Well guys, we’re right at the end of the Middle Ages.  [much rejoicing clip ] It’s been a longer process than I thought it would be back when I decided to call this podcast a ‘short’ walk through our long history.  It’s   taken us 50 episodes to get through all of human history up to AD 1600.  We covered the ancient world in episodes 1 through 26, and then covered the Middle Ages from episode 27 though this episode, episode 50.  And it feels fitting that we end the Middle Ages on a high note, as we talk about one of the most important, interesting, and mysterious figures in the history of literature.

If you ask, who are the most influential authors in human history, there are two who are in a category all by themselves.  Everyone else is a step down from these two.  The first, who we talked about way, way back in episode 6, was Homer.  And the other person in that category is William Shakespeare.