Noble Blood

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 riding her horse through the streets of Rome. The story isn't true, but how the story came to be, and why it persisted, becomes its own history of Christianity in Europe and the power of propoganda. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and sc...

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 it would take more than a coronation to get England to submit to him. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch ! — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story' See omnyst...

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 the trend toward women in post-Revolutionary France. Dana is joined in conversation by the writer Jennifer Wright. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its se...

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 over decades of trying to pit England and France against each other, sacrificing her reputation and her relationships with her children, Isabelle's efforts would have a greater cost than she could afford. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers,...

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 prominent leader of the Jacobin revolutionaries - a newspaper writer named Marat - while he soaked in his bathtub. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its se...

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 their husbands. Caroline Norton's abusive husband took full custody of their children, and Caroline tried to do everything in their power to get them back. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order Dana's...

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 fought valiantly at her father's side to defend his Khanate, but when it came to marriage she made a demand: she would only marry a man who could beat her in a wrestling match. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — M...

Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor, was an obsessive collector — of art, of rare and expensive artifacts, of scientific equipment, of natural curiosities. (He claimed he had a siren's jaw and a phoenix feather.) But religious tension and foreign invasion was tearing his empire apart at the seams, and Rudolf's response was to retreat further into his own private world. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus e...

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 view of, and in response to, the tabloid scandals that threatened to undo her. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story'  and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Story' S...

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 heartbeat away from being King and Queen, and the promise of power tempted Eleanor into making a fatal mistake. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on P atreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story'  and its sequel...

After Vatican II, many traditionalist Catholics around the world decided that the heresies of the Pope meant that the papal throne was actually empty. For one member of that group, the only solution was to fill the position himself. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on P atreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story' and its sequel 'Immortality: A Love Stor...

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 to the throne, specifically his half-brother, Mustafa. He didn't. Historians still don't know why, and Mustafa's strange life—as pawn, prisoner, and sultan—continues to raise questions about the nature of power and royalty itself. Support Noble Blood...

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 give any information about where he came from or who his family was. And then someone noticed a striking resemblance to the former Tsar, Alexander I. The only problem? Tsar Alexander I had been dead for eleven years. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episode...

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 common people. But in reality, the man's life was more nuanced, and far sadder. Dana speaks with historian Peter K. Andersson about his new book, FOOL: In Search of Henry VIII's Closest Man about the man who was arguably Henry VIII's longest-term relat...

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 the second part of our discussion of the trail of Marie Lafarge. If you haven't listened to last week's episode, begin there. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on P atreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A Love Story'...

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 ended up married to an iron-master, heavily in debt. When he died less than a year later, his family suspected his new bride of sprinkling arsenic into his food. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order D...

[CONTENT WARNING: this episode contains depictions of violence and spousal abuse.] On November 7, 1974, John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan committed a horrible crime: attacking his wife, Veronica, Lady Lucan, and murdering their nanny, Sandra Rivett, in the family's quiet Belgravia home. But it's what happened after that turned the story into a true-crime legend: the morning after the murder, Lord Lu...

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 Queen gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who would be Alfonso XIII. At the turn of the century, Spain was at a crossroads. It could either regress, into a conservative Catholic monarchy, or become a more liberal constitutional government. But the King fac...

Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi lived many lives—as political researcher, congressional wife, Playboy model, and actress. But it would be her role as wife of an Italian prince that would eventually lead her into the battle of her life: an inheritance fight for a $500 million villa. [The archive mentioned in the episode epilogue here ] Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patre...

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 would marry the man who would become Henry II, King of England. But that marriage would sour, and in the end, Eleanor would turn against him. Sign up for Dana's horror writing course! Support Noble Blood:  — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on P a...

TRIGGER WARNING: this episode contains references to sexual content. The Marquis de Sade, the namesake of "sadism," is famous for his writings cataloguing the full extent of brutal and abusive sexual acts. Today, he's perhaps more famous as a concept than an actual living, breathing person, a man who wrote his most famous manuscript in prison, aided by a shockingly devoted wife. Sign up for Dana's...

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 enduring scandal. Amy, the jilted wife of a man who ignored her in favor of social climbing at court, was found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Whether it was an accident, a suicide, or foul play is a matter of debate to this day. Sign up for Dana's ho...

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, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas. Born the son of an enslaved woman, Dumas would become one of the most celebrated soldiers in the French army, and would end up on a collision course with another young general: Napoleon Bonaparte. For more information, please...

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 history and she would attempt to lead her people while in exile after the Nazis invaded her country. Sign up for Dana's history writing course! Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on P atreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book 'Anato...

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 army into overthrowing her government, I bet she wished she could have said, "I told you so." Sign up for Dana's history writing course! Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, stickers, and scripts on Patreon — Merch! — Order Dana's book, 'Anatomy: A L...