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Marguerite de Navarre: Mother of Renaissance France
Episode 186
Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549) was an influential diplomat and political activist, an outstanding patron of philosophers and artists, an accomplis…
3 years, 3 months ago
When London Shipped Poor Children to America
Episode 185
In 1618, almost 100 impoverished children from London - some as young as eight - arrived in Jamestown, Virginia to labour in the growing colony. It w…
3 years, 3 months ago
Hatton: Elizabeth I's Favourite?
Episode 184
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, Hatt…
3 years, 3 months ago
Batavia: The Worst Shipwreck in History
Episode 183
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 …
3 years, 3 months ago
Swords in Elizabethan England
Episode 182
In Elizabethan England, swords were everywhere. Hanging on girdles, used in plays and depicted in paintings, they were an important marker of status …
3 years, 3 months ago
Demonic Possession in 17th-Century Canada
Episode 181
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 s…
3 years, 3 months ago
Nonsuch: Henry VIII's Lost Palace
Episode 180
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 Surre…
3 years, 3 months ago
How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe
Episode 179
We have long been taught that modern global history began when the 'Old World' encountered the 'New', when Christopher Columbus 'discovered' America …
3 years, 4 months ago
Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu
Episode 178
The Three Musketeers paints a picture of King Louis XIII of France as a rather weak monarch controlled by his powerful chief minister Cardinal Richel…
3 years, 4 months ago
Birth of the Gregorian calendar
Episode 177
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 w…
3 years, 4 months ago