Thugs and Miracles
Podcast Review
Thugs and Miracles recounts, in loving detail, the passage through the early Middle Ages of the country that would, in the fullness of time, become France. It begins with the tale of the mythical Merovech, devotes 50 episodes to those who claimed descent from him, and concludes with the reign Charlemagne. (“Concludes,” alas, is not the right word. The last sign of life of this podcast was the publication, in March of 2022, of an episode on the subject of Charlemagne’s adventures in Spain.)
The style of presentation of Thugs and Miracles resembles that of Mike Duncan’s classic History of Rome, with a touch (but not too much) of Dan Carlin thrown in. When combined with first-class production values, this approach makes the show pleasant to the ears. The content is solid, and will do much to cure listeners of old prejudices concerning the “Dark Age Europe.”
As the homepage and Twitter account of Thugs and Miracles have disappeared, there is a good chance that episodes of the program will become increasingly hard to find. I therefore recommend that readers who think that they might be interested in Thugs and Miracles download the 59 episodes of the program at the earliest opportunity. (As of 1 August 2023, the full set of episodes could be found on I-Tunes and YouTube.)
Radio PME History has awarded four hedgehogs (its highest accolade for excellence in single-subject podcasting) to Thugs and Miracles. It has also giving the podcast a place of honor on its page of links to audio programs related Charlemagne.