Noble Blood
Episodes
The Noble Revolutionary
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you're familiar with the musical 'Hamilton,' yoiu probably know about "America's favorite fighting Frenchman:" the Marquis de Lafayette. A teenage ...
The Princess and the Commoner
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2021, Princess Mako of Japan made headlines for giving up her royal title in order to marry a commoner. On the surface, it sounds like a picture-pe...
Prometheus in Paris
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 1777, Benjamin Franklin made his way across the Atlantic to Paris. He was the most famous American in the world, a celebrated inventor thought of a...
Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt Among the Royals (with History On Trial's Mira Hayward)
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1930s, America was captivated by a scandalous courtroom drama - a custody battle of little 10-year-old Gloria Vanderbilt (mother of Anderson Co...
Empires and the Benin Bronzes
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Benin Bronzes are some of the most famous artifacts in the world. And the story of how they were looted from the Kingdom of Edo in the 19th centur...
The Cabbage King and Queen vs. the Nazis
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The tiny island of Sark, in the English Channel, had the distinguished honor of being the last fiefdom in Europe. And in 1929, an American businessman...
Live by the Guillotine, Die by the Guillotine
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On October 6, a mob from Paris descended on Versailles, demanding blood. They stormed the palace, trying to find the private chambers of Marie Antoine...
A Rebel Heiress in the French Royal Family
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Marie's father was the brother of the King of France. Her mother was one of the country's richest women. And though in her youth Anne Marie had d...
How the Duke of Monmouth Lost His Head
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
King Charles II's oldest illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, was handsome and charismatic. But more importantly, he was Protestant, which made him...
Love and Tragedy at the Taj Mahal
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world, a tourist destination that attracts travelers from all over the globe. But the story o...
Nell Gwyn's Cinderella Story
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When the monarchy of England was restored and King Charles II became king, the playhouses were reoppened. And for the first time, women would be permi...
The Queen of Romance
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over her lifetime, Dame Barbara Cartland would write over 700 books that would sell more than 750 MILLION copies worldwide. Though her books were prim...
The Corpse on Trial
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Pope Stephen was putting his predecessor on trial, there were signs that what he was doing wasn't quite right. For one, in the middle of the tria...
The Female Pharaoh
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From wife and sister of a Pharaoh, to regent to eventually Pharaoh in her own right, Hatshepsut is one of the most compelling figures of the ancient w...
Death and the King's Favorite (with Benjamin Woolley)
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
George Villiers was in his early twenties when he caught the eye of King James the VI and I. Almost immediately, George became an intimate "favorite,"...
The Nun of Monza, Part 2
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
CW: murder, gore. Sister Virgina (born Marianna) had made a terrible choice in secret lovers. When a young secular boarder at the convent where she wa...
The Nun of Monza, Part 1
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For plenty of young women in the early modern era, if their families couldn't afford their dowries, they simply shipped them off to a nunnery. That wa...
Lucretia as a Symbol
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why did the Roman Empire do away with kings? Simone de Beauvior would write that, through women, "certain historical events have been set off, but the...
A Grand Duchess Above the Barber Shop
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
History is fascinated by the possible escape of Anastasia Romanov, the Grand Duchess killed alongside her family in the Russian Revolution. But there ...
The Daring Prison Break of the Emperor in Exile
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When a coalition of European nations invaded Paris in 1815, they offered Napoleon what they believed to be very generous terms of surrender: he would ...
The Dinner Party at the End of the Iranian Monarchy
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Mohammad Reza Shah got into a helicopter in 1979, he had no idea that it would be the last time he would ever see his country again. Nor did he k...
Odoacer and Theodoric, the Barbarian Kings of the Roman Empire
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Western Roman Empire was conquered by Odoacer, who styled himself as the "King of Italy." But the leader of the Ostrogoths, a warrior named Theodo...
Napoleon's Coup Within a Coup
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Was Napoleon a military dictator, or a man who did what was necessary in order to preserve a French republic that was crumbling? To discuss the coup i...
How Ada Lovelace Constructed Her Wings
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Annabella Millbanke had a daughter with her husband, Lord Byron, she was terrified that their child might inherit his poetical madness. And so sh...
