By people about people

Freedom did not come for free

It’s a freedom march. They all gather at the capital. They want the King to meet with them. They demand he set them free. He promises he will. It all falls apart. They lose their heads.

• Wat Tyler's Rebellion
• 55 minutes
• 50 megabytes
• streaming MP3s

The Martyrdom of Polycarp

In the olden days, before people worshiped Science, they used to worship God. They took it seriously, too. They took God just as verbatim as we do Science. But, before they worshiped God, they worshiped gods. They didn't take them all that literally, though. Ironically, it wasn't at all hard to get along with other people's gods if you had plenty of your own. You had yours and he had his and both of you had bunches and what's the big deal. A lot of yours and his were probably alike anyway. The trouble started when people came along who insisted there was only one God. And took it seriously. People got themselves burnt at the stake over that kind of stuff. Like Polycarp.

• 22 minutes
• 21 megabytes
• streaming MP3

Life of Charlemagne

Back in the depths of the Dark Ages, there was a little Swiss boy named Notker who stuttered. We may imagine that Notker was not a kind name for a stutterer to have. This boy was raised by a retired soldier who had campaigned with Karl the Great, the King of the German Franks, known to the French as Charlemagne. The old soldier just had to reminisce to someone, and so he would force the unwilling boy to sit still and listen to his war stories.

Eventually, the boy grew up and became a monk in a nearby monastery. They called him Notker the Stammerer; or sometimes, Notker Thick Lips. There were a couple of other monks living there, old men now, who had also served King Karl, back in their salad days. They told Notker stories too. It seems like everyone who had served the great Karl loved to remember him.

Years later, King Karl the Fat came to visit Notker's monastery. He came to find out about his famous great-grandfather Charlemagne, from people who had known him first hand. He met Notker. Notker knew lots of stories about the heroic ancestor. Karl the Fat told Notker to write his stories down.

Here they are.

• one hour
• 55 megabytes
• 10 streaming MP3s

Elizabeth Knap of Groton

In the olden days, Good and Evil were animate and personal. They waged war; and your life was the battlefield. This poor girl got caught in the crossfire.

Here is a careful observation by a compassionate, intelligent person... of a girl possessed by Satan.

• 55 minutes
• 50 megabytes
• streaming MP3