The Fall of the Carolingian Empire: Interview with Dr. David Perry

Tides of History

Wondery / Patrick Wyman

Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2024

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Much of what we take for granted about the European Middle Ages was a product of the Carolingian dynasty, particularly its most notable member, Charlemagne. But before long, the empire Charlemagne built splintered, thanks to the ambitions of his grandsons. Dr. David Perry is co-author, along with Professor Matthew Gabriele, of the new book Oathbreakers, which is a wonderful and informative look at how the Carolingian world fell apart.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Tides of History early and ad-free right now.
0:04.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:14.3	Hi, everybody.
0:19.2	From Wondery, welcome to another episode of Tides of History. I'm Patrick Wyman. Thanks so much for joining me today. The Middle Ages lasted for a really, really long time, a thousand years, give or take. Events at their beginning are more distant from those that they're in than we are from the close of the medieval period. They're further away from one another than Alexander the Great was from the Bronze Age collapse. That's plenty long enough for the general public
0:41.4	to skip over some of the truly crucial people and events of that era. The Carolingians are
0:47.2	at the heart of the European Middle Ages. While the name of Charlemagne certainly hasn't been
0:51.5	forgotten, it's certainly not as well known as that of Richard the Lionheart or Henry V and some other historical figures who, frankly, mattered far less.
0:59.8	That's despite the massive empire Charlemagne built, the transformative reform program that piggybacked off his political success, and the intellectual and religious ferment we call the Carolingian Renaissance.
1:10.4	In short, without Charlemagne,
1:11.9	the Middle Ages would barely be recognizable. On top of that, the doings of Charlemagne's sons,
1:17.1	grandsons, and descendants are even less familiar than those of Charlemagne himself. That is
1:21.6	absolutely not because there's nothing to say. Today's guest is going to tell us all about
1:26.0	the Carolingians and the truly epic story of their downfall.
1:29.9	Dr. David M. Perry is a historian of the Middle Ages, a journalist, and co-author, along with
1:34.4	Professor Matthew Gabriel, of the new book, Oathbreakers, The War of Brothers that shattered an
1:39.2	empire and made medieval Europe. I really enjoyed reading it, and I highly recommend it to you all.
1:45.3	Dr. Perry and Professor Gabriel also co-authored The Bright Ages, A New History of Medieval Europe, which I also
1:49.5	really enjoyed, and they jointly write the newsletter Modern Medieval on Button Down.
1:53.9	Dr. Perry, thank you so much for talking with me today. Patrick, it's just great to be here.
1:58.7	So, without going into exhaustive detail, who were the Carolingians and how did they build an empire?
2:05.3	So the Carolingians are the second major Frankish dynasty.
2:08.7	So I guess we got to, again, without exhaustive detail, jump back a little bit to the Franks, right?
	...

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