In the 16th century, “strangers” was the name used in England for people who were born in territories not controlled by the Tudor monarchy. Thinking about Henry VIII’s armed forces, we might not expect to find “strangers” among them - but there were. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Catherine Fletcher and Samantha Nelson. Their research into the crew of the Mary Rose - the Tudor warship that sank in the Solent on 19 July 1545 - has revealed some fascinating insights into the origins of the men who served on board.

This episode was edited by Stuart Beckwith and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Hardwick Hall is a triumph of Elizabethan architecture. Built in the late sixteenth century, its halls, corridors and staircases embody the magnificence of the Renaissance period in England. But they also tell the story of the remarkable woman who built it in a patriarchal age - the four-times-married Bess of Hardwick, England’s wealthiest woman after Queen Elizabeth I.

In this episode of Not Just The Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb takes us on a tour of Hardwick Hall. Roaming its tapestry-lined oak corridors, she recounts it’s rich history, uncovers a connection with Mary, Queen of Scots and seeks to rehabilitate Bess’s rapacious reputation.

This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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John Donne was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, an MP, a priest, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral - and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language. He converted from Catholicism to Protestantism, was jailed for marrying a high-born girl without her father's consent, struggled to feed a family of ten children and was often ill and in pain. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb meets Katherine Rundell, author of the acclaimed book Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2022. Together they explore the life and work of a man who, despite a life of extreme challenges, expressed in his verse electric joy and love.

This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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When Sir Walter Raleigh set out to South America to find the legendary city of El Dorado, he paved the way for a series of adventurers who would struggle against the harsh reality of South America’s wild jungles. Six decades later, when a group of English gentlemen expelled from England chose to establish a new colony in what is now Suriname, they named the settlement in honour of its founder Sir Francis Willoughby.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to author Matthew Parker. His book Willoughbyland: England’s Lost Colony tells the story of how this one-time paradise became a place of terror and cruelty, of sugar and slavery. 

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Catherine Howard was Queen Consort - and fifth wife - to Henry VIII for just 16 months before he had her executed for treason for committing adultery. Since Victorian times, historians have labelled her as lewd and promiscuous, but there was an altogether more complex young woman behind the rumours.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, first released in July 2021, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Gareth Russell, author of Young and Damned and Fair, a riveting account of Catherine's tragic marriage to an unstable King, and the tragedy of her life in a dangerous hothouse where the odds were stacked against her. 

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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What do you get when you bring together five top historians to debate Mary, Queen of Scots on film? History with the gloves off - our second special episode of Not Just the Tudors Lates! This time, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb takes as her starting point the tragic life of the Scottish Queen and her relationship with her rival and cousin Queen Elizabeth I.

Suzannah is joined once again by Dr Joanne Paul, Jessie Childs, Alex von Tunzelmann and Professor Sarah Churchwell to compare the various film versions of Mary’s story, where they have got it right - and often wildly wrong.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

Listen to the first Not Just the Tudors Lates about Elizabeth I on Screen, here.

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In the early 17th century, an aged veteran of Spain's wars against the Ottoman Empire published a book. It was the story of a poor nobleman who deludes himself that he is a knight errant and sets off on hilarious adventures. Don Quixote went on to sell more copies than any other book beside the Bible, making its author Cervantes the single most-read author in human history. 

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to William Egginton, author of The Man Who Invented Fiction: How Cervantes ushered in the Modern World. Together they explore Cervantes's life and the world he lived in, how his influences converged in his work, and how Don Quixote radically changed the nature of literature and created a new way of viewing the world. 

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In one week in London in September, 1665, no fewer than 47 different causes of death were reported, including consumption, fever, dropsy, being frightened, grief, worms, vomiting, and plague. We know this because of a record called a Bill of Mortality, a broad sheet that was printed to list the number of burials in and around the city of London by district and the causes of those deaths.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Vanessa Harding about Bills of Mortality and what they can tell us about life and death in early modern London.

The subject of this podcast was suggested by listener Keith Denny. If you have an idea for an episode, please email notjustthetudors@historyhit.com or via Twitter @NotJustTudors.

This episode was edited by Anisha Deva and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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During a time of increasing religious and political conflict, Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s paintings portrayed work and pleasure, rituals and festivals of peasant life, and biblical scenes - all in startling detail. Inspired by humanist principles, Bruegel’s art questioned how well we know ourselves, often representing our ignorance and insignificance, the futility of ambition and the absurdity of pride.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Elizabeth Honig, author of Pieter Bruegel and the Idea of Human Nature, to explore further how Bruegel’s art and ideas enable people to ponder what it means to be human. 

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In the 17th Century, people experienced major social and economic problems that intertwined with religious disagreements and political debates. The turbulence led to civil war, the execution of King Charles I and a failed experiment with Republicanism. But what led Britain into this world turned upside down? And was the society that was delivered a better one than the one before?

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Jonathan Healey - author of The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England - about what we can learn from the lives of ordinary people about the fears and worries that drove them to radical action.

This episode was edited by Stuart Beckwith and produced by Elena Guthrie and Rob Weinberg.

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For centuries, the name of an accomplished and popular portrait painter in the court of Elizabeth I has remained unknown. The renowned art historian Sir Roy Strong dubbed this artist the ‘Master of the Countess of Warwick’ but his identity has remained a mystery - until now. A fascinating new exhibition presents his works side-by-side - and it proposes a name for this mysterious artist.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb visits the exhibition at Compton Verney in Warwickshire to meet curator Amy Orrock and to find out more about the work - and probable life - of a great, forgotten painter.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Today we know that menstruation is a biological process. There’s a great deal of scientific research that explains the menstrual cycle. But how was menstruation perceived and understood in Early Modern England? Was it talked about by women and men in the same way? How did it influence attitudes towards women? And how did women manage their menstrual cycles physically and mentally?

