Not Just the Tudors

Royal Favourites: Robert Dudley, Elizabeth I's Forbidden Love

04 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Passion, scandal, and power collided in the tumultuous relationship between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley. Rumours of secret trysts between them set t...

Anne of Cleves: New Discoveries

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if Henry VIII’s “discarded bride” actually showed real promise as queen?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr James Taffe to discuss ...

Francisco de Cuéllar: Spanish Armada Captain

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How did a condemned Spanish Armada captain survive shipwreck, betrayal, and war to leave behind one of the most extraordinary first-person accounts of...

Anne Boleyn at Hever Castle

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What was Anne Boleyn like before she became the most controversial queen in English history? Can the rooms and gardens at her childhood home reveal mo...

Maria Theresa, Habsburg Empress

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How did a woman rise to power, and keep it, in the fiercely male-dominated Habsburg Empire?From her distrust of the Enlightenment to her religious int...

Elizabethans in India

16 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How did England’s earliest travellers to India try to win favour in a Mughal golden age that scarcely noticed them?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb speak...

Lady Jane Grey

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What if becoming queen was the worst thing that could happen to you? What if the crown became your death sentence?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb explores...

Grace O'Malley, Ireland's Pirate Queen

09 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

She cut off her hair to sail the seas. She divorced her husband by locking him out of his own castle. And when her son was killed by the occupying Eng...

Elizabethan Boy Actresses

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why were Shakespeare’s greatest heroines played by teenage boys? How did they learn their craft? On the Elizabethan stage, highly trained young men ...

When the Spanish Armada Reached Ireland

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when a fleeing armada meets an unforgiving coast? Shipwreck, slaughter and survival collide as Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Michael B....

Henry Wotton: Outlaw and Royal Spy

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Assassination plots, Venetian stand‑offs and a diplomat in disguise: how did one maverick change the course of history?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb a...

The Rise and Fall of Pirate Captain Kidd

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Was Captain William Kidd a ruthless pirate or a pawn in a royal gamble gone wrong? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Debbie Kilroy trace his meteoric r...

Plantagenet vs. Tudor: Who was the Rightful King?

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Who had a stronger claim to the English throne than Henry VII? When Henry Tudor took the crown on the battlefield at Bosworth, his hereditary claim w...

True Crime: Europe's First Female Serial Killer?

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Was there really a 17th century Italian woman who helped hundreds of wives murder their husbands, or is her story a myth born of fear and gossip?Profe...

Plots against Elizabeth I

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Who wanted Elizabeth I dead, and how close did they come to removing her? Who were the conspirators and rebels who plotted to put Mary, Queen of Scot...

Colonial Women of the Americas

12 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Warning: This episode contains references to sexual abuseWhat became of the women whose worlds collapsed when the Spanish arrived in Mesoamerica? Prof...

Regime Change: From Stuart to Hanover

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Who would rule Britain after the childless Queen Anne died in 1714? Why was a distant German Protestant dynasty chosen over closer claimants to the th...

Henry VII: Reign of Jeopardy

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Was Henry Tudor a tyrant obsessed with control, or a visionary who created peace and prosperity? How did a penniless exile with a tenuous claim to the...

Queen Anne: The Last Stuart Monarch

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Has history been unfair to Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch? Was she weak and easily led, or one of Britain’s most determined and underestimated ...

When Elves & Fairies Lived Among Us

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the mist‑shrouded Highlands, a quiet minister dared to trespass into forbidden realms. Convinced that fairies were not mere fables but a hidden n...

Queen Mary II & the Glorious Revolution

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What does it take to rule as an equal in a man's world? How did a quiet, devout queen help reshape Britain’s monarchy forever?All this month, Profe...

True Crime: The Lynching of the "Duke's Devil"

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This episode contains discussions of sexual assault, violence and child abuse. Listener discretion is advised. How did the mob lynching of a notorious...

James II: The Restoration's Last Catholic King

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A king with unyielding faith. A nation on the brink. A crown lost to revolution.King James II is often dismissed as the unfortunate monarch swept as...

Katherine Howard's Deadly Affairs

12 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Was Henry VIII's fifth wife a promiscuous teenager and then heartless adulteress and schemer? Celebrated, scrutinised, and endlessly talked about at c...

