Tuesday 20 August 2013

WDF 25.0 Bibliography & More

History friends! I know we were a bit late, but as usual I have a really uninteresting techhy reason for the lateness; basically my lappy had to ruin itself on me. Currently I'm still installing the insane number of updates required by windows, though I thankfully backed up everything before I wiped the hard drive. Once again I was driven mad by technology, and the whole laptop episode probably set me back about 3 days podcast work. But there you go, my luck is bad, and yet the podcast is hopefully up to your standards! 

I added some extra music this time around, I hope you enjoy it! Expect the next installment of WDF 25 in about a week. I am genuinely TRYING to churn these bad boys out, so that they reach you freshly and well within a reasonable time!

Anyways, here be the bibliography for the episode! Thanksssss.

Peter Padfield, Armada (Victor Gollancz LTD; 1988).
Vincent J. Pitts, Henri IV of France: His Reign and Age (JHU Press; 2012).
Geoffrey Parker, Europe in Crisis 1598-1648 (Fontanna Press; 1990).
Edward Barton and Edwin Pears, “The Spanish Armada and the Ottoman Porte”, The English Historical Review, Vol. 8, No. 31 (Jul., 1993), pp. 439-466.
Matthew Dimmock, New Turks: Dramatizing Islam and the Ottomans in Early Modern England (Ashgate Publishing; 2005).
Hiram Morgan, Tyrone's Rebellion: The Outbreak of the Nine Years War in Tudor Ireland (Boydell Press; 1999).

Brendan Fitzpatrick, Seventeenth-century Ireland: The War of Religions (Rowman and Littlefield; 1989).

Sunday 11 August 2013

The REAL Red Wedding within the TRUE Game of Thrones

I don't know about yourself, but when I discovered that in 1572, Catherine de Medici, mother of the King of France Charles IX invited the leader of the Huguenots Henry III to marry Charles' sister and thus ensure peace at last between the long conflicting Protestant and Catholic elements in France....only to have all the Protestant guests at the wedding murdered, and to instigate a wave of mob violence across Paris, I could think of one thing: the absolute shock I was struck with during episode 9 of the most recent series of Game of Thrones, in which occurred perhaps the most unexpected and graphic scenes of television. The similarities between the two events is nothing short of startling, and leads me to wonder whether George R R Martin may have looked to France's troubled dynastic past for some inspiration.

Not to mention what happens next. After escaping with his life from this red wedding, young Henry of Navarre then engages in the fantastically named "War of the Three Henrys", a dramatically confusing three sided war in which Henry of Navarre, Henry III of France, the monarch at the time, and finally Henry of Guise, whose creation and leadership of the Catholic League and its support from Spain granted Mr. Guise a very strong position, all fought for France's throne. I won't spoil the story for you guys, you'll have to listen to the episode, but isn't it funny when we see events in history like this that are SO similar to things on TV, you wonder if it really is history repeating itself, or if the events within that period of history are just so spectacular, they deserve to be cast on the big screen?

Regardless, this is the painting of history's real red wedding by Francois Dubois, a Huguenot painter who eventually settled in Switzerland. Expect WDF's first episode on the 30 Years War within the week!

Thanksssss!

Saturday 10 August 2013

Here Comes The War! Notes on the 30 Years War Part 1

Hello history friends, just a bit of an intro here to remind you all that I still exist. WDF 20.0: SPECIAL= The Thirty Years War Part One: 1589-1600 is due for release soonish, within the next week, so I'd like to familiarise you all with the characters visually so that you know who I'm talking about and can at least picture them in your head. Bear in mind of course, that I will have to do this with the next few batch of episodes once these fine folks here pass on, but so lasting are their respective legacies that it is important you know who they are.

So for starters, here's Henry of Navarre, now known as Henry IV of France, and one of the key figures in the buildup to the 30 Years War, as well as a key ally of Elizabeth and enemy of Philip. Henry had to fight for his right to sit on the French throne every step of the way, but is widely seen today as one of the most charismatic and widely loved monarchs to have sat on it. That's probably why he has a quite obvious smile on his bearded face.
Next up is Queen Elizabeth, also referred to as Liz for convenience, she ruled England through this vital period in its history, and was England's last Tudor monarch. Her reign of over 40 years is seen as one of the most significant of any monarch of the era, so here she is in all her jazzed up glory.
Finally, Philip II of Spain enters the scene now. Philip oversaw the rule of Spain through years of financial strain and military supremacy, while also seeing his Armada fail against England. Philip was a micro-manager and one who didn't give up easily, and thus he was as good a match as any for Liz, once the war between the two heated up after the famous 1588 incident. Here's his face.
Hopefully that simplifies things a bit for you guys, now wish me luck as I get back to work!

Thankssssss

Thursday 1 August 2013

WDF 24 Bibliography

Here you have it, let me know what you thought of the episode as always. This time we were meant to have actually released this like a week ago, since it's been practically finished since that time, but things just kept gettting in the way, so here we are. Better late than never! Let's hope my 30 Years War narrative is a little less up and down.

  • Peter Padfield, Armada (Victor Gollancz Ltd; 1988).
  • Lawrence Flanagan, Ireland’s Armada Legacy (Gill and McMillan Ltd; 1988).
  • Edward Barton and Edwin Pears, “The Spanish Armada and the Ottoman Porte”, The English Historical Review, Vol. 8, No. 31 (Jul., 1993), pp. 439-466.
  • Colin Martin & Geoffrey Parker, The Spanish Armada: Revised Edition (Manchester University Press; 1999).
  • Garret Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada (Random House Publishing; 2011).

Thanksssss