What started as a curate’s egg of an episode, ends up with an introduction to a new player, Francis Walsingham, and the story of the St Bartholomew’s Day massacreRead More

  Through the 1560s, the progress of the reformation gave both the Protestant Godly and Catholics much leeway and wriggle room. A series of events in the late 1560’s and earlyRead More

  The saga of the life and times of Mary Queen of Scots continues, but in 1568 something stirs in the north of England… Transcript Last time, I left you withRead More

In Scotland Mary’s grasp on her kingdom begins to wobble. In 1566, Elizabeth’s parliament also gives her serious grief, drawing an increasingly waspish response.              Read More

  Did Elizabeth have a foreign ‘policy’? If so what principles drove it – dynasty, parsimony, protestantism? This week Elizabeth intervenes in Scotland and France.   Transcript   This week,Read More

  How did Elizabethan government work, and what was Elizabeth’s court like? Transcript This week I thought we should have a bit of context, why don’t we? Over the nextRead More

A game of 2 halves this week; the major themes of Elizabeth’s reign and then the Funeral of Mary and Elizabeth’s  coronation . Ooh, and the appointment of Cecil asRead More

    Transcript Hello everyone and welcome to the History of England Episode 288 Elizabeth I and the Historians. We left Elizabeth passing through Temple Bar, with professions of loveRead More

Transcript Let me take you to London on a January morning in 1559. It’s cold, and there had been a light dusting of snow, and in January London 1559 letRead More

1558 was a fateful year for England which would have a fundamental impact on its future. Find out why.   Transcript Last time we heard about how a fortuitous doomedRead More

The return of the King meant demands for the English to enter a war they did not want, and in which none of their interests were really at stake. Transcript The DukeRead More

  The story of the Marian persecution. And of a Queen’s need to have her Prince at her side to help with the alarms and excursions of protestant rebels. TranscriptRead More

The plan was that 1555 saw the transformation of England – the birth of an heir for Mary and Philip, the launch of a new Reformation Anglicae to re-invigorate Roman CatholicismRead More

Once Pole had returned and parliament had re-enacted the heresy legislation after the brief Edwardian holiday, the Marian church could at last exercise the full force of the law against protestants. JohnRead More

Catherine Willoughby leaves England to become one of the Marian Exiles. When Pole told parliament that he came to build he meant what he said, and would deliver, in part.Read More

In 1554, 300 schoolboys of London played out the divisions of their parents on the fields of Finsbury. It was an instructive backdrop to the return of Papal authority inRead More

In July 1554 Philip finally landed in England, and all went very well; Mary and Philip were married, and were kind to each other, there was a great pageant ofRead More

Once Wyatt had been dealt with, Gardiner, Renard,Mary – all could see a greater target in their sights. The surely the Lady Elizabeth had been involved, and here was the chanceRead More

Mary faced the biggest challenge to her reign in 1554 as the London Trained Bands, the White Coats, joined Wyatt’s army of Kent. She responded like a Tudor appealing toRead More

In 1553, Mary’s real religious policy become clear. More worrying for many was the announcement of her choice of husband Philip of Spain. Some blokes met in a pub to figureRead More

After Mary rode into London in August 1553, Thomas Cranmer must have known he would be in the firing line – and yet at first nothing happened. And it wasRead More

  Mary was well aware that it was critical for her to establish her right and authority as equal to that of any king; and she consciously pursued that aim. WhichRead More