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Transcript

The Three Reigns of Queen Brunhilda · Beheaded

0:04
SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Beheaded.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to season three, episode seven.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm Megan Moore.
0:09
SPEAKER_02: And I'm Elizabeth Black.
0:11
SPEAKER_02: Dry January lasted three weeks.
0:14
SPEAKER_02: That still counts.
0:15
SPEAKER_02: That's the majority of the month.
0:18
SPEAKER_02: So congratulations.
0:20
SPEAKER_02: I broke my streak.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: I was really excited about it though, because I well, okay.
0:25
SPEAKER_02: To be fair, last episode I did not drink because I was taking an antibiotic, not COVID-related, if you're wondering.
0:31
SPEAKER_02: They have antibiotics for COVID.
0:33
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but I get weird questions, so I just want to clear the air.
0:37
SPEAKER_02: But the last episode was like the first time we've both been like sober.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: And I think we did good.
0:42
SPEAKER_02: The first time.
0:42
SPEAKER_02: God, that's embarrassing.
0:44
SPEAKER_02: Not like ever, but like doing an episode.
0:47
SPEAKER_02: And then this week, Megan texted me and she's like, Oh, I got snacks and I have wine.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Oh, oh, the wine.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: She's like, Yeah, you know, I um cheating a little bit, but it's fine.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: It's been 25 days.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: That's very good.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: We took our time tonight, like getting even started.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Because we normally you come over at about six.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: We chat, we discuss, we eat.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: And then about 7:30, we get serious.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: 8 o'clock, we like get plugged in and then we record for about an hour or so.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's almost 10 o'clock.
1:23
SPEAKER_02: Don't even tell me that right now.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: It's fine because we're both capable adults.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: We can do this.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: It's not that late.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: We've got a lot to catch up on.
1:31
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's been fun.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: I feel like we like every time we extend it a little bit.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: And I noticed this like in our last couple seasons too.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: Like our first couple seasons, we're like, okay, like get together, talk about it, like recap our notes, record.
1:43
SPEAKER_02: And then, like, I don't know, throughout the season, we just are like, eh, we'll spend a little bit more on snacks.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: Eh, we'll just watch a couple more YouTube videos.
1:51
SPEAKER_02: Like, I feel like every time it's just a little bit later.
1:53
SPEAKER_02: And I feel like I like when when I tell people that I know, I'm like, oh, like I'm leaving Megan's at one o'clock in the morning.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: They're like, what do you do?
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, so you record from six to one o'clock?
2:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're very serious.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: We edit, we critique, we re-record.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: No.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: We honestly, our strategy is we get snacks, drink, we drink some wine, we watch some YouTube documentaries, we compare all of our notes.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: Because we we like we study, and I'm saying the word study loosely will take about a week or so.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Like we'll know like a week before what episode we're gonna do and who we're gonna talk about.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: Right.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: We spend our own time individually researching and whatnot, and then we'll reconvene and then we'll discuss together and watch some YouTube channels and whatever.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: Right.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, and some of these are not like straightforward stories, no, you know, like with very different notes.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: So we have to sit there and like compare and make sure we have all the parts of the story lining up.
2:54
SPEAKER_02: And you know, nights like tonight, we watch like weird music videos that just get targeted at it at us, and then we're like talk about that for half a second.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: This was really strange.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to like reveal too much, but it was related to who we're gonna do tonight, who we're doing, who we're doing tonight, and we went down a weird rabbit hole of this.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know what kind of what language she was speaking.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: I want to say like Icelandic.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: It sounded like it was very unique, only because I've seen Eurovision.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: It was a very Eurovision-esque music video of this girl singing in like kind of like Renfair outfit, which I was totally all about.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: She was my doppelganger.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: She looked a lot like Megan.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: And the like we watched one video, and you couldn't really tell.
3:41
SPEAKER_02: She had really intense eye makeup, and we're just kind of making fun of her.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: We're like, oh, look how bad like her battery part of her, yeah.
3:47
SPEAKER_02: No, but it was just because her makeup was so severe.
3:50
SPEAKER_02: And then like the next video just like popped on naturally, and we're like chatting and not really paying attention.
3:54
SPEAKER_02: And then both of us kind of glanced and we're like, it kind of looks like you, Megan.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: That's me.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: It was weird, like from certain angles, like certain like the profile of you, and like she had all these different wigs on, and certain wigs looked a lot like Megan when she was.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: It was me.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: And so we brought Jake out, my husband, and we're like, Jake, look at this.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: He starts cracking up.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: He's just like, Oh my god, it's you.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: So I'm glad it wasn't just us who saw this, but it was funny.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't look at her the same.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: I think we're long-lost sisters.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: You might be.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: Like, on it, I've met Megan's actual sister in real life, and this woman looks more like Megan's sister.
4:29
SPEAKER_02: I would agree with that.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she was kind of more like me than my own sister looks like me.
4:34
SPEAKER_02: We had we had a good time just like looking at that.
4:37
SPEAKER_02: Because at first it was like, oh, this girl, ha ha.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: And then we were like, wait, wait.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: And then I was like, Megan, like, I know we do the podcast every two weeks, but do you have a secret other like thing that you do?
4:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm just cracking up.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: I was just like, that's me.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm wearing a Renfare outfit in the middle of the forest singing Icelandic.
4:54
SPEAKER_02: I had no idea.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of a cool video.
4:57
SPEAKER_02: It was.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: I think you need to reach out to her.
4:59
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you can communicate with her.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if she speaks English, but I feel like you guys might have a I'm also assuming she's Icelandic, but I don't know.
5:07
SPEAKER_02: We don't know yet.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: Stay tuned.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, did you have a nice, lovely weekend?
5:14
SPEAKER_00: And I'm asking this like we didn't just talk for four hours about your weekend.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: So what did you do?
5:19
SPEAKER_02: What did you do, Elizabeth?
5:21
SPEAKER_02: Um, no, I actually, yeah, I had a really kind of random whirlwind weekend.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: Um, I I had to go to Kingman, Arizona, which is a huge tourist destination.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, but a friend of mine was looking at like a property there, and we, I don't know, it just a whole thing.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: We just like, yeah, we'll go to Kingman and check it out.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: Kingman is an hour and a half outside of Las Vegas.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: So this, like, let's check out this Kingman thing turned into a let's go to Vegas thing.
5:50
SPEAKER_02: And so it we just did a one nighter in Vegas.
5:52
SPEAKER_02: It was a lot of fun.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: It was totally like like there's a lot of football games going on for again.
5:57
SPEAKER_02: If you're a fan of American football, like um the playoffs are going on right now.
6:01
SPEAKER_02: So we went, went to a few sports bars, like rode the New York New York roller coaster, had a late dinner, like we just did all this stuff, and it was like it was totally spur of the moment.
6:10
SPEAKER_02: I had usually when I go to Vegas, I like pack and I brought buy like really cute sequin dresses or heels.
