In this episode of This, Again, we look at three familiar figures from late medieval and early modern Europe and ask a different kind of historical question. Not whether they were heroes or villains. But how their stories came to be told the way they were. We start with Christopher Columbus, whose brutality was documented while he was alive and whose authority collapsed long before he became a national symbol. His later transformation into a heroic origin story tells us less about new discoveries and more about what later generations needed him to represent. From there, we step back to Spain in the late 1400s, where Ferdinand and Isabella unified the crown through religious purity, expulsion, and surveillance. By tracing royal decrees alongside firsthand accounts, we can hear the story being shaped in real time, with moral justification first and consequences handled quietly afterward. Finally, we look at Henry V of England, a king whose short reign and timely death helped solidify one of England’s most enduring legends. Victories like Agincourt were interpreted as divine approval, while moments that complicated the image were absorbed and sidelined. Over time, Henry became less a man and more a standard against which later instability was measured. Taken together, these stories show how historical narratives harden not because evidence disappears, but because meaning gets organized around what feels necessary, stabilizing, or reassuring in a given moment. Attribution Notes: Every effort was made to cross-check primary sources and modern research. Where paraphrasing is used, it’s drawn from the texts below with narrative license for clarity and flow. If you spot an error or have a source to suggest, DM @thisagainshow Follow This, Again on Instagram: @thisagainshow This, Again is written, produced, and hosted by Mallory Faust. Primary and Contemporary Sources Columbus, Christopher. The Diario of Christopher Columbus’s First Voyage to America, 1492–1493. Edited by Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley Jr. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. https://www.oupress.com/9780806123849/the-diario-of-christopher-columbuss-first-voyage-to-america-1492-1493/ Columbus, Christopher. Select Letters of Christopher Columbus, with Other Original Documents Relating to His Four Voyages to the New World. Translated and edited by R. H. Major. London: Hakluyt Society, 1847. Select letters of Christopher Columbus : with other original documents, relating to his four voyages to the New World : Columbus, Christopher : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Las Casas, Bartolomé de. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Translated by Nigel Griffin. London: Penguin Classics, 1992. A short account of the destruction of the Indies : Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1484-1566 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Henry V and the Hundred Years’ War Allmand, Christopher. Henry V. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520070371/henry-v Curry, Anne. Agincourt: A New History. Stroud: Tempus Publishing, 2005. Agincourt : a new history : Curry, Anne : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Curry, Anne. Henry V: From Playboy Prince to Warrior King. London: Yale University Press, 2015. Henry V : playboy prince to warrior king : Curry, Anne : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Prestwich, Michael. Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996. Armies and warfare in the Middle Ages : the English experience : Prestwich, Michael : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Spain, the Reconquista, and the Inquisition Kamen, Henry. The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. The Spanish Inquisition : a historical revision : Kamen, Henry : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Kamen, Henry. Spain 1469–1714: A Society of Conflict. London: Routledge, 2005. SPAIN, 1469-1714: A SOCIETY OF CONFLICT. : Henry Kamen : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Netanyahu, Benzion. The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain. New York: Random House, 1995. The origins of the Inquisition in fifteenth century Spain : Netanyahu, B. (Benzion), 1910- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive The Black Legend and Historical Memory Gibson, Charles. The Black Legend: Anti-Spanish Attitudes in the Old World and the New. New York: Knopf, 1971. The black legend : Charles Gibson : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Pagden, Anthony. Lords of All the World: Ideologies of Empire in Spain, Britain and France c.1500–c.1800. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995. Lords of all the world : ideologies of empire in Spain, Britain and France c. 1500-c. 1800 : Pagden, Anthony : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Columbus, Mythmaking, and National Memory Irving, Washington. A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. New York: G. and C. Carvill, 1828. https://archive.org/details/historylifeandv00irvigoog Prescott, William H. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic. London: Richard Bentley, 1838. History of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic, of Spain : Prescott, William Hickling, 1796-1859 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: The New Press, 2018. Lies my teacher told me : everything your American history textbook got wrong : Loewen, James W : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