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb explores these questions with Dr. Sara Read.

**WARNING: This podcast contains descriptions of, and discussions about, female blood loss**

This episode was edited by Stuart Beckwith and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Anne Boleyn’s reputation is buried beneath centuries of labels: home-wrecker, seductress, opportunist, witch, romantic victim, Protestant martyr, feminist. But a new look at the final year of Anne Boleyn’s life reveals a very human portrait of a brilliant, passionate and complex woman.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Natalie Grueninger, author of The Final Year of Anne Boleyn, about that last year of Anne’s life, its joys and its tragedies. 

This episode was edited by Anisha Deva and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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'Western Civilisation' is often thought of as a continuous thread through the centuries - from classical antiquity to the countries of the modern West - connecting Plato to NATO. 

But in her new book - The West: A New History of an Old Idea - archaeologist and historian Professor Naoìse Mac Sweeney charts the history of 'the West' as an invention used to justify imperialism and racism - a notion that can be disproved by the lives of 14 historical figures.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Mac Sweeney, about four of these fascinating figures - Tullia d’Aragona, Safiye Sultan, Francis Bacon and Nzinga of Ndongo & Matamba - whose remarkable lives correct our telling of Western history.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In preparation for International Women's Day this Wednesday, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb takes a look at a Queen whose reputation has largely been shaped by her husband's midlife crisis. History does not see much further than Katherine of Aragon's so-called failure to provide Henry with a son and heir, and this means something very important about her has been missed - that Katherine was raised to become England’s first Renaissance Queen.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to art historian Dr. Emma Luisa Cahill Marrón about how Katherine and Henry worked together over two decades to create a Renaissance court that attracted Europe’s greatest writers, artists and thinkers.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Between 1598 and 1785, the Papal or Roman Inquisition in Modena, Northern Italy, put 393 Jews on trial. Regarded as infidels, Jews were accused of, among other things, blasphemy, employing a Christian servant, owning prohibited books, and having sex with Christians. But the trials belie a somewhat different picture - one in which, in many cases, Jews and Christians co-existed happily together in Modena.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb finds out more from Professor Katherine Aron-Beller, about the real lives of the Jews who stood before the inquisition in Italy.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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On 6 September 1560, Amy Robsart Dudley died after falling down a staircase at Cumnor Place in Oxfordshire. But did she fall? Was she pushed? Or did she throw herself down the stairs?  These questions exercised Tudor courtiers and foreign ambassadors at the time. The truth mattered because Amy was the wife of Queen Elizabeth I’s leading courtier and very close friend, Robert Dudley, and his wife’s death could clear the way for Elizabeth to marry Dudley. But in practice, the circumstances of Amy’s death precluded any possibility of a royal marriage. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Joanne Paul - author of the acclaimed book The House of Dudley - to discuss what really happened - was it an accident, suicide or murder?

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

**WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of suicide**

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In the early seventeenth century, a Hungarian aristocrat called Erzsébet Báthory - or Elizabeth Bathory - was accused of murdering more than 600 young women. Her gruesome story has been sensationalised in books, film, and music. But is it true?

In this explainer episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb examines the evidence, Bathory’s alleged modus operandi, and the lives of the poor victims.

**WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and murder**

This episode was edited by Anisha Deva and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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The most important discovery related to Mary Queen of Scots for 100 years was recently made - by a team of amateur cryptologists. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks with Dr. George Lasry - a computer scientist by day - about how he and his colleagues found by chance more than 50 letters in code in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, deciphered them, and proved that Mary wrote them during six of her 19 years of imprisonment.  What insights do they give us into the personal and political thoughts of one of Europe’s most famous and tragic monarchs?

The full paper on the ciphered letters can be found in the journal Cryptologia, here.

The project was sponsored by DECRYPT Project - a European inter-university project to collect, transcribe, and decipher encoded documents found in archives, crypt.org/">here.

This episode was edited by Stuart Beckwith and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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The rich and powerful Guise family was one of the most treacherous and bloodthirsty in sixteenth-century France. They whipped up religious bigotry, overthrowing the king. They ruled Scotland for nearly 20 years through Mary Queen of Scots, plotting to invade England and overthrow Elizabeth I. And they unleashed the bloody Wars of Religion, playing a crucial role in the murder of 4,000 Protestants in the infamous Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Stuart Carroll - author of Martyrs and Murderers: The Guise Family and the Making of Europe - about this cultivated, charismatic and violent dynasty.

This episode was edited by Stuart Beckwith and produced by Rob Weinberg.

**WARNING: This episode contains some graphic descriptions of violence**

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What was it like to grow up in Tudor England? How were children cared for, what did they play with, and which subjects were they taught?

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Nicholas Orme who, in his new book Tudor Children, provides a rich survey of childhood in the Tudor period from birth and infancy through to the education they received and the work they undertook.

This episode was edited by and produced by Rob Weinberg

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This month on Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates four of history’s most notorious murders and brutal crimes.

In this first episode she’s joined by Charles Nicholl to dig deeper into the mystery of the 1593 murder of the brilliant and controversial playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was stabbed to death in a house in Deptford. The official account stated it was a violent quarrel over the bill.