The Plot to Undo Mary Eleanor Bowes, Part 2
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Eleanor Bowes managed to escape her abusive husband, Andrew Stoney, but the trial to divorce him and secure her financial freedom would ultimatel...
The Plot to Undo Mary Eleanor Bowes, Part 1
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Mary Eleanor Bowe's first husband died, he left her a letter warning her that, "A living man have no interest to mislead. A living man may." He c...
The Sheika Kept Prisoner (with Heidi Blake)
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018, Sheika Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum, the daughter of the ruler of Dubai, attempted a daring escape to international waters, away from what...
Introducing: History on Trial
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the Salem Witch Trials to O.J. Simpson, trials have always revealed hidden truths about our society. History on Trial will dig into these cases, ...
The Venetian Doge Condemned in Memory
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Along the walls of the Chamber of the Great Council in the Doge's Palace in Venice, there are portraits—one after another—of the Republic's doges....
Introducing: Very Special Episodes
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Very Special Episodes, we tell one incredible story each week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories...
Pompey and the Prince
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau is best known for something that he accomplished as an infant -- traveling with his mother, Sacagawea, and Lewis and Clark w...
The Contradictions and Controversies of Marc de Montifaud
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 19th century, French writer Marc de Montifaud was sentenced to prison for indecency in his work. But rather than being sent to the rather ...
John Dee's Language of the Angels
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alchemist, magician, astronomer, astrologer - John Dee served as an advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, interpreting the stars for her. And when a comet cro...
"Eat Him If You Like"
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
CW: Gore, cannibalism. The village of Hautefaye was a sleepy town in France best known for a local fair. But in the summer of 1870, gripped by parano...
How Pope Joan Became the High Priestess
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
According to legend, around 1100, a woman disguised herself as a man and was unanimously elected Pope. The ruse lasted until she gave birth while ridi...
William the Conqueror, Christmas King
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
William the Conqueror is considered the first King of England. But the road to his victory at the Battle of Hastings was strange and challenging, and ...
Napoleon's Josephine (with Jennifer Wright)
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, Josephine went from a sugar plantation to prison to Empress. But her rise and her fall reveal a dark undercurrent in t...
The Queen Caught Between Kingdoms
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When her husband, King John of England died, the widowed Isabelle of Angouleme sailed back to France to fight for her own independent kingdom. But ove...
Charlotte Corday, the Angel of Assassination
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A minor aristocrat, Charlotte Corday could have lived an ordinary life in Normandy in the 18th century. Instead, she took it upon herself to kill the ...
Caroline Norton Balancing the Scales of Justice
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
CW: Spousal abuse, miscarriage. In the UK in the early 19th century, married women didn't exist as their own legal entities; they were extensions of ...
The Princess Who Wrestled for Her Future
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Khutulun was a 13th century Mongolian princess born in the war-torn years after Genghis Khan's massive empire began falling apart at the seams. She fo...
The World Inside of Rudolf II's Cabinet of Curiosities
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor, was an obsessive collector — of art, of rare and expensive artifacts, of scientific equipment, of natural curiosi...
The Tabloid Sacrifices of the Spare, Princess Margaret
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister, was one of the most famous and glamorous women of the 20th century. But her life was lived in ...
Eleanor Cobham, Necromancer Witch
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After marrying the Duke of Gloucester, Eleanor Cobham became one of the wealthiest and post powerful women in England. She and her husband were a hear...
The Thrift-Shop Pope
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After Vatican II, many traditionalist Catholics around the world decided that the heresies of the Pope meant that the papal throne was actually empty....
The Cage of the Ottoman King
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Mehmed III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, died, his young son Ahmed took the throne. Tradition dicrated that Ahmed should have killed any rivals ...
The Stories of the Tsar Monk
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1836, a stranger arrived to a remote Russian town on a snow-white horse. The man spoke fluent French and had a noble bearing, but he refused to giv...
The Hidden Life of Henry VIII's Fool (With Peter K. Andersson)
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
William Somer (or Will Summers), Henry VIII's fool, became known to history as a famous wit, the man who spoke truth to power and advocated for the co...
The Arsenic Wife (Part 2)
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Marie Lafarge's trial was a sensation. But when chemists begin to disagree on their conclusions, who's to say what the real story is? NOTE: This is th...
