Close Combat (S2: E2)

Thugs and Miracles: A History of France

Sep 20 2020 • 32 mins

Before we get going too far, I want to lead with two pieces of information. First, the podcast I mentioned on the show (and have mentioned on several shows previously) is Written In Blood History by Stephen DiJulius; you can find his show at https://writteninbloodhistory.com/ and you can find Stephen on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SDijulius/. The second note I have is that T+M is now available on Amazon Podcasts! Anyone looking to enjoy their podcasts on their Alexa device can now simply as her to play the Thugs and Miracles podcast and - just like the Princess Bride - it will be just as you wish. Check out their site and the show at https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3ad5382f-5947-40f3-9567-41d7fd891a87/Thugs-and-Miracles. We've got over 30 episodes up, so if you're new to T+M there's plenty to catch up on!

For this week, we're taking a look at the issues associated with monarchical succession, which sounds kind of dry at first glance, but is actually a gold mine of interesting topics when you dig a little deeper. When should a king admit that his territory is big enough and carve off some of it for the next generation? Is it smart to give a young potential competitor a head start? Is staying in power until death, then handing an entire government off to the next person, really the most effective way to administer a kingdom? And what do you do if you do decide to split the Kingdom, and then your knucklehead son nearly gets himself killed when he picks a fight with a lesser group - and loses? All of these were questions that confronted Merovingian Kings, and in particular, Chlothar II. And they were questions that led to that same King essentially going, Jon Snow-like, into battle against an army by himself - and somehow winning.

There are times where, if it weren't history, you'd swear the stories were being made up; this week is definitely one of them! Join us as we explore Chlothar II, Dagobert, and the invention of plot armor, in Episode Two, Season Two, of Thugs and Miracles!

Links to social media and the website:

Sites: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/

https://historypods.com/

Email: thugsandmiracles@gmail.com

Twitter at @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end)

Facebook and Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

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