History: darkness and light

About History: darkness and light

This podcast investigates episodes in history that highlight the worst and best of the human condition. History can tell us about past ideas and events, and in doing so it tells us something about the universal. When we hear voices from the past, that say what they experienced and how they understood what was happening, we also often get a sense of their character and personality. In the last three thousand years or so human beings haven’t evolved one bit. This means that as true as the old refrain of Leslie Hartley, that ‘the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there’ may be, the people you meet there usually have the same recognizable personalities and foibles we see in our friends, family, neighbours and acquaintances. Listen, learn and enjoy telling episodes, both evil and good, drawn from the richness of human history. (This podcast's artwork is based on a photo by Syed Hasan Mehdi from Pexels.com)

Publisher

Matthew Frank Stevens

Category

history

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Feb 2021

Latest episode

29 May 2022

Latest episodes

4 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 May 2022

   Episode 4: History repeating tself - state intolerance, the English protestant Reformation and the COVID-19 response

   This episode compares past and present, exploring state sponsored intolerance and persecution from English protestant Reformation of the 1530s to The Toleration Act of 1688–89, and from the start of the the global COVID-19 pandemic to May 2022. It explores parallels between intolerance towards non-Anglicans in Early Modern England and intolerance towards ‘the unvaccinated’ during the COVID-19 pandemic. Music, in order of first play, is as follows: Katy Kirby, All of Everything...

2. 

   11 Jun 2021

   Episode 3: The power of pierniki (Toruń gingerbread)

   This episode tells the story of the city of Toruń, Poland, through the lense of its spicy gingerbread, or pierniki, from 1233 to 2021. Toruń gingerbread were at-first made with a top-secret recipe, and once prised by kings for their taste and by ordinary folk for their perceived medicinal powers. As time went on, they became a contested cultural treasure fought over by German and Polish governments through two world wars and beyond. This is the story of a border town, through centuries ...

3. 

   4 Mar 2021

   Episode 2: What care we for these barefooted rascals? - medieval colonization and race law

   This episode uses a 1327 petition to the English king from Welshman Adda ap Einion and his English wife Agnes as a jumping-off point to tell the story of the system of anti-Welsh race law that was created when England colonized Wales. This system of legal discrimination would last 469 years, from 1067 until its abolition by Henry VIII in 1536. For more on this topic, see the recent article by Teresa Phipps and Matthew Stevens, ‘ Towards a characterization of Race law in Medieval Wales...

4. 

   14 Feb 2021

   Episode 1: The Mole-Catcher's Tale - black magic, conspiracy and justice in medieval England

   History: Darkness and Light shares interesting stories from our past that tell us something about the best, and the worst, of the human condition. This episode reads and discusses the remarkable testimony given by mole catcher Robert Goodgroom in 1440, as he attempted to avoid hanging for theft by offering state's evidence against a group of men he accused of witchcraft, poisoning and treason against king Henry VI of England. It is a personal account full of fascinating detail connectin...

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.0 / 5

2 ratings

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Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.