{"podcast":{"title":"HISTORY This Week","slug":"history-this-week-186536","podcast_index_feed_id":186536,"rss_url":"https://rss.amperwave.net/v2/feed/audacynetwork/history-this-week","website_url":"http://www.historythisweekpodcast.com/","image_url":"https://images.castfire.com/image/661/0/0/0/0-8382930.jpg","author":"The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios","episode_count":326,"summary":"This week, something big happened. You might have never heard of it, but this moment changed the course of history. A HISTORY Channel original podcast, HISTORY This Week gives you insight into the people—both famous and unknown—whose decisions reshaped the world we live in today. Through interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, each episode will give you a new perspective on how history is written. Stay up-to-date at historythisweekpodcast.com and to get in touch, email us at historythisweek@history.com.HISTORY This Week is a production of Back Pocket Studios in partnership with the History Channel.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-08T18:20:34.640440+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-this-week-186536"},"episode":{"title":"Why the Crusades Became Cool Again","slug":"why-the-crusades-became-cool-again","published_at":"2026-06-08T08:31:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-this-week-186536/why-the-crusades-became-cool-again","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-this-week-186536","url":"http://historythisweekpodcast.com","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/tracking.swap.fm/track/v9Uiw3bGr54f6BVZKSyc/pscrb.fm/rss/p/serve.castfire.com/audio/8247102/8247102_2026-04-14-052502.192.mp3?rssID=6398","summary":"June 8, 1191. The Crusaders and Muslim forces are locked in battle over the city of Acre. On one side is Saladin, the great Muslim leader who has already recaptured Jerusalem. On the other, an armada arrives carrying England’s king: Richard the Lionheart. The Crusades will become one of the defining conflicts of the Middle Ages. But for centuries, their history fades into legend… until a Scottish writer named Walter Scott brings them roaring back. His novels turn knights, tournaments, and holy war into blockbuster entertainment. But Scott’s message was more complicated than simple nostalgia: he saw the Crusades as reckless, violent, and hollow. His readers mostly saw the armor. How did a Scottish poet revive this religious war and turn it into an international phenomenon? And how did his underlying message get lost, warped, and then repurposed to justify even more violence? Special thanks to Ian Duncan, professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Scott's Shadow: The Novel in Romantic Edinburgh . You can find the rest of the books we used to research this episode at historythisweekpodcast.com . Get in touch: historythisweek@history.com   Follow on Instagram: @historythisweekpodcast Follow on Facebook: ⁠HISTORY This Week Podcast⁠ To stay updated: http://historythisweekpodcast.com","meta_description":"June 8, 1191. The Crusaders and Muslim forces are locked in battle over the city of Acre. On one side is Saladin, the great Muslim leader who has already…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1619,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-this-week-186536/episodes/why-the-crusades-became-cool-again/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-this-week-186536/why-the-crusades-became-cool-again.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}