181 - Cesare Borgia flying high (1501 - 1502)

Episode OverviewContinuing our tour of the Italian peninsula in the early 1500s, we move north from the Kingdom of Naples, through the Papal States and Tuscany, across the Apennines, past Genoa, and into what is today the region of Piedmont.In this episode we explore the key poli ...  Show more

Episode OverviewHaving toured Spanish Sardinia and turbulent Sicily, we now complete our circuit of southern Italy by turning to the Kingdom of Naples.Once secured for Spain by the legendary Gonzalo de Córdoba, Naples became one of the crown jewels of the Spanish Empire — wealthy ...  Show more

The Age of the Condottieri - A Short History of Mediaeval Italy from 1409-1530 by Oscar Browning audiobook. Genre: history Italy from 1409 to 1530 is synonymous with the Renaissance, but this was also the age of the condottieri, Italian captains of mercenary companies and multina ...  Show more

The Frankish king, Charlemagne the Great, is one of the titanic figures of European history, simultaneously renowned and shadowy. His rise to supreme power is a staggering story of warring religious empires, betrayal, battle, blindings and brutal conquest. How, then, did this one ...  Show more

Following the bloody assassination of the twenty-eight year old Emperor Caligula, Rome found herself without a leader. Who then should fill the enormous power vacuum left by the death of an emperor? Should Rome return to a Republic? Then, one overlooked candidate - a scion of the ...  Show more

En 1309, le pape Clément V décide de s'installer à Avignon, plutôt qu'à Rome, en raison des tensions politiques avec le roi de France Philippe le Bel et des conflits internes à l'Église. Cette période, connue sous le nom de Papauté d'Avignon, dure jusqu'en 1377, lorsque le pape G ...  Show more