The Capetians: The Dynasty That Made Med...

Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists famously described the First Amendment as building a "wall of separation between church and State." This line has been the gold standard for those who point to the secular origins of America and the threat of funding any sort ... Show More

There’s an argument to be made that every technology advance in communication – from cave paintings to fake AI movie trailers – is at its root an attempt to tell stories. Our first night-fires created the earliest audiences for spoken stories. In time, the development of rhyme, s ... Show More

During the Holocaust, Josef Mengele discarded every medical ethic to perform horrific human experiments at Auschwitz, including non-consensual vivisections, limb transplants, and agonizing surgeries conducted without anesthesia. Japan had its own program that is less known but eq ... Show More

The “Father of Europe”, Charlemagne’s rule as King of the Franks changed the face of Europe, unifying regions that had been at war and spreading Christianity across the continent. As Holy Roman Emperor, crowned by the Pope himself, he founded the Carolingian dynasty. His reign sp ... Show More

<p>Voltaire famously wrote that the "The&nbsp;Holy Roman Empire&nbsp;was in no way holy, nor&nbsp;Roman, nor an&nbsp;empire.” But Dr. Eleanor Janega believes that literally everything about Voltaire’s statement is wrong - in the medieval context.</p><br><p>In this explainer episo ... Show More

<p><strong>On vante souvent la laïcité ou la sécularisation comme des spécificités occidentales, voire françaises. </strong>Elles renverraient à un affranchissement des principes religieux, et permettraient de mieux entériner les principes de la République dans notre société. Or ... Show More

In a sense, 1521 is Mexico's 1619. A foundational moment that has for a long time been shaped by just one perspective, a European one. The story of how Hernán Cortés and his small army of conquistadors conquered the mighty Aztec Empire, in the heart of what's now modern Mexico Ci ... Show More

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the changes in the intellectual world of Western Europe in the 12th Century, and their origins. This was a time of Crusades, the formation of states, the start of Gothic architecture, a reconnection with Roman and Greek learning and their Arabic de ... Show More