6:17
SPEAKER_02: Sequin?
6:17
SPEAKER_02: Sequin.
6:18
SPEAKER_02: You gotta wear sequins.
6:19
SPEAKER_02: You gotta wear sequins in Vegas.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: But this I was like, oh, I can't go.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: No, Elizabeth, sorry.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: I just hardcore in my mind judged you for like who wears sequins.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: I just remembered I went to Vegas in November and I like Thank you, I wore a sequined silver blazer.
6:36
SPEAKER_02: You have to.
6:37
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, did I show you that?
6:39
SPEAKER_00: I wore I don't think I've seen sequined.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: I wore it was hot.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: I wore like a deep plunge.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: No, it was hot.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: I wore a deep plunge all black jumpsuit with a silver sequined blazer.
6:49
SPEAKER_02: Because that's what you wear in Vegas.
6:51
SPEAKER_02: And they still like every window shop you look at, it's like sequin high heels.
6:55
SPEAKER_02: You're right.
6:55
SPEAKER_02: Like sequin boots, like sequin blazers, like everything is sequined.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: So like I bought dresses 10 years ago that are all sequins, and I'm like, where am I gonna wear these?
7:03
SPEAKER_02: These are outdated.
7:04
SPEAKER_02: And then I'm like, You got show up to Vegas.
7:07
SPEAKER_02: So I'm so sorry.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: I for half a half a sec I mentally judged you, but then I realized I myself.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: So continue.
7:16
SPEAKER_02: That's pretty much it.
7:17
SPEAKER_02: But so we had a really fun, just kind of random weekend, like the morning we went to the Bellagio to have breakfast.
7:22
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, but it was it was great, and now I just need it.
7:25
SPEAKER_02: Once you like wet your beak in in Vegas, you gotta go back all the time.
7:29
SPEAKER_02: I haven't been in like two years since like pre-COVID, and now I'm like, oh, I got the Vegas itch.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, I legally got married in Vegas.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: That's true, that's true.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: You know all about the Vegas itch.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: I have had that itch, I scratched it and it went away with some you know, ointment.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: Some ointment.
7:47
SPEAKER_00: Just rubbed it right off.
7:49
SPEAKER_02: So, so yeah, so stay tuned on future Vegas goings, I guess.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: But it was great.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like a new trend.
7:55
SPEAKER_02: I know.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, while you were in Vegas, I was at Pirate Fest.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Also in the middle of nowhere in Arizona.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Kingman.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: Just call it Kingman.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: Buckeye.
8:06
SPEAKER_00: Buckeye.
8:07
SPEAKER_02: Buckeye, Arizona.
8:08
SPEAKER_02: People that are like our you know, English listeners or European listeners are like, what are these names?
8:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I went out to Buckeye.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: It really is, though, like a farm.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: You go out there and there's just like nothing.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, who was putting this on?
8:24
SPEAKER_00: This is the hidden lakes of Arizona.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: It's like a park with a hidden lake and there's a lake.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: It was very small.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: It was like a a mini run fair to like like to amp up to an actual run fair.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: It was and we had a lot of fun.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: I went with um my tennis captain because I'm on a tennis team.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, I went with my captain and her husband, and they're actually really cool because they collect swords and they're really into it.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: So it's nice to go with another couple who appreciates the arts of runfaring.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was all pirate themed, and um, yeah, it was fun.
9:06
SPEAKER_02: You did show me a picture of like, I think it was a table you had lunch at or something, and it was just so funny because it's like in again, middle of nowhere, Arizona, next to a lake, but then there's this table that's like gold goblets and like candelabras and like upholstered chairs.
9:21
SPEAKER_00: It was a I would like to say it ate there.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: It was very much a photo op scene that someone showed up.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was really great though.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: They had like skeletons, and they did have a gibbet, so I'll post a picture.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, there was a gibbet to season one.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: They had a gibbet, which is William Kidd-esque, because he was held in a gibbet.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: That's one of those human cages that they would hold you in.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: Like just like hang you from a tree in a gibbet kind of thing.
9:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
9:46
SPEAKER_00: Oof.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: So that was cool.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: And I felt impressed that I knew what that was.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: They're like, oh, it's the it's the cage thing.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, it's a gibbet.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, actually.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: And then here's my card.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Of course, I come up like a smart ass, like, well, I myself am a co-host to a podcast.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: And we actually know that William the Kid or William Kid.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: They're like William the Kid, ma'am.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: William Kid was in a gibbet.
10:10
SPEAKER_02: So, anyways, that was a fun weekend.
10:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we get a lot of uh random knowledge from our podcast, which I think comes into play a lot of times in real life.
10:17
SPEAKER_02: You wouldn't know it, but it does.
10:20
SPEAKER_03: Right when you need to talk about torture and execution.
10:22
SPEAKER_03: Ugh, always a hit.
10:24
SPEAKER_03: We pipe in.
10:25
SPEAKER_03: Treasure island in Vegas.
10:27
SPEAKER_03: Oh, so many things to say.
10:28
SPEAKER_03: Just kidding.
10:29
SPEAKER_03: I am great at job interviewing.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: Just so on your toes all the time.
10:35
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: We have a unique one for tonight.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: We do.
10:41
SPEAKER_02: We didn't even know about this really.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Every now and then I will, I am the first to admit when it when it's a struggle for me.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm the first to tell you like this was a hard one.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: And this tonight was someone who I have never in my life have heard of.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: Right.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: Which now I feel dumb.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: Don't feel dumb.
11:00
SPEAKER_02: Our listeners should feel dumb for not knowing.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: I was, I was with you.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: If you've never heard of this person, do not feel bad.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: I was reading about her, and for I'm not even joking, for a solid like 45 seconds, I thought that you made a mistake, Elizabeth.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: And this was actually a fictional character of some like sci-fi fantasy novel that I've never heard of in my entire life.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, these are not even names or locations I've ever heard of.
11:28
SPEAKER_00: This is not history.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Right.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: And I doubted everything that I ever knew as a human being while I'm trying to read this.
11:34
SPEAKER_02: It is like a weird era.
11:36
SPEAKER_02: I mean, hey, they call it like the Dark Ages for a reason.
11:39
SPEAKER_02: Like a lot of this history is lost.
11:41
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think I stumbled upon it because I was reading like, I get this like daily news digest, and occasionally there's just random history, like facts.
11:48
SPEAKER_02: And so it mentioned, oh, like the rivalry between these two um queens of the barbaric era.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I clicked on it, just being like, oh, what's this?
11:57
SPEAKER_02: But of course, my mind naturally is like, I'm searching for executions.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm like command fine.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, command find execution, command find, torture, yeah, burning, command fine, drawn and quartered.
12:07
SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm looking for all these things.
12:09
SPEAKER_02: And this happened to be an execution story.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: So I sent it, I sent it to Megan.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Have you heard of this?
12:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, she's like, No, I have it.
12:16
SPEAKER_02: And again, I think both of us were kind of uh, you know, a little, a little like when we're reading it, um, the whole thing, we were like, this is not real.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: Like, this sounds like again, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, these are made of lands, these are made of names.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: Like, so bear with us on all of our pronunciation and the cities and lands that are discussed.
12:35
SPEAKER_02: But to give you a snapshot of this era, this is post-Roman Western Europe.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: So I'm already lost.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: Guide me through it.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: Where am I?
12:47
SPEAKER_02: So, this is about 500 to 600 AD.
12:51
SPEAKER_02: So you've had the fall of the Roman Empire, right?
12:54
SPEAKER_02: We talked about that in our Coliseum episode.
12:56
SPEAKER_02: And now we're officially in what's called like kind of the barbaric era, right?
13:00
SPEAKER_02: Like this is before we even get to Middle Ages.
13:03
SPEAKER_02: This is this is Conan the barbarian status I'm following.
13:08
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of what we know as modern-day countries are not countries quite yet, they're kingdoms, but we don't know what's what and what's where.
13:16
SPEAKER_02: So, in our setting today, we're in what's called Francia, which sounds like France, and you're right, because this encompasses a lot of France, but it's also called the Kingdom of Franks, the Frankish Kingdom, or the Frankish Empire.
13:28
SPEAKER_02: It's also called Franklin.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: And again, I you're listening to this, like, what the fuck?
13:33
SPEAKER_02: We get it.
13:34
SPEAKER_02: But this is basically all of France, it's all of Belgium, all of the Netherlands, a lot of Germany, and a lot of Italy.
13:41
SPEAKER_02: So if you can kind of put that together in your brain, it's again, it's not as big as the Roman Empire or anything like that.
13:47
SPEAKER_02: It's like Middle Earth.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: Basically, it's Middle Earth.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: So Francia.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: This is called Australia.
13:54
SPEAKER_02: There's a certain part of Francia that's called Austrasia.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: See, I'm already wrong.
13:59
SPEAKER_02: Because it's again very Game of Thronesy, where you have all these different people battling over lands.
14:04
SPEAKER_02: So Francia split into a few different territories.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: And one of them is called Austrasia.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: I really took that for like verbatim what it was.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we like to do themed food.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: We always do our snacks kind of themed.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: When we did our recent um German episode with Sophie Scholl, I did sausages and sauerkraut.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was great.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: I like to theme my snacks based on our episode of the evening.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: Right.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: So naturally, I had a whole like Asian spread.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: I did, I did um whatever.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: We had dumplings and tempera shrimp.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: And vegetable rolls.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: And uh wine with like a dragon on it.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is beautiful looking wine.
14:48
SPEAKER_02: Look at this blue dragon thing.
14:50
SPEAKER_02: We are not in Asia though.
14:51
SPEAKER_02: No, and I it was funny when Megan texted me, she's like, I just want you to know that I'm preparing Asian food.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: Dot dot dot.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: And I knew that meant she knew we weren't in Asia.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: But did my studying, I was like, I understand the fact we are not in Asia.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: One, I can only eat cheese and prosciutto so often, which I love.
15:08
SPEAKER_00: I love a good cheese and cracker spread, but we do that a lot.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: We do.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, you know what?
15:12
SPEAKER_00: Let's mix up.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Let's get some spring rolls.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: And then um, it's like, eh, Australasia.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: Austrasia.
15:17
SPEAKER_02: Australia.
15:18
SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
15:19
SPEAKER_02: I think it's fine that we have wine with dragons on it.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: So our lady, because it is a lady, is a lady today.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Our lady of the episode is I love her name.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: She's got a great name.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: Brunhilda.
15:33
SPEAKER_02: Brunhilde of Austrasia.
15:36
SPEAKER_02: Brunhilda of Austrasia.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: Can we just keep repeating that?
15:39
SPEAKER_00: I really like her name.
15:40
SPEAKER_02: I think I'm gonna change my dog's name.
15:41
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think I only like it because it's the only name I can pronounce in this whole story.
15:45
SPEAKER_02: But I do think Penny would be a great Brunhilde.
15:48
SPEAKER_02: She's kind of a bitch.
15:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, powerful.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: That photo, I think you may have posted this photo.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: We're looking at it in her office right now.
15:56
SPEAKER_02: It's literally a picture of Penny, but it's like a Queen Elizabeth I outfit.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Queen consort.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but I mean, I think that's a strong name.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: I also just thought of I thought of Django a lot through it because his wife's name is Brunhilda.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: Right.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't like remember what it reminded me of, but you're right.
16:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:15
SPEAKER_02: So Brunhilda of Austrasia.
16:18
SPEAKER_02: And again, weird name, weird place, what's the one?
16:20
SPEAKER_02: All of this is gonna be weird.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: But we're gonna take you through it step by step, and we're gonna do our best to unpack it as we do.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: Um, but essentially who she was, like the long and short of it before we get into all of her life, is she was the queen consort of Australi Austrasia.
16:33
SPEAKER_02: Again, meaning that she wasn't born as queen of this land, she was married into her queendom.
16:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, but she was married to Queen.
16:43
SPEAKER_02: I have a list of Queen.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: You're already laughing.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: I already said queen.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: She was married.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: King.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: I Sigebert.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: Sigbear.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: All the main characters.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: I have the cast here.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: With their phonetic spelling of their name.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: Feed it to me her husband's name.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Siggy Bear.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: Siggy Bear.
17:06
SPEAKER_02: So she was married to King Sigabear.
17:09
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say it a little fancier.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: If you say it fast, it sounds fancy and formal.
17:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
17:15
SPEAKER_02: So Brunhilde is married to King Sigabear I of Austrasia.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: And after that, she was also regent for her son, her grandson, and her great-grandson.
17:27
SPEAKER_02: This woman like lived a very, very long time.
17:30
SPEAKER_02: And you think about it in the 500s, that's like being 150 now.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: She lived to like her 70s.
17:36
SPEAKER_02: Um, and again, we'll go through all of her life, but that's kind of who she is.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, she was known for her very forceful personality, and she was known for her big feud that she had with her sister-in-law.
17:47
SPEAKER_02: And you're gonna have to give me this pronunciation from your guide again.
17:51
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna just go for it, but Fred Fredegund.
17:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Fredegund?
17:56
SPEAKER_02: Fredegund.
17:56
SPEAKER_02: Fredegund.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: So Fredegund is like her uh husband's brother's wife, and we'll go through all this again, but just so you know, these are.
18:04
SPEAKER_02: Say her brother's name.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: I got it, I'll point it for you.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: Chilprick.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: Good job.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: Chilpirick.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: Chilpriek.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Chilpiriek.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: Chil you prick.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: All these names are made up.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: And they they did not continue to exist.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: There's reasons we do not have children named Siggy Bear and Chilpireek.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: These are terrible names.
