Podcast Script

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Prester John 3: The Fifth Crusade

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The crusaders make their way first to Acre and then to Damietta. Perhaps someone would be along to help them soon?

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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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Prester John 2: Where From and What For

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On the many fantastic additions to the Letter of Prester John (Dragons! Strange Bakeries! Etc!), and on the theories around it.

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Prester John 1: The Letter

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The legend in its early forms: the arrival in Rome of a patriarch from the east, the chronicles of Otto of Freising, and that famous "letter."

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Abd-al-Razzaq Samarqandi 2: City of Victory

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Shah Rukh's ambassador to the Indian city of Qaliqut arrives at the heart of the Vijayanagara Empire, finding much to admire but also war, a usurper, and uncertainties about his own status. We visit Hampi, the centre of that late-medieval power, and we talk about elephants.

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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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Medieval Lives 1: al-Ghazāl

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This is a story about Abū Zakariyyāʾ Yaḥyā ibn Ḥakam al-Bakrī al-Jayyānī, known also as al-Ghazāl (the Gazelle). It's the story of a 9th century poet on an embassy from the Emirate of Córdoba to a Viking ruler.

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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.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 4: Sickness & Heat, Melons & Meat

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Clavijo and his Castilian fellow travellers continue the journey toward Timur, cutting across northern Iran and dealing with sickness and heat. On the upside, there will be melons and a great deal of wine. There will also be a visit with Timur's potentially problematic son.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 3: Of the Water and the Mountains

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In search of Timur, the Castilian ambassadors leave Constantinople and travel east over the Black Sea and into the mountains beyond.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 2: Sacred Objects in the Imperial City

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In their journey to see Timur, Clavijo and the other envoys stop in at Constantinople where we visit artifacts and sacred objects.

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Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 1: Byzantine Entanglements

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In 1403, Henry III of Castile sent ambassadors to Timur (Tamerlane), among them a man named Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo. In this episode, we cover the context and depart from port near Cadiz, travel the length of the Mediterranean, and visit Lesbos where we spend time with the ruling family and their involvements in Byzantine imperial politics.

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Ibn Fadlan 3: Bulgar Discomforts & Jinn Warfare

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Our 10th century traveller, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, settles in among the Bulgars, develops a distaste for their fish-oil based food, and is terrified by events in the sky.