Crusades history through Byzantium’s long shadow.
Byzantium And The Crusades is a narrative medieval history show centered on the Crusades and Byzantium’s long decline. Its episodes move through military campaigns, imperial politics, religious ambition, trade, siege warfare, and the rise of Ottoman power.
PRESS PLAY
Byzantium And The Crusades is a narrative history show about the Crusades, Byzantium, and the powers that reshaped the eastern Mediterranean. Its center of gravity is not only Jerusalem or Western crusading enthusiasm. It keeps returning to Byzantium. The episodes connect the weakening Byzantine Empire with the rise of the Ottoman Turks, the pressure of the Mamluks, the ambitions of the Mongols, and the fading practical power of crusading after the loss of the Holy Land. The storytelling is chronological and explanatory. It likes causes, consequences, and geography. Constantinople is described as a defensive position before it becomes a battlefield, and political choices are set beside walls, fleets, cavalry, tribute, and siege engines. The show also has a clear appetite for military detail. Naval combat in the Golden Horn, Janissary assaults, exhausted defenders, Crusader attacks, and failed alliances are rendered with enough specificity to give the history momentum. It does not treat the Crusades as a single burst of religious energy. It follows what happened after that energy changed, weakened, or moved into new forms. Episodes on Mongols and Mamluks show the remaining Crusader states caught between larger powers. Episodes on the last Crusades show old crusading habits meeting a world that no longer worked the same way. Episodes on Constantinople bring the long Byzantine story toward catastrophe. The register is direct and teacherly, with occasional judgments but a strong preference for explaining how one event led to another. It suits listeners who want medieval history as a long strategic story rather than a collection of isolated battles. The show’s distinction is its eastern frame: crusading history is constantly measured against Byzantium’s survival, vulnerability, and eventual fall.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants medieval history with battles, politics, geography, and imperial decline kept in the same frame. Best for someone interested in Byzantium, Constantinople, Ottoman expansion, and the later fate of crusading.
What sets it apart: The show sets Crusades history beside Byzantium’s collapse rather than treating it as a stand-alone Western European saga. Its strength is the connective tissue between Crusader states, Mamluks, Mongols, Ottoman power, and Constantinople.
Ever wondered what the Crusades were and why they really happened? This podcast not only tells the full history of the Crusades, it also links them with the forgotten story of the fall of Byzantium. Listen to one of the most amazing tales ever told! Nick Holmes is a British historian, author and podcaster - check out his website at www.nickholmesauthor.com.
At Constantinople's walls, even the sultan rides into the shallows; you'll want the map and another episode.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A taut account of Constantinople's final assault, where discipline and exhaustion meet at the walls.
The final Ottoman assault on Constantinople is framed through a tense clash of judgment: Mehmed II's hesitation, Halil's caution, and Zaganos Pasha's push for one more attack.
A tense Constantinople episode where geography, pressure, and improvisation keep reshaping the fight for the Golden Horn.
Episode 9 first treats the Golden Horn as a geographical puzzle, then lets it become a battle. Constantinople's triangular peninsula, its walls, and Mehmed II's bombardment explain why the defenders held such a strong position, before the focus moves to the harbor, where Genoese…
Medieval power, read with institutional gravity.
European conflict with context and consequence.
Medieval Iceland, read closely and argued warmly.
Medieval Iberia, one consequence at a time.
Medieval history, criminally examined.
Empires, sieges, and final stands.
Byzantium and the Crusades episode 13, "The Final Battle," follows Mehmed II's last assault on Constantinople after seven weeks of siege.
Nick Holmes explains how Mehmed II sought to bypass the Byzantine chain blocking the Golden Horn after Turkish ships failed to defeat four Christian vessels on April 20, 1453.
At Ankara in 1402, Timur's elephant corps helped break Bayezid's army and capture the Ottoman sultan.
The episode follows the 1396 Battle of Nicopolis, where King Sigismund's defensive advice gave way to an impulsive crusader attack.
The Alexandrian Crusade follows Peter I of Cyprus’s 1365 expedition against Alexandria after the fall of Outremer in 1291.
This episode discusses the complacency of Crusaders in the late 13th century leading to the end of the Crusader states in the Holy Land.
This episode discusses the late 13th-century decline of Crusader states and the Mongol-Mamluk conflict, focusing on Mongol attempts to ally with Crusaders.
This episode recounts the fall of Antioch during the Mamluk-Mongol conflicts, focusing on Baibars' brutal campaign against the Crusader states.
This episode recounts the Mamluk victory at Ain Jalud and the political dynamics between Crusaders, Mongols, and Mamluks after the Mongol sack of Baghdad.
This episode covers the Mongol sack of Baghdad in 1258 and the Crusaders' mixed reactions to the Mongol threat, leading to the rise of the Mamluks.
This episode recounts the Mongol invasion of the Middle East and the Sack of Baghdad, linking it to the Crusades and the fall of Byzantium.
This episode discusses the fall of Jerusalem after Frederick II's bloodless crusade and the vulnerable state of the Crusader kingdoms.
This episode explores the strange Children's Crusade of 1212 and the political situation in the Holy Land after the Fourth Crusade.