I thought we already knew this?

>“They… knew what substances they needed to put on the skin — antibacterial, antifungal substances — to keep the skin best possibly preserved without having any microbiological background, without even knowing about bacteria. This enormous knowledge was accumulated over centuries.”

It's hard for the human mind to conceive of just how old ancient Egypt was. Even when the pyramids were being built, Egypt was already thousands of years old. It really was one of the first "civilizations", in the formal sense of the word.

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What do you want to know about Japan?

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I haven't, I'll make a note!

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In fantasy there are many tropes that are probably wrong and I would like some sources on what was real.

Things like

• roadside taverns; afaik a myth
• dealing with crime
• literacy levels
• underground structures
• leather armor

For taverns, I heard that villages are naturally placed apart, iirc about 4 hours walking. (US has longer distances because technological improvements). What was the reality around travel, trade and food?

And for town guards I heard they only existed in larger settlements. How would smaller villages handle security and crime?

How many people knew how to read and write? And at what level? What did they use it for and if they could not read/write well, how did they send/read messages? Was writing mainly used for accounting and science/history?

Perhaps this is just a fantasy thing, but how did we get to the point where dungeons are typically underground mazes? Building underground is always going to be more difficult than building above ground level, or rather ground water level. If people did build underground, was it mainly as a way to store food because we did not have refrigerators back then?

I always thought leather wasn't used as armor as it was very expensive to make versus fabric, but at some point we switched from the gambeson to "buff coats". Why was this? At least that's for European history ofc. For other regions they did use leather as I assume the quality or supply of iron ore was not enough to produce weapons of such a grade that required similar high grade armor.

These are the subjects I can think of rn, but if anyone has other subjects I'm eager to hear about them :)

TLDR; What (Medieval) Fantasy tropes are true/false and how does it relate to our own world's history?

Thank you so much. I recently switched jobs, so I can't podcast all day and I lost track of Dan's shows. He's the absolute best and it isn't even close.

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Paul Corner has a new book on Mussolini that came out at the end of December that might be worth checking out. He has a lot of work on the topic in general, although a chunk of it is in Italian. But you might want to check his stuff out. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/969911.Paul_Corner

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Also perhaps to narrow it down, I’m very much interested in the medieval time period (think around the time of Ferdinand the Great and the splitting up of his kingdom , El Cid, etc) and the region of Leon, Asturias, and Castile. But larger survey of Spanish/Iberian history and/or the colonial/exploration age would also be interesting.

Check out Cochrane, by David Cordingly. It follows the life of Thomas Cochrane, one of the most famous ship captains of the Napoleonic era.

“The Republic of Pirates” by Colin Woodward

Could check out The Pirate Queen, by Susan Ronald. It's about the court of Elizabeth and the "adventurers" that she surrounded herself with. To the French and Spanish, they were Pirates, but to the English they were "privateers" or gentleman adventurers.

Edit: saw you're also looking for stuff on after the Elizabethan era.

Empire of Blue Water, by Stephan Talty. is a great biography of Henry Morgan. Technically he was a Privateer, and he would have been pissed if you called him a Pirate. But for everyone but the English, he was The Pirate.

Under the Black Flag, by David Cordingly is a great overview of piracy up to and through the Golden Age of piracy. Dispells some of the myths, and tells the real stories behind some of the most famous Pirates.

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Read Enemy At The Gates by Andreas wheatcroft recently. Strong recommend from me

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Did you read Erik Larson's Thunderstruck? It's just after the Victorian era but he combines a murder case with the development of the radio. It was really interesting. You learn about both the culture of the era and the technology of radio and pharmacies at the same time.

Started and gave up Betrayal in Berlin: George Blake, the Berlin Tunnel and the Greatest Conspiracy of the Cold War by Steve Vogel. About a British and American plot in 1950s Berlin to dig a large tunnel and tap into Soviet communication wires and how it was stopped by a communist spy/traitor. It was clearly well researched and very detailed, with a strong opening of Blake's time as a Korean prisoner of war. But it started to drag with all the biographical details of everyone involved and I just wasn't enjoying it enough to read nearly 500 pages or so. Not a bad history book but not for me.

I did start and quickly finish Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston

>4.5/5 despite the topic (corrupt businessmen) not being one I normally read I enjoyed it enough (read it in 2 days) that I am rounding up for Goodreads. Very good at describing Maxwell's rise to prominence, corruption, weirdness (bullying, gluttony, childishness etc) and eventual downfall. Quite a bit on his rivalry with Murdoch. While the topic of spying does come up from time to time it is not mentioned in any large amount of detail. It's the first book I've read about Maxwell and I thought it was great, but I have nothing to compare it to. In terms of Maxwell's death the author mostly rules out murder and puts it as sort of 50/50 accident vs suicide. The book mostly ends with Maxwell's death and the scandal of the pension theft being revealed. There is a brief aftermath for the various family and people involved, but almost nothing on Ghislaine as the book came out in 2020 before she was found guilty in 2021. The book is a bit broader in detail and scope rather than as in-depth as the author's A Very English Scandal about the 1970s Thorpe scandal.

Next up is Cry Havoc: The Arms Race and the Second World War 1931-1941 by Joe Maiolo which was suggested to me a while back on one of these weekly threads. Based on about 40 pages/2 chapters it does seem good so far. Has quite a bit on economic issues like domestic spending vs military spending and free market vs state planning (the first chapter is about the Soviets and the First Five Year Plan). Also has so far quite a bit about the internal factions and disputes over planning and spending like the Japanese civilian government vs the army vs the navy in the early 30s (the second chapter).

Reading 'Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court: Formal and Informal Politics in the Caliphate of al-Muqtadir'

Really enjoying it, would love some recommendations on anything to do with the Abbasid Caliphate and the era surrounding it.

Woodsmoke and Sage:The five senses 1485-1603:How the Tudors experienced the world, by Amy Licence. What everyone in Tudor saw,smelled, tasted,etc. Fascinating descriptions of what you would've experienced day to day in early modern England. A nice break from Royal biographies.

The Book of the City of Ladies, by Christine de Pizan. Published in 1405, it is a response to a male writer's tirade against women. Powerful stuff. Christine was one of the first (if not the first ) professional female writers of the Middle Ages. This book was one of the first salvos of the roughly 300 year long "Quarelle des Femmes. " A call and response debate that questioned women's roles as wife, mother, warrior, and leader. Highly recommended!