Not Just the Tudors

One of the world's much loved stage and screen characters has just returned to the cinema in a new film version starring Peter Dinklage. But what may not be generally known is that Cyrano de Bergerac was a real person who was sharper, funnier and more modern than the romantic hero he inspired.In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Cyrano's biographer Ishbel Addyman, about an extraordinary figure, whose brave, independent and visionary thinking was years ahead of its time.Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter >If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit > To download, go to Android > or Apple store > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a contribution to International Women's Day last Tuesday, this episode of Not Just the Tudors is a tribute to one of the great - but largely forgotten - Queens of the Early Modern period.Elizabeth Stuart may only be vaguely recalled today as the sister of King Charles I, the grandmother of King George I, and thus a direct ancestor of our current Queen. But in her lifetime, as the deposed and exiled Queen of Bohemia, Elizabeth was a formidable figure, operating at the epicentre of the political and military struggles that defined 17th century Europe. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Nadine Akkerman, whose deep immersion in the archives and masterful detective work, has brought Elizabeth Stuart to life as a canny stateswoman and possessor of a sharp wit, cherished in the hearts of her compatriots. Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter > If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit > To download, go to Android > or Apple store > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Born in Exeter in 1547, the miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard left to posterity some of the most famous and enduring images of Queen Elizabeth I. But who was this man? How did this brilliant artist rise to become the first English-born court painter but then fall to be imprisoned at the age of 70? In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks about the technicolour of Hilliard's life and legacy with his biographer, Dr. Elizabeth Goldring. Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter >If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit >To download, go to Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How time passes - or how it is understood to pass - itself has a fascinating history. For the Tudors, the uneven hours of the Medieval reckoning were cast aside for an age of mechanical clocks and watches, albeit mainly for the elite. In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb meets Dr. Christina Faraday, to explore how the Tudors told the time and how, with this cultural shift, timepieces came to have symbolic meaning about a person's status in the portraits of the period. Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter >If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit >To download, go to Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All this month on the History Hit family of podcasts, we've been marking LGBT+ History Month. To round off the month, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates an extraordinary episode, long denied by scholars. In 1578, a same-sex community that gathered in a church, performing marriages between men, was discovered in Rome. Professor Giuseppe Marcocci reveals his ground-breaking research which challenges the accepted historical narrative and helps us to better understand the sentiments of those who were part of this unusual - and at that time, highly subversive - community in Renaissance Rome.Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter >If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit >To download, go to Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can women be reinstated into the narrative of history when their presence is only faintly attested to in the remaining sources? How can fiction help us in imagining their lives? Is it legitimate to write fictionalised versions of people who really lived? In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb addresses these and other questions with Dr. Miranda Malins, a novelist and historian who specialises in the life and career of Oliver Cromwell, his family, and the politics of the era. Her new novel, The Rebel Daughter is a gripping evocation of the Civil War, and the hidden stories of women at the heart of power. Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter >If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit >To download, go to Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1655, White Londoners began advertising in newspapers to retrieve enslaved people who had escaped. Groundbreaking research is bringing to light for the first time these stories of resistance by enslaved workers in Restoration London - including African children as young as eight - shedding light on the construction of a system of racial slavery, which has generally been regarded as happening in the colonies rather than in Britain itself.  In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Simon P. Newman about his new book Freedom Seekers: Escaping from Slavery in Restoration London, which reveals the hidden stories of the enslaved who attempted to escape from captivity.Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter >If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit >To download, go to Android > or Apple store > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura Gowing, a Professor of Early Modern History at King's College London, uncovers the pivotal roles women played in 17th century London’s workforce. The discussion reveals how apprenticeships opened economic opportunities for young women, allowing them to navigate a male-dominated society. Gowing highlights the formalization of women’s labor through guilds, their significant impact in the fashion revolution, and the social dynamics apprentices faced. The conversation offers fresh insights into women's agency and contributions in shaping an emerging consumer culture.

In the early hours of 13 February 1692, in the rugged and beautiful mountains of Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands, some 30 members and associates of Clan MacDonald were massacred by the Scottish army. It was a political act, a consequence of the so-called "Glorious Revelation" of 1688-1689. But even by the standards of the time what happened at Glencoe was considered an atrocity and an act of mass murder.In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb marks the 330th anniversary of the massacre with Dr. Allan Kennedy from the University of Dundee.Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter >If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit >To download, go to Android > or Apple store > Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kateryn Parr - as she herself wrote her name - is often portrayed as a colourless, prudish figure, known mainly for surviving her marriage to King Henry VIII. But Parr's life reads like a Renaissance romance, filled with peril, jealous husbands, personal patronage of the arts, writing and translating.In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Susan James, who charts Parr's life and the strategies she employed during her queenship, that ensured her survival, and which provided a role-model for her beloved step-daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth I.Keep up to date with everything early modern, from Henry VIII to the Sistine Chapel with our Tudor Tuesday newsletter> If you would like to learn more about history, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit >To download, go to Android > or Apple store> Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.