Pax Britannica: A History of the British Empire

A delve into the careers of two of the king's fond advisers/possible lovers: the Earl of Somerset, Robert Carr/Kerr, and the Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers. One rose to a great height, acquired riches and power, and came crashing down to earth like Icarus. The other would climb higher, attain more influence and wealth, and survive his king. These two men became manifestations, and major causes, of the Stuart Court's growing unpopularity.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoListen to The Siécle: http://thesiecle.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- The Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyFor a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we catch up with events across the Atlantic; the colonies of Virginia, Bermuda, and Newfoundland, and how they are faring. We also look at the ridiculously successful first decades of the East India Company, and get a glimpse of the fantastical levels of wealth that were on offer for investors in its voyages.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:- Philip Lawson, The East India Company : A History, 1993- Munis Faruqui,The Princes of the Mughal Empire, 1504-1719, 2012- K. N. Chaudhuri, English East India Company: The Study of an Early Joint-stock Company 1600-1640, 1865- Zahedeh, N. (2001). ‘Overseas Expansion and Trade in the Seventeenth Century’. Canny N. &Louis R. (eds) Origins of Empire : British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the SeventeenthCentury.-Stern, P. J. (2011). The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India.- Reid, J. G., & Mancke, E. (2010). ‘From Global Processes to Continental Strategies: The Emergence of British North America to 1783’. Canada and the British Empire.A full bibliography can be found on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The death of the Prince of Wales Henry Frederick, the Prince that was Promised, almost derailed James' international diplomacy. Both the English and Irish Parliaments were summoned, with similar results. The King's attempt to renegotiate the trade relationship with the Dutch backfires horrendously.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:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- Alison Plowden, The Stuart PrincessesA full bibliography can be found on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Was James VI and I truly the witch-hunting, demon-studying zealot that he has traditionally been seen as? Today we take a look at the court of King James, and hear about the trials that dotted his early reign.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:- Holmes, R., Witchcraft in British History (1974)- MacFarlane, A., Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England (London, 1970)- Levack, B., 'State-Building and Witch Hunting', in Darren Oldridge (ed.), The Witchcraft Reader (London, 2002)- Poole, R., (ed.), The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories (2002)A full bibliography is on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We say goodbye to the Earl of Salisbury, chief minister of King James in England. He had failed to bring parliament and king together, but he was indispensible to the government. International alliances are found with the Palatinate, as war brews on the continent, and the Great Equaliser comes for the Crown Prince.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:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- Eric Lindquist, 'The Last Years of the First Earl of Salisbury, 1610-1612’- Alison Plowden, The Stuart Princesses- The Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyFor a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The king's debts are skyrocketing, and the Earl of Salisbury has a solution: the Great Contract. With concessions from King James, and generosity from the Commons, England's ancient financial system can be reformed, the budget balanced, and unpopular traditions removed. Perhaps Salisbury will succeed in getting "honey from gall" after all...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:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689- The Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyFor a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James' Privy Council, in contrast to the Bedchamber, was made up of Elizabethan-era lords, but three men in particular dominated government and parliament. Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, and Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton. They didn't all like each other, but they worked together to try and steer the king and control parliament.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:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- The Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyFor a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a special episode BT Newberg and I talk about the highs and lows of making a history podcast. What made us want to start a podcast? Why did we pick the subjects we did? What are the best and worst things about it? Peak behind the curtain!Go check out Dead Ideas: https://deadideas.net/Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the personal politics of early modern England, the personalities and desires of the powerful were the stuff of policy. In this episode we examine the actions of: Queen Anne, the closet-Catholic; Prince Henry Frederick, the dashing future king of three realms; Elizabeth, the gracious future Queen of Bohemia; and Charles, the bookish, slightly sickly, future Archbishop of Canterbury. That is, unless Fate intervened...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:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- The Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyFor a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Both before and after the Flight of the Earls territory in north Ireland was forfeited to the Crown and purchased by investors. Even while the burgeoning colony of Virginia was facing its earliest challenges, it was in Ulster that most government attention was focused. Money, men, and materials flooded the province, determined to make this latest plantation effort a success. The experiences of English, Scots, Welsh and Irish would form the basis of the next two centuries of British colonial expansion.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:- Kennedy, L. and Ollerenshaw, P. (2012).Ulster Since 1600. Oxford- Jane H. Ohlmeyer, ''Civilizinge of those Rude Partes': Colonization within Britain and Ireland, 1580s-1640s', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire- David Edwards, 'Political Change and Social Transformation, 1603–1641', in The Cambridge History of Ireland: 1550–1730- J. H. Elliott, Scots & Catalans: Union & DisunionFor a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices