Not Just the Tudors

No advisor was more important to King Henry VIII than Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. He captured Henry's attention with his brilliance and became his most trusted confidant.  But when the King wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon, not even the eloquent Wolsey could convince the Pope to agree. 

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, first released in January 2022, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Wolsey's biographer Pro...

When Hernán Cortés and his men first laid eyes on the gleaming white pyramids of Tenochtitlan, they thought they were mountains of silver. How did they overthrow such a powerful kingdom in just three months?

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb explores the indigenous perspectives of the conquest, the role of Cortés, and the resilience of Aztec culture. Together with Professor Camilla Townsend, Suzannah debunks myths about the Aztecs and dis...

March 2025 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of King James VI and I, and the succession of his son Charles I. Crowned King of Scotland at just 13 months old in 1567 and later succeeding Elizabeth I in England in 1603, James envisioned a unified United Kingdom. However, he left behind a fractured legacy of three kingdoms bound only by religious strife.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Professor Claire Jackson, to e...

Christopher Columbus was a man of contradictions: he professed God spoke to him to direct his travels, yet after four voyages he still could not recognise that he had 'discovered' a New World.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and biographer Laurence Bergreen discuss Columbus's four perilous voyages, his navigational genius, and the devastating impact of his monstrous acts on indigenous populations. From triumphs at sea to tragic conseque...

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into the tumultuous and nuanced religious policies of Henry VIII's reign. She examines how Henry VIII utilised religion to justify his policies and actions during the English Reformation, such as his assertion of royal supremacy, his commissioning of tapestries depicting himself as Old Testament kings, and his justification for the dissolution of monasteries.

With insights from leading historia...

You may think you know about the daring exploits of Columbus, the ruthless ambition of Cortés, but beyond the accepted histories lies a world of indigenous voices—stories of fierce resistance, cunning survival, and unexpected alliances. 

What really happened when cultures collided? Who fought back and who forged new paths?

Across April Professor Suzannah Lipscomb tells the untold stories and challenge the myths of the conquests ...

The execution of six martyrs—three Catholics and three Protestants—on the same day, was unprecedented in Henry VIII's England. What led to this transformative event?

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb explores the fascinating and tumultuous period of the 1530s and 1540s under Henry VIII, examining the religious, political, and personal motivations behind the seeming contradictions of Henry VIII's reformation efforts.

Henry VIII's break ...

Aphra Behn was a true original. Not only was she the first woman to earn a living by writing, she was also a spy, a political propagandist and a revolutionary. Publicly she was all brash sexuality and outspoken politics, but what is known about the woman beneath? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Janet Todd to discuss how Behn navigated the complexities of 17th-century society and crafted her public persona while chal...

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb steps into the electrifying world of Elizabethan theatre to unravel the dark allure of Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, a work that would forever change English drama. Together with Professor Emma Smith, she decodes the Renaissance masterpiece that dared to humanize the devil and challenge religious orthodoxy. How did Dr. Faustus become a cultural phenomenon that still echoes through history via Mary ...

Henry VIII's desire to divorce Catherine of Aragon changed England; it could be justified by a biblical law that prohibited a man from marrying his brother's widow, yet another passage seemed to suggest otherwise. In a surprising move, Henry called upon Italian rabbis to interpret these ancient laws.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into the turbulent world of the Tudors, where the lines between faith and politics blurred. She's j...

**This podcast contains graphic descriptions of murders and the punishments of those convicted**

Gruesome murders carried out by women captivated the public imagination in Early Modern Britain. Pamphlets, ballads, and woodcuts spread the stories of traitorous wives, cunning poisoners, child killers, and alleged witches. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by historian and former police officer Dr. Blessin Adams on a journey th...

Exactly 400 years ago, the Dutch West India Company built Fort Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan island, a beacon of power and resilience against threats from Europeans and Indigenous Americans. But how did things change when England invaded in 1664?

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Russell Shorto, author of Taking Manhattan, to uncover the untold stories of New York City's emergence as a hub of capitalism and p...

In 1711, a wave of terror gripped the Islandmagee peninsula in County Antrim. First there was the haunting and supernatural murder of a local clergyman's wife. Then 18-year-old Mary Dunbar suffered violent convulsions, levitation and vomiting of pins, feathers, and buttons, sparking accusations against eight local women. After Mary’s sudden death, the trial took an unprecedented turn when one William Sellar was put on trial.

Pro...

Passion, scandal, and power collided in the tumultuous relationship between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley. Rumours of secret trysts between them set the court ablaze, but their love was doomed from the start.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Dr. Joanne Paul unravel the complex tapestry of Dudley's life, Elizabeth's devotion and the decades of political intrigue and personal heartbreak. Then, Dr. Tracey Wedge explores how Dudley'...

The brief life of William Shakespeare's son Hamnet is now quite well known, thanks to Maggie O'Farrell's novel, but Hamnet also had a twin sister Judith, who outlived her brother by many decades. Now it's time for Judith to take centre stage in the highly anticipated novel The Owl Was a Baker's Daughter by Professor Grace Tiffany. 

Judith lived through a time of chaos and conflict when cavaliers clashed with roundheads and ...

What happens when a small island faces the might of the Ottoman Empire?

In 1565, Malta was the setting for a brutal clash between the forces of the Ottoman Empire and the defiant Knights of the Order of St.John, warrior monks led by the iron-willed Jean de Valette. This extraordinary siege pitted faith against empire, innovation against desperation, and a handful of defenders against an unstoppable superpower.

Professor Suzan...

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into the world of Stuart-era recipe books, in which medicine, cookery and women's roles combine in fascinating ways. She discovers how these volumes were far more than just cookbooks, offering a window into how women collected and shared knowledge, and how female identity was shaped within the domestic sphere.

Suzannah's guest Dr. Kimberley Connor introduces the intriguing 1675 recipe book...

Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake 425 years ago this month. His crime? Radical thinking which clashed with the ideas of the Roman Catholic church. But his extraordinarily colourful life, ideas and tragic fate continue to resonate in our modern understanding of the universe and the ongoing tension between scientific inquiry and religious authority.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by best-selling author S.J. Parris -...

The German Peasants' War - which happened exactly 500 years ago - saw peasants across Germany, Switzerland and Austria rise up against oppressive lords in a bid for freedom and social reform.  This was a pivotal and cataclysmic moment in European history, as transformative as the French Revolution and as deadly as World War I. 

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Professor Lyndal Roper, author of Summer of Fi...