But as Charles Nicholl explains, critical evidence about that fatal day points to Marlowe's shadowy political and intelligence dealings.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg

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Charles I's Queen Henrietta Maria was perhaps the most reviled consort to have worn the crown of Britain's three kingdoms. To this day, she remains the wife who turned her husband Catholic - causing a civil war - and a cruel and bigoted mother.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb dispels some of the myths about Henrietta Maria with author Leanda de Lisle, whose highly acclaimed book Henrietta Maria: Conspirator, Warrior, Phoenix Queen, reveals an altogether very different person.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg

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Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549) was an influential diplomat and political activist, an outstanding patron of philosophers and artists, an accomplished writer and poet, and sister to King François I of France. She has been described as the “Mother of the Renaissance in France”. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb finds out more about this remarkable, charismatic, and talented royal woman with Dr Emily Butterworth.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

The subject of this podcast was suggested by a listener. If there is a subject you would like to hear more about, please email notjustthetudors@historyhit.com or message us on Twitter at @NotJustTudors

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In 1618, almost 100 impoverished children from London - some as young as eight - arrived in Jamestown, Virginia to labour in the growing colony. It was the first example of transporting children to colonies that would continue into the twentieth century. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb finds out more from Dr. Deborah Albon whose groundbreaking research traces the lives of these children from urban poverty, through incarceration in Bridewell to, if they survived the Atlantic crossing, a life no less miserable in the New World.

**WARNING: This episode contains some graphic descriptions of violence against young people**

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg

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In the cut-throat world of the Elizabethan court, Sir Christopher Hatton became one of Elizabeth I’s favourites. After catching her eye in 1561, Hatton was quickly promoted to the Privy Council, making a significant impact on Elizabeth’s complex religious policy. Yet Hatton has often been overshadowed by such Tudor heavyweights as Dudley, Cecil and Walsingham.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb finds out more from Dr. Neil Younger about Hatton’s rise from minor gentry to the Queen’s closest aide, and addresses the burning question: were Elizabeth and Hatton lovers?

This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In 1628, a Dutch East India flagship called Batavia set sail from the Netherlands, never to reach her destination. Eight months into the voyage, the ship was wrecked on coral reef off the western coast of Australia. What then befell her surviving crew and passengers was horrifying and tragic. It has been described as “one of the worst horror stories in maritime history.” 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to author Jess Kidd. Her recent novel about Batavia, The Night Ship - based on her extensive research of sources and archives - has been named a Sunday Times’ Best Historical Fiction Book of the Year. 

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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In Elizabethan England, swords were everywhere. Hanging on girdles, used in plays and depicted in paintings, they were an important marker of status and martial prowess. Swordplay was a popular martial art and pastime enjoyed by all rungs of Tudor society. But what would these swords have looked like? And how did Elizabethan gentlemen fight with them? 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Jacob H. Deacon, a doctoral student at the University of Leeds. Together they discuss the origins of swordplay and it’s relation to fencing, how it was regulated and performed by the mysterious Masters of Defence and, most importantly, how to distinguish your rapier from your backsword. 

This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg 

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When strange signs appeared in the sky over Quebec in 1660, the French settlers started to worry about evil forces in their midst. Then, a teenaged servant called Barbe Hallay started to act as if she were possessed by demons. She accused a local miller of bewitching her and, the following year, he was imprisoned and executed. Priests and nuns tried to drive the demons away - but in the end it was something else that worked.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Mairi Cowan, author of The Possession of Barbe Hallay: Diabolical Arts and Daily Life in Early Canada, a fascinating account of a case of demonic possession in early modern North America.

This episode was edited by Anisha Deva and produced by Rob Weinberg.

The subject of this podcast was suggested by listener Mike Old, a descendent of Barbe Hallay. If you have an idea for an episode, please send it via our Twitter feed @NotJustTudors or by email to notjustthetudors@historyhit.com.

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In April 1538 - to celebrate the birth of Prince Edward and the 30th anniversary of his reign - King Henry VIII began work on a royal palace in Surrey, designed to be unequalled as a celebration of the power and the grandeur of the Tudor dynasty: Nonsuch Palace.

Henry spared no expense on the estate, spending nine years and £7.4 million in today’s money on its construction. But less than 150 years later, the palace had been demolished by a mistress of King Charles II to pay off her debts.

It wasn’t until the summer of 1959 that Nonsuch Palace was excavated, by a team led by Professor Martin Biddle CBE. He joins Professor Suzannah Lipscomb in this episode of Not Just the Tudors, to talk about what they discovered about one of the great wonders of the Early Modern world.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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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. Caroline Dodds Pennock conclusively shows that for tens of thousands of Aztecs, Maya, Totonacs, Inuit and others - enslaved people, diplomats, explorers, servants, traders - the reverse was true: they discovered Europe. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Dodds Pennock about a story of abduction, loss, cultural appropriation, and, as indigenous peoples saw it, of apocalypse. 

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 the beginning of the “age of absolutism” when ministers like Richelieu were in the ascendancy and the power of the court and courtiers declined. But was this really the case?

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Marc Jaffré, who believes it’s time to revise the conventional view of this significant period in French history.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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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 Gregorian, introduced in October 1852 by Pope Gregory XIII.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Christina Faraday to find out how and why the Gregorian calendar was introduced, the impact it had on people’s lives, and the serious debate and, in some countries, centuries long resistance to its use.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 Christmas begin on 25 December and end at Epiphany, 6 January - also known as Twelfth Night. In Tudor times, all 12 were feast days, but 1 January was the day when presents were unwrapped.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into how Christmas and New Year were marked by the Tudors and Stuarts, and what kind of gifts they gave, with Dr. Felicity Heal, author of The Power of Gifts: Gift Exchange in Early Modern England.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 discoveries that have changed the way we understand - or which shed new light upon - the Tudors, but not just the Tudors. And to round things up, she offers her pick of some of the exciting things to come in 2023.

The researcher was Esther Arnott. This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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, Gabriel’s message were among the yuletide hits that would have resounded through Tudor era churches.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb finds out more from Lisa Colton, Professor of Musicology and Head of the Department of Music at the University of Liverpool.

