Hot Mess History Podcast

This week on the Hot Mess History Podcast , we travel to Elizabethan England to meet Margaret Clitherow—wife, mother, rebel… and saint. When Catholicism was outlawed under Queen Elizabeth I, Margaret didn't just quietly resist—she turned her home into a secret base for underground Masses and fugitive priests. In a brutal twist of fate, Margaret refused to plead at her trial to protect her family,...

In this episode of the Hot Mess History Podcast , we dive into the radical, rebellious, and deeply spiritual life of Marguerite Porete — a 13th-century mystic who dared to challenge the Church with her book, The Mirror of Simple Souls . She believed the soul could become so united with God that it no longer needed the Church, the sacraments, or even moral rules. Marguerite wasn’t a nun. She was pa...

She was brilliant, devout, and politically convenient—and she paid the price. In this episode of the Hot Mess History Podcast , we unravel the heartbreaking story of Lady Jane Grey, the teenage girl forced onto the throne of England for just nine days before being imprisoned and executed. You’ll hear how a network of power-hungry men used Jane as a pawn, how she tried to resist, and how the brutal...

In this episode of Hot Mess History , we dive into the brilliant and brutal life of Hypatia of Alexandria —mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, and the last great light of classical learning before the dark tides of religious and political upheaval swept through the Roman world. We talk philosophy, power struggles, Neoplatonism, the menstrual rag story (yes, really), and the violent intersectio...

In this episode, we dive into the fiery rebellion of Boudica, queen of the Iceni, who led a brutal uprising against Roman rule in Britain. After personal and political betrayal, Boudica sparked a campaign of vengeance that left Roman cities in ruins. Sources: Boudica: Iron Age Warrior Queen by Richard Hingley & Christina Unwin Boudica: Warrior Woman of Roman Britain by Caitlin Gillespie Fair U...