Echoes of Empires

The People's Crusade and the First Holocaust

The First Crusade got off to a terrible start. The initial armies, referred to by historians as the 'People's Crusade' and the 'German Crusade' were little more than bands of brigands and discontented peasants and minor nobility. Indeed, the German contingents never made it anywhere near Constantinople, and instead conducted a ruthless attack on the German Jews in what has been called the 'First Holocaust.' Find out what happened in this episode. Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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Does Climate History Unlock the Secrets of the Crusades?

In this episode, we look at something called the Medieval Warm Period. This first came to our notice a long time ago in the writings of a medieval monk and historian called William of Malmesbury. Writing in around 1120, he surprised later historians with his flowing descriptions of a buoyant English wine industry. But were climatic conditions so benign elsewhere? The answer is a resounding no since it now appears that the Islamic world was pushed to the edge of collapse in the early Middle Ages by unprecedented drought and cold. And this was a critically important and until now, overlooked, feature of the Crusades. Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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Why Were The Crusades So Popular?

The Crusade present us with one of the greatest paradoxes in history. Why would Christianity, a peace-loving religion, condone such aggressive military operations in the name of God? In this episode, I want to examine why the First Crusade resonated so strongly with medieval men and women in the eleventh century. And to understand this, we need to examine the complex and conflicting forces within medieval feudal society where spirituality and the material world were closely intertwined. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Secrets of Ancient Nicaea

In this episode, I tell you about my travels to Ancient Nicaea, a city that changed history from the famous First Council of Nicaea in AD 325, foundational for the Christian church, to the siege of Nicaea, a pivotal moment in the First Crusade. Discover the astonishing historical remains in the city that have survived to this day in my video accompanying this podcast, on my YouTube channel. Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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Alexius Comnenus: The True Story

Alexius Comnenus is a well-known Byzantine Emperor not least because his daughter, Anna, wrote one of the greatest works of medieval literature about him called “The Alexiad.” It’s a cracking read, full of vivid character descriptions, battle scenes, back-stabbing politics and written in an epic style that echoes the Roman and Greek classics. It’s not just central to the history of Byzantium but also to the Crusades since she’s our main non-western commentator on the First Crusade and wrote some of the best descriptions of the fiery leaders of that Crusade, like Count Bohemond. It is of course, a tribute, or a hagiography to use that term, to her father who emerges as an Odysseus-like hero. She describes him thus:“His dark eyebrows were curved, and beneath them the gaze of his eyes was both terrible and kind. When he came into a gathering and began to speak, you were conscious from the moment he opened his mouth of the fiery eloquence of his tongue…” Alexius has gone down in history as the man who saved Byzantium largely because that’s what his daughter has told us, but historians are now questioning whether that was true and, in this episode, I want to suggest his reign was failing by 1095, and his appeal to the Pope for help against the Turks was the result of weakness, and not because he was in a strong position to launch a counter-offensive against the Turks as proposed in the Alexiad. Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Battle of Manzikert

The Battle of Manzikert in 1071 changed history. Not only was it the first step towards the end of the Byzantine Empire but it also established the foundation for modern Turkey. In western Europe, the growing threat of the Seljuk Turks would result in the First Crusade. And yet the the Byzantine defeat in the battle was far from inevitable as so many history books claim. Indeed, it was the opposite. It was the Byzantines who were winning until one of the most outrageous acts of betrayal in history snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Find out what happened here! mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Rise of the Seljuk Turks

In this episode, we’ll look at why the Seljuk Turks suddenly appeared in the Middle East in the eleventh century. The name Seljuk and the origins of Seljuk power lie with a man called Seljuk, who rose to prominence in the late tenth century. He was an Oghuz Turk, and at that time the Oghuz Turks were a group of nomads living around the Volga River. Originally from Mongolia, the Turks were ethnically similar to the Huns of the late Roman period and the future Mongols of the thirteenth century. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Road to Manzikert

