The History of Byzantium

As soon as news reached the West that Jerusalem had fallen a new Crusade was called. The German, French and English Kings all led armies East but only Frederick Barbarossa went by land. He led a large...

28 Dec 202225min

I speak to author Ben Duval, author of the book: "Saladin the Strategist: How the Crusaders Lost the Holy Land."We go through Saladin's career starting with how he captured Egypt. Then how he built th...

21 Dec 202245min

Isaac Angelos begins his reign by defeating the Normans and making as many alliances as he can to secure his position. Unfortunately he rejects an offer from two Vlach Chieftains Peter and Asen. They ...

13 Dec 202228min

Andronikos continues to terrorise his relatives. Many leave Byzantium seeking help from foreign courts. One arrives in Sicily and calls on the Normans to help him. They launch an invasion and sack the...

6 Dec 202227min

When Manuel Komnenos died he left an 11 year old son as his heir. The Regency Council set up to protect him fails. Manuel's cousin Andronikos seizes the throne instead and begins a reign of terror. H...

29 Nov 202228min

We talk about why the Romans didn't have more success in fighting the Turks. Was there a better way to fight the nomads? Or was it not really about tactics but strategy?Period: 1070-1180 Hosted on Aca...

25 Aug 202232min

We look around the Roman provinces in Anatolia to review their defensive situation and the lifestyle of its people. We also briefly talk about Turkic people who lived in Byzantium. Hosted on Acast. Se...

18 Aug 202218min

We take a look around the parts of Anatolia which were controlled by Turkic peoples between 1080 and 1180 AD. We don’t have a huge amount of written sources to draw on but hopefully there’s enough inf...

10 Aug 202226min