Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is Episode 280, King

Atholstans Love Life. This show is ad-free due to member support and is a way of thanking

members for keeping the show independent. I offer members only content, including extra

episodes and rough transcripts. You can get instant access to all the members extras

by signing up for membership at the British History Podcast.com. For about the price of

a latte per month. And thank you very much to Dina, Andrew, and Prashant for signing up

already. Also thank you to the person who bought me a drink at the pub the other night.

You didn't come over and say hi, but you should have. And that was kind of neat. I suddenly

felt weirdly like a celebrity which never happens to me. So thanks. Alright, I'm with

a show.

What is a king's most important duty? Is it the defense of the realm? Or perhaps the

growth of the kingdom's borders? What about the development of the economy? Or fostering

strong diplomatic alliances? Perhaps it's shepherding the souls of his subjects to Christ?

Or maybe just keeping his subjects happy and healthy?

When it comes down to it, there are a lot of responsibilities that come with the crown.

So it's a bit daunting to choose which one is the most important. But if I had to pick,

and I suppose I do since I was the one who posed the question in the first place, I'd

say that the most important duty of a king in this era was to create an heir and preferably

a few spares. If you're a king and you don't have a legitimate heir, all manner of problems

can arise. I mean, it could even lead to a bunch of French-speaking Vikings declaring

war. So the number one thing that I think a medieval king needed to do was get married

to a suitable lady and then have several sons with her as fast as possible. And so you

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