18:27
SPEAKER_02: And all of them are terrible, and they're only gonna get worse, just so you know.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: For anyone who is an executionado and you listen to our episodes and you know who we are as people and simple humans, we do not do good.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: We do not do good well.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: We don't do good well.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: We do not do well with pronunciations, and this was a challenge.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: So thank you for Siggy Bearing with us.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Continue, continue.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I'll point at the names.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: So let's read.
18:58
SPEAKER_02: Let's rewind this to Brunhilda.
19:00
SPEAKER_02: I think God Bruhilda at least has a nice, easy name.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: I like her name.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: Call her Broom.
19:04
SPEAKER_02: I'm not just gonna stick to Brunhilde because I can say it.
19:07
SPEAKER_02: But um, we're gonna go from her early life and work up towards Zara as we do.
19:11
SPEAKER_02: But so she was born in 1543.
19:14
SPEAKER_03: Nope.
19:16
SPEAKER_03: Are you already fact-checking me?
19:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're a thousand years old.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, I'm sorry.
19:21
SPEAKER_02: I said 15, huh?
19:23
SPEAKER_02: Okay, rewind.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: Uh 543.
19:27
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: This is how conditioned our brains are to say four-digit years.
19:32
SPEAKER_02: And as you know from our Roman Coliseum episode, it's so hard to not say a four-digit year.
19:36
SPEAKER_02: 543.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: Brunhilde was born in 543 AD.
19:41
SPEAKER_02: 543.
19:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, and she was born to a very elite family.
19:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, by the time it was 5454.
19:50
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: Stop laughing at her father was made king.
19:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, so she's about 11 years old at the time.
19:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh she again is now a princess at age 11.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: And they live in where is now like Toledo, Spain, if you know where that is, it's like northern Spain.
20:09
SPEAKER_02: Um so don't know much about her early life except for the fact that she was a princess at age 11.
20:14
SPEAKER_02: So by 567, she marries King Sigbert I, and she moves to Metz, which is a city in current France.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: So again, we don't have France, we don't have Spain, we just have Francia and Austrasia, and that's what this land is called.
20:30
SPEAKER_02: Um so she was kind of it was an interesting move for for him, the king, to marry her because at this time polygamy was widely um, like it was very common.
20:44
SPEAKER_03: It's accepted.
20:45
SPEAKER_02: It's very accepted, you know, and so even you know, if you're a religious person or a religious king, you typically had not just a wife, but you had multiple wives.
20:54
SPEAKER_02: And you had concubines, you had courtesans, you had mistresses.
20:58
SPEAKER_02: These men just had a whole, like, you know, this I don't know, yeah, like what do you call it?
21:03
SPEAKER_02: What do they call in India?
21:04
SPEAKER_02: Like a menagerie, like a menagerie of women.
21:08
SPEAKER_02: Concubine?
21:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, that's the you know the term for the woman, but I'm just saying, like, it's the big big pavilion of women that are always just there for their disposal.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: What's the word that we had in our Ramses episode?
21:19
SPEAKER_02: The harem.
21:20
SPEAKER_02: Harem, thank you.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: That's a better word to say.
21:23
SPEAKER_02: So menagerie is more for animals, but hey, tomato, tomato, same thing.
21:29
SPEAKER_02: But um, so they yeah, so so they exist just for the sole pleasure and purpose of the king to, you know, have a different woman whenever he sees fit.
21:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, but that's what makes Brunhilde a little bit different because again, she was a princess, she was educated, she had high morals, and he was so attracted to her because she was beautiful, she was rare, she wasn't just like any other kind of lowly woman that he would have married.
21:53
SPEAKER_02: Um, so he marries her, and people think that their marriage was so like something to be envied.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: Of people started looking at this relationship like, wait, you didn't just marry a slave girl, like you didn't just marry someone of lowly birth, like you married someone who's pretty impressive.
22:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, so his brother, um, King Sigabare's brother, who which is called Chilpirick, I'm gonna say it right.
22:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Chilpirik.
22:17
SPEAKER_02: Chilpireek.
22:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, Chilpireek kind of envies this relationship, and he says, Okay, you think you're the only one that can get a princess, like you think you're the only one that can get someone of elite class.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna send for her sister.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't even go outside of her family.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: He says, you know what, I want pretty much the same thing.
22:32
SPEAKER_02: So his sis or um her sister, Galswintha, they say that right.
22:38
SPEAKER_02: Um, Elizabeth, go for it.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
22:43
SPEAKER_02: So Galswintha is then called to court um at Mets and you know, is now uh married to Chil Chilparik.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: So Chilpirick, medium I'm so sorry.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: It's a chilpique.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: I can't just at the end, just like a hardy, yeah, like reek from Game of Thrones.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can try that.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm just a great.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm probably gonna mess it up again, but stick with me.
23:05
SPEAKER_02: I will keep keep correcting you.
23:06
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
23:07
SPEAKER_02: Um was the phonetic.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, but so so they're together at this point, um, and they like, you know, don't have quite the relationship that the that the brother and Brahilda have.
23:21
SPEAKER_02: So immediately when um Gulswintha kind of comes to court, she looks around and she says, Hey, like, if I'm gonna be your wife, you can't have all these courtesans around, you can't have all these mistresses around.
23:31
SPEAKER_02: Like, I know this is the accepted practice, but I want what my sister has.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: Like, I just kind of want to be with you, and like you have to dismiss all these women.
23:39
SPEAKER_02: So, what happens to her?
23:40
SPEAKER_02: She gets strangled in her sleep by an assassin.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: So we think that uh she was probably um, you know, killed on the order of Chilk Perik.
23:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, and they think that one of his mistresses was also in cahoots with him, kind of plotting her death.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: And his main mistress at the time was a woman called Fredegund, right?
24:02
SPEAKER_02: And we talked about her a little bit at the beginning.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: This was the chief rival of Bruhilde.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Mistress.
24:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so she was just a mistress.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: She was um, you know, someone who was kind of his favorite amongst his harem, we're gonna call it for lack of a better word.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: So as soon as um Bruhilda's sister dies, as soon as she's killed, there's this fight over her lands.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: People, and she came with a lot of land.
24:23
SPEAKER_02: Obviously, she's a princess, she's got a lot in her name.
24:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, so Fredegund, the woman, the favorite, who's basically this like low-level, you know, wife, courtesan, is saying, No, no, no, my husband's entitled to this.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, she was married to him, he gets all of her land.
24:39
SPEAKER_02: Brunhilda, who is a very strong and possessive personality, is coming at her, like, absolutely not, this is my sister, and you killed her.
24:46
SPEAKER_02: This is still belonging to my family.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: So, this is the start of a very, very bitter rivalry between these two women, these two two queen um consorts.
