Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the Tudors

How did Tudor England solve crimes without police or forensic science? This episode explores how murder and suspicion were investigated through community testimony, coroners’ inquests, confession, and local justice, and why the world of Matthew Shardlake feels surprisingly accurate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...

The Christmas Character quiz is here: https://www.englandcast.com/christmas-character-quiz/ - I'd love to see what you got! And the ecard site is here: https://www.englandcast.com/tudor-tidings/ How did the Tudors understand the human body, and why does their approach feel so strange to us today? In this episode, I explore how people in Tudor England thought about health, illness, emotion, and bal...

For more than three centuries, a restrained Tudor portrait was confidently labeled as Lady Jane Grey. But the woman in the painting is almost certainly not Jane at all. In this episode, we explore the evidence that the famous Wrest Park portrait actually depicts Mary Neville, Lady Dacre, a young widow navigating disgrace, poverty, and political survival after her husband’s execution. Through costu...

Poison was the rumor that never died in Tudor England. In this episode, we look at the deaths that Tudor contemporaries believed were “too convenient” to be natural: the Scottish commissioners who fell ill during Mary, Queen of Scots’ marriage negotiations in France, the sudden collapse of Ferdinando Stanley, and the suspicions surrounding Darnley and Amy Robsart. Whether these cases were illness,...

Margaret Douglas, niece of Henry VIII, spent her entire life at the center of Tudor politics. In this episode I look at her childhood in the royal nursery, the scandal that sent her to the Tower, her influential marriage into the Lennox family, and the choices that helped place her grandson James VI on the English throne. A detailed look at the woman who linked the Tudor and Stuart dynasties. Rela...

Tudor England loved true crime just as much as we do today. In this episode, we look at a few cases that gripped 16th-century audiences: the 1551 murder of Thomas Arden of Faversham, and the 1592 killing of John Brewen, preserved in a sensational printed pamphlet. These stories reveal how early printers, ballad sellers, and public executions shaped a uniquely Tudor form of crime storytelling. Host...

Intermittent fasting might feel like a modern idea, but Tudor England practiced a full winter fast during Advent. People cut out meat and dairy, relied on fish and simple grains, and often waited until evening prayers for their main meal. In this episode we look at what the Advent fast involved, how it shaped daily life in December, and why it ends up sounding a lot like the fasting routines peopl...

Today we’re looking at the Privy Council and the work it handled behind the scenes in Tudor England. This small group managed intelligence, arrests, foreign diplomacy, religious enforcement, and the constant flow of problems from every corner of the kingdom. It’s a closer look at how the Tudors actually governed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad...

In this episode, we trace the Vaux family from their Lancastrian beginnings in the fifteenth century to their role in the Catholic underground during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. We follow the line from Katherine Peniston and her loyalty to Margaret of Anjou, through Nicholas Vaux’s rise under Henry VII and Henry VIII, and into the recusant world shaped by William Vaux. The story leads t...

In 1591, Mabel Bagenal defied her powerful English family and secretly married Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone. Their relationship became one of the most controversial matches in Tudor Ireland, fueling tensions that were already pushing the country toward war. In this minicast, we explore who Mabel was, why she chose O’Neill, and how her decision shaped the politics around her. Hosted on Acast. See a...

Today we’re looking at the Tudor-era women who stepped into roles normally reserved for knights, from Grace O’Malley leading a fleet on the Irish coast to Bess of Hardwick managing the Shrewsbury power base during rebellion, Mary of Guise governing a kingdom at war, Elizabeth I claiming her authority at Tilbury, and more. They were never formally knighted, but their actions came remarkably close....

Today we’re looking at the closest thing Tudor England had to newspapers: the crime pamphlets that reported real murders, scandals, and witchcraft cases in the sixteenth century. We’ll dig into the 1573 killing of George Saunders, the 1592 murder of John Brewen, and a witchcraft case printed that same year, and explore how these pamphlets shaped public ideas about justice long before regular news...

