Episode #21 - How Do You Explain Joan of Arc?...

In this bonus episode Sebastian takes questions about the recent series on the Viking voyages to North America. In it he reckons with the history of slavery in the Norse world, guesses at why the southern Vinland of settlement of Hóp remains undiscovered, and muses about doppelgä ...  Show more

For centuries the western Norse colony of Vinland was known only to scholars of the Icelandic Sagas. But in the 19th century the work of a few Scandinavian historians helped revive interest in these previously obscure tales. When the Danish historian Carl Christian Rafn published ...  Show more

In the early 15th century, a French village girl became a heroine for her role in the French victory during the Lancastrian phase of the 100 Years War. But it took 600 years before Joan of Arc was canonised as a Roman Catholic Saint. How did she become such a famous name in histo ...  Show more

Hero. Martyr. Feminist. Witch. Who really was Joan of Arc? And could she really speak to God, or were her visions something else entirely? Today’s episode delves into the story of one of history’s most enduring icons, and explores what made her a legend. Learn more about your ad ...  Show more

Joan of Arc is a historical superstar, a peasant who rose above her rank and gender to help free France from foreign occupation. Claiming to be acting under the orders of saints and angels, she became a symbol of national freedom. But how did a near-illiterate teenage girl win th ...  Show more

May 16, 1920. Tens of thousands of people surround St. Peter’s Basilica to honor Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl who died nearly five hundred years before. Joan’s feats in battle—and her visions of God—have become legendary since her heyday during The Hundred Years War. And to ...  Show more