24:56
SPEAKER_02: But um, in this time period, too, about 567 to 570, Brunhilda also has three children.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: She has two boys and a girl.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna try and say their names, but the oldest girl is Ingund.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: The second oldest girl is Chilusind.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: I didn't write down their name, so you're doing better than I.
25:16
SPEAKER_02: That sounds right.
25:17
SPEAKER_02: Honestly, they never mention the second girl again, so it doesn't matter.
25:21
SPEAKER_02: And then um the the third child is a boy, it's a son, named Childe Bear.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: That's it.
25:27
SPEAKER_02: Just like Siggy Bear.
25:29
SPEAKER_02: Build-a bear.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: Build-de-ar the Childe Bear.
25:33
SPEAKER_02: You you build the bear and then you chill the bear.
25:35
SPEAKER_02: You chill with the bear-dear after you build the bear at the Build-A-Bear workshop.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: If you don't know what Build-A-Bear is, you're very confused right now.
25:45
SPEAKER_02: Just Google Build a Bear Will.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: Evidently.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, Elizabeth, you did a great job.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: I am trying to follow along with my notes, but I think I am following.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of different names here, a lot of different who's who and what's what.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: The one thing that's kind of important to know, which I think he mentioned, but so his the king's father, Siggy Bear, mm-hmm.
26:13
SPEAKER_03: Papa Bear.
26:15
SPEAKER_03: Papa Bear.
26:16
SPEAKER_03: Baby Bear's dad papa bear.
26:19
SPEAKER_03: Baby bear is childe bear.
26:20
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
26:21
SPEAKER_03: Like a child.
26:22
SPEAKER_03: Like a child, that's good.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: His father owned or like ruled over four different territories.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: And he split there were four sons.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: And the four sons after the father died, like split it up into four different territories, and each son took something.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of an interesting concept because normally it's like a lineage and its oldest son becomes the king, and the next all the other brothers just kind of have to wait their turn if it ever even comes up.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Right.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: But this was a very different concept because each brother became a king by taking his own land.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Right?
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Kind of like a territory.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a territory of it.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: So obviously, this causes a lot of war, a lot of conflict.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like splitting up an inheritance, and of course, there's gonna be some like, you know, the brothers are kind of fighting and figuring out what's what.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: So the two queens, which is again Fredagund and Brunhilde.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: Right.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: They're kind of like the wives of the two brothers.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: So they're sister-in-laws, and a full-on war starts off.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: And I use war very literally, but they actually go into war because they hate each other so much.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: They do.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: There's just this undermining rivalry and jealousy and all this dumb stuff.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: And we're taking like family drama times 10.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's the barbaric ages.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: The real housewives of uh Franciash Kingdom.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: Real housewives of the barbaric realms.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: Franks.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, for a while they tried to have some peace with each other, and they tried to do this by like, okay, you can have these cities and you can have these, and it's all about land, right?
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Chilperik disrupts the peace when he invades Sigi Bear's territory.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: Ooh, we don't do that.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: The older brother, so this is just two out of the four brothers, are fighting against each other.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Right.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: The other two brothers are just begging for peace.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: They're like, come on, can't we be friends?
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Can't we be a family?
28:20
SPEAKER_00: All the territories can get along.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: And Brumhilda, our main executione of the episode, she completely ignores these requests.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: She she's kind of like this lady who I think enjoys war.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, I feel like she's a go-getter and she's not gonna back down.
28:38
SPEAKER_00: And people are saying, can't we just be peaceful and just it's your sister-in-law, it's your brother-in-law, just be okay with it.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, No, I will fight to the death to get my way.
28:48
SPEAKER_02: So this is very much an era where women don't have a lot going on, right?
28:53
SPEAKER_02: I mean, most of these men are marrying low-class women, no one has rights.
28:56
SPEAKER_02: Everyone's just seen as a courtesan, everyone's just seen as a wife to have on the side.
29:01
SPEAKER_02: So anything that they can do to really get their hands around power is something that they really capitalize on.
29:06
SPEAKER_02: So Brunhilda's not about to give up anything.
29:09
SPEAKER_02: She wants to fight for what she has.
29:11
SPEAKER_02: She wants to say, hey, I don't care what it is, I've got my claws in now, and I'm gonna manipulate the situation.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: Siggy Bear, who is Brunhilda's husband, besieges where Chilpernique lives, which is called Tornai.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: So they have kind of like this peace treaty and they go against all odds, and Brumhilda's husband is now attacking his brother's land.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: Fredegund, who is again Chilpernique's wife, is not okay with this.
29:41
SPEAKER_00: And you can tell that she really has the upper hand in a lot of the situation because Fredagund hires two assassins to kill Brumhilda's husband, Sig Siggy Bear.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: Siggy Bear.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, she gets two guys to poison to stab him with a poison dagger.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Ugh.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: So they each have poison daggers and they stab him to death and he and he dies.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, they also capture Brumhilda.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: They arrest her and they imprison her in Row Rowan?
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Rowan, Rowan.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: Rowan, something like that.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, this is not the end.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: Do not think that this is This is how she dies.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: Wow, okay, and then we're done, and you know.
30:21
SPEAKER_02: No, there's much more.
30:22
SPEAKER_02: She is not done with her.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: And this is kind of like her first arrest.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: So her her sister-in-law and her brother-in-law have captured her after they killed her husband.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: Right.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: While she's in prison, she meets Merovek, which is interesting.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: Merovek is a new character.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: Again, I literally thought this was Game of Thrones, but it's not.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Might as well be.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: This is real history.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: Merovek is the son of Chilparik from his first marriage.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, he's had multiple wives, like, as you said, there's a polygamous type of lifestyle.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: So he's basically one of the sons, though, of Chilpurique, who is the one who imprisoned Brumhilda.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: Right.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: They fall in love, supposedly, and he marries Brumhilda, but really he's only marrying her because he is establishing his succession in the line of line of lineage.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: Like if he marries Brumhilda, he is becoming an even stronger candidate to become king.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: It's true, because now he has two essentially bloodlines, I guess, right?
31:27
SPEAKER_02: Because it's like his uncle's wife and his father, which is creepy.
31:32
SPEAKER_02: But he's got those two going now if he's gonna have heirs.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: If it's your uncle's wife, that's your aunt.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: That's your aunt.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: Called your aunt, I think.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: Which is kind of goes against canon law.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: While he did get married by a bishop in a church with Brumhilda, they later were like, eh, you just married your aunt.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: Your aunt.
31:55
SPEAKER_02: Your aunt, you can't.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: Auntie Brumhilda, it's kind of not not allowed.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: A little incestuous.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: His dad, Chilparik, was like really offended by this.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: How dare you marry my sister-in-law?
32:10
SPEAKER_00: He takes this kid, Merv Merver, what's his name?
32:14
SPEAKER_00: Mervowick.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Mervowick, thank you.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Mervick.
32:17
SPEAKER_00: I see almost like a kid.
