SPILLED.

• Was Versailles Just Overcompensation? Insecurity, Bizarre Rules, and Freestyle Rapping

  Versailles wasn’t just a palace — it was Louis XIV’s ego on display. In this episode, we break down how the Sun King’s insecurity complex shaped court life, from the bizarre rituals around his daily routine to the rules designed to keep everyone competing for his attention. We also trace how these traditions turned Versailles into the most theatrical (and exhausting) place on earth. We also may or may not try to freestyle rap, so stick around till the end.   Sources: Heltzel, Virgil B. “The Rules of Civility (1671) and Its French Source.” Modern Language Notes, vol. 43, no. 1, 1928, pp. 17–22. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2914493. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025. “Versailles and the Royal Court.” Palace of Versailles, en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/resources/versailles-and-royal-court. Accessed 15 Sept. 2025. Château de Versailles. “History.” Palace of Versailles: Discover History. Accessed 16 Sept. 2025. https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history Château de Versailles. “Courtiers — Key Dates.” https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/key-dates/courtiers Kronenberger, Louis. “Saint-Simon, Chronicler of Versailles.” The Kenyon Review, vol. 31, no. 2, 1969, pp. 237–54. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4334896. Accessed 16 Sept. 2025. Kettering, Sharon. “Brokerage at the Court of Louis XIV.” The Historical Journal 36, no. 1 (1993): 69–87. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2639516. “Anne of Austria.” EBSCO Research Starters. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/anne-austria (JSTOR) Stable ID: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3257484 “The Frustrations of Being the Spare: Second Sons in the French Monarchy.” (JSTOR Stable ID: jj.1640541.12) https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.1640541.12 Jenner, Greg. “Versailles: A Guide to Its Historical Accuracy.” BBC Two, May 2016. Accessed 13 Sept. 2025. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5jPx75byxj2rptb50s5y5nC/versailles-a-guide-to-its-historical-accuracy The Kings of France. “Versailles ‒ How to Behave at Versailles.” YouTube video, 11:23. Posted 18 Sept. 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lL8Dkvg-II Weird History. “The Weirdest Rules of Royal French Etiquette.” YouTube video, 9:51. Posted 16 Apr. 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU-EdjjCSV4 ElleHistory. “French Historian Explains Versailles Season 1.” YouTube video, 29 Mar. 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeGwhKCjDJ0 ElleHistory. “French Historian Gives an Overview of Versailles Season 2.” YouTube video, 24 May 2024. https://youtu.be/VQLGmpO_exs?si=3BzioO8aTxBt4ghB ElleHistory. “French Historian Reviews Versailles The TV Show.” YouTube video, 6 Oct. 2023. https://youtu.be/cIckIGV1veU?si=v8edyJ7mQBXm-V-h Reddit, r/AskHistorians: “Was the French Ancien Régime an Absolutist, Centralized State or a Backwards, Feudal Patchwork?” (1 year ago). PMWeng, “Did They Poop in the Halls at Versailles?” (5 years ago). “Did People in Versailles Actually ‘Do Their Business’ in the Corners of the Palace? How Dirty Was It Really?” (2 years ago). BreaksFull, “How Filthy Was Versailles? Why Was It Allowed to Be So?” (12 years ago). SumpCrab, “I Am a Woman Attending a Party at the Palace of Versailles during the Reign of Louis XVI…” (11 years ago). “Is It True the Entire Court Would Watch Louis XIV Bathe, Dress, Eat, Have Sex, etc.?” (7 years ago). “Louis XIV Created in Versailles an Everyday Ceremony of Clothing of the King… Why Did He Do It? What Did the Nobility Think About It?” (7 years ago).