Music credits: 

Pastime with Good Company performed by Jay Britton

Coventry Carol

There Is No Rose of Such Virtue performed by Guildford Cathedral Choir

This Is The Record of John performed by Guildford Cathedral Choir

Marvel Not, Joseph performed by University of Surrey Chamber Choir

This episode was edited by Aidan Lonergan and Joseph Knight, and produced by Elena Guthrie & Rob Weinberg. 

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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 dogs roamed free.  

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Emily Cockayne — author of Hubbub: Filth, Noise and Stench in England — about all the unpleasant aspects of city life and how they were navigated, or endured, by citizens.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Elena Guthrie. 

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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 Wycliffe, but owning a copy could be a capital offence. When idealistic humanist William Tyndale printed his English New Testament in Germany in 1526, it became the most influential text in the history of the English language.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Alec Ryrie, about how making the Bible accessible to English readers triggered a momentous and permanent shift of religious power away from the Church and university elites.

This episode was edited by Annie Coloe and produced by Elena Guthrie.

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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 lineage and tell her story - from her lavish gowns to the subversive messages she embroidered in captivity for her supporters. 

In this episode to mark the 480th anniversary of Mary’s birth on 8 December 1542, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to artist Clare Hunter - author of Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power - to discover more about Mary via the textiles of her life. 

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 time.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, first released in September 2021, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Mary Fissell. She has been delving into a wealth of popular sources - ballads, jokes, witchcraft pamphlets, prayer books and popular medical manuals - to produce the first account of how women's reproductive bodies were understood in the 17th century.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 pendulum clock, and devised a wave theory of light far ahead of its time.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to author Hugh Aldersey-Williams to find out more about Huygens and why — more even than Newton — he can be called the father of modern science. 

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 grisly history - who the recipients of capital punishment were, the places where they met their end and how they died, and the crimes that were punishable by death.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb tours the exhibition with curator Tom Ardill.

**WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of executions**

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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 kilometres for 250 years.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Timothy Brook to discover more about Zhu Youjian’s remarkable life and startling death, and explore the nature of his power and how it collapsed.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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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 Cup. Such anticipation, celebration — and sometimes commiseration — are nothing new in football. In fact, the beautiful game goes back centuries. But what else is there to know about early modern football?

In today’s explainer episode, Professor Susannah Lipscomb takes us through the game: who played it, where it was played, and the rules people played by (or didn’t).

This episode was edited by Aidan Lonergan and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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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, his younger brother would never have become King Henry VIII and married - and divorced - Arthur’s widow, and the subsequent history of England would have been very different. 

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Sean Cunningham, author of Prince Arthur: The Tudor King Who Never Was, in which he surveys Prince Arthur’s life and assesses what type of king he might have become.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 this meant, and where it would lead, no one knew.

In her new book, The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown, Anna Keay brings to life a fascinating cast of characters who lived through the turbulent years under Oliver Cromwell. In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Anna Keay about the most extraordinary and experimental decade in Britain’s history, when a conservative people tried revolution.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb sets out to find out the truth about the Incas with Professor R. Alan Covey. His research has revealed Inca society as wealthy, complex and cosmopolitan, and debunks the common narrative of a rapid, decisive Spanish conquest.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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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 life. Yet it was also an age rich in ideas and ideals, where women asserted their agency and found a literary voice. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Lucy Wooding, who has written a bold new history of the brilliant, conflicted, visionary world of Tudor England, presenting a starkly different picture of this famous era from the one we thought we know.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 reputation has largely focussed on religious persecution. But what does the written evidence from her own lifetime say about the manner in which she ruled?

In today’s edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Valerie Schutte and Dr. Jessica S. Hower. Their extensive research into Queen Mary I asks new questions and seeks new answers that deepen our understanding of her reign, her significance and her impact on the early modern era and its popular culture.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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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 practically orthodox and certainly widespread.

In today’s edition for Hallowe'en, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into Tudor sorcery with Dr. Francis Young who believes it should come as no surprise that magic and politics were so closely linked - for both are concerned with the exercise of power.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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In 1611, the daughter of a Persian nobleman and widow of a subversive official, became the 20th and favourite wife of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Unique and outstanding for the age in which she lived, Nur Jahan rose to become an astute politician, issuing imperial orders and appearing on coins. But she was also a talented dress designer and innovative architect whose work inspired her stepson's Taj Mahal. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Ruby Lal, author of the deeply researched and evocative biography of Nur Jahan, Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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The so-called “Prayer Book Rebellion” of 1549 saw the people of Devon and Cornwall rising up against the young King Edward VI, determined to halt the religious reforms of the Tudor period. The rebellion led to a siege of Exeter, savage battles with Crown forces, and the deaths of 4,000 local men and women. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Mark Stoyle, whose new book A Murderous Midsummer: The Western Rising of 1549 offers a definitive account of the year that thousands of men and women rose to defend their faith and their regional identity.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Historians would be completely lost without the colourful, crucial insights of Eustace Chapuys, the Spanish Ambassador to Henry VIII's court from 1529 to 1545. Chapuys’ dispatches were filled with personal and insightful observations of the key players around the King. 

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr Lauren Mackay, author of Inside the Tudor Court, which brings Chapuys to life - a passionate and acerbic man who provided an unparalleled perspective of Henry VIII, his court and the Tudor period.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Few cases of same-sex acts between women are known in early modern Europe. Yet in the Southern Netherlands, some 25 women were charged with “female sodomy” between c. 1400 and 1550 - and they received the same punishment as their male counterparts. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Jonas Roelens. He argues that this exceptional repression of female same-sex acts was the result of the relatively high level of liberty and visibility women enjoyed in the Southern Netherlands, compared to other regions. The more visible women were in society, the more women attracted to others of their own sex were at risk of being discovered and penalised.

