Nuno Álvares Pereira: Portugal’s Holy Hammer

Abd al-Rahman was supposed to die with the rest of his family. When the Abbasid Caliphate overthrew the Umayyads in a brutal coup, they made sure to slaughter every last male heir—except one. Abd al-Rahman, barely twenty, escaped across the Middle East and North Africa with assassins hot on his trail. He swam rivers, crossed deserts, and vanished into legend. And just when the world thought his dynasty was gone, he returned—on horseback, sword in hand, to conquer a new kingdom at the edge of the known world. In tody's episode Ben and Pat tell the true story of the prince who fled a massacre and became a king. Of the founder of Muslim Spain. Of a man who turned exile into empire—and earned his name as The Falcon of Al-Andalus.

They called him The Butcher. A young, cocky British officer with a flair for showmanship and a taste for brutality, Banastre Tarleton tore through the American South on horseback, leading a feared legion of dragoons who left fire and blood in their wake. He was ruthless, relentless, and exactly the kind of guy you build a revolution against. In this special 4th of July episode - Ben and Andrew dive into the chaotic rise of Tarleton: from aristocratic brat to the most hated man in the colonies—and the American heroes who finally brought his rampage to a halt.

He was the undefeated general who saved Portugal from foreign conquest, crushed armies five times his size, and changed the course of European warfare—then gave it all up to become a barefoot monk. This week Ben and Pat tell the story of Nuno Álvares Pereira: battlefield genius, national hero, and the only medieval warlord to end up canonized as a Catholic saint.

She was the most eligible bachelorette in Europe, the Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, and the queen of not one but two different countries. In today's episode, Ben and special guest author Shaina Steinberg tell the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine who outmaneuvered kings, went on Crusade, survived imprisonment, and spent decades pulling the strings of empires and rebellions alike. She was a medieval power broker, royal schemer, and all-around badass centuries ahead of her time — and she did it all while dodging murder plots, papal judgments, and the world’s most dysfunctional family.

Ferdinand Magellan was a glory-hungry Portuguese explorer sailing under the Spanish flag, out to prove he could circle the globe, convert entire civilizations, and maybe pick up a few spice islands along the way. But after months of storms, mutinies, and bad decisions, Magellan washed up in the Philippines thinking he could win a war with fifty guys, a translator, and the power of God. What he got instead was Lapu Lapu—a chieftain with no interest in foreign gods, foreign kings, or foreign bullshit. In today's episode, Ben and Andrew tell the story of an egomaniac’s world tour gone sideways, and the man who sent him home in a box. Well, he would’ve, if Magellan’s crew had ever gone back to get the body.

It was fast. It was beautiful. And when the fate of the world was hanging by a thread, it helped save civilization. The Supermarine Spitfire wasn’t just a plane — it was a symbol of defiance, precision engineering, and sheer guts. In the skies over Britain, outnumbered RAF pilots climbed into these sleek warbirds and took on the full might of Hitler’s Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. Join Ben and special guest David Fairhead for the story of the plane that made the phrase “the few” legendary — and the men who flew it into history.

After clawing his way back to the Byzantine throne, Justinian II ruled like a man possessed—merciless, paranoid, and hell-bent on vengeance. But his enemies weren’t done with him yet. In the western city of Ravenna, a revolt brews that will bring down the emperor once and for all. This is the story of how the man who came back from the dead was finally taken out—by priests, rebels, and his own shattered empire. No one cheats death twice.

They cut off his nose, exiled him to the edge of the empire, and left him for dead. But Justinian II didn’t stay gone. This is the story of a Byzantine emperor who clawed his way back to the throne with a mutilated face and a murderous grudge. A tale of gold noses, broken alliances, double-crosses, and the bloodiest comeback in imperial history—when Justinian returned, it wasn’t just to rule. It was to get even.

When Japan invaded Korea in 1592, one man stood defiantly against impossible odds: Admiral Yi Sun-sin. Outnumbered, betrayed by jealous rivals, and stripped of command, Yi clawed his way back from ruin, inventing the legendary “Turtle Ships” to wreak havoc on enemy fleets. Using unmatched tactics and sheer audacity, Yi crushed Japan’s armada again and again, earning victory even when it seemed hopeless. Join Ben and Andrew as they dive into the life of history’s most badass naval commander—a warrior whose courage, cunning, and stubborn refusal to quit turned certain defeat into eternal glory.

He broke the sound barrier with two broken ribs and a broom handle jammed into the cockpit of an experimental jet. Chuck Yeager wasn’t just the first man to fly faster than Mach 1—he was the embodiment of American grit, guts, and go-for-broke test pilot bravado. In today's episode, Ben and guest Brandon Fibbs dive into the wild life of a World War II ace who dogfought Nazis, cheated death more times than he could count, and then strapped himself into rocket-powered death traps just to see what they could do. Before astronauts were heroes, Chuck Yeager was already a legend.