Hello and welcome to a special bonus episode of the history of the Germans.

Well, it's not actually the history of the Germans, but the history of Italy, a podcast

by the amazing Mike Karatee. The reason you find this in your feed is because I promised you an episode about Matilda of Tuscany.

When I did my research and thought about how to structure and organize the story of Matilda,

I noticed that it had already been done by Mike.

Listening to him, I realized I would not have done it any different.

In fact, I would have probably done a much worse job of it.

So, I went for the lazy option and asked him whether I could borrow his work.

Not only do I get more time to lounge about the house eating crisps, you get the opportunity to hear

the story of Matilda from a different perspective. And as you listen, you will notice that Mike's take on events occasionally differs from mine.

Now that is most likely down to a straight-out mistake on my part, or maybe down to the

discrepancy in the sources, all of which are biased. Welcome to the Middle Ages.

As for the history of the Germans podcast, normal schedule continues and a regular episode

should drop on Thursday. And in the meantime, enjoy Mike's take on one of the greatest

female figures in medieval European history.

Hello everyone and welcome to a history of Italy.

...Matilda of Tuscany, the Iron Countess of Canossa.

Let's imagine that you wish to visit Italy, northern Italy precisely. Let's also imagine that you're courageous, or crazy enough, to want to rent a car and brave the jungle that is the Italian motorway.

You're driving from Milan southeast towards Bologna because, let's face it, you want to get away from Milan as quickly as you can.

As you make your way down, sticking to the right hand lane in

terror, at a certain point, after going past Parma, you see a sign for a motorway exit,

Terre di Canossa, the lands of Canossa. You go past the exit and then you see a very impressive Santiago Calatrava bridge over the motorway

...