*WARNING: This episode contains explicit sexual content*`

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Historians face an enormous challenge finding documents that tell the stories of women in times past. In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor James Daybell. His extensive research into women’s letters reveal much about their education, literacy, political aspirations and sense of self in the Early Modern period.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Anisha Deva and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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The Sultanate of Patani - now part of modern day Thailand - enjoyed a golden age during the reign of four successive queens, which commenced in 1584. Under their rule, the kingdom's economic and military strength greatly increased to the point that it was able to fight off four major Siamese invasions.In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb discovers more about these extraordinary rulers, their power and their influence, to Professor Stefan Amirell, President of the Swedish Historical Association and an expert in female political leadership in world history.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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The raising of the Mary Rose 40 years ago - along with some 19,000 objects which sank with her - has become a great boon to Tudor historians, offering an unrivalled glimpse of life at that time. Additionally sixteenth century attempts to depict the tragedy and efforts to retrieve the ship at the time allow us access into aspects of Tudor life that we would have no other way of knowing. 

In the last of her three special episodes on the Mary Rose, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is in Portsmouth to examine what the Mary Rose has revealed to us about life in the Tudor age.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Forty years ago on 11 October 1982, after 437 years under water, Henry VIII’s warship, the Mary Rose, was raised from the seabed of the Solent. But how was such a remarkable feat achieved? How did they go about conserving a Tudor warship and the many objects which were on board? And what has been learned about the people who went down with her?

In the second part of Not Just the Tudors’ mini-series to mark the 40th anniversary of the raising of the Mary Rose, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is in Portsmouth to find out more from Dr. Alexandra Hildred - who was part of the team that excavated the Mary Rose; Professor Eleanor Schofield, the Deputy Chief Executive at the Mary Rose Trust; and Hannah Matthews, a Curator and osteoarchaeologist who has been closely examining the Mary Rose’s human remains.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Dame Hilary Mantel died on 22 September 2022 at the age of 70. Her acclaimed Wolf Hall trilogy - which brought the life of Thomas Cromwell so vividly to life - has sold more than five million copies worldwide. She won the Booker Prize twice - for Wolf Hall and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and History Hit's Dan Snow pay tribute to one of the greatest English-language novelists of our century.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Exactly forty years ago, in a groundbreaking and spectacular piece of marine conservation that captured the imagination of the world, the Mary Rose was raised from the seabed. The warship, commissioned by Henry VIII in 1511, sank on 19 July 1545 during an encounter between French and English fleets in the Solent, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. Perhaps up to 500 men were on board, only 34 survived.

In the first of three specials marking the 40th anniversary of the raising of the Mary Rose, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb travels to Portsmouth to find out why the Mary Rose sank. She's joined by Dr. Dominic Fontana, Retired Senior Lecturer in Geography formerly at the University of Portsmouth, and Dr. Alexandra Hildred, Head of Research and Curator of Ordnance and Human Remains at the Mary Rose Trust.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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The Royal African Company was set up in 1660 - by the ruling Stuart family and City of London merchants - to exploit gold fields up the Gambia River. But it soon developed into a brutal and sustained slave trader, shipping more enslaved Africans to the Americas than any other company.

In today’s Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor William Pettigrew, whose research into the Royal African Company grounds the slave trade in politics and not economic forces.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Anisha Deva and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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We tend to associate the word ‘dynasty’ with men. But in sixteenth century England, women played a no less important role in these influential families. Among the most powerful were the Howards, which produced two Queens - Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard - as well as numerous women who made their own significant contribution to Tudor life.  

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Nicola Clark. Her research - putting women centre-stage - is leading to a new understanding of the complexity of the early modern dynasty. 

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Exactly 500 years ago, a small band of sailors completed the first ever circumnavigation of the globe, launched by Ferdinand Magellan.  From the armada of five ships and some 270 men that set out, only one ship and 18 men returned. Magellan was not among them, and if he had been, he would hardly have received a hero’s welcome.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb marks the anniversary with Magellan’s award-winning biographer Laurence Bergreen. Together they consider Magellan the man and how his voyage changed the world’s ideas about cosmology and geography.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Queen Elizabeth II has died after 70 years on the British throne.

Born in April 1926, Elizabeth Windsor became heir apparent, aged 10, when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated and her father George VI became king.

In 1947 she married navy lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, a Greek Prince, at London’s Westminster Abbey before being crowned there in 1953 in the world’s first televised coronation.

In this special episode of our sister podcast, Dan Snow’s History Hit, Dan is joined by historian Kate Williams to look at The Queen’s childhood, adolescence in WWII and the upbringing that made her a monarch admired around the world.

Producer: Charlotte Long 

Audio editor: Dougal Patmore

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Hardly anything has been written about the musicians who carried out many important tasks in England’s maritime ventures during the Elizabethan age. That is until now. Pioneering research has revealed that performers played a vital role, including using music to build relationships with the inhabitants of new found lands.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. James Seth about his discoveries, which shows musicians transcending and breaching boundaries of language, rank, race, religion and nationality to ensure the success of a voyage.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was researched by Esther Arnott, and edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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*WARNING: This episode contains very strong language - including the F and C words - and derogatory terms for sex workers. So if you're likely to feel offended by these, please feel free to listen to another episode of Not Just the Tudors!*`

From the Ancient World to today, there have always been two kinds of swearing: testifying to the truth with your hand on the Bible or telling an annoying person to “get lost”. In the Early Modern period, as religion underwent a transformation - and bodily functions that were once public became private - swear words moved to and fro between the sacred and the profane, and sometimes combined. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb traverses the history of bad language with Dr Melissa Mohr, author of Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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This week marks 600 years since the death of King Henry V, perhaps best known for his military successes during the Hundred Years War against France and in particular his victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

But because this is Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb has decided to assess Henry V’s rise to power as it was depicted through the pen of William Shakespeare nearly two centuries later. To do so, she’s joined by literary scholar Professor Duncan Salkeld and theatre historian Alice Smith.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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The German executioner Meister Frantz Schmidt kept a fascinating journal of all the executions, torture and punishments he administered between 1573 and 1618. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors - originally released in June 2021 - Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Professor Joel Harrington to talk about Schmidt and further explore public capital punishment in the 16th century, described by historians as the "spectacle of suffering." 

