Hello, listeners! Researching for this week’s podcasts made us rather tired. Mark Twain and Eleanor of Aquitaine simply did too many things.

I was introduced to Mark Twain through “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” like so many of us were. I was more interested in the controversy around the book (ooh, censorship!) than I was about its contents.

In college, I took a children’s literature course in which we discussed “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” and everything I’d missed in middle school came through this time. This year I read Twain’s autobiography, and Sarah and I both felt it was high time for a podcast in his honor.

Some fun facts: Twain was one of seven kids, although most of them died young. His brother Orion’s name is not pronounced like the constellation (put the emphasis on the first syllable instead), FYI, and his sister Pamela’s name was pronounced Pa-MELL-ah (the things we learn in research). He had all sorts of jobs and he was truly terrible with money. His childhood wasn’t all roses and neither was his adulthood — his family was plagued with ill health. Daughter Susy died in her 20s from meningitis in the family’s Connecticut home, and none of them could bear going back there to live. His beloved wife Livy died from heart failure in Italy for her convalescence, and a few years afterward, his youngest daughter Jean died from a seizure. Mark Twain was soon to follow.

If you want to hear all about his colorful life, from his time on the Mississippi River to his political views, download the podcast for free on iTunes.

Sarah was excited when we got two reader requests for Eleanor of Aquitaine, because we both love queens. Eleanor was the most powerful woman in 12th-century Europe. She was gorgeous and fabulously rich and very crafty, engaging in political machinations until the end of her very long life. Some of the commonly known facts about her, such as the idea that she presided over the Courts of Love, are patently false, but others, such as the rumor that she paraded off to the Crusades dressed as an Amazon, might be entirely true.

You can thank Eleanor for the long reign of the Plantagenets. She also happened to be imprisoned by her second husband for decades for inciting their son to rebellion against him and possibly cheated on her first husband with her uncle. Interested? Listen to the podcast and let us know what you think.

And of course feel free to leave podcast suggestions in the comments!

How does banning a book work?
How the Crusades Worked
How Royalty Works