In this session from Tudorcon 2025 Sarah Pixley Papandrea from Agecroft Hall breaks down the real twelve-day Christmas season of Tudor England, from mumming and wassailing to role-reversal games, feast days, and the Lord of Misrule. It’s a lively look at the traditions that shaped winter celebrations across the Tudor world. Yuletide with the Tudors begins Monday, December 1. It’s my digital advent...

In this episode, we explore the life of Jane Lumley, a Tudor noblewoman whose translations made her one of the earliest female scholars in English literature. Through her, we trace the intertwined stories of the FitzAlan and Lumley families, the politics that shaped their world, and the remarkable library that preserved her work. From Nonsuch to the Lumley Chapel at Cheam, her life offers a rare w...

Edward the Black Prince was Europe’s most celebrated warrior. Joan of Kent was already notorious for one secret marriage and an accidental second one that sparked a papal court battle. When the two married in secret in 1361, it created a royal crisis that threatened the legitimacy of England’s future heir. In this minicast, we follow Joan from her turbulent childhood and bigamy scandal to her marr...

In 1586, William Stafford proposed one of the strangest assassination ideas of Elizabeth I’s reign: blowing up the queen’s bed while she slept, even though his own mother served in that room. This minicast unpacks the Stafford Plot, the French connection, and Walsingham’s likely role in turning the whole thing into an intelligence trap. A bizarre slice of Elizabethan espionage with very real polit...

Baddesley Clinton looks calm today, but the families who lived there left behind a long trail of drama. This episode follows the Clintons, the fiery Bromes, and the Catholic Ferrers through murder, duels, hidden priest holes, and the Jesuit network that operated out of the house during Elizabeth I’s reign. It’s a full narrative journey through 500 years of secrets inside one Warwickshire manor. Ho...

Did Elizabeth I actually name James VI of Scotland as her heir? Historian Dr. Tracy Borman joins me to talk about her new book, The Stolen Crown, and the newly uncovered evidence showing that the deathbed scene we’ve all heard was rewritten after the fact. We talk about the real contenders for the throne, the political panic around Elizabeth’s refusal to name an heir, Robert Cecil’s king-making, J...

In 1596, a young man crossed England with a passport so convincing that constables let him pass from county to county without a second glance. The problem? The document was entirely fake. When Justice Edward Hext finally examined it, he realized it had fooled officials from one end of the kingdom to the other. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad ch...

Today we’re looking at what Tudor people actually did to stay clean. From linen “dry baths” and herbal wash water to tooth powders made from salt, sage, and charcoal, this episode walks through the real routines behind Tudor bathing and daily mouth care. It’s a closer look at how people washed, groomed, and kept themselves presentable in a world without modern plumbing or toothpaste. Hosted on Aca...

Today we’re looking at what a “passport” meant in Tudor England. There were no little booklets, but anyone leaving the kingdom needed royal permission in the form of licences and safe-conducts. Let's do a quick dive into how these documents worked and why the Privy Council watched foreign travel so closely. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choic...

The other day we looked at the nobility and what they did - today, a look at the gentry, the thousands of families who handled the everyday work of running the kingdom. From managing estates to serving as Justices of the Peace, they kept local government functioning while pursuing their own ambitions. It’s a quick tour of the people who made Tudor England operate behind the scenes. Hosted on Acast...

The Blounts of Mountjoy were everywhere in Tudor England, from Bessie Blount, Henry VIII’s mistress and mother of his only acknowledged son, to Charles Blount, Elizabeth I’s trusted commander and scandalous lover of Penelope Rich. This episode looks at how one family quietly threaded through a century of royal power, war, and intrigue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. L...

In 1592, Queen Elizabeth’s favorite, Sir Walter Raleigh, and her maid of honour, Bess Throckmorton, were sent to the Tower - not for treason, but for love. Their secret marriage scandalized the court and cost them everything. This is the story of their forbidden romance, their fall from favor, and the loyalty that lasted long after the Queen’s anger cooled. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

Ever wonder what a Tudor duke actually did all day? In this minicast, we dig into the real jobs of England’s nobles, landlords, courtiers, commanders, and sometimes survivors of royal politics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices