Did Medieval Women Really Wear Chastity Belts?
According to legends of the Middle Ages, knights used the chastity belt on their wives as an anti-temptation device before embarking on the Crusades. When the knight left for the Holy Lands, his Lady ...
31 Aug 20176min
Why is Louis Such a Popular Name for French Kings?
If you want to be a French king who is also named Louis, then you have to slap enough Roman numerals at the end of your name to look like an encrypted message. Why are so many French kings named Louis...
30 Aug 20177min
Did People in the Past Get 8 Hours of Sleep a Night?
Doctors love to say that eight hours of nightly rest is vital to good health. But did people in the past get this much sleep, more, or less? And how did the lack of a lightbulb affect their sleep cycl...
29 Aug 20177min
The Real-Life Pirates of the Caribbean—Matt Albers from The Pirate History Podcast
Pirates are popular these days: they adorn our favorite brands of bargain-basement rum and populate beloved Disneyland rides and multibillion-dollar film franchises. But who were these men and women w...
28 Aug 20171h 7min
Would You Rather Be An Average Person Today or a Billionaire 100 Years Ago?
It's good to be as rich as a Rockefeller. John—the patriarch of the family—rose from a lowly Ohioan bookkeeper to the leader of Standard Oil, which owned 90 percent of America's petroleum until it was...
25 Aug 20177min
Why Wasn’t There a Scientific Revolution Under the Romans?
Scientific progress has moved steadily forward across much of the world for centuries, with few examples of abatement. The Scientific Revolution is often considered to have begun at Copernicus's 1543 ...
24 Aug 201711min
What if the Nazis Had Won World War Two?
This episode is fifth in our Alternate History Week series, where I look at famous books of alternate history and discuss why I think their alternate timelines aren't plausible. The Man in the High Ca...
23 Aug 201715min
If I Were Sent Back in Time to the Roman Empire, How Would I Take Over?
This episode is fourth in our Alternate History Week series, where I look at famous books of alternate history and discuss why I think their alternate timelines aren't plausible. Lest Darkness Fall, w...
22 Aug 201710min
