After wrapping up Brownsworth's "12 Byzantine
Rulers" I jumped into his "
Norman Centuries" series, another set of
podcasts that act as an abridged version of one of his books. I had
become familiar with the Normans while reading up on William the
Conqueror, but having a soft spot for Harold I didn't follow up on their
history post Conquest. I was really surprised by their arrival in Italy
a few decades later and the numerous wars they got involved in as
mercenaries and conquerors. The rag tag collection of Normans,
Italians, Greeks and Muslims squabbling over Italy and getting into open
conflict with the Pope(!) was fascinating.
I really dig armies with
diverse troop types and the Normans seem to touch everything from the
end of the dark ages, to the Byzantine Emire to the beginning of the
Crusades. I'm looking forward to reading up more on the Normans in Italy
with an eye to getting some of these weird mixes of troops and ethnicities on the table. I'm already toying with the idea of a Norman SAGA warband, and fleshing it out into a full Norman army for Hail Caesar.
Also, it looks like he's allowed the podcast to be included in a straight up iPhone app from the iTunes store. If you wanted to purchase the podcasts instead of downloading them for free.
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