*WARNING! This episode contains graphic descriptions of punishments.*

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Thomas Cromwell was an extraordinary figure in the Tudor court. Lawyer, politician, minister and peer of the realm, Cromwell deployed all of his wisdom, charisma, strategic cunning and considerable intellect to break England away from Rome, reform parliament and create royal supremacy. But who was the real man behind the notoriety?

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to New Zealand-based historian and author Caroline Angus who has transcribed the letters of Thomas Cromwell from their primary sources, revealing the many facets and contradictions of Cromwell’s public and private life.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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In Renaissance Italy, the Borgia family were admired for their audacity and their ruthlessness - they even inspired Mario Puzo’s depiction of the Corleones in The Godfather. But do the Borgias deserve their reputation? How did they rise to power? How did a man with so many illegitimate children become Pope?

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Mary Hollingsworth about how the Borgias became history’s most notorious dynasty.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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What do you get when you bring together five top historians in a room with bottles of Prosecco to debate Elizabeth I on screen? History with the gloves off - our first Not Just the Tudors Lates! 

Taking as her starting point the new series Becoming Elizabeth - now streaming on STARZ - Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Joanne Paul, Jessie Childs, Alex von Tunzelmann and Professor Sarah Churchwell to explore how television and films have depicted the year 1547 when - following the death of Henry VIII - a complex web of relationships determined the course of British history. 

*WARNING! There is some strong language in this episode*

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. Audio extracts from Becoming Elizabeth courtesy of STARZ.

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Queen Elizabeth I has been depicted on the big and small screen more times than most of her contemporaries. Now, a critically acclaimed TV series Becoming Elizabeth - streaming on STARZ - traces the turbulent early years of Elizabeth, negotiating all the political intrigues of the court on her journey towards securing the crown.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Becoming Elizabeth’s writer Anya Reiss and its Executive Producer George Ormond about finding fresh drama and bringing to light little-known episodes and characters in the ever-captivating story of Elizabeth I.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. Audio extract from Becoming Elizabeth courtesy of STARZ.

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The Cambridgeshire village of Warboys was the scene of one of the most famous English witch trials of the sixteenth century. There, the privileged daughters of the respected Squire Throckmorton accused a cantankerous elderly neighbour of witchcraft, sending the impoverished Alice Samuel to her death.

This shocking case is the subject of a dazzling new novel The Bewitching by author Jill Dawson, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb’s guest today. It explores a neglected episode of English history to powerful effect, vividly conveying the brutal tribalism that can erupt in a closed society and how victims can be persuaded to believe in their own wickedness.  

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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The great diarist Samuel Pepys was an avid collector of books, news and gossip, and reading was a major part of his life and the lives of his contemporaries.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into Pepys’s life and wide-ranging interests with Dr. Kate Loveman.

Her extensive research offers significant insights into the man, his world and the far-reaching literary and cultural developments of the seventeenth century.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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The New Model Army was one of the most formidable fighting forces ever assembled. It played a crucial role in overthrowing King Charles I, propelling one of its most brilliant generals, Oliver Cromwell, to power during the English Revolution. As a fighting force it engineered regicide, pioneered innovative military tactics, and helped to keep Cromwell in power as Lord Protector until his death.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Ian Gentles to examine how the army’s brilliant battlefield manoeuvring and logistical prowess contributed to its victories.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was researched by Esther Arnott, edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In 1691, a peasant in Livonia - on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea - announced before a startled district court that he was a werewolf. Yet far from being in league with the Devil, “Old Thiess” insisted he was one of the “hounds of God,” fierce guardians who battled sorcerers, witches, and even Satan to protect the fields and flocks. Not surprisingly, his judges struggled to make sense of the case.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to two eminent scholars, Professor Carlo Ginzburg and Professor Bruce Lincoln, whose diverging views present a uniquely comparative look at the trial and the startling testimony of Old Thiess. 

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited, mixed and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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What food - and how much of it - did people eat in the Tudor period? Where did they get it? When did they eat it? What arrangements for cookery and dining were in place in their homes? What did they drink? 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Mark Dawson, who has closely studied the household accounts of the Willoughby family of Wollaton Hall in Nottingham and Middleton Hall in Warwickshire. Through them, he has been able to trace many interesting developments including the decline in enthusiasm for salted herring, the embracing of new meats such as turkey, and the complex network of supplies through merchants, markets and fairs. 

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was researched by Esther Arnott, edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Ruffs, Pipes and Pearls

When Francis Drake returned home from the Spanish West Indies, he carried with him pearls to present as gifts to Elizabeth I. Around London’s Inns of Court, every gentleman smoked a pipe of American tobacco, believing it projected an air of civility. But the cultural impact of colonisation worked both ways: the Englishmen who settled in Jamestown, Virginia, took with them goffering irons to crimp fabric and make ruffs.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Lauren Working to explore how England’s desire to colonise the Americas influenced both those they met and those back home, resulting in lasting cultural change.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The researcher was Esther Arnott.