Charles II: Restoration of the Monarchy

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From clinging to a tree while evading capture, his face blackened with soot, to triumphantly sailing home to reclaim his crown — the story of Charle...

Why Cromwell's Republic Failed

05 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

After the execution of King Charles I, England became a Republic for the only time in its history. Yet why was this revolutionary moment so short-liv...

"Bloody Mary": Debunking the Myths

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Was Mary Tudor truly “Bloody Mary”? Has England’s first reigning queen been misunderstood for centuries? Determined to restore Roman Catholicism...

Ireland Under the Brutal Tudors

29 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What impact did the Tudors have on Ireland, not just in the councils of kings and earls, but in the rhythms of ordinary life? What were the consequenc...

Elizabeth I's Doctor - & Poisoner?

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Why was a Portuguese-born Jewish doctor, who rose to become Elizabeth I’s chief physician, brutally executed for treason in a scandal that shocked E...

Girl With a Pearl Earring: Identity Revealed

22 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Could one of art’s greatest mysteries at last be solved? Who was the luminous girl with a pearl earring in Vermeer's iconic painting? Professor Su...

Henry VIII's Reckoning: Pilgrimage of Grace

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The Pilgrimage of Grace sounds calm, but was in reality a major uprising in the north of England against Henry VIII’s religious and political reform...

Hamnet

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How much do we really know about William Shakespeare, his wife Anne Hathaway, and the family tragedies that may have shaped the bard's greatest work? ...

Tudor True Crime: Murder in Renaissance Rome

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This episode contains discussions of incest and sexual assault.Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by historical novelist Elizabeth Fremantle to exp...

Elizabeth I's Succession Crisis

08 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when a Queen refuses to name her heir? How does she hold her kingdom together when every courtier is secretly preparing for her death? Wh...

Christopher Marlowe: A Dangerous Life

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Was Christopher Marlowe a rebel, a genius, or a heretic ahead of his time? From his plays that shocked Elizabethan England to his brutal murder, Marlo...

Enchanted Realms: Fairies in the 16th Century

01 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the early modern period, belief in fairies was quite commonplace. But put all thoughts of Tinkerbell aside! Professor Suzannah Lipscomb i...

The Secrets Hidden In Tudor Art

29 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why are diamonds black, and how does a triangle show power in Tudor portraits? From Henry VII’s shrewd statecraft to the glittering reign of Elizabe...

Princes in the Tower

25 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The unsolved mystery of what happened to the Princes in the Tower - Edward V and Richard, Duke of York - is possibly English history’s greatest cold...

Did Oliver Cromwell Ban Christmas?

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1647 Christmas vanished by the decree of the Puritans who ruled Britain. But not everyone complied. Families lit candles behind closed doors, whisp...

From Succession to Codpieces: Your Tudor Questions Answered

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this special episode, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb fields questions about the Tudors and their time that have all been suggested by you.  From ...

Surviving Plague in Venice

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

450 years ago, Venice found itself facing a plague outbreak that would kill more than 50,000 people - a third of its population. But to manage the epi...

Elizabeth Boleyn: The Queen's Mother

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What if the most powerful woman in Anne Boleyn’s story never spoke on the record? Elizabeth Boleyn steps out of the shadows in this revelatory Tudo...

Henry VIII At War

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

**Contains descriptions of war atrocities, including rape and infanticide**In 1544, Henry VIII led the largest army ever raised by an English monarch ...

How Poets Spoke Truth to Power

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout history, the words of poets have often ignited change or unsettled those in power. In England particularly, poetry has both celebrated...

Dark Side of the Quakers

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

**Contains story of a young male suicide**Out of the devastation of the English Civil Wars, a radical new religious movement was born. The early Quake...

Mother of All Tudors: Margaret Beaufort

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Step into the turbulent heart of the Wars of the Roses and meet one of history’s most formidable survivors: Lady Margaret Beaufort.A child bride, a ...

Origins of Free Speech

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Free speech is today more contested than ever before. In many places, differing views about politics, sex, and religion are suppressed and punished. I...

Raleigh and the Lost Colony of Roanoke

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happened to the lost colony of Roanoke?In the 1580s Sir Walter Raleigh set about establishing a permanent English colony on Roanoke Island, off t...

Tudor True Crime: Who Murdered Lord Darnley?

