Not Just the Tudors

We have long been taught that modern global history began when the 'Old World' encountered the 'New', when Christopher Columbus 'discovered' America in 1492. But, in a groundbreaking new book, Dr. Ca…

The Three Musketeers paints a picture of King Louis XIII of France as a rather weak monarch controlled by his powerful chief minister Cardinal Richelieu. Louis’ reign is generally thought of as being…

Many of us are seeing in a new year, but of course there are, even today, several different ways of marking dates and years in various parts of the world. The most popular calendar, though, is the Gr…

This week we're sharing again a fascinating podcast first released at this time last Christmas.

For the Tudors, Christmas Day was not traditionally the date when gifts were given. The Twelve Days of C…

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb presents her annual review of the year, recommending the finest history books she has discovered, the best television shows she’s watched, and the biggest historical disco…

A Tudor Christmas would have probably featured as much singing as we have today, if not more, and surprisingly many of the carols would have been the same: In Dulci Jubilo, The Coventry Carol, Gabrie…

In English cities of the 17th century, there was plenty to offend the eyes, ears, nose, taste buds, and skin of inhabitants. Residents were scarred by smallpox, refuse rotted in the streets, pigs and…

England was the only European country that completely banned translating the Bible. The dissident Lollards had produced one after the death of their hero, the radical 14th-century theologian John Wyc…

Mary, Queen of Scots wore red at her execution as a symbol of Catholic martyrdom. It was the climax of a life throughout which Mary used textiles to advance her political agenda, affirm her royal lin…

Making babies was a mysterious process for people in early modern England. Their ideas about conception, pregnancy and childbirth tell us much about their attitudes towards gender and power at that t…

Christiaan Huygens was the greatest scientist working in the vital period between Galileo and Newton, as the scientific revolution gathered pace. He discovered Saturn’s ring, invented the accurate pe…

For at least 700 years, presumed criminals were publicly executed in London. Such occasions were often gruesome, gory and very popular.

A new exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands explores this…

In 1627 Zhu Youjian, the Chongzhen Emperor, became the 17th - and what would turn out to be the last - Emperor of China’s Ming Dynasty. It had ruled a vast realm stretching 6.5 million square kilomet…

Already in 2022 we have celebrated England’s Lionesses winning the Women’s European Championships, and this month you may well be waiting with bated breath to see how England’s men fare in the World …

During the early part of the sixteenth century England should have been ruled by King Arthur Tudor with his wife Catherine of Aragon as Queen. Had the first-born son of Henry VII lived into adulthood…

On 30 January 1649, King Charles I was executed for treason. Within weeks the monarchy had been abolished and the House of Lords discarded. The people were now the sovereign force in the land. What t…

For many, the word Inca conjures up images of an ancient civilisation in South America, swiftly conquered by the Spanish in their quest for gold and Christian converts.

In this episode of Not Just the…

What was life really like in Tudor England? This was a society where monarchy was under strain, the church was in crisis, where contending with war, rebellion, plague and poverty was a fact of daily …

Queen Mary I was the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. She reigned - as England’s first Queen Regnant - between 1553-1558. Unlike her sister and successor Elizabeth I, Mary’s posthumous…

It's a little known fact that the Tudor monarchs and their councillors used - and feared - magic and the occult. At this time of great religious change and great religious faith, belief in magic was …