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From the sixteenth century through to the end of the eighteenth century, the Venetian government and the Roman Catholic Church jointly established a tribunal to repress heresy throughout the Republic of Venice. The inquisition also intervened in cases of sacrilege, apostasy, prohibited books, superstition, and witchcraft.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Nicholas Davidson about his deep research into the Venetian archives, which sheds new light on the nature of religious belief in early modern Italy and the activities the Venetian Inquisition sought to prevent.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was researched by Esther Arnott, edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Anne of Cleves was the ‘last woman standing’ of Henry VIII’s wives and the only one buried in Westminster Abbey. How did she manage it? Was she in fact a political refugee, supported by the King? Was she a role model for her step-daughters Mary and Elizabeth? Why was her marriage to Henry doomed from the start?

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by author Heather R. Darsie - editor of maidensandmanuscripts.com - whose research into Anne of Cleves casts a new light on Henry’s fourth Queen, potentially revealing a very different figure than the so-called 'Flanders Mare'.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Alan Downie about Daniel Dafoe, whose life was at least as colourful as those of the characters he created. Apart from writing one of the most famous books of all time, Dafoe survived the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London, traded in hosiery, supported freedom of religion and the press, worked as a confidant to William of Orange, as a secret agent and master spy…or so he said. And he died virtually penniless. 

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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One of the greatest mathematicians and most influential physicists of all time, Isaac Newton was born into a world of turmoil that shaped him and the avenues he chose to explore. 

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to science historian Professor Robert Iliffe about Newton’s remarkable life, his laws of motion and gravity as well as about some of the ideas for which he is less well-known.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Seyi Adaobi and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

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Born in 1521, Anne Askew was condemned as a heretic for her radical Protestantism beliefs during the reign of Henry VIII. Tortured and executed after the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1537, she was also one of the earliest known women poets to compose in the English language. Uniquely, her surviving first-person account of her ordeal and her beliefs led her to being proclaimed as a Protestant martyr. 

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Jennifer Richards, to explore Anne Askew’s life and literary legacy.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie, the Editor and Producer was Rob Weinberg. Anne Askew’s words are read by Sarah Percival.

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Between 1630 and 1631, the city of Florence suffered its last epidemic of plague. Some 12% of the city's population of 75,000 perished.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor John Henderson, historian of epidemics, about how Florence suffered, fought and survived the impact of plague - and what we might have learned from the approach of the Florentine authorities during our own recent pandemic.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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In the last years of Elizabeth I’s reign, many of the preoccupations of earlier decades had been abated. Mary, Queen of Scots had finally been executed in 1587; the Spanish Armada was defeated the following year; and the question of the Queen marrying had been shelved. And yet these were years of extraordinary challenge to crown and country, when the woman at the helm was elderly and apparently indecisive.

To round up Queenship month on Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by historian and author Dr. Alex Gajda to discuss the critical last decades of Elizabeth I’s reign and her legacy, and reflect upon its relevance to the current Queen Elizabeth in her Platinum Jubilee year.

For this episode, recorded at St.Cross College Oxford, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie, the Producer and Editor was Rob Weinberg.

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All this month on Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb has been talking to her guests about Queenship. But the focus has inevitably been on European Queens. Yet, if there is some flexibility about the word “Queen”, then the role of a female monarch as a consort or a ruler is actually much more common globally than we might assume.

In this episode, Suzannah talks to Dr. Elena Woodacre. Together they draw on examples from all over the world in the Early Modern period to explore the nature of Queenship, and ask are there constants of Queenship that transcend geography and culture?

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie, the Producer and Editor was Rob Weinberg.

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Four women were crowned in England between 1509 and 1559: two Queens consort - Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn - and England’s first two Queens regnant, their daughters Mary I and Elizabeth I respectively. The ritual of coronation was crucial for conferring legitimacy and sanctity. 

As part of Not Just the Tudors’ Queenship month, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Alice Hunt about how the ancient ceremony of coronation took on new meanings at a time of enormous upheaval in the monarchy, religion and politics.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie, the Producer was Rob Weinberg and the Editor was Lewis Mason.

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Isabel Clara Eugenia was the heir to the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, but she was never crowned Queen. But despite this, her life provides a fascinating example of early modern female sovereignty, illustrating how benevolence, humility, wifely obedience and piety could be exercised to realise great power and exert great influence.

To discuss this Queen by any other name, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Magdalena Sanchez, Professor of Early Modern History at Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania.

For this episode, the Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie, the Producer was Rob Weinberg and the Editor was Thomas Ntinas.

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To mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, June is Queenship month on Not Just the Tudors. Our series continues with a look at two of Britain’s less well-known monarchs - Queen Mary II and her sister Queen Anne. Both were highly competent and courageous Queens with fascinating public and private lives, reigning over periods of immense historical and political importance.

To discuss them, Professor Suzannah Lispcomb is joined by Dr. Hannah Greig - historical advisor for the film, The Favourite.

For this episode, Elena Guthrie was Senior Producer, Rob Weinberg was Producer and the Editor was Thomas Ntinas.

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In Early Modern Europe, Queens did not come fully formed. Rather, a series of rites, rituals and ceremonies transformed a hesitant bride into a fully fledged monarch. And beneath all of these contracts and customs were real live women, their emotions running high as they left behind their birth families and embarked on an exciting and terrifying journey into a foreign land to marry a stranger.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Katarzyna Kosior, to look at what it meant to become a Queen particularly in two interconnected dynasties - the Valois of France and the Jagiellonians of Poland.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie.

The Producer was Rob Weinberg.

It was edited by Seyi Adaobi.

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Not Just the Tudors’ month-long season on Queenship continues with a look at the fascinating Christina Varsa, who was crowned King of Sweden on 20 October 1650.

