The History of England

The History of England

This my re-telling of the story of England. I aim to be honest, and rigorous - but always loving of my country's history. It is a regular, chronological podcast, starting from the end of Roman Britain. There are as many of the great events I can squeeze in, of course, but I also try to keep an eye on how people lived, their language, what was important to them, the forces that shaped their lives and destinies, that sort of thing. To listen free of adverts, support the podcast, access a library of 150+ hours of shedcasts of me warbling on, and get new shedcasts every month, why not become a member at https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/become-a-member ? You know it makes sense... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

All About the History of England

December 23, 2010 • 5 mins

This is my chronological retelling of the story of the English in regular chunks. It’s been going since Christmas Day 2010, so there’s enough to keep you off the streets for a while and hanging around the local shopping precinct. But look, you can dip in and you can dip out too.


There's all the great trends, events, and drama you’d expect, all set in the context and attitudes of their time; and on that same vein, as often as po...

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1.0 - 1 Anglo Saxons England 500-1066

December 24, 2010 • 36 mins

This episode includes an introduction to Series 1, the Anglo Saxons, and then a discussion of the sources we have available for the settlement period. We then spend some time on and the way that historians and others have seen and interpreted the Anglo Saxon period.


Series 1 on the Anglo Saxons covers the period from about 400, until 14th October 1066 in just 31 episodes


Episodes 1- 1.4 Cover Romano Britain and the settlement...

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1.1 Change and Calamity

December 31, 2010 • 33 mins
This is the story of late antique Britain. How in the 3rd to 5th centuries, Britain went through two waves of economic dislocation and transformation, that changed the face of British society.

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1.2 Adventus Saxonum

January 1, 2011 • 37 mins
The traditional story of the arrival of the Anglo Saxons is one of death and destruction, and the catastrophic and complete replacement of a British population by a new Germanic race within a generation. But there are other theories too - much more peaceful, much more gradual.

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1.3 Building a New World

January 2, 2011 • 31 mins
What kind of society had arrived in Roman Britain? How how did societies and communities form and become the kingdoms before the days of the Heptarchy?

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1.4 Founding Kingdoms

January 6, 2011 • 34 mins
It's difficult to know how much to believe of the stories relayed in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle about the formation of the early kingdoms - do they simply reflect the history they wished they'd had? Plus, was Arthur a legend or reality?

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1.5 The Life and Times of Penda I

January 7, 2011 • 37 mins
7th Century England was inherently unstable, populated by a patchwork of communities, petty kingdoms successful and less so. Into this pagan mix also comes the lure of Christianity again. Meanwhile, in central England a pagan warrior called Penda became king, probably in 626.

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1.6 The Life and Times of Penda II

January 8, 2011 • 35 mins
Through much of the 7th Century, Penda increased the power and influence of the Mercians. He built his kingdom as a traditional warrior, tribal leader - defeating the Northumbrians, and East Anglians, raiding and gathering treasure, rewarding his followers; spreading his influence by marriage, exercising control by influence where he could, by force where he could not.In the long run, Penda was part of the past, rather than the fut...

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1.7 Conversion

January 9, 2011 • 30 mins
At the start of the 7th century England was a basically pagan country; by the end of it it was officially at least Christian. While no doubt many pagans still held on, Whitred of Kent's laws began to embed Christianity into the fabric of English kingdoms.

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1.8 Revival

January 10, 2011 • 34 mins
Towns had simply disappeared along with the post Roman economy by 500. But slowly by 600 there's tiny shoots of recovery discernible - so we talk about towns. And we have a hack at something a little tiny bit more literary, and talk of Continental Missionaries.

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1.9 - 2: The Rise of Mercia

January 11, 2011 • 28 mins
Pretty much a century in just one, fun-filled episode - 650 ish to 750 is. It's Mercia's turn - an increasingly integrated Mercia, growing in power. With yer Wulfhere's and Æthelbalds, Mercia's hegemony was held back only by Ine of Wessex and Wihtred of Kent.

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1.10 - 3 The Mercian Supremacy

January 12, 2011 • 39 mins
After Wulfhere, Aethelred and Aethelbald laid the foundations, a prince from the Hwicce, Offa, took Mercia to its greatest achievements.

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1.11 - 4 Greater Wessex

January 13, 2011 • 39 mins
The death of Offa & his son led to the bloodletting normal when the succession was a bun fight. But this time round, it would have longer term consequences for the balance of power.

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1.12 - 5a Pirates from the North

January 14, 2011 • 32 mins
The Vikings visited fire, destruction - and trade - on a bemused and terrified 8th C Europe. Who were they, where did they come from, where did they go and and why?

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1.13- 5 The Noble Wolf

January 15, 2011 • 37 mins
Æthelwolf hasn't always had the best press. None the less he laid the basis of an effective and well organised state centred on the traditional heartlands of Wessex, and one better placed to meet the Viking threat than other kingdoms.

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1.14 - 6 The Great Heathen Army

January 16, 2011 • 31 mins
Everything changed for Anglo Saxon England in 866; the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok came for conquest, not just treasure and slaves.

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1.15 - 7 Alfred the Great and the fight for survival

January 17, 2011 • 31 mins
Between 871 and 878, Wessex came close to extinction, as the Great Heathen Army, the Great Summer Army, and Guthrum the Dane came to conquer.

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1.16 - 8 Reconstruction and defence

January 18, 2011 • 30 mins
Alfred had earned Wessex and period of respite, between 878 and 892. In this time, Alfred laid the foundations not just for the defense against renewed invasions, but for the successes of the 10th century.

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1.17 - 9 Pillar of the Western People

January 19, 2011 • 27 mins
In 892, the vikings returned - and found a very different, much better prepared Wessex waiting for them. Until in 899, Alfred died to be succeeded by his Son, Edward, who would in the end turn the tables on the Vikings.

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1.18 - 10 English Conquest

January 20, 2011 • 38 mins
The story of a brother and a sister - Æthelflæd and Edward, and their bid to reclaim the lands of the Danelaw, the north and east of England being settled by the Danes. Northumbria had it's own problems with migration of Norse from Ireland.

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