HeyJaredRoyal Idiots
Kings ruled empires, commanded armies, and shaped the course of history.Unfortunately, many of them were complete idiots.Royal Idiots is a humorous history podcast exploring the most powerful bad decisions ever made by monarchs.Each episode dives into the lives of famous…
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 10
- Latest publication
- Sep 4, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 3, 2026
Latest episodes
Stephen of England: The King Who Turned Succession Into Civil War (opens the original)
Read excerpt
When Henry I’s heir dies at sea, his daughter Matilda is named successor — but her cousin Stephen races to England, is crowned, and turns a disputed succession into a bloody civil war known as The Anarchy.Castles, shifting loyalties, and the capture and release of Stephen prolong nearly two decades of instability until a compromise hands the future to Matilda’s son, revealing the costly consequences of seizing power without securing legitimacy.
The King Who Paid the Vikings to Go Away (opens the original)
Read excerpt
When Viking raids become rent, Æthelred the Unready chooses to pay — again and again. This episode follows his rocky reign: a child king surrounded by bad counsel, the corrosive politics of Danegeld, the St. Brice’s Day Massacre, and the rise of Sweyn and Cnut.Listen for how repeated tribute hollowed out England’s economy and authority, turned short-term appeasement into invitation for conquest, and left a legacy of catastrophic leadership that reshaped the kingdom.
Romulus Augustulus: Rome’s Last Emperor and the Quietest Collapse Ever (opens the original)
Read excerpt
Imagine inheriting the biggest title in the Western world — Emperor of Rome — and discovering it’s mostly a costume and an empty office. This episode tells the story of Romulus Augustulus, a teenage emperor made a puppet by his father Orestes, whose refusal to satisfy the army’s demands leads to Odoacer’s revolt and the symbolic end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.More than a dramatic collapse, the episode shows how power had already shifted away from emperors to military strongmen and how
Honorius: The Emperor Who Lost Rome (opens the original)
Read excerpt
As child-emperor Honorius retreats into court paranoia and executes his chief general Stilicho, the Western Empire loses its best defense just as Alaric’s Visigoths press into Italy.The episode traces how misjudgment, palace intrigue, and indecision culminated in the 410 sack of Rome and accelerated the West’s slow unraveling.
Vespasian: Rome’s No-Nonsense Emperor After the Year of Chaos (opens the original)
Read excerpt
After the chaos of Nero and the Year of the Four Emperors, Vespasian arrives not as a divine showman but as a pragmatic commander determined to make Rome work again. Far from the capital in the east, he secures key provinces, wins military backing, and outlasts rivals to become emperor.Vespasian stabilizes the empire by shoring up the treasury (yes, including the infamous urine tax), securing grain supplies from Egypt, and funding public works like the Flavian Amphitheatre. He trades spectacle f
Publishing over time
Last 90 days. Choose a month to open its work.
Recurring subjects
Named in the text we hold. One piece can cover several.
Audience
No verified audience measurement yet.
About this data
Counts cover the work we have indexed. Tone needs enough text and a confident classification. Excerpts and episode notes are not full articles or transcripts.
Identity or attribution wrong? Suggest a correction.