Noble Blood

Noble Blood

Author Dana Schwartz explores the stories of some of history’s most fascinating royals: the tyrants and the tragic, the murderers and the murdered, and everyone in between. Because when you’re wearing a crown, mistakes often mean blood.

Episodes

December 30, 2025 49 mins

In the 17th century, aristocratic France was set on high alert—women were procuring poisons and using it for nefarious, murderous means. It was a scandal that mortified the nobility, quite literally. And it all seemed to come back to one woman, known as La Voisin.

Support Noble Blood:
— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: ...

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In 1983, a cherubic, homely doll triggered something close to national hysteria. Parents fought in store aisles. Shelves were stripped bare. Even the New York mafia found itself selling children’s toys. And the frenzy didn’t end when the fad faded. In an unexpected twist decades later, these dolls would get more care and attention than they ever had before.

*

On the Very Special Episodes podcast, we tell one incred...

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December 23, 2025 33 mins

The glamorous Mitford sisters—six daughters of a Baron—have captivated the public imagination for decades. One became a duchess, one a famous novelist, one retired into a life of privacy, two become fascists, and one became a communist. Jessica "Decca" Mitford is a character larger than life, and the subject of the new book, TROUBLEMAKER, from Carla Kaplan.

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— Bonus episodes, stickers, and s...

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December 16, 2025 35 mins

Though she was born in Ireland with no Spanish blood, the self-named "Lola Montez" captivated Europe with her charm and sexuality, eventually entangling King Ludwig I in a scandal that would lead to the end of his reign.

Support Noble Blood:
— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...

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While sailing from France to the New World, Marguerite de La Rocque and her lover were punished, marooned on an island where they would be tormented by natural forces and, according to some stories, demons.

Support Noble Blood:

— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

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Listen to Dana Schwartz's conversation with Kal Penn on his podcast Earsay: An Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club, where they dive into Remain: A Supernatural Love Story, a genre-bending collaboration between M. Night Shyamalan and Nicholas Sparks. 

Together, they discuss how two masters of their respective genres surprisingly complement each other and geek out over the intimate details that make books feel alive — from A...

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December 2, 2025 28 mins

One of the most glamorous members of the Kennedy clan, Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy dazzled and scandalized British society. But her story would ultimately end in tragedy.

Support Noble Blood:

— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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November 25, 2025 45 mins

Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, was murdered under mysterious circumstances. How Mary reacted, and what happened next, would lead to her undoing.

Support Noble Blood:

— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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November 18, 2025 30 mins

After the Battle of Culloden, the Bonnie Prince Charlie needed to escape to safety. His salvation would come in the form of a young woman named Flora MacDonald, who would become an indelible piece of romantic Scottish history. 

 

Support Noble Blood:

— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

 

 

Se...

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November 11, 2025 48 mins

As a courtesan, Veronica Franco would entertain Henry III of Valois in her Venetian home. But her greatest accomplishments would be a literary career that defied public expectation and defended her honor from men who would mock and diminish her.

Support Noble Blood:

— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

See omnyst...

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November 4, 2025 29 mins

In 1820, a group of desperate radicals came up with a violent plan for complete social and political reform in England: murdering the entire cabinet at a nearby dinner party. But their scheme—known as the Cato Street Conspiracy—was over before it even began.

Support Noble Blood:

— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality...

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On her deathbed, the unmarried "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I declared that her successor would be King James VI of Scotland. Or at least, that's the story that we've been told. In her new book THE STOLEN CROWN, historian Tracy Borman, Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, discusses the bombshell new discoveries that reveal that the Stuart Dynasty was built on a lie. (For more, here's Tracy for History Extra's Life Lessons from Hist...

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October 21, 2025 27 mins

Æthelflæd's father was Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxons, and he married her to the leader of Mercia to seal an alliance. But Æthelflæd's husband would become sickly, and she would become a formidable leader in her own right.

Support Noble Blood:

— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Sto...

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Why does William the Conqueror get all of the credit when Æthelstan was king of a united England in 927? David Woodman (Professor of History at Cambridge University) joins us to talk about his new book The First King of England.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hi Noble Blood listeners! We're excited to share with you a sneak peek at iHeartPodcasts’ newest season of SNAFU with Ed Helms. 

SNAFU with Ed Helms: Your favorite history podcast is back with even more SNAFUs -- one per episode, to be precise. With guests like Nick Kroll, Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey, Paul Scheer, Jordan Klepper, Mike Schur, and mo...

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October 7, 2025 29 mins

When Peter the Great's son and heir was on trial for treason, the emperor instructed the jury to treat him as they would any other man. If he were to be convicted, the sentence would be death.

Support Noble Blood:
Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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September 30, 2025 26 mins

Clara Ward was a "dollar princess" from Michigan who married a Belgian prince. But her adventurous spirit soon had her eloping with a Hungarian musician and she lives a life that scandalized and captivated Europe in equal measure.

Support Noble Blood:
Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

See omnystudio.com/listener...

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September 23, 2025 26 mins

The bloody murder of an adultrous brother and wife was just the beginning for the Malatesta family, whose family tree would be dotted with murders and betrayals for decades.

Support Noble Blood:
Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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September 16, 2025 24 mins

In Dante's Inferno, Dante meets two lovers, Paolo and Francesca. Francesca was married to Paolo's brother, but the two had a secret affair, until they were discovered and things took a deadly turn. But theirs is just one of the many murders and betrayals in the Malatesta family tree...

Support Noble Blood:
Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its seque...

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September 9, 2025 30 mins

Frederick II was celebrated as a "renaissance man" who championed education and the arts. But his conflicts with the Pope would lead to multiple excommunications. Actor and historian Peter Weller (RoboCop, author of Leon Battista Alberti in Exile) joins the show to discuss his complicated legacy.

Support Noble Blood:
Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' an...

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Dana Schwartz

Dana Schwartz

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