Christina was one of the most learned women of the 17th century. She never married and after her abdication, she converted to Catholicism and is one of the few women to be buried in the Vatican. She was memorably played by Greta Garbo as a cross-dressing, swashbuckling adventurer. But who was the real Christina of Sweden? How did she come to be crowned King? And is there any truth in the many legends about her? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb tries to get to the truth with Julia Holm from Uppsala University.

The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. The Producer was Rob Weinberg. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas.

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Not Just the Tudors’ special month-long look at Queenship continues with an exploration of the popular perception of those foreign Queens who came to England in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Catherine of Aragon, Anne of Cleves, Anne of Denmark, Henrietta Maria and Catherine of Braganza have all become part of our national fabric, and yet when they arrived on English shores to be wed, they were very much foreigners. The strong sense of difference that surrounded them even featured in the plays that were written and performed for the thriving theatre culture of the time.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Mira 'Assaf Kafantaris, a specialist in early modern literature, about the works of literature that explored ideas of queenship and cultural mixing, which proliferated from the late 1500s onwards.

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Throughout this month, every episode of Not Just the Tudors is honouring Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee by focussing on some aspect of Queenship in the Early Modern period. 

In this first exploration, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb looks at Queens Consort - those wives of Kings so well-known to us - to whom we tend to ascribe a passive role. Today's guest Dr. Michelle Beer wants us to rethink that notion. Her work on Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland, and Catherine of Aragon suggests that Queens Consort also wielded power in ways that we have not recognised.

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From the early Middle Ages to the present day, travellers have been bewitched by the peerless beauty of Granada. From 1230 until 1492, it was ruled by the Nasrids - Spain's last Islamic dynasty - from their fortress palace of the Alhambra. After capturing Granada to complete the Christian Reconquista, the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella made the Alhambra the site of their royal court. But what became of the Jews, the Muslims and the Gitanos who were displaced?

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Elizabeth Drayson about this complex and fascinating city and Spain's deep obsession with erasing historical and cultural memory.

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Pietro Torrigiano is credited with introducing Renaissance art to England in the early years of the 16th century and designed the tomb of Henry VII, but he is best remembered for breaking the nose of Michelangelo in a fight. Torrigiano's tumultuous life took him from Florence to Rome, through Mechelen and London, to Seville, where he finally died in an Inquisition jail.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Felipe Pereda about this arrogant, proud, but nonetheless important, artist.

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.

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Facing persecution in Elizabethan England, some Catholics chose exile over conformity. Some even cast their lot with foreign monarchs rather than wait for their own rulers to have a change of heart. These so-called “Spanish Elizabethans,” used the most powerful tools at their disposal — paper, pens, and printing presses — to incite war against England, from the years leading up to the Grand Armada until Philip II of Spain's death in 1598.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez  whose groundbreaking research is making an important contribution to the study of religious exile in early modern Europe.

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There are so many myths about Anne Boleyn - among them that she had six fingers, that she was a murderess, even that she was Henry VIII's own daughter. In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, released on 19 May to mark the anniversary of the day of Anne Boleyn's execution in 1536, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb sets out to bust some myths with Natalie Grueninger, founder and editor of the On the Tudor Trail website and author of In the Footsteps of Anne Boleyn.

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The Civil War was the most traumatic conflict in British history, pitting friends and family members against each other, tearing down the old order.

Award-winning historian Jessie Childs plunges the reader into the shock of the struggle through one of its most dramatic episodes: the siege of Basing House. To the parliamentarian Roundheads, the Hampshire mansion was a bastion of royalism, popery and excess. Its owner was both a Catholic and staunch supporter of Charles I. His motto Love Loyalty was etched into the windows. He refused all terms of surrender.

As royalist strongholds crumbled, Loyalty House, as it became known, stood firm. Over two years, the men, women and children inside were battered, bombarded, starved and gassed. Their resistance became legendary. Inigo Jones designed the fortifications and the women hurled bricks from the roof. But in October 1645, Oliver Cromwell rolled in the heavy guns and the defenders prepared for a last stand.

Drawing on exciting new sources, Childs uncovers the face of the war through a cast of unforgettable characters: the fanatical Puritan preacher who returns from Salem to take on the king; the plant-hunting apothecary who learns to kill as well as heal; the London merchant and colonist who clashes with Basing's aristocratic lord; and Cromwell himself who feels the hand of God on his sword. And we hear too the voices of dozens of ordinary men and women caught in the crossfire.

The Siege of Loyalty House is a thrilling tale of war and peace, terror and faith, friendship and betrayal - and of a world turned upside down.

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415 years ago this month, 104 English men and boys landed in North America and established a settlement they called Jamestown in Virginia. Over the course of the 17th Century, a third of a million people left England for the "New World". But in Virginia, it all started from very small beginnings and there was every chance that this venture - like every previous attempt to settle in America would fail. In fact it almost did.  

To learn about the first few years of Jamestown - which includes the true story of Matoaka (better known as Pocahontas) and her marriage to the tobacco cultivator John Rolfe - Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Misha Ewen, author of the forthcoming book, The Virginia Venture: American Colonization and English Society, 1580-1660. 

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To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, Not Just the Tudors casts a 21st century eye over "one of the most perplexing, elusive, attractive, and afflicting diseases of the Renaissance" - melancholy - and how it was addressed in "largest, strangest and most unwieldy self-help book ever written": Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy of 1621. 

So what did people in the 17th century think were the causes, symptoms and cures for melancholy? In this episode, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr Mary Ann Lund - author of A User's Guide to Melancholy, an accessible guide to Burton's work that reveals the Stuart era's approach to mental health. 

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