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

April 28, 2026 40 mins

When the future Queen Elizabeth I was just 13 years old, she was living with Catherine Parr, who remarried after the death of Henry VIII. Catherine's new husband was handsome and charming, but he was also someone who would threaten scandal. A scandal that could cost Elizabeth's future.

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—PRE-ORDER 'THE ARCANE ARTS'
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— Order Dana'...

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This week's Very Special Episodes is a tour of New York’s secret history with a very special guest!

Greg Young of the beloved Bowery Boys podcast joins Dana to prove the world is a very interesting place, if you just know where to look. There's hidden history in subway grates, SoHo stores, Central Park statues, and Hamilton lyrics. 

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April 21, 2026 27 mins

For eight months, Roman von Ungern-Sternberg took control of the capital of Mongolia, in a campaign that was less about international politics and more about his own warped sense of purpose.

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

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April 14, 2026 28 mins

In 1921, a Russian officer named Roman von Ungern-Sternberg invaded Mongolia, ostensibly with the goal to liberate it from Chinese forces. But he had his own ulterior motives, and a pattern of cruelty that was only beginning.

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'

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April 7, 2026 34 mins

Against the odds, Idia's son, Esigie, became the leader—Oba—of the Edo people. And against even greater odds, Idia survived to help him rule.

Support Noble Blood:
—PRE-ORDER 'THE ARCANE ARTS'
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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Dr. Hugh Doherty (University of East Anglia), the historical consultant for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, joins the podcast to discuss 14th century tournament culture, the dangers of jousting, and the Bayeux Tapestry.

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 priv...

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March 24, 2026 29 mins

Born in Africa, enslaved, and brought to a foreign land, Abram Petrovich Gannibal forged an incredible path for himself, rising until he became a respected nobleman and member of Russian court.
 
Support Noble Blood:
—PRE-ORDER 'THE ARCANE ARTS'
Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story'

See omnystudi...

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March 17, 2026 42 mins

Kösem Sultan was the favorite of the Sultan and the mother of a ruler. She had extraordinary power over the Ottoman Empire, but, as we've learned from this podcast, power can have deadly consequences.

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

See omn...

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March 10, 2026 23 mins

When Heinrich VI, King of Germany, called a gathering of noblemen to deal with a property dispute, he couldn't have predicted how tragic—and disgusting—the meeting would turn out to be.

Support Noble Blood:
—PRE-ORDER 'THE ARCANE ARTS'
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/lis...

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Veronica Buckley, author of the new book SEVEN SISTERS, joins us to discuss the daughters of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, who remade Europe with their marriages.
 
Support Noble Blood:
—PRE-ORDER 'THE ARCANE ARTS'
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 ...

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February 24, 2026 17 mins

Though Queen Elizabeth II's daughter, Princess Anne, competed in the Olympics, the first princess to do so beat her to it by more than a thousand years.

Support Noble Blood:
—PRE-ORDER 'THE ARCANE ARTS'
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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February 17, 2026 30 mins

Elizabeth Stuart was the daughter of King James I and VI of England and Scotland. Her husband was offered the throne of Bohemia, and who would ever say no to a crown? 

Support Noble Blood:
—PRE-ORDER 'THE ARCANE ARTS'
— 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 informa...

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February 10, 2026 46 mins

Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola was a brilliant and precocious philosopher, who caused a stir in Italy with his writings before he was even 25. But Pico would have many powerful enemies and rivals, and his suspicious death would remain a mystery for centuries.

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...

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Dana is joined by the science writer for The Economist, Matt Kaplan, to discuss 18th century medical progress, the legacy of Maria Theresa, and the tragedy of Ignaz Semmelweis. Order Matt's new book, I TOLD YOU SO!, now.

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 f...

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January 27, 2026 31 mins

Cyrano de Bergerac is a larger-than-life figure in pop culture, whose story has been adapted countless times. But it turns out, Cyrano was a real man, albeit possibly with a smaller nose than media has led you to believe.

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 priv...

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January 20, 2026 19 mins

The Florentine Diamond was one of the crown jewels (sorry) of the Habsburgs—a 137-carat diamond that had come from the court of the Duke of Tuscany. But after World War I, when the Austrian Empire collapsed, the royal family fled to Switzerland, taking the diamond with them. From there, it disappeared. Or did it?

Support Noble Blood:
— Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon
— Order Dana's book, 'An...

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January 13, 2026 36 mins

Antoine Lavoisier was a French chemist, who gave us the name for oxygen and other terminology that we still use today. But he was also a wealthy man who collected taxes and served the Ancien régime, and when the revolution came, the elements were ripe for explosion.

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

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January 6, 2026 26 mins

Natasia Minkin was the mistress of one of the cruelest men in tsarist Russia. She apparently tried to give him a run for his money.

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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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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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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Dana Schwartz

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