
Pax Britannica: A History of the British Empire
Pax Britannica is a narrative history podcast covering the empire upon which the sun never set. Shortlisted for the 2023 Independent Podcast Awards, Pax Britannica follows the events which created an empire that dominated the globe. Hosted by Dr Samuel Hume, a historian of British Imperial history, Pax Britannica aims to explain the rise and eventual fall of the largest empire in history. After all, how peaceful was the 'British Peace'?
Latest episodes

Jan 12, 2020 • 34min
01.34 - War and Peace
Charles comes to terms with his French and Spanish enemies, and we examine what has been going on outside of Europe. The East India Company survives significant threats, while the Pilgrims gain new neighbours. Virginia continues its war with the locals, while Europeans in the West Indies commit a genocide.Complete the survey HERE: https://forms.gle/ojt6gRjBTzdyApF47Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications. See the website for a full bibliography:
Dalrymple, William, (2019) The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company
Virginia Dejohn Anderson, (1998) 'New England in the Seventeenth Century', The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I
Beckles, H. M. (1998). ‘The “Hub of Empire”: The Caribbean and Britain in the Seventeenth Century’, The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I
Lawson, Philip, (1993). The East India Company : a history
Stern, P. J. (2011). The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India
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Dec 29, 2019 • 30min
Bonus - New England Revisited
Allen Ayers from the Political History of the United States podcast comes on to talk all about New England in the 1620s.Listen to the Political History of the United States HERE: https://uspoliticalpodcast.com/Follow Allen here: https://twitter.com/USHistpodcastCheck out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 22, 2019 • 1h 5min
Bonus - The Life of Barnet Burns, Pākehā Māori
Thomas from the History of Aotearoa New Zealand Podcast tells the tale of Barnet Burns, a sailor turned trader turned Pākehā Māori.Listen to The History of Aotearoa New Zealand here:https://historyaotearoa.com/Follow it here: https://twitter.com/HistoryAotearoaCheck out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 15, 2019 • 33min
Bonus - Buckingham and Berry
I chat with David from The Siècle about the two assassinations we've just covered: the Duke of Buckingham, and the Duc de Berry. They were both killed for political reasons, but the reaction to their deaths could not have been more different, while their assassins, John Felton and Louis Pierre Louvel, were either celebrated or forgotten.Listen to The Siècle here: http://thesiecle.com/Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 8, 2019 • 26min
01.33 - Constitutional Crisis
Parliament is back, and they are not happy. The Petition of Right isn't worth the paper its written on, and King Charles had flagrantly disregarded the spirit of it. He was displaying worrying tendencies - promoting Arminians and crypto-Catholics, and violating the fundamental rights of his subjects to raise money. The death of the Duke of Buckingham, rather than marking a sea change in unpopular government policy, instead cements it.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:
The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire.
David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689
Kishlasnky, M, A Monarchy Transformed: 1603-1714
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Historical Collections of Private Passages of State: Volume 1, 1618-29.
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Nov 17, 2019 • 24min
Bonus - The Industrial Revolutions
Dave Broker from the Industrial Revolutions podcast presents this guest episode on the engine, pun intended, of Britain's imperial might.Listen to the show here: https://industrialrevolutionspod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 10, 2019 • 33min
01.32 - The Martyr Assassin
John Felton, the man who rammed a dagger into the heart of the second most powerful individual in the British Isles, claimed he did so out of patriotism and piety. That's probably the truth, but it wasn't the whole truth. Felton had serious personal grievances with the Duke of Buckingham, and had spent months trying to get his justice.We also look at the early years of the future Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, and his brushes with the Puritans and with Arminianism. He will play a central role in future Caroline religious policy and the outbreak of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:
The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire.
David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689
Kishlasnky, M, A Monarchy Transformed: 1603-1714
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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Nov 3, 2019 • 40min
01.31 - The Duke of Hazard
Charles, yet again, calls a parliament in search of taxation, but the Commons are willing to negotiate. In return for an acknowledgement that Charles had acted illegally, they will grant him subsidies. The ever-present thorn that is the Duke of Buckingham hasn't gone away, and the king still protects him from political attack. But impeachment isn't the only way to remove an evil counsellor...Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:
The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire.
David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689
Kishlasnky, M, A Monarchy Transformed: 1603-1714
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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Oct 27, 2019 • 26min
01.30 - The Siege of Saint-Martin
With Buckingham protected from impeachment, but at the cost of taxation, Charles finds another way to raise the money needed to prosecute a war. Buckingham, eager to prove himself, leads a new expedition in person; to try and save the Huguenots that his ships had attacked. The Siege of Saint-Martin was the lynchpin, not only of Buckingham's recovered reputation, but of Charles' money troubles, Stuart foreign policy, and the course of the Thirty Years War.No prizes for guessing how it will go.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:
The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire.
David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689
Kishlasnky, M, A Monarchy Transformed: 1603-1714
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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Oct 20, 2019 • 57min
Bonus - The English Revolution with Mike Duncan
At Sound Education I met up with Mike Duncan, creator of The History of Rome and Revolutions, and the author of the New York Times best selling Storm Before the Storm. We chatted about the state of podcasting, the differences between writing for the spoken and written word, the impact that the British Civil Wars had on future revolutions, and the most annoying revolutionary monarchs, among many other things.If you haven't yet listened to Revolutions, find it here: https://www.revolutionspodcast.com/Check out Sound Education: soundeducation.fmCheck out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices