Context:

Referenced as a historian who 'published a couple of books in the last few years' arguing that the Byzantine Empire was essentially a Roman nation state.

Context:

Referenced when discussing the siege of Constantinople, noting it was 'one of the kind of inspirations for Tolkien's portrayal of the siege of Minas Tirith.'

Context:

Mentioned as 'a romance is written, Tiron le Blanc, I think in Catalonia, a few years after the fall of Constantinople' - a counterfactual story where Constantinople is recaptured.

Context:

Referenced when discussing Magnus Maximus (Macsen Wledig), noting 'he appears in the Mabinogion' as an important figure in Welsh medieval literature.

Context:

Referenced at the end of the episode when comparing their discussion to Gibbon's work: 'it took Edward Gibbon 20 years' to write about the fall of Rome.