April Mailbag 2: Medieval Skyscraper

folks, given recent events and the region's general importance throughout history, we decided to do a short series on Premodern Iran. we start way back during the Ancient era, all the way back in the Bronze Age with the Elamites, then follow the progression of civilizations on the Iranian Plateau. we talk the Achaemenid foundations, Cyrus and Darius, Alexander the Great, Central Asian horse nomads, Zoroastrianism, and more!cover photo: engraved wall relief of a winged bull dating to the Achaemenid period, found in excavated ruins of Susa

folks, we are back with another mailbag episode to try and cutdown on the backlog of patron questions. this time, we discuss hamster-style situations, Medieval skyscrapers in Bologna, hangover cures, the Gregorian chant, the Medieval birds and the bees, state monopolies of violence, and more!cover image: conception of what Medieval Bologna may have looked like with numerous towers shooting into the sky, engraving by Tony Pecoraro, 1958. (taken from Wikimedia Commons)

folks, it's once again time to dive into the mailbag of patron questions. this time, we answer queries about the recent fight between Trump and Pope Leo, menopause, fried chicken, books bound in human skin, historical misconceptions based on a single erroneous account, the Pope being weak on crime, and much more.image: Antichrist seated on the back of Leviathan from the Liber Floridus encyclopedia (c. 1120), taken from Wikipedia Commons

folks, we come to the final episode of our series on Medieval Land Management by discussing famine, the very thing that all these land management practices are trying to guard against. we talk famines, how and why they happen, famine evidence across the world, the Little Ice Age, the Great Famine of 1315-17, and, thankfully, the peasant revolts that often follow in the wake of famines. enjoy!

folks, this is a free preview for the limited series Dr Eleanor recorded with friend of the show Phoebe Roy (Masters of Our Domain, etc.) about season 1 of the Wolf Hall TV show. if you like this episode, you can access all 7 episodes of the limited series for just $15 at: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2087866enjoy!

folks, in our 8th and penultimate episode on Medieval Land Management, we finally turn to our fellow creatures, specifically those we've domesticated. we talk about the various types of livestock, their distribution around the world before colonization, the different styles of management required, the sheep of the Petro State for Wool, urban hog management, Mongol bands of horses, and the Inca (as a special treat for Luke)

folks, there's more water to be discussed because, surprisingly, we kinda use water for everything. we discuss Medieval fishing, including stock ponds, salt harvesting, why you can't get good salt from all the oceans despite them all containing saltwater, why it was faster to travel via water than overland, and more!

folks, we're back with part 6 of the Medieval Land Management series and we're talking about how they dealt with water. first, we talk about Mesopotamian ghosts for a bit then get into Medieval aquaculture, including irrigation, wells, catchment in arid places, how water built civilization, and why rich people ruin everything.

folks, we're back to our series on Medieval Land Management with part 5 on forestry. we talk the Medieval obsession with beavers, coppicing, more coppicing, the staggering amount of land dedicated to producing firewood/charcoal in Eurasia, fire maintenance, controlled forest burnings, and an intensive study on forest management in Moravia. enjoy!

folks, we had take a short break from our Medieval Land Management series due to some scheduling complications (don't worry, it will continue next week) and so we did a mailbag instead. we usually do at least one mailbag episode a month to catch up on the mountain of questions we have from patrons. if you want to ask us questions, please subscribe for just $5 a month. this time, we cover everything from cobblestone streets to cadaver synods to the Florentine Vice to Gilles de Rais, Medieval beach trips, performative masculinity maxxing, and more.