In the years from 1068 to 1071, the Byzantine emperor Romanus Diogenes tried but failed to stem the Turkish raids into Anatolia. Finally, he decided to lead his army far into the east, to stem the raids at their point of origin, near the fortress of Manzikert. There he would fight a battle that would change history. Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Origins of the First Crusade

Welcome to Echoes of Empires, my new podcast which is the successor to the Fall of the Roman Empire. In this episode, I want to look at the First Crusade. This crusade was quite different from all the others. Not only did it establish and define the entire crusading movement, but it was also probably the largest military expedition put together in Europe since the days of the Roman Empire. Over 100,000 people, a large proportion of whom were knights and foot soldiers, marched east to give battle to almost the entire Islamic world. In the next few episodes, we’ll look at why they did this, what motivated them and what they expected to achieve. But whatever the answers to those questions are, one thing is abundantly clear. The First Crusade was astonishingly successful. The first crusaders were never defeated. Instead, they fought and routed every Islamic army they encountered. From Turkish nomads to Bedouin horsemen and Ethiopian infantry, they triumphed all the way from what is now Turkey down to Egypt. No wonder medieval Europe spent the next century living in the shadow of the success of the First Crusade. The story was recounted repeatedly by troubadours in the banqueting halls of castles and in the market fairs of peasant villages. And it’s little wonder that on the other side of the Mediterranean, Islam was shaken to its very core. It had been shattered and broken by the crusaders. But it would come back. Eventually, the Islamic world found one of its greatest leaders: Saladin. And he would lead an Islamic resurgence that in its turn would break the power of the crusaders. But long before we get to Saladin, I want to go back to the origins of the First Crusade to ask why did it happen at all? What was it that produced the most extraordinary single event of the entire Middle Ages? And to find that answer, I want to start on a cold winter’s day in a field outside the town of Clermont in central France. That day was the 27 November 1095. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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New Name, Same Show!

The Fall of the Roman Empire podcast is now called Echoes of Empires. Why change the name? Well, as you know, this podcast has already moved beyond the fall of Rome to cover a broader range of historical topics. In the last few episodes, we’ve covered Charlemagne, the Arab Caliphates, the Vikings and Byzantium. And going forward I want to cover a host of new subjects including the Crusades, Medieval Europe, the Seljuk Turks, Saladin, Genghis Khan and much more! And I’m going to begin with the First Crusade: yes, the story of history’s greatest crusade, the crusade that defined not just the whole crusading movement but also medieval Europe and Islam. Now, the First Crusade has attracted praise and criticism over the centuries, according to changing intellectual and cultural fashions. The purpose of this podcast, as it has always been, is to look at history on its own terms. I’m interested in looking at the past through the eyes of the men and women who lived at the time. To try to understand what mattered to them, to understand what their hopes and fears were, and to understand why they behaved as they did. Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: The Inheritors of Rome

I wanted to let you know that my latest book, The Inheritors of Rome, is now available in both paperback and ebook on Amazon and will be available through most major book retailers soon. Click here for the Amazon link. Why did I write the book? I wanted to close my series on the fall of the Roman Empire with an examination of what happened after the fall. I look at a period often called the Dark Ages. And yes, I think they were dark for many people. But they were also the birthplace for not just modern Europe (and to some extent America as well) but also for Islam. I think it's difficult to understand the modern world without knowing what happened in the centuries after Rome fell. So, the book covers the period from around AD 700-1000. It examines the collapse of Roman civilization in Europe to the rise of Charlemagne’s empire. From the explosive expansion of early Islam to the resilience of Byzantium. From the devastation of the Vikings to the birth of medieval Europe. It aims to paint a sweeping, interconnected portrait of a world in upheaval. I aim to shed new light on forgotten turning points, revealing how environmental pressures, religious conflict, economic dislocation and cultural reinvention laid the foundations for the rebirth of Europe after the fall of Rome. If you’ve been listening to my podcast, you’ll be familiar with some of these subjects but I think you’d still find the book worthwhile since it has more content than my podcast and includes 7 maps, 21 pictures, a chronology, a detailed bibliography, notes and an index. And if you do read it, I’d be thrilled to hear your thoughts. Of course, if you enjoy it, a review on Amazon would mean a great deal to me. Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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Byzantium's Golden Age

