I listened to the episode on Charlemagne, and wow—it was terrible! The hosts seem to think history is just a playground for their modern opinions. They impose today’s moral framework onto 8th-century people and events, which is like trying to explain TikTok trends to Charlemagne himself. Not only would he not care, but he’d also probably see them as aliens.
The problem is that this approach kills any chance of actually understanding the historical context. For example, they judge Charlemagne’s actions as if he were some Saturday morning cartoon villain, while the Saxons are painted as innocent victims. The irony? The very Christian sentiment they’re using to frown at Charlemagne’s conquests is part of the legacy he shaped!
Here’s the missing piece: Charlemagne’s moves were seismic for Christendom. At the time, Christianity had already flipped the Roman Empire from pagan brutality to a religion that saw every person with human dignity. A drastic move of literally historical proportions. Christianity’s subculture did this all without war. The Roman Empire had become deeply Christian; to be Roman eventually merged with being Christian, but they never were the same. The East (Byzantium) was the spiritual heartbeat, with Constantinople at its center. But along comes brutal Islam, shaking the foundations of Christendom, while Rome is also under attack. Charlemagne doesn’t just expand territory—he seduces Christendom into a Western fracture that fundamentally changes its course. The stress points were there, but Charlemagne burst through. Charlemagne wanted to conquer for the Francs, he used Christendom to further his purposes. He caused an immense fracture. That fracture eventually births the modern West, including the moral framework these podcasters are wielding like a gavel. Leo’s coronation of Charlemagne was a massive break in how traditional Christianity ever operated. The West morphed it. This pattern has replicated in the West dozens of times since.
Also, let’s not pretend other cultures escaped brutal histories. Iran, North Korea, and China still operate under oppressive systems that echo the ancient world. Charlemagne was no saint, but the world he lived in wasn’t exactly filled with tea parties and kumbayas either. The Lombards and Saxons weren’t looking to sign peace treaties and institute the rights of man. Why? Because those developed from Christendom! And though Charlemagne was brutal, he was much more gracious than anyone in the world at the time! The hosts skip over the fact that it would’ve been unheard of in the world to send political enemies to a monastery. Anyone else would have surely had them killed. The idea of mercy and forgiveness in Christianity is so powerful that even in the fractured West with a pagan king - he still honored its powerful, counter-cultural traditions. The Saxons chuckled at such “grace.”
So, to the hosts: I wish you well, but maybe take a step back and try digging into actual context instead of judging history like armchair time travelers.
