of the Middle Ages, a footloose band of individual adventurers who appeared out of nowhere to blaze across the face...