In the century from 860 to 960 Byzantium was reborn as the greatest power in western Eurasia. Its armies were invincible, spearheaded by regiments of heavy cavalry which terrified its opponents. In this episode, I want to look at how Byzantium achieved this and why, in my view, in its hour of triumph, it lay the foundations for its fall in the eleventh century. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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Byzantium's Battle for Survival

In today’s episode, I’d like to switch from the Abbasid Caliphate to the Byzantine Empire. The fortunes of both were of course connected and the Caliphate’s decline during the ninth century created an opportunity for Byzantium. But it wasn’t an easy path for the Byzantines and there were some serious setbacks in the first half of the ninth-century. Nevertheless, ultimately Byzantium would emerge once again as the strongest power in western Eurasia, which was a truly remarkable achievement. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Abbasids: Golden Age or Age of Collapse?

Many historians call the Abbasid caliphate ‘the Golden Age of Islam’ but in this episode I want to analyse the contradiction in this description since, at a time when Islam underwent an undisputed cultural flowering, it also collapsed politically. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Rise and Fall of the Umayyads

First, let me wish you a Happy New Year and I hope you had a good break if you took time off. This episode tells the story of one of the greatest empires in history – the Umayyad Caliphate. Its territories stretched from Samarkand to the Atlantic. Like the Roman Empire, it straddled three continents – Asia, Europe and Africa. But appearances can be deceptive, and to most contemporaries the Umayyad Caliphate seemed much more fragile than it does to us today with the benefit of 1,400 years of hindsight. Find out why in this episode! mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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Eirene: The Monstrous Empress of Byzantium?

In this episode, we’ll hear about one of the most chilling rulers of Byzantium – the empress Eirene. She was Byzantium’s only empress to take on the reins of government in a sole capacity. Her reign is controversial because she took sole power only after she’d killed the reigning emperor by gouging out his eyes. And the emperor in question was her own son. Even by the shocking standards of the Dark Ages, this stands out as pretty extreme parenting. And yet despite that, today she is a saint in the Greek Orthodox church since she restored icon worship, overthrowing the iconoclasts we talked about in the last episode. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Forgotten Heroes of Byzantium

In the first half of the eighth century, Byzantium stemmed the Arab advance into Europe. Critical to this achievement were two emperors: Leo III and Constantine V. In this episode, I explain why I think these two men were heroes of the Dark Ages who changed history. And their lack of visibility is explained by a conspiracy against them which echoes the cancel culture of our own times. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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Byzantium: The Empire That Refused To Die

In this episode we turn east to consider Byzantium. We last spoke about the eastern Romans, or the Byzantines, in episode 113 when I described the emperor Leo III’s victory in the winter of 717/718 over an immense Umayyad army and navy intent on taking Constantinople. This was a pivotal moment in history. Few people at the time would have expected Byzantium to survive. But it did. And the Umayyad Caliphate’s advance into Europe was blocked. But before we move on to the rest of Leo’s reign, the question I want to ask in this episode, is how did Byzantium do it? How was it able to fend off Islam, by far the greatest power of its age? Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Origins of the Holy Roman Empire

The final political legacy of the Roman Empire in western Europe was the Holy Roman Empire. Amazingly, this curious political institution lasted until Napoleon abolished it in 1806. In the eighteenth century, the French political philosopher Voltaire famously described it as neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire. He may have been right in his own age, but it was originally born with the dream of restoring Charlemagne's empire, itself a restoration of the once mighty Roman Empire. It was a dream that would last a thousand years. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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The Vikings

The Vikings transformed European history, impacted the worlds of both Byzantium and the Abbasid Caliphate, and even, some 500 years before Christopher Columbus, discovered North America. In this episode, I want to look at how and why the Viking diaspora first began, before moving to their initial impact on the world outside Scandinavia, especially on the Carolingians and the establishment of the Viking-Frankish state of Normandy. mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show For a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com

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