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

**Contains accounts of murder and sexual violence**After an explosion rocked Edinburgh in February 1567, Lord Darnley - husband to Mary, Queen of Scot...

Hans Holbein: New Discoveries

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Henry VIII’s commanding gaze, Thomas More’s intellect, Anne of Cleves’ cautious poise; Hans Holbein’s portraits didn’t just depict the Tudor...

The Rise of St Paul's Cathedral

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

St Paul’s Cathedral still dominates the London skyline, defiant, majestic, timeless. Yet, its story begins in the ashes of the Great Fire of London ...

What if Guy Fawkes had succeeded?

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 5 November 1605, Guy Fawkes became infamous not for what he achieved, but for what he failed to do: kill King James VI & I and bring down the Briti...

King vs. Emperor: The Battle of Pavia, 1525

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

500 years ago, the fields outside Pavia in Italy became the stage for one of the most dramatic and decisive battles of the Renaissance. Francis I of F...

Diary of Samuel Pepys

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb unlocks the pages of one of the most extraordinary diaries ever written. Samuel Pepys chronicled his life in Restoration E...

Jane Boleyn with Philippa Gregory

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jane Boleyn has long been called the most hated woman in Tudor history. Wife to Anne Boleyn's brother George, Jane served as lady-in-waiting to five o...

When Europe met Islam

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the Early Modern period the boundaries between Christian and Islamic civilisations were far more porous than we imagine: Isaac Newton’s library i...

How to Stay Alive in Renaissance England

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 16th and 17th century England, the plague and pox, disease and injury were a daily presence. At at time when medicine was a complex interplay of tr...

Ballads of Magic & Mystery

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Songs have always carried stories of love, loss, rebellion and hope. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by author Amy Jeffs, illustrator Gwen Burns...

Voices of Thunder: Radical Women of the 17th Century

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 17th-century England, women weren’t asked what they believed, they were generally told to obey. But amid civil war, revolution, and religious up...

Henry VIII on Screen: The Historians' Verdict

09 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

King Henry VIII is best known for his tempestuous marriages and his penchant for cutting off people’s heads. But where does fiction meet fact?In thi...

The Last Plantagenets in Tudor England

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Direct descendants of the Plantagenets were once at the very heart of Tudor politics, yet their story is often overlooked. From Margaret Pole, niece ...

Fig Leaves & A Grumpy Jesus: Renaissance to Baroque Art

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever wandered through a museum and thought: Why is the Virgin Mary always dressed in blue? Did they really use eggs in egg tempera—and did...

Rudolf II, the "Mad Habsburg Emperor"

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the final episode of her short series on the Habsburg dynasty, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb turns to one of the most fascinating and misunderstood r...

Marlowe & Shakespeare: Rivals or Collaborators?

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb engages in a captivating conversation with award-winning dramatist Liz Duffy Adams about the new Royal Shakespeare product...

Habsburg Women: Matriarchs of Power

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When we think of the Habsburgs, the spotlight usually falls on emperors, kings, and archdukes—powerful men who dominated Europe. But behind the sce...

Vanity of Henry VIII with Kate Lister

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With six wives, Henry VIII must have had something going for him, right? Was he handsome? Charming? Intelligent? Just plain powerful? In this episode,...

Charles V, Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the second episode of our special Habsburg dynasty series, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by renowned historian Professor Geoffrey Parker to...

Shakespeare's Male Muse: A Mystery Solved?

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Could a long-hidden miniature painting unlock the mystery of Shakespeare’s most intimate poetry? Unearthed after 400 years in a private collection,...

Rise of the Habsburgs

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the first of a special four-part series on the Habsburgs, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb traces the unlikely rise of Europe’s most enduring imperial...

Oliver Cromwell v. Charles I

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 30 January 1649, the unthinkable happened: for the first time in history, a reigning monarch was tried and condemned by his own people. But how di...

The English Civil War

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What sparks a nation to turn against its own king? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb dives into the turbulent and transformative decade that witnessed the ...

Tudor True Crime: Europe's Most Murderous Dynasty

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The rich and powerful Guise family was one of the most treacherous and bloodthirsty in sixteenth-century France. They whipped up religious bigotry, o...

Tudor True Crime: Murder in the Stuart Court

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The public fascination with true crime is nothing new.  Four centuries ago, the sensational story of the death in the Tower of London of Thomas O...

