Ruthless.

Modern Medieval: A NWMSN Postgraduate Podcast

In honour of the historic presidential election victory in the United States with the people choosing President-Elect Joe Biden & VP Kamala Harris, toppling the megalomaniacal Trump Administration, we have decided to discuss some of the most notorious and ruthless rulers throughout history. From Caligula to Queen Ranavalona, we trace the rivers of blood, stories of insanity, and wicked doings that eerily seem to ripple and repeat throughout history. So buckle up - it's time to get Modern Medieval!

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This week's icon is: Woodcut from the title page of a 1499 pamphlet published by Markus Ayrer in Nuremberg. It depicts Vlad III "the Impaler" (identified as Dracole wyade = Draculea voivode) dining among the impaled corpses of his victims. Original caption:

Hie facht sich an ein graussemliche erschrockenliche hystorien von dem wilden wütrich Dracole wayde. Wie er die leut gespist hat, und gepraten, und mit den haubtern in in einem kessel gesoten, und wie er die leut geschunden hat und zerhacken lassen als ein kraut. Item er hat auch den mütern ire kind gepraten und sy haben müssen selber essen. Und vil andere erschrockenliche ding die in dissem Tractat geschriben stend. Und in welchem land er geregiret hat.

[Here a horrible horrific hystories of the wild, maddened Dracole Wayde is fueled. How he fed and patted the people and boiled them in a cauldron, and how he tortured the people and let them chop up as a herb. Item he also advised the mothers ire child and sy had to eat themselves. And vil other terrifying things that are written in this treatise. And in which country he regiret.]

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(Translation via Google Translate; Image info source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Impaled.gif)