A History of Italy

016 – Italy after Charlemagne

800 - 840 We look at what happened up to and after the death of Charlemagne to see what his sons got up to.

Special Episode 02b – A load of baloney from Bologna part 2

The second part of a two-part episode on the history of the city of Bologna. Her ewe cover the modern and contemporary eras of the regional capital of Emilia Romagna

Special Episode 02a – A load of baloney from Bologna Part 1

This is the first part of a two-part series on the history of the city of Bologna, from pre-history to the end of the Middle Ages.

015 – A Confusing Christmas Coronation

795 - 800 We look at the election and tumultuous adventures of pope Leo III before he goes on to crown Charlemagne, thus determining the relations between the papacy and the budding Holy Roman Empire for centuries to come

014 – Carolingian Italy

We have a look at the system that Charlemagne set up in Italy, the administration, the economy and the educational reform

Recap 01 Episodes 001 – 013 from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of the Lombards

A recap of the first thirteen episodes that acts as a refresher before we move on to the Carolingian reign in Italy and the growing power of the papcy and the Holy Roman Empire

Interview – Dario Pedrazzini on the Lombards

An interview with Dario Pedrazzini on the daily lives of the Lombards at the time of king Rothari from his book on the topic

013 – A look at the Catholic Church

33 - 774 We take a step back in time to fill in the history of the Catholic Church up t the point in our narrative, i.e. the fall of the Lombard kingdom in 774.

012 – Here come the Franks

771-774 The Franks make their definitive entrance into Italy and the existence of the Lombard kingdom hangs in the balance. We take a look at how the events really went and then go back, following the story of Alessandro Manzoni's "Adlechi" to see a juicier version of the events.

011 – The Lombards’ last linger in the limelight

744 - 770 From the endow the reign of Aistulf in 756 to the hight of power of king Desiderius, who by 770 gad taken the Lombards to their maximum expansion and influence