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• Confessions of the Castrated Choir Boys

  This week we’re diving into the castrati, the choirboys who paid the ultimate price to hit the high notes. We cover how the church justified it, what actually went down in the procedure (spoiler: it’s grim), and why these singers were so popular. Of course, we can’t resist the scandals, the bedroom rumors, and all the messy ways castrati blurred gender and power. As always, there are way too many ball jokes and questionable accents, yet a surprising number of parallels to modern pop stars.   Sources: Jenkins, John S. “Mozart and the Castrati.” The Musical Times, vol. 151, no. 1913, Winter 2010, pp. 55–68.   Jenkins, John S. "The Lost Voice: A History of the Castrato." Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism, vol. 13, no. 6 (suppl.), February 2000, pp. 1503–1508. Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism. DOI: 10.1515/jpem-2000-s625.   Melicow, M. M. “Castrati Singers and the Lost ‘Cords.’” Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, vol. 59, no. 8, Oct. 1983, pp. 744–764.   Mount, H. “Treble Voices in English Choral Tradition.” Music & Letters, 1976.   Rosselli, John. “The Castrati as a Professional Group and a Social Phenomenon, 1550–1850.” Acta Musicologica, vol. 60, no. 2, May–Aug. 1988, pp. 143–179.   Sherr, Richard. “Guglielmo Gonzaga and the Castrati.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 33, 1980, pp. 33–56.   Taylor, Aaron. The Reception of the Castrati in Early-Eighteenth-Century London. Undergraduate dissertation, University of Bristol, 2013.   Lanzillotta, Lee. “What a Queer Institution Was the Castrati.” The Gay & Lesbian Review, July–Aug. 2024 issue, 1 July 2024, glreview.org/article/what-a-queer-institution-was-the-castrati/.   

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• Should Men Farm and Women Fight? The Dahomey Amazon Warriors

  This week we’re talking about the Dahomey Amazons, the all-women military force from West Africa who had European colonizers absolutely terrified. We get into how their story has been twisted over time, what they tell us about gender roles, and why African history deserves way more credit than it usually gets. Along the way there are plenty of side tangents, questionable sex jokes, and a few moments that would definitely get us banned from giving guided tours at any respectable museum.   Sources:  Baëta, C. G. “Review: Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief by E. Bolaji Idowu.” The Journal of African History, vol. 4, no. 1 (1963), pp. 134–135. Law, Robin. “The ‘Amazons’ of Dahomey.” Paideuma, vol. 39 (1993), pp. 245–260. Alpern, Stanley B. “On the Origins of the Amazons of Dahomey.” History in Africa, vol. 25 (1998), pp. 9–25. Yoder, John C. “Fly and Elephant Parties: Political Polarization in Dahomey, 1840–1870.” The Journal of African History, vol. 18, no. 1 (1977), pp. 65–90. Forbes, Frederick E. Dahomey and the Dahomans. 2 vols., London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851. Burton, Richard F. A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome. 2 vols., London: Tinsley Brothers, 1864.

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• Was Ben Franklin a Zaddy?