32:18
SPEAKER_00: I see him as like a teenager.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: Like a horny teenager.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
32:21
SPEAKER_02: It's just like yeah.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: Dumb horny teenager.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: His dad takes him away and he's like, What are we gonna do?
32:27
SPEAKER_00: The equivalent of merit of military school, we're gonna put you in a monastery.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: They force him to get his hair cut as a friar, you know, that like old school butt out the match, yeah, the bowl, the bowl cut with the patch, and like they cut off his hair and they send him to a monastery, but that fails, and he is not having it, and he flees from the monastery.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: He could not handle his life.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: This kid was like teenage angst times 10.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: He's pissed at his dad, he wants to marry his aunt, she's not really into it, so he basically just asks his servant to kill him.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Ugh.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: And that's how he dies.
33:05
SPEAKER_02: Mary Roman Coliseum.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: If you were a servant and your master asked you to kill like if I was your master, your mistress.
33:14
SPEAKER_02: You're my mistress, and I'm the slave lady.
33:15
SPEAKER_02: You're the servant.
33:17
SPEAKER_02: No, no, a servant.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: Oh, higher above.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: I might pay you.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
33:21
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not.
33:22
SPEAKER_02: If I tell you kill me, would you do it?
33:24
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think any servant would kill their master because secretly they want to kill their master every day.
33:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:29
SPEAKER_02: I want to know if that servant got in trouble.
33:32
SPEAKER_02: They probably just ran away with all the gold that their master had.
33:36
SPEAKER_02: But think about it.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: At that level, they don't care about you.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: We just did the Roman Coliseum, and like the slaves and the servants got the worst of it.
33:44
SPEAKER_02: I know.
33:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I probably would, and I'd probably enjoy it, and I'd probably run away with whatever uh precious metals I could find.
33:53
SPEAKER_02: Not because I'm a Slytherin, because that's what servants would do in the situation.
33:57
SPEAKER_02: Given the power imbalance.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, he kills his master.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: At this point now, uh Brumhilda, she has she's trying to gain power even again, even after her first husband has died.
34:15
SPEAKER_00: Her second husband, who is like her nephew basically, has also been killed.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: She tries to seize regency in the name of her son, Childebear.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: Childebear.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: The second.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's a lot of resistance against this.
34:29
SPEAKER_00: The the the nobles did not like the fact that she was influencing her son so much because at this day and age, and for thousands of years after this, um there was like no women could not be in control, women could not be a regency, and she was basically the one who was acting as the queen.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: Right.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: Again, her name was Queen Consort.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: And they were not okay with this.
34:54
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of, I mean, male monarchs couldn't assume the throne until they were 13.
34:59
SPEAKER_02: So it is very kind of reminiscent of Game of Thrones, where like you have a Searcy type character that's trying to run the son, like her her young son's lives, and say, This is how you're gonna be as king.
35:10
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna groom you until you're of age.
35:13
SPEAKER_02: And in this day and age, I mean, you you became king at 13.
35:16
SPEAKER_02: So she didn't have a lot of time to really do that, but she did.
35:20
SPEAKER_02: She wielded her power where she could.
35:22
SPEAKER_02: She did a pretty good job with it.
35:23
SPEAKER_02: She was efficient, she's a good ruler.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: She was actually a really good ruler.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: Things that she focused on, she repaired the roads, she restructured their religious monarch, their like monasteries, and their um even their like military form.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: She restructured that.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: Right.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: But she went and she fixed a lot of stuff.
35:39
SPEAKER_00: She like saved the money.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: She, I think, like if it were now in modern day, she would be a strong, solid ruler.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: She could be a badass president or a badass queen, but she knew exactly what she was doing even in the 500s.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: At this point, we're about 579.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you like a lowdown of where Brunhilde is with her three kids.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: Her oldest son, Childe Bear.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: Only son, Childe Bear, um, she's ruling in his regency.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: She actually gets her brother-in-law, one of the four brothers that we talked about, Guntrum, to adopt him only because this is gonna like even so make him stronger in the lineage.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: Right.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: That's what all of this is about.
36:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, how reinforcing how much can we reinforce this reign?
36:30
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: Good way to put it.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, she marries off her daughter to some ally house.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: Ingund.
36:36
SPEAKER_02: No word of the second daughter, by the way.
36:38
SPEAKER_02: Chlorocessund.
36:40
SPEAKER_00: It smells like an STV.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: It's probably no one wants chlorosisund.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: Her daughter does die mysteriously, which there wasn't a lot.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: Even like we watched a few documentaries and they were just like, we don't know how she died.
36:53
SPEAKER_00: So records lost.
36:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, but Chilparik, her brother-in-law, who kind of all this was between, he dies.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: Right.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
37:01
SPEAKER_02: So who becomes regent of the opposing territory?
37:05
SPEAKER_00: Fredegund.
37:06
SPEAKER_00: Fredegund.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: Fredegund becomes a regent.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: The Dukes do not like Brumhilda.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: Like the Dukes, all the nobles in her land, they don't like the influence that she has.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: They don't really like her as a woman.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: So much, in fact, that they try to assassinate her child, Childebear.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't they assassinate her?
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Because they go for her kid.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Childebear went to Bildebear.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: Didn't have much of a chance from the get-go.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: She signs the Pact of Andelot, which secures his succession even more.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: Guthrum dies, who is his guardian, guardian, whatever.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: And full-on war breaks out again.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: This time it's between Chilperik's son, who is Chilparik is dead, but his son, Clauter, and Childebear.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: Right.
37:59
SPEAKER_00: This is in 593.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: It's called the Battle of Droizy.
38:03
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: Childebear dies.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: He does.
38:06
SPEAKER_02: It's like a long battle, I think, because he dies a couple years after it's initiated.
38:10
SPEAKER_02: But he's only 26 when he dies.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: Youngly.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: It's just a youngin'.
38:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
38:14
SPEAKER_02: So, so now that this portion of the throws her uh notebook down and cross part.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: That was a really thing.
38:22
SPEAKER_02: It's up to you now.
38:23
SPEAKER_02: Go finish us off, Elizabeth.
38:26
SPEAKER_02: So uh Childebear dies at 26, right?
38:30
SPEAKER_02: And this is now where Brodenhilda is like, okay, I was Queen Regent to Childebear, so what am I gonna do next?
38:37
SPEAKER_02: Like, now that this guy's done.
38:40
SPEAKER_02: She goes after her grandsons.
38:42
SPEAKER_02: The grandsons emerge now.
38:44
SPEAKER_02: What are their names?
38:45
SPEAKER_02: So they have very interesting names.
38:47
SPEAKER_02: Oh, do they?
38:48
SPEAKER_01: It's Thudebare and Thuderique.
38:51
SPEAKER_01: Not to be confused with Soudbear.
38:55
SPEAKER_01: I can't even say his name anymore.
38:57
SPEAKER_02: Siggy Beardebear or Childeric.
