Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
Science vs. Witchcraft: The Kepler Trial
Episode 299
Astronomer Johannes Kepler was an important and admired figure in the scientific revolution of the early 17th century. But when his widowed mother wa…
2 years, 2 months ago
Ghosts & Guardian Angels
Episode 298
In Elizabethan and Stuart England, ghosts weren't supposed to exist. Protestant preachers and writers had banished them - but people continued to see…
2 years, 2 months ago
The Rise and Fall of Britain's Islands
Episode 297
How did Britain's islands become woven into our collective cultural psyche? Traversing Irish poetry, Renaissance drama and Restoration utopias, autho…
2 years, 2 months ago
Origins of the Condom
Episode 296
The first surviving mention of condoms dates from the mid-16th century, in the writings of an Italian anatomist better known for the discovery of the…
2 years, 2 months ago
Fairies in the Early Modern Era
Episode 295
In the early modern period, belief in fairies was quite commonplace. But put all thoughts of Tinkerbell aside! These fairies were altogether more da…
2 years, 3 months ago
Private Life of King James VI & I
Episode 294
King James VI and I, the first monarch to reign over Scotland, England and Ireland, has a mixed reputation. To many, he is simply the homosexual Kin…
2 years, 3 months ago
Supernatural Beings in Early Modern Britain
Episode 293
In the early modern period, it was patently clear to everyone that supernatural beings, foremost among them the devil, were at work in the world, int…
2 years, 3 months ago
Tudor Conquest of Ireland
Episode 292
Henry VIII was termed "by the Grace of God, King of England, France and Ireland.” Ireland was England’s oldest colony. But what bloody events and b…
2 years, 3 months ago
How Ecology Shaped History with Peter Frankopan
Episode 291
History books rarely make much reference to the impact of climate and the natural environment on people, and vice versa. Yet volcanic eruptions and …
2 years, 3 months ago
Henry VIII's Nemesis, Cardinal Pole
Episode 290
Reginald Pole has been styled as both the nemesis of Henry VIII and as Mary I's bloody accomplice. Pole was related to the English royal family throu…
2 years, 3 months ago