A History of Italy

084 – The war of the Sicilian Vespers

1282 - 1285 The start of the War of the Sicilian Vespers and a strange duel to attempt to put an end to it.

083 – Who are these Aragonese anyway? With David Cot of “The History of Spain”

Before going into the war of the Italian Vespers, we get some help from David Cot of "The History of Spain" podcast to bring us u to date on the kingdom of Aragon and Peter III and his sons.

082 – Charles in charge and the Sicilian Vespers

1266-1282 Charles of Anjou settles down to govern his new kingdom... and make a mess if it, provoking the rebellion of the Sicilian Vespers.

081 – The last stand of the house of Staufen with guest host Marco Cappelli

Marco Cappelli tells us about the last stand of Conradine of Hohenstauen at the battle that took place near Marco's home town Tagliacozzo.

080 – Frederick II’s boys and here come the French

1250 - 1266 We take a look at what happened to the sons of Frederick II, Conrad, Henry and Manfredi. In the case of Manfredi we see his rise to influence over almost all of Italy before it all came crashing down with the invasion of Charles of Anjou.

079 – The Prisoner King and the rest of Frederick II’s boys

1248 -1272 We start taking a look at how things progressed after the death of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, starting with his son Enzo, who fell prisoner to the Coomune of Bologna, giving rise to a whole series of legends

078 – The Golden age of communes

We take a look at some of the factors that made the 13th century the golden age of the communes such as trade and finance as the consular communes transformed into popular communes as early signs of the coming era of the "signorie" loomed.

077 – The situation in the 13th century and revenge in Florence

We take a look at how our communes are evolving in the 13th century with the whole messy Guelphs and Ghibellines business and have a look at the legend of how the factions were formed in Florence with the tragic tale of Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti, a real soap opera, Florentine style.

Recap 04: Episodes 051 – 076 from the Concordat of Worms to the death of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II

We stop for our usual recap to look back over episodes 051 to 076 going from the Concordat of Worms in 1122 to the death of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, with a look at the rise of the Commune city states and the maritime republics, Venice in particular.

076 – St. Francis of Assisi

We look at the life and ideas of one of the most famous and influential figures in religious and non religious history, a young man who deemed of being a great soldier, who became one of the greatest champions of peace.