  Before he was flying kites in storms or posing on the $100 bill, young Benjamin Franklin was stirring trouble—and hearts. In this episode, we sift through the flirtatious, scandalous, and occasionally eyebrow-raising side of America’s favorite Founding Father: from the cheeky Silence Dogood letters that charmed colonial Boston, to fathering a child out of wedlock, to his rumored Parisian romance with Madame Brillon. We’ll also unpack his essay “Fart Proudly” (yes, really) and his infamously unfiltered advice on choosing a mistress. Was Franklin a true 18th-century heartthrob or just history’s most charismatic chaos agent? Let’s gossip.   Sources: "1776–1783: Diplomacy of the American Revolution." Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, 1997–2001 archive. Diplomacy is Our Mission, U.S. State Dept., https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/history/time1.html. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. “Fighting for Independence: An Alliance with France.” Diplomacy Is Our Mission, U.S. State Department, https://diplomacy.state.gov/online-exhibits/diplomacy-is-our-mission/security/fighting-for-independence-an-alliance-with-france/. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.   “Benjamin Franklin in France.” The Americas, Cambridge University Press.   Boyd, Julian P. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Vol. 6, Yale University Press, 1963. JSTOR.   “Divided Loyalties: Benjamin and William Franklin.” Monticello, 21 Mar. 2021, www.monticello.org/research-education/blog/divided-loyalties-benjamin-and-william-franklin/. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.   Copeland, Thomas W. “Franklin’s Mistress Letter: Satire or Sincerity?” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 3, July 1971, pp. 421–437. JSTOR.   “Enlightenment Irony and Satirical Ethics.” American Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 1, Spring 1977, pp. 45–63. JSTOR.   “Fart Proudly.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, Winter 1975, pp. 190–200. JSTOR.   Franklin, Benjamin. “Letter from Benjamin Franklin to a Royal Academy About Farting (1781).” Teaching American History, teachingamericanhistory.org/document/letter-to-a-royal-academy/. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.   Goodman, Dena. “Sociability and Politeness in Enlightenment France.” Eighteenth-Century Studies, vol. 23, no. 3, Spring 1990, pp. 329–350. JSTOR.   Granger, Lester. “Franklin's Literary Satire.” Early American Literature, vol. 10, no. 3, Winter 1976, pp. 223–237. JSTOR.   “He Was a Founding Father. His Son Sided with the British.” National Geographic, 12 June 2024, www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/founding-father-benjamin-franklin-son-sided-with-british. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.   Lemay, J. A. Leo. “Franklin’s Autobiography and the American Dream.” The New England Quarterly, vol. 47, no. 2, June 1974, pp. 208–233. JSTOR.   Lopez, Claude-Anne. “Franklin and Madame Brillon: An Intimate Portrait.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 2, Apr. 1984, pp. 181–213. JSTOR.   Mulford, Carla. “Irony and Intimacy in Franklin’s Correspondence.” Early American Literature, vol. 14, no. 3, Winter 1979, pp. 267–284. JSTOR.   Oberg, Barbara B. “Sex and Satire in the Age of Franklin.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 99, no. 4, Oct. 1975, pp. 450–462. JSTOR.   Skemp, Sheila L. “William Franklin: Son of a Patriot, Servant of a King.” Journal of American Studies, vol. 24, no. 3, Dec. 1990, pp. 359–377. JSTOR.   “William Franklin.” American Battlefield Trust, www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/william-franklin. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.  

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• The Truth Behind (some) Catholic Virgin Saints

  What do a beheaded music lover, a teenage runaway, a dragon-slayer, and a girl who just wanted to stay single have in common? They all became virgin saints — whether they asked for it or not. In this episode, we unravel the lives (and afterlives) of St. Agnes of Rome, St. Cecilia, St. Margaret of Antioch, and St. Margaret of Cortona — four women whose stories were polished, rebranded, and passed down as holy templates of purity and pain. There’s a lot of uncomfortable questions about control — especially over young women’s bodies, choices, and legacies. These weren’t passive martyrs - they were messy, complicated figures whose real power may have been in how inconvenient they were. This week, we’re peeling back the gold leaf to ask: Who gets remembered as a saint — and what did it cost them?   Sources:  Elliott, Dyan. “The Bride of Christ and the Milk of the Virgin: An Example of Marginalia as a Source for Women’s History.” Signs, vol. 14, no. 2, 1989, pp. 252–268. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3174397. Bitel, Lisa M. “Body of a Saint, Story of a Saint: Creating a Sacred Past.” History of Religions, vol. 30, no. 2, 1990, pp. 116–140. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1062951. Lochrie, Karma. “Between Women: Imagining.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, vol. 4, no. 4, 1998, pp. 523–556. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41678197. Hollywood, Amy. “Virginity and the Invention of Heterosexuality.” Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 10, no. 1, 2001, pp. 1–32. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3704550. Petroff, Elizabeth Alvilda. “Women and Mysticism.” Mysticism and Spirituality, vol. 1, 1986, pp. 113–135. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40339263.

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