The Arsenic Wife (Part 1)
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1840, the trial of Marie Lafarge scandalized France. Marie was a woman from noble birth, raised in all of the right social circles in Paris, who en...
The Tragic True-Crime Life of Lady Lucan
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
[CONTENT WARNING: this episode contains depictions of violence and spousal abuse.] On November 7, 1974, John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan committed a ho...
The Great Hope of Spain
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
King Alfonson XII of Spain died without a male heir—but there was hope: his wife was six months pregnant. And as great fortune would have it, the Qu...
The Eviction of the Texas Princess
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi lived many lives—as political researcher, congressional wife, Playboy model, and actress. But it would be her role as wife...
Eleanor of Aquitaine Imprisoned
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Eleanor of Aquitaine is one of the most famous women in European history for good reason. After annulling her marriage from the King of France, she wo...
Sadism in the Bastille
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
TRIGGER WARNING: this episode contains references to sexual content. The Marquis de Sade, the namesake of "sadism," is famous for his writings catalo...
The Death and Life of Amy Robsart
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Dudley is famous for being the favorite of the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I, but the death of his first wife, Amy Robsart would be his most endur...
Dumas and Napoleon
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alexander Dumas is famous for his swashbuckling novel The Count of Monte Cristo, but more thrilling than fiction is the real-life story of his father,...
The Resistance Queen Wilhelmina
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was raised like a fairy tale princess — but she would reign over one of the most tumultuous periods in European ...
Queen Tamar's Revenge
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When her council forced her to marry, Tamar immediately knew their selection was the wrong choice. When he would eventually try to lead an invading ar...
Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I (with Tracy Borman)
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dana is joined by the Tudor historian—and Joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces—Tracy Borman to discuss her latest book, Anne Boleyn and E...
Edward VI Among the Women
04 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The story of King Henry VIII is famous, as are the stories of his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. King Henry's only son, the sickly Edward VI, had a sh...
The Men Who Would Kill the Medici, Part 2
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The men knew they needed to get rid of Lorenzo de Medici, they just didn't know how. In the end, they decided the right place would be High Mass, on a...
The Men Who Would Kill the Medici, Part 1
20 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lorenzo de Medici was the center of power in Florence. Three men—Girolomo Riario, Francesco de Pazzi, and Francesco Salviati, Archbishop of Pisa—w...
The Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Fighting To Be Seen
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our two part series on the Chevalier de Saint-Georges continues, with our hero rubbing elbows with Whig politicians and fighting for freedom during th...
The Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Excellent or Nothing
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 1700s, one man became a celebrated fixture of Parisian salon culture: he was a prodigy fencer, and then a brilliant composer and violinist...
The Woman Who Wrote Fairy Tales
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to fairy tales, most people know Charrles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. Fewer know of Madame d'Aulnoy, whose own life of murder and p...
Through the Eyes of La Castiglione
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More than a hundred years before the selfie became commonplace, a woman in France used photographs to immortalize her favorite subject: herself. But a...
The Pretty Prime Minister (with Jennifer Wright)
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
TW: This episode contains discussions of violence towards children that might be disturbing for some listeners. For decades, one woman was the heart a...
The Party to End Nicolas Fouquet's Career
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In August 1661, the superintendent of finance in France threw the party of the century. In September, he was arrested. The lesson: don't fly too close...
The Self-Reported Life of the Sham Prince
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of World War I, aristocratic Germans were clinging to whatever sense of identity and social structure they could. They relished the o...
The Resurrection of the Parking Lot King
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After the Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry Tudor became King Henry VII. But what happened to the king he replaced, King Richard III? Well, we weren't q...
Lucy Walter's Lover and Child
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Before he was King Charles II, Charles was a prince in exile. His relationship with a young woman named Lucy Walter and their subsequent child would h...
"And Historians Will Call Them..."
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Isabella of Parma had a fairy tale wedding to Joseph, the son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. But he wasn't the great love of her life: his siste...
Pope Pius the Silent
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For centuries, historians have debated the legacy of Pope Pius XII. Did he prudently avoid angering fascists, or did he stand by silently while atroci...
The Isshi Incident
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
During the reign of Empress Kogyoku in 7th century Japan, two clans — the Soga clan and the Nakatomi clan — were rivals for power. But the Nakatom...