Tudor True Crime: Murder of Amy Dudley

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

**WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of suicide**On 6 September 1560, Amy Robsart Dudley died after falling down a staircase at Cumnor Place ...

Tudor True Crime: Murder of Christopher Marlowe

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Who stabbed the famed playwright? And who planned it? We're stepping out of the sun and into the shadows on Not Just the Tudors, as Professor Suzanna...

Othered: Race, Gender & Human 'Monsters'

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

**Contains examples of 'othering', including birth abnormalities, and the terms used to describe them historically**Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joi...

Molière: Satire, Scandal & the Stage

11 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Professor Jan Clarke to explore the life, legend, and legacy of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin — better known as Mo...

Vasari: Inventor of Artistic Genius

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What if the tale of one night could change the way we view art forever?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Noah Charney to explore the life a...

British Barbary Slaves

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

**Contains historical language which may cause offence**Between the early 1600s and late 1700s, thousands of British sailors, fishermen, merchants, an...

Isabel and Ferdinand: Renaissance Power Couple

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From the establishment of a formidable double monarchy to the complex dynamics of the Spanish Inquisition, Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon w...

The Rise of Isabel of Castile

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

**This episode contains sexually explicit language**In an age when powerful female rulers were few and far between, Isabel of Castile rose against the...

Bonnie Prince Charlie & the Jacobite Rebellion

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What was the Jacobite cause, and why did it spark some of the most famous and devastating events in British history?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Pr...

The Restoration Queen: Maria of Modena

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

**This episode contains discussions of miscarriage**When a teenage Catholic princess was sent from Italy to marry James II and reunite England with Ro...

When Women Ruled the Low Countries

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Five generations of remarkable women - from Mary of Burgundy to Isabella Clara Eugenia - made an enduring impact on the Low Countries. By strateg...

Nicholas Culpeper: Herbalist and Radical

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The maverick herbalist who fought for medical freedom.We love a rebel with a cause here on Not Just The Tudors, and Nicholas Culpeper was just that.He...

Mary Rose & the Battle of the Solent

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Before the Spanish Armada threatened England in 1588, an even more dangerous invasion loomed, just across the Channel in France. The Battle of the So...

The Roma: Resistance & Survival

07 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb welcomes Dr. Madeline Potter to unravel the rich yet tumultuous history of the Roma people. From Tudor England, where the ...

The Duchess of Malfi

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A young widow stands against the expectations of her family. A woman striving for love and agency in a society which demands she claimed neither, she...

Prelude to the English Civil War

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What drives a nation to civil war? Why would a king turn on his own Parliament? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Jonathan Healey to explor...

Akbar, the Great Mughal

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb discusses the remarkable life of Akbar the Great, one of history's most impressive emperors. Together with historian Ira M...

Shakespeare's Family: New Discoveries

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Did the women in Shakespeare’s life—his wife, sister, and daughters—shape his story more than we realise? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined...

Jane Austen & the Reformation

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Roger E. Moore to explore the lesser-known historical context of the works of Jane Austen, born 250 years...

Accidental Deaths in Tudor England

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

**This episode includes descriptions of accidental deaths**Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the grim but fascinating world of accidental death...

Isabella d’Este: Renaissance Influencer

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Discover the captivating life of Isabella d'Este with Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and acclaimed novelist and historian Sarah Dunant. They discuss Isa...

Mystery of the Cheapside Hoard

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In June 1912, two workmen made a discovery in the London mud that would stun the antiquarian world: a hoard of gold, pearls, rubies, emeralds, and jew...

Fall of Thomas More

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the second of our special episodes exploring the rise and fall of Sir Thomas More, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Dr. Joanne Paul chart the great ...

Rise of Thomas More

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas More is one of the most famous and controversial figures in English history. Was he truly the saintly man of conscience, immortalised by A Man ...

John Dee's Angels

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Was an advisor to Queen Elizabeth I communicating with angels? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Egyptologist Garry J. Shaw to explore the intr...

Philip II of Spain, King of England

26 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Philip II of Spain - the most powerful monarch of the early modern period - was married to Queen Mary Tudor from 1554 until her death in 1558. But Phi...

Dancing Plague of 1518

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1518 one woman's mysterious dance sparked an uncontrollable epidemic, leading up to 400 people to dance wildly for weeks.Professor Suzannah Lipscom...