This week we’re going to take a look at what happened with Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria. This relatively minor-sounding player in the midst of Charlemagne’s dynastic growth may sound unimportant, but he is a bellwether of just how strong Charles was becoming as King. You see, Charles and Tassilo were the most current iteration of an inter-family rivalry going back decades, hundreds of years even. They marked the high-water point of both groups and, as we will see, they also will symbolize just how much raw power the Carolingians had obtained by the late 8th century. ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️ Links to social med ..read more

This week, we’re going to take a look at Charlemagne's 778 campaign into Spain. Since the most memorable part of the campaign is an epic poem entitled The Song of Roland - a poem focused on the tragic loss of part of Charlemagne's army and the death of his lieutenant, Roland - we can tell you that things don't turn out well for the Franks. Despite this, about the only thing that the Song gets right about the actual history is that the Franks were involved, and they suffered a loss.   The Song of Roland was written somewhere between 1040-1115 CE. And wouldn’t you know it, the values and id ..read more

This week, we’re going to take a look at one of the great resistance leaders from the age of Charlemagne: Widukind. Because - news flash! - lots of people did not like Charlemagne. Before we get into everything, there is one more thing we should clarify to help keep us straight on where we are in the chronology: The majority of today’s episode is set between 777-785. This is a pretty big leap, time-wise, considering that it took us several episodes just to get through the first three years of Charlemagne’s rivalry with his brother, and then another full episode to discuss the Lombard campaign ..read more

Today on the show, we interview Shelley Puhak, the author of the soon-to-be-released book The Dark Queens! It is all about Fredegunda and Brunhilda, the rival Merovingian Queens who ran Kingdoms and fought against one another (we spoke all about them in Episodes 15-25 of Season One). The publisher gave us an advanced copy of the book to check out, and we can tell you... it is really good! The book has all of the murders, assassinations, plotting, intrigue, and general mayhem that went down during this time, and it is written in an incredibly engaging way. Believe me, as someone ..read more

This week we’re going to take a look at what may be one of the great military miscalculations of all time. Charles was a solid tactician and an excellent logistician, and clearly very successful in most things he tried his hand at. Politics, religion, culture, war... there was no area in which he did not make an enormous impact during his life. Knowing this, how was it then that he so dramatically failed to see just how long and hard a campaign against the Saxons would be? Einhard, one of the first and most eminent biographers of Charlemagne, and a man who studied the whole of the great King’s ..read more

This week we’re going to take a look at how, for the third time in less than two decades, the Franks and the Lombards came to blows. However, the Franks would be under new management for the fight this time. Would the change of leader make a difference in the outcome of the war? Let's return to 771, where the newly minted King of the Franks has a Queen and a Prince on the run for their lives. Why did Gerberga flee to Italy, and why did Charles allow it to happen? ⚜️ ⚜️ ⚜️ Links to social media and the website: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ThugsAndMiracles Site: https://www.thugsa ..read more

This week we’re going to take a look at what exactly happened between Charles and his brother Carloman. The two are referred to in all of the histories as having had a troubled relationship, and this is another one of those situations where, if you poke around on the Internet a little, you can find people asking the counterfactual question of, “What if Charlemagne had died rather than Carloman?” Because, belated spoiler alert, Carloman is going to die shortly, in 771. And it’s interesting to think of what might have happened if he had lived. It’s also interesting to consider how he died, becau ..read more

This week we’re going to take a look at the first few years of Charles and Carloman’s reign as seen through the eyes of their mother, Queen Bertrada. Honestly, she’s a tremendous woman who took her shot when she had it; however, when you listen to today's opening story, you will notice that I cribbed a line from Neville Chamberlain, “peace in their time.” Bertrada really thought she had a diplomatic solution all figured out, a path to peace and security that couldn’t possibly backfire. Well, just like Chamberlain, a few overwhelming personalities and the general tide of history served to make ..read more

This week we’re going to look back one last time at the life and times of one of the most horribly underrated Kings in all of French history, a guy who may have done more to establish the foundations of modern-day France than any other individual out there, and yet whose name remains lost to all but the most intrepid history nerds - and yes, I’m looking at all of you! - because he happened to sire the one name that everyone knows: Charlemagne. So, we’re going to take a look at what King Pépin I did after he returned back to Francia from Italy in 756 and how he spent the last decade and so ..read more

Hello everybody, and welcome to 2022! We here at Thugs and Miracles hope you had an enjoyable New Year’s Eve, and if you’re traveling home today or tomorrow, well, we’re here to keep you company! And not just us! Nope, we’re joined today for a talk with Dirk Hoffman-Becking of the History of the Germans Podcast; he’s been running his show for about a year now, and we profiled his Episode #1 back in September on our feed. Dirk spoke with us for this on topics ranging from where he’s from, to what compelled him to start a podcast and what drives him to keep going, to what his favorite bit o ..read more