
The Rise of Absolutism and of the Middle Class
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Narrated by:
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Andrea Giordani
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By:
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Lynn Thorndike
About this listen
The era of absolutism as exemplified by the "Sun King" Louis XIV of France marks the rise of rulers throughout Europe who had absolute power over their nations. Mercantilism became the primary form of economy and gave rise to a middle class.
"The Rise of Absolutism and of the Middle Class" is an excerpt from The History of Medieval Europe by Lynn Thorndike.
Public Domain (P)2019 Museum Audiobooks
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The narration also leaves something to be desired. The narrator's voice seems to be a mix of British with Eastern and Southern European accents, which makes it hard to follow the idiosyncratic pronunciations of words. Some of the pronunciations are just flat-out incorrect, regardless of which accent someone has. For instance, the narrator pronounces Cesare Borgia like "Caesar" (it's supposed to be pronounced like CHE-sa-REY). The narrator's accent also causes her to put emphases on odd syllables (like pronouncing "political" as "PAW-lee-TEE-kal" instead of "po-LIT-i-CAL"), which breaks the listener's flow of concentration and causes the listener to have to pause and think, "Wait, what word did she just say?" Also, the audio equipment used by the narrator seems to be of low quality, as her plosives pop and pierce through one's headphones/speakers too sharply.
Dry text, odd narration
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