39:01
SPEAKER_02: This these are different people now, okay?
39:04
SPEAKER_02: So Thudebear and Thuderique are her grandsons.
39:07
SPEAKER_01: Can we call them because it's too late committed?
39:11
SPEAKER_02: We did talk about this at the beginning.
39:12
SPEAKER_02: We're just like, could you call them like Duh Derek and Bert?
39:20
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, Bert, Thudebert is the one who is in charge of Austrasia.
39:24
SPEAKER_02: Thuderique is now in charge of Burgundy, which is another um uh not property, territory rather, of the you know, the whole Franklin area.
39:33
SPEAKER_02: So these two are gaining power.
39:36
SPEAKER_02: Again, they're young.
39:37
SPEAKER_02: Bruhilda sees her opportunity to become regent again.
39:41
SPEAKER_02: And she locks out because in 597, um, Fredagun dies.
39:47
SPEAKER_02: So her arch rival, who again, they've had so many run-ins, they've had so many things going on between them, suddenly dies.
39:54
SPEAKER_02: Well, not suddenly, she's an older woman at this point, but dies in this in this age.
39:59
SPEAKER_02: So Brunhilda's feeling good.
40:01
SPEAKER_02: She's like, okay, my rival is out of the way, and I have these two grandsons who are gonna love me and die for me and make sure that my regency is protective.
40:09
SPEAKER_02: Well, not so much Brunhilde.
40:12
SPEAKER_02: She was actually exiled by Thunderbert.
40:15
SPEAKER_02: So Thunderbert kind of saw her, I think was influenced by a lot of other people at court who were saying, hey, she can't get her claws in you, like she can't manipulate you.
40:24
SPEAKER_02: You have to be a king in your own right.
40:25
SPEAKER_02: You can't listen to your grandmother.
40:27
SPEAKER_02: So he says, Okay, you're right.
40:29
SPEAKER_02: So she's exiled to the point where she's literally living with like peasants on the side of the road.
40:33
SPEAKER_02: She has nowhere else to go.
40:35
SPEAKER_02: Brum Hilda.
40:36
SPEAKER_02: I know, Brumilda, my girl.
40:38
SPEAKER_02: But she's welcomed by Thuderic, the other grandson.
40:41
SPEAKER_02: So he's Thuderic or Thudebare?
40:45
SPEAKER_02: Thuderic.
40:46
SPEAKER_02: Thuderic is the one that welcomes her.
40:48
SPEAKER_02: Bert exiles her.
40:50
SPEAKER_02: Derek is like, yo, come on, come on to my side.
40:52
SPEAKER_02: Bert and Derek.
40:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he sees he sees the upside of being allies with her.
40:57
SPEAKER_02: So now these two brothers, who are both her grandchildren, are at war with each other, as is tradition in this family.
41:03
SPEAKER_02: Um, so she's in her late 50s at this point, right?
41:06
SPEAKER_02: But she's allied with Thuderic right now.
41:08
SPEAKER_02: She's allied with Derek.
41:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, and at this point, as a woman in her late 50s in this era, she takes a lover.
41:15
SPEAKER_02: Scandalous for late 50s, again, in this era, not day and age.
41:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, but she the she gets this lover.
41:22
SPEAKER_02: His name is Protadious, and she is not done plotting in her life.
41:27
SPEAKER_02: She says, Hey, Protatius, lover, boyfriend, handsome.
41:31
SPEAKER_02: Here's what we're gonna do.
41:33
SPEAKER_02: I want you to have a high-ranking office in this court.
41:36
SPEAKER_02: We're again, we're in court with Theuteric now.
41:39
SPEAKER_02: I think you should take the place of the mayor of the palace.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: So she conspires with Protatius to kill the current mayor of the palace so she can take his place.
41:49
SPEAKER_02: Or sorry, he can take his place.
41:51
SPEAKER_02: So they do this, they go through this plot.
41:53
SPEAKER_02: Um, the mayor of the palace is murdered, but soon the plot is discovered and people actually call for the execution of Protadius.
42:03
SPEAKER_02: So now her young lover, we're assuming he's young, we don't know for sure.
42:06
SPEAKER_02: Whenever you hear a lover, you assume they're young.
42:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, but Protatius is then executed.
42:12
SPEAKER_02: But she's not done yet.
42:13
SPEAKER_02: She says, no, no, no.
42:14
SPEAKER_02: Whatever Duke or whoever it was that called for this execution of Protatius, she makes sure that he is executed because she killed his lover.
42:23
SPEAKER_02: So this is where she goes on a little bit of a bloody reign, I suppose.
42:27
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then soon after, when she makes sure this guy's executed, there's another bishop in the court, the bishop of Vine, Vienne.
42:35
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if I'm saying that correctly.
42:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, but he accuses her of cruelty and incest.
42:40
SPEAKER_02: Because at this point, he's like, okay, let's be clear about your history.
42:43
SPEAKER_02: You've married all these different people, you had all these different lovers, you literally had a relationship with your nephew, which is not okay.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: And you've called for so many, again, like executions and just cruel acts over your over your reign.
42:57
SPEAKER_02: And so, what does she do to this?
42:59
SPEAKER_02: She executes the mission.
43:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
43:02
SPEAKER_02: This is where we like it.
43:03
SPEAKER_02: This is when she's in her 50s.
43:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm feeling more confident in the story, right?
43:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, she doesn't give a shit anymore, and she's just going around anyone that accuses her of anything, like off with their head, type of thing.
43:13
SPEAKER_02: So she's happy because she's regent again.
43:16
SPEAKER_02: She's um uh she's then uh regent after Thudoric has a son named Sigibare, which again, not to be confused with Sigibare the first, her husband's name.
43:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, this is now her great-grandson.
43:30
SPEAKER_02: So she's a great-grandmother now, has regency again from her great-grandson.
43:36
SPEAKER_02: But remember Clotaire who we talked about, which was Chilparik's son?
43:40
SPEAKER_02: Literally don't know who that is.
43:42
SPEAKER_02: Chilparik's son.
43:43
SPEAKER_02: So, um, remember Clotaire?
43:46
SPEAKER_02: So he was the one that was Chilpirique and Fredagoon's son.
43:51
SPEAKER_02: So he kind of comes back into the picture and he says, Hey, this son, Theodoric's son, Sigbert, you know, not the first, but this one, the second, I suppose.
44:00
SPEAKER_02: He is actually more related to me.
44:04
SPEAKER_02: He's my rightful regent.
44:06
SPEAKER_02: So he is now ready to go to battle with Brunhilde.
44:09
SPEAKER_02: He's like, you know what?
44:10
SPEAKER_02: Your time is up.
44:11
SPEAKER_02: You've had too much power.
44:12
SPEAKER_02: You've had too many regencies.
44:13
SPEAKER_02: Theodoric's son, Sigbert, is again part of me and my lineage.
44:18
SPEAKER_02: So he's my rightful regent.
