Hello, I'm Dr. Eleanorianaga, and welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit, the podcast that delves into the greatest millennium in human history.

We uncover the greatest mysteries, the gobsmacking details, and the latest groundbreaking research from the Vikings to the Normans, from kings to popes, to the

crusades. We delve into the rebellions, plots, and murders that tell us who we really were.

And how we got here.

Picture this. It's the autumn of 1066, and William of Normandy's invasion fleet sits trapped in French ports, waiting, watching the skies. Harold Godwinson scouts scan the horizon from English shores, not just counting ships,

but reading the very air itself.

When the wind finally shifts to a perfect southerly breeze, it doesn't just fill

Norman sails.

It will determine the future of England forever.

This is one of those moments where atmospheric pressure becomes political power,

and a gust of wind can crown kings or condemn them to defeat.

Because centuries before weather satellites and storm warnings arrived on the scene, medieval people lived intimately with the wind's moods and

mysteries. Monks in their scriptoria recorded not just saints' feast days, but Wind Days, moments when violent Arctic gusts could

destroy entire harvests.

Islamic physicians in Granada created mathematical tables linking wind direction to the speed of fever

during the Black Death.

Scandinavian sailors traded in magical wind knocks,

believing they could bottle tempests in knotted cords and release them at sea.

In this episode of Gone Medieval, I'm joined by the remarkable Simon Winchester,

the brilliant author of, among many others, the Professor and the Madman,

and Crackatoa. His latest book, The Breath of the Gods, sweeps across five millennia,

to reveal the hidden force that has sculpted civilizations, toppled empires, and decided the fate

...