Welcome to the British History Podcast.

My name is Jamie.

Okay, let's leave Britain for this episode and head to Rome.

Oh, Rome.

I hear it's nice this time of year.

Actually, I hear it's really hot this time of year, but it seems like everywhere is really

hot right now, so Rome it is.

So it's 595CE, and Beade tells us that Pope Gregory I decided to visit a nearby slave

market.

Why?

Well, we're not entirely sure.

Maybe it was a slow day at the Vatican, and this was before the internet, so what else

are you going to do for fun?

Whatever the reason, apparently the Pope decided to go peruse the wares, so to speak.

And we're told that he came upon a group of pale-skinned, fair-haired slave boys.

And apparently they caught his eye.

When Gregory inquired about them, he was told they were angles.

It's reported that he responded to this by saying non-angly, said, and jelly.

In English, that means, not angles, but angels.

I like to imagine that he turned to a nearby acolyte and immediately high-fived him.

Anyway, we're told that he then asked more specifically where the boys were from, and

he was told that they were pagans from D'Ara, to which Gregory added that they should

...