Western Civ

Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia schemes to make his son Cesare the unrivaled master of Italy. Forming an alliance (and then unforming it before forming it again) with the French King Louis XII, Pope...

18 Mar 202244min

Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, had plans for his son Cesare. Big plans. Like, Roman Empire-sized plans. No joke on that one. In this episode, Cesare Borgia sets his sights on Romagna with the inte...

11 Mar 202254min

While Pope Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia, could have created a mystique in his own right, we know the Borgia family just as much for the children as the father. Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia would have ma...

4 Mar 202237min

Just like the last bonus episode I released, this is another episode off of my Patron's feed that I thought, in light of current events, was worth sharing with the larger audience.  The history of Ukr...

1 Mar 20222h 15min

In light of current events, I decided to release an interview I completed last year with Professor Serhii Plohky discussing his book: The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine. We talk about the early...

27 Feb 20221h

Last time, Rodrigo Borgia climbed the ladder up the Papal Curia. In this episode, he outmaneuvers his opponents and manages to secure the unthinkable: the throne of St. Peter. Borgia takes the name Al...

25 Feb 202247min

Decided to have fun with this one. Rather than do the same old author interview, I sit down with author Scott Rank and conduct my first ever Presidential Draft. We take turns each of us drafting a Uni...

21 Feb 20221h 4min

The Borgias is a name infamous for treachery, naked ambition, and depravity. But how did a relatively unknown Cardinal from Spain manage to will his way to becoming Pope Alexander VI? Today, we begin ...

18 Feb 202233min