130: The Writing on the Wall

Fortune's Wheel: A Podcast History of the Late Middle Ages

NOTE: During this Patreon series called The Book of Alexios, please note that there will be overlap in the episodes between the public podcast and the Patreon Supporting Members podcast. This is intended to help facilitate the merging of these two crucial storylines in (what I hope is) a seamless transition. So, this episode will serve as both public Episode 130 as well as Patreon Episode 23 in the series The Book of Alexios.

Emperor Nikephoros III Botanieates is watching his beloved empire continue to collapse all around him. Two major revolts and a breakaway Norman state in his first two years were put down by his trusty young general, Alexios Komnenos, but things didn’t die off; on the contrary, the collapse seemingly sped up. On this episode, Nikephoros III begins to see the writing on the wall. That’s a curious phrase: “the writing on the wall.” We start off with a little history of where we get so many of our modern day phrases. But after that, when I said things sped up for the old emperor, well…we will end this episode at a breakneck speed, let’s just leave it at that.

Patreon Series 4: The Book of Alexios

Background for this series can be found between episodes 104 and 106.

This series fits between public episodes 119 and 131.

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