Helen Castor on Medieval Power and Personalities | Conversations with Tyler скачать в хорошем качестве

Helen Castor on Medieval Power and Personalities | Conversations with Tyler

Helen Castor is a British historian and BBC broadcaster who left Cambridge because she wanted to write narrative history focused on individuals rather than the analytical style typical of academia. As someone interested in individual psychology and the functioning of power, Castor finds medieval England offers the perfect setting because its sophisticated power structures exist in “bare bones” without the “great apparatus of state,” bringing individual power plays into sharper relief. Her latest book, The Eagle and the Hart, exemplifies this approach by examining Richard II and Henry IV as individuals whose personal choices became constitutional precedents that echo through English history. Tyler and Helen explore what English government could and couldn't do in the 14th century, why landed nobles obeyed the king, why parliament chose to fund wars with France, whether England could have won the Hundred Years' War, the constitutional precedents set by Henry IV's deposition of Richard II, how Shakespeare's Richard II scandalized Elizabethan audiences, Richard's superb artistic taste versus Henry's lack, why Chaucer suddenly becomes possible in this period, whether Richard II's fatal trip to Ireland was like Captain Kirk beaming down to a hostile planet, how historians continue to discover new evidence about the period, how Shakespeare’s Henriad influences our historical understanding, Castor’s most successful work habits, what she finds fascinating about Asimov's I, Robot, the subject of her next book, and more. Recorded April 2nd, 2025 Transcript and links: https://conversationswithtyler.com/ep... Stay connected: Follow us on X, IG, and Facebook: @cowenconvos   / cowenconvos     / cowenconvos     / cowenconvos   Join us on Discord:   / discord   https://conversationswithtyler.com https://mercatus.org Photo Credit: Stuart Simpson Timestamps 00:00:00 - On medieval power and personalities 00:02:58 - On what medieval governments cannot do 00:11:20 - On Hundred Years’ War counterfactuals 00:15:56 - On the constitutional precedents set by Henry IV 00:21:57 - On the artistic works from (or inspired by) the period 00:35:09 - On whether Richard II pulled a Captain Kirk 00:40:17 - On the original historical sources of the period 00:49:35 - On how Shakespeare influences our understanding of history 00:54:46 - On what motivates Castor’s scholarship