history podcast

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Ghiyath al-Din Naqqash 1: A Timurid Painter in Ming China

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In the early 15th century, the son of Timur sends an ambassador east to the target of his father's last military campaign.

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Prester John 10: The End is not the End

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It's the end of the Prester John story, or at least the end for now. The priest-king pops up in Tibet and dives into the world of fiction and comics, and the Dalai Lama makes an appearance.

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Prester John 9: The End Part One

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What happens to a mythical priest-king when you get too close to him? Does he just disappear?

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Prester John 8: Ambassador Mateus and his Many Doubters

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In the early years of the 16th-century, Ethiopia's regent, Eleni, sent an ambassador to Portugal to propose an alliance. She sent a man named Mateus. Unfortunately for Mateus, almost nobody believed him.

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Prester John 7: The Way from Lisbon

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It's part 7 of the Prester John story, on the trip to Prester John's Ethiopia, and on the Portuguese crown's pursuit of the priest-king and how that story was connected to the developing ones of exploration and colonialism.

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Prester John 6: The Ethiopian Prester John

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This is the first of two episodes on the next jump in the Prester John narrative, as the story pivots to Ethiopia and as Ethiopian envoys and pilgrims travel in 15th-century Italy and Spain.

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Prester John 2.5: Papal Correspondence

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A shorter episode, on a letter from Pope Alexander III to Prester John.

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Abd-al-Razzaq Samarqandi 1: The Unwilling Envoy

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It's 1442, and Shah Rukh, the son of Timur, is sending an ambassador to Qaliqut / Kozhikode on the Indian coast. That ambassador, Abd-al-Razzāq, sails from Hormuz and experiences delays, sickness, death, and disappointment. Making matters worse, he never actually wanted to go.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 6: There and Back Again

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The Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo story reaches its conclusion, and so does that of Timur aka Tamerlane.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 5: A Season of Feasting at Samarkand

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Our travellers from early 15th century Spain arrive at the outskirts of Samarkand where they meet and feast with their host Timur.