44:20
SPEAKER_02: So they now decide to go to battle, Brunhilda and Clotaire.
44:25
SPEAKER_02: The thing is, when Brhilda actually shows up at battle, which is impressive that she does because she's almost in her 70s at this point.
44:32
SPEAKER_02: She shows up, um, and all of her dukes, all of her head honchos desert her.
44:37
SPEAKER_02: Nobody's on her side at this point.
44:39
SPEAKER_02: Maybe because she's old, maybe because she's power hungry, maybe because she just, you know, people are sick of her.
44:45
SPEAKER_02: Who knows?
44:45
SPEAKER_02: But they all desert her at this battleground, and so she has to flee with the young King Sigbear and his brother, which I'm assuming is younger brother named Corbo.
44:55
SPEAKER_02: So they all run off, but they're run down by Clotaire's forces.
44:59
SPEAKER_02: Clotaire finds them.
45:01
SPEAKER_02: He kills young King Sigbert, which is sad.
45:04
SPEAKER_02: This poor boy hasn't done anything.
45:05
SPEAKER_02: He's just following his great grandmother.
45:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and now uh he he also kills Corbo.
45:11
SPEAKER_02: So he wipes out the whole family line in one fell swoop, saying, Okay, you guys are done.
45:17
SPEAKER_02: You've had too much power.
45:19
SPEAKER_02: Here's the end of the line.
45:21
SPEAKER_02: So finally captures Brunhilde in her 70s and says, You are responsible for the ten dead kings of of the Franks.
45:32
SPEAKER_02: So ten.
45:33
SPEAKER_02: So he accuses her of all ten.
45:36
SPEAKER_02: And we can name them off to you really quick.
45:38
SPEAKER_02: You want me to name them?
45:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm just gonna let's just find it.
45:41
SPEAKER_02: Alright.
45:42
SPEAKER_02: And then we can see.
45:44
SPEAKER_02: It's a long list, and some of these names sound very similar, but this is what she's accused of.
45:49
SPEAKER_00: Basically, everyone that we've just like talked about in this whole story.
45:52
SPEAKER_00: Plus So Siggy Bear the First, her husband, Kilperik, Thhueda Bear, Thuaderic, Siggy Bear the Second, Merovek, Merovek, Thuadric's son.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: There's apparently two of them.
46:07
SPEAKER_00: Corbo, another one of his sons, and Childbear, um, of Thuadrick's son, and then the sons of Thueda Beart, Thwaedabar, along with many church church men, including Dissidere.
46:21
SPEAKER_00: Don't laugh at me.
46:22
SPEAKER_00: No, I think that's perfect.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: There are 10 people that they say that she has killed, which, okay, how did she kill her husband Siggy Bear when Fredagund is the kind of assassin?
46:33
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
46:33
SPEAKER_00: So she got framed for all these, not even.
46:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if it was framed.
46:37
SPEAKER_02: I think it was more of like you instigated this whole thing.
46:40
SPEAKER_00: They're like, maybe you did not directly kill them, but because of your actions and who you are as a person, if you were not in existence, they would still be alive.
46:48
SPEAKER_00: Right.
46:49
SPEAKER_00: So they just had too much power.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: They put everyone's death on her shoulders.
46:55
SPEAKER_02: So what did they decide to do?
46:57
SPEAKER_02: They tell me they decide to tie her to wild horses and have her torn from limb to limb.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: And there's a really cool quote, too, that I want to um just quickly say.
47:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, so this is a this is a source that talks about the whole story, but this is a really cool quote about kind of her demise.
47:16
SPEAKER_02: But it says, Then the army of the Franks and the Burgundians joined into one, all shouting together that death would be most fitting of this very wicked Brunhilde.
47:26
SPEAKER_02: Then King Clotaire ordered that she be lifted onto a camel and led through the entire army.
47:32
SPEAKER_02: Then she was tied to the feet of wild horses and torn apart limb from limb.
47:37
SPEAKER_02: Finally, she died.
47:38
SPEAKER_02: Her final grave was the fire, her bones were burnt.
47:42
SPEAKER_00: She was almost 80 years old.
47:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's old to be dealing with that kind of shit.
47:46
SPEAKER_02: You see I think I want to do that when I'm that age.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: She was also tortured for three days before.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: Ugh.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: And then, as I just mentioned, dragged through the city.
47:55
SPEAKER_00: Right.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: Tied to a camel, being bumped around on the road.
48:01
SPEAKER_02: And then basically quartered by horses.
48:04
SPEAKER_02: It just had all her limbs pulled out.
48:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:06
SPEAKER_02: It's gross.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:08
SPEAKER_02: And we really wish in this type of story that there were final words or something that she did or said at the end.
48:14
SPEAKER_02: We really don't know much about how she felt about all this because it's not like she kept a diary.
48:18
SPEAKER_02: We only know her actions, her kind of need for power and her need for control.
48:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, but it'd be nice if she had some final words to say.
48:27
SPEAKER_02: The fact that we have this much history and it's from the 500s, yeah.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: But she so she was buried in um the Abbey of St.
48:36
SPEAKER_02: Martin, which is in, I'm gonna say this wrong, but Autun, France, I think.
48:41
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then in the 1700s, she was moved to the Mousse Um Roland in Autun, France.
48:47
SPEAKER_02: So that is where I think her body still rests.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: I haven't seen it.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, but apparently that's where I wonder what the plaque says.
48:54
SPEAKER_02: Like, I wonder what it says to dedicate her berries.
48:58
SPEAKER_03: Good luck trying to pronounce these names.
49:01
SPEAKER_02: Good luck trying to read this fucking story.
49:03
SPEAKER_02: No, I think we did okay with the names.
49:05
SPEAKER_02: We had to take a few breaks.
49:07
SPEAKER_02: She ruled longer than any other king or Roman emperor who had preceded her.
49:13
SPEAKER_02: So any other person before her, in terms of like kings or Roman emperors, she had a longer reign.
49:18
SPEAKER_02: 46 years total, 17 of which she was regent.
49:22
SPEAKER_02: But that's a long time, especially given again this era where people don't live that long.
49:27
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the fact that she was executed in her almost in her 80s.
49:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
49:32
SPEAKER_02: That's a lot to handle at that age.
49:33
SPEAKER_02: Don't you just have a heart attack and pass out?
49:35
SPEAKER_03: And she died at hold on, what year was it?
49:38
SPEAKER_03: I believe I gotta look at my note.
49:40
SPEAKER_03: Six six thirteen.
49:42
SPEAKER_02: Six thirteen.
49:44
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
49:49
SPEAKER_03: And good night.
49:52
SPEAKER_03: Elizabeth.
49:53
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
49:54
SPEAKER_03: Before you turn 80.
49:55
SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, 80.
49:57
SPEAKER_03: Any final words?
49:59
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna have a few before I'm 80, but not tonight.