The Pretender Prince
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The mystery of the fate of the two princes who dissapeared into the Tower of London during the Wars of the Roses has captivated historians, and the pu...
The Mad King's Queen
14 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years, Queen Charlotte has recieved new attention for being the only primary character on Bridgerton with a real historical counterpart. But...
A Duke Murdered in the Streets of Paris
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When King Charles VI of France suffered from severe mental illness, a council ruled in his place. And on that council was his brother, Louis of Orlean...
Lady Seymour Worsley's Worth
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
*Note: this episode contains sexual situations.* Lady Seymour Fleming's husband was suing her lover into destitution. She would rather destroy herself...
The Dollar Princesses
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For much of the history we're discussed on this podcast, marriages were the best way to advance one's social position. In the Gilded Age, a special su...
The She-Wolf, Her Husband, and Their Lovers
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Isabella of France was a pre-teen when she came to England to marry King Edward II. Though the two had plenty in common, a series of betrayals would u...
The Trials of Joanna of Naples
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Joanna of Naples is one of the most infamous figures of the 14th century, a woman who ruled in her own right who faced treachery and betrayal by her o...
The Crécy Campaign (with Dan Jones)
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the summer of 1346, English soldiers landed at Normandy and mounted a campaign that would become one of the most famous in the Hundred Years War. H...
The Portrait of Dido Belle
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dido Elizabeth Belle is one of the most unusual women in the Georgian era: a woman who inherited wealth, who was raised as a lady by her powerful aunt...
...The Gunpowder Treason and Plot
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The plot was set: 36 barrels of gunpowder ready to blow beneath the House of Parliament on November 5, 1605. But the conspirators would be betrayed, a...
Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November...
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After the reign of Elizabeth I, Catholics in England were hoping their next monarch would be more leniant with them. But when James I turned out to co...
In No Way Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is the "Holy Roman Empire" and why does it seem to be in... Germany? The answer goes back to the King of the Franks, and a very vulnerable Pope. ...
The Queen of England and the Queen of Pirates
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Grace O'Malley, or Gráinne Mhaol, has become an Irish folk hero, a woman who led a crew of men and galley ships and stood up to the English occupiers...
The Curse of the Koh-I-Noor
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Over the centuries, the fabled Koh-I-noor diamond has been a symbol of conquest and power. Now, it sits in the Tower of London. But how it got there i...
Bonus Episode: Dana Schwartz on Significant Others
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Bonus special episode! Dana Schwartz guests on Significant Others, a narrated, nonfiction podcast about folks just beyond the spotlight of history, ho...
The Princess and the Shaman and the Royal House of Norway
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While I seldom cover modern royals on this podcast, the recent announcement of Princess Martha Louise of Norway stepping away from royal duties in the...
The Corpse of Inês de Castro
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
King Pedro I of Portugal had one love of his life. And when she died, in 1355, Pedro would do everything in his power to make those who were responsib...
The Count, the Moose, and Thomas Jefferson
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers were desperate to prove America's strength on the world stage, especially compared to Europe. To T...
The Secret History of Emperor Justinian
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Procopius is considered the preeminent historian of the Byzantine age, writer of works that extolled the virtue and power of Emperor Justinian. But in...
Lady Mary Wroth's Urania
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lady Mary Wroth is often considered the first female writer in England to publish a work of prose under her own name. But her romance, The Countess of...
Mansa Musa and the World Map
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mansa Musa is often considered to be the richest man who ever lived. And, in the 14th century, he set out on a hajj to show his wealth and power to th...
The Execution of the Roman Virgin
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1599, Beatrice Cenci, the daughter of a wealthy Roman nobleman, was convicted of her father's murder. She almost certainly did it—no one was argu...
The Princess of Monte Carlo
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1841, it seemed inevitable that the small, impoverished principality of Monaco would be absorbed by one of its larger neighbors. But the new Prince...
The Irish Crown Jewels, Separated
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To this day, no one knows who stole the Irish Crown Jewels in 1907, but in the years since a number of suspects have emerged, and the mysterious case ...
The Peasants vs. John of Gaunt (with Helen Carr)
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Helen Carr, author of The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, to talk about a key event in the life of the third surviving son of Edward ...