SPECIAL: King's Day 2019 Live Extravaganza!

05/06/19 • 49 min

History of the Netherlands

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06 - Ploughin’ Forward

The last few episodes have focused heavily on the “Game of Thrones” layer of history; that’s to say, nobles killing each other. As exciting as it's been, only a tiny minority of people who lived around the end of the first millennium of the Common Era would have been directly concerned with those kinds of conflicts. For most people in the lowlands, it didn’t matter who their count or duke or emperor was. For them, life was nasty, brutish and short, and involved an overwhelming amount of backbreaking manual labour. But an agricultural revolution was about to change life for these peasants forever. So let’s keep ploughin’ forward with the History of the Netherlands.

Show notes: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-6-ploughin-forward

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07 - Getting Down in Town

Freed from the need to be working the land due to the improvements in agriculture discussed in episode 6, people in the low countries began congregating in urban centres. They developed new skills and began manufacturing goods. Artisans like smiths, woodworkers, weavers, embroiderers and textile workers suddenly possessed talents with great economic value. Now, for the first time, members of the common class were able to put their fingers onto the scales of power, and begin to balance it back in their favour by making city charters. But the creation of a new body politic in the 11th century would not be without its adversaries, nor without its consequences.

Show notes: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/historyofthenetherlands/episode-7-getting-down-in-town

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