The Normans raid the cities of Greece during the passage of the Second Crusade. Manuel sees this as such a worrying development that he makes the decision to prioritise the recovery of Apulia over Antioch. This sets off a series of conflicts in the Balkans and a series of missed opportunities in Syria.
Period: 1147-1152
Stream: Changing Priorities
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RSS Feed: The History of Byzantium
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The History of Byzantium 
Another great episode.
I enjoy it when you and your fellow history podcasters allow fellow podcasters a minute to introduce and promote their podcast. From these brief promos, I have discovered podcasts that I now listen to (or on my list for the future). But…
This episode contained a shout out to the History of North America podcast. Aside from the 30 or so history podcasts that I listen to, I’ve tried dozens of history podcasts that, after anywhere from five minutes to dozens of episodes, I have given up on. I have never written anything negative about these mediocre podcasts, as I understand that the podcasters are trying their best. But the History of North America podcast, which I tried one or two years ago, is beyond lousy. Its explicit commercial style allows me to include my thoughts without guilt. I think the podcaster has written novels or published other books, and the podcast is an effort to promote those books. The episodes of this “history” podcast–which are about 10 minutes in length–start with a few minutes of self-promotion, followed by five minutes of content-free narrative, and then summed up by more self-promotion. Meanwhile, the episodes are accompanied by dramatic–almost Indiana Jones style–music that tries to convince the listener that they are actually hearing something worthwhile. No content, lots of drama! The words insipid and vapid come to mind. I was hoping to get an up-to-date summary of the peopling of the Americas, so I listened to the first 15 or so of these ridiculously short, content-free episodes. Almost every episode included a comment about “as we march toward the voyages of Columbus” (I’m paraphrasing). To which, I would mockingly imagine the ancient Maya or peoples of the Great Plains before European contact remarking to one another, “Gee, just another 500 years until the Europeans discover us.”