Public evidence record
Published podcast speaker
Claim ledger
8 transcript-backed records
01 / evaluation
“They have a very important pragmatic interest in obeying the king because the king is the keystone of the hierarchy within which they are powerful and wealthy.”
02 / evaluation
“I have to say I’m no literary scholar, but the development of English as a language spoken across all classes of society really flexibly — because before the 14th century, of course, we go back to the Conquest, and we have a Norman French-speaking elite coming into an English-speaking country, and French and Latin — the lingua franca of medieval Europe — remain the languages of government until, if you like, the elite has bedded in sufficiently, and one of the things that helps the elite to bed in sufficiently is the war with France.”
03 / evaluation
“Because it was a parliament called by Richard, but he stands up in the assembly of the representatives of the realm and claims the throne through a complicated and slightly fudged series of assertions because he isn’t straightforwardly the legitimate male heir — Richard doesn’t have a straightforward heir.”
04 / evaluation
“[laughs] That’s not a bad analogy, actually, and science fiction is something I think about quite a lot when trying to understand medieval England. It is a stupid mistake but not one that Richard, I think, could have recognized because his whole approach to governing England was a stupid mistake.”
05 / evaluation
“I think that’s why I love the Middle Ages, because I’ve always felt, in looking at modern history, that I get bamboozled by structures, by the institutions through which power is expressed and mediated.”
06 / evaluation
“I’ve just seen Jonathan Bailey at The Bridge — completely different, equally fascinating. But I think I’ve realized, in the process of writing this book and then talking about writing it, that perhaps I’m not a very good theater-goer because I love reading the plays on the page.”
07 / evaluation
“I think people might be surprised at quite how much government could do in England at this point in history because England, at this point, was the most centralized state in Europe, and that has two reasons.”
08 / evaluation
“I think kings who had to deal with their subjects in terms of the needs of defense, including aggressive defense, also understood that they needed to deal with their subjects in terms of effective government at home, the imposition of law, and the provision of justice.”