Welcome back and welcome to Season Three! As always, I’m Benjamin Bernier, and this week we’re going to get right into it...

Picking up where we left off at the end of last season, we're going to watch the newly crowned Pépin I of the Carolingians answer the call for help from the Pope... just three years after the call was initially put out, and after the death of the Pope who was calling. So much for timelines! However, when the Franks finally did get things in order in Francia well enough for them to come over the Alps, well, the Lombards were going to find out who the real power players in Western Europe really were. All of this action would lead to new realizations, a new map of Empire, and in the end, a Donation to the Church that would change the way the Papacy was viewed right up until the present day.

On a more present note, with the inauguration of Season 3, we here at T+M also decided the time was right to start a Patreon account! We appreciate everyone who listens to the show and everyone who leaves reviews, and now we’re asking, if your heart is big enough, to show the world how much you like us with a donation to help us cover some of the production costs. Over the past two years, we’ve done this show with almost nothing in the way of ads or other income, and well, it hasn’t been the greatest business model, to say the least! What we’re doing now is asking you to pick a level you’re comfortable with, and with those levels you’ll get access to some great extras, as well as the chance to join the Merovingians, Carolingians, Capetians or Napoleons:

• For $1 you can become a Merovingian, a founding supporter of the show; for that you’ll get your name read out in our next episode!
• For $3 you can step up to being a Carolingian; at that tier you get your name read out, you get access to our Patreon Exclusive episodes, and the chance to vote on topics for upcoming Exclusives. We have five of our Bonus Episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 already migrated over to Patreon, and we plan on dropping a new Exclusive episode once a month going forward. For January, we’ll be looking at what might have been if Charles Martel had lost at the Battle of Tours; if that interests you and you want to have a say in the show, this level is for you!
• Next is the Capetian level, offering you all of the other great benefits already mentioned. But wait, there’s more! For $5/month as a Capetian, you’ll get access to the ad-free feed of the show (because soon enough, the free stream of the pod will include staff-selected ads from companies with products we think our audience will like). If you don’t want your listening experience sullied by intrusive adverts, then please head on over to Patreon and take advantage of becoming a Capetian.
• Finally, for anyone out there who dreams just a little bigger, we have the final level: Napoleonic! For $20/month, you get everything the show has to offer, plus you’ll get your name mentioned in every single episode while your reign lasts. And there’s a limit to how many Emperors we can have: just as there were only three Emperors Napoleon, this tier will also be limited to three. You just don’t get much more exclusive than that, and we’re sure that we’ll have extra extras in store for you as time goes on.

Thank you for supporting the show, and thank you for showing you care, either financially or with a nice review! We are looking forward to another great season, and can't wait to be back in your feed in 10 days!

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Links to social media and the website:

Site: https://www.thugsandmiracles.com/

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @thugsandmiracle (with no “s” on the end)

Facebook: @ThugsAndMiracles

Instagram: @ThugsAndMiracles

YouTube: Thugs and Miracles

Academia.edu: Life After Rome

Listenable: History of the Merovingians, 451-613