The History of England: Kings, Empires, and the Birth of Britain — Fexingo History

In 973 AD, King Edgar of England summoned the moneyers of every mint from Cornwall to Northumbria to Winchester, and issued a single royal decree: from now on, every penny in the realm must be identical — same design, same weight, same silver purity. This was the Edgar Reform, a monetary revolution that created England's first national coinage and established a system that would last unchanged for...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the reign of Æthelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great and the first Anglo-Saxon king to be crowned as King of the English. They delve into his conquest of Viking York in 927, his innovative coinage and legal reforms, his role as a diplomat who brokered royal marriages across Europe, and his patronage of learning that made his court a center of scholarship. Le...

Before there was a united England, there was Mercia—and its ruler was a woman. Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, was the daughter of Alfred the Great and one of the most effective military leaders of the Viking Age. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how she fortified towns, led armies against the Danes, and carved out a kingdom that became the foundation for her nephew's eventual unification...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Alfred the Great's Domboc, the law code that blended Mosaic law with Anglo-Saxon legal traditions to unify Wessex. They discuss how Alfred drew from the laws of Æthelberht, Ine, and Offa, the concept of wergild (man-price) to prevent blood feuds, the role of the shire and hundred courts, and the preservation of the single surviving manuscript at the Parker L...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Alfred the Great's law code, a foundational text in English legal history. Alfred compiled and adapted earlier laws from the kingdoms of Kent, Mercia, and Wessex, prefacing them with a translation of the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. The code reveals how Alfred sought to unify his realm through Christian justice, blending biblical precepts with Anglo...

In the late ninth century, King Alfred the Great faced a crisis. Viking armies had conquered most of England, and Wessex stood alone. But Alfred had a secret weapon: a network of fortified towns called burhs, each defended by a set number of men based on its size. This system was recorded in a document known as the Burghal Hidage, a unique administrative list that survives to this day. In this epi...

In the late 870s, King Alfred the Great of Wessex wasn't yet 'great' — he was a desperate fugitive, hiding in the marshes of Athelney after a devastating Danish invasion scattered his army. This episode tells the story of Alfred's guerrilla resistance during the year before his decisive victory at the Battle of Edington in 878. We explore how Alfred used the Somerset Levels as a base, waging a hit...

In Episode 70, Lucas and Luna explore the ingenious defensive strategy that saved Wessex from Viking conquest: Alfred the Great's network of fortified towns known as 'burhs'. Drawing on the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser's Life of King Alfred, they trace how Alfred transformed scattered communities into a coordinated system of strongholds, each with a dedicated garrison and maintained by local la...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the life and legacy of Alfred the Great, the ninth-century King of Wessex who defended his kingdom against Viking invasions and laid the foundations for a unified England. They discuss Alfred's military reforms, including the creation of fortified burhs and the reorganization of the fyrd; his intellectual pursuits, such as translating Latin works into Old En...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the world of medieval English coinage — how the royal mint worked, who controlled it, and why everyone from kings to peasants cared so much about the purity of silver. They delve into the early history of the penny, the role of moneyers, the trauma of the Great Recoinage under Henry II, and the scandalous 'Cross-and-Crosslets' coinage of Stephen's reign. Key...

Before the Treasury was a building, the Exchequer was a chequered cloth on a table, a counting-house where Norman kings shook silver from their sheriffs. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace the Exchequer's story from its origins under Henry I to its peak under Henry II. They explore the Pipe Rolls—those incredible rolls of parchment that recorded every penny owed to the crown—and the Dialogue of...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the fascinating world of the Exchequer and its Pipe Rolls—the meticulous financial records that formed the backbone of medieval English government. They discuss how Henry II's reforms in the 12th century created a sophisticated system of accounting, auditing, and taxation that allowed the crown to manage its finances across the realm. The dialogue covers the...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna delve into the financial backbone of medieval England: the Pipe Rolls. These sheepskin parchment rolls, the oldest continuous set of financial records in English history, recorded every penny owed to the crown from 1130 to 1830. Lucas explains how sheriffs accounted for taxes, fines, and feudal dues, and how the Exchequer used tally sticks—notched wooden sticks spli...

Long before the Bank of England or modern spreadsheets, medieval England invented a sophisticated financial bureaucracy that kept the kingdom running for centuries. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Exchequer — the dual-table accounting system that gave English kings unprecedented control over their money. From the Domesday Book to the Pipe Rolls, from sheriffs' audits to the brutal effi...

Before Elizabeth I's famous Poor Law of 1601, England struggled with a surge of vagrancy and poverty after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. This episode explores the brutal crackdowns under Henry VIII—whipping posts, ear cropping, and even execution for repeat beggars—and the gradual shift toward a national welfare system. We look at the 1531 Act for the Punishment of Sturdy Vagabonds, the 1536...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the monumental impact of William Caxton, England's first printer, and how his press transformed English language, literature, and culture at the dawn of the Tudor era. They trace Caxton's journey from a merchant in Bruges to setting up his press at Westminster Abbey, examine the 'incunabula' — early printed books that shaped a nation — and discuss the signif...

This episode tells the story of how William Caxton brought the first printing press to England in 1476, changing the course of English language and literature forever. We trace Caxton's journey from merchant in Bruges to pioneering printer at Westminster, his choice of English over Latin or French, and the challenges of standardizing a language with countless dialects. Learn about his landmark pub...

Long before the Spanish Armada or Francis Drake's golden voyages, England's navy was a chaotic collection of merchant vessels. That changed under Henry VIII, who poured unprecedented resources into building a permanent royal fleet. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the dockyards, the ships, and the men behind England's first standing navy. They discuss the construction of the Mary Rose, the...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the Domesday Book, the comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085. They explore how this remarkable document, originally called the 'Book of Winchester,' recorded landholders, resources, and disputes across the kingdom. They discuss the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle's account of the survey, the division into Great Domesday and Li...

In the winter of 1069-70, William the Conqueror unleashed a campaign of deliberate devastation across northern England that contemporaries and modern historians alike have called genocide. This episode explores the Harrying of the North — a scorched-earth operation that destroyed crops, livestock, and entire communities from York to Durham. We look at the causes, including the Danish invasion and...

Before she was Gloriana, before the Armada and the Golden Speech, Elizabeth Tudor was a princess declared illegitimate, a target of suspicion, and a young woman navigating the deadly politics of her father's court. This episode follows Elizabeth's early life: her mother Anne Boleyn's execution, her place in the succession under Henry VIII and Edward VI, her education with Roger Ascham and William...

In 1544, as an aging and increasingly paranoid Henry VIII prepared for war with France, he also launched a brutal military campaign against his northern neighbour, Scotland. The goal was to force a marriage between his infant son, the future Edward VI, and the even younger Mary, Queen of Scots — a union that would unite the crowns and neutralise the Auld Alliance with France. What followed was a c...

In 1586, a young Catholic nobleman named Anthony Babington wrote a coded letter to Mary Queen of Scots, offering to assassinate Elizabeth I and lead a Spanish invasion. What Mary didn't know was that every word she wrote was being read by Elizabeth's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. This episode unpacks the Babington Plot from the inside: how Walsingham's network of double agents and codebreaker...

While Henry VIII's marital dramas dominate the history books, a far deadlier enemy stalked Tudor England: the plague. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the devastating return of bubonic plague during the 16th century — how it moved, how the government responded, and what ordinary people endured. They trace the 1563 London outbreak that killed a quarter of the city's population, the quarantin...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the life and reign of Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. They delve into his rise from the powerful Godwin family, his role as Earl of Wessex, and the complex political landscape of 11th-century England. The conversation covers Harold's fateful journey to Normandy, his oath to William, the Battle of Stamford Bridge against Harald Hardrad...