Vincenzo Gonzaga's first marriage ended in a humiliating divorce by non-consummation,. His next set of would-be in-laws wanted to make sure the same problem wouldn't happen twice, and so the Vatican was called in to help orchestrate a public trial for Gonzaga to undertake. Turns out there was nothing simple about sex and masculinity in Renaissance Italy. [S ... Show More
Sep 1
"The Apple is Ripe; Pick It Now Or It Will Rot"
Leopoldina married into the royal family of Portugal, which meant moving to Brazil with her husband. But civil war was bubbling on both sides of the Atlantic, and while her husband was out of town and Leopoldina was serving as Princess Regent, she would be faced with making a fat ... Show More
35m 1s
Aug 18
Frances Duff's Jamaican Inheritance
When Frances was a child, her mother went before the Assembly to petition that she be legally classified as "white." Frances would go on to become a wealthy heiress, and marry into the British aristocracy, but the cost would be engaging with the very system of slavery and discrim ... Show More
28m 29s
Jan 2023
151 - Milan from Visconti to Sforza (1447 - 1450)
After the death of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan, a succession crisis has everyone in on the game and Venice gobbling up cities. In the end, will Bianca Maria Visconti and her husband, Francesco Sforza, manage to stake her claim?
Also some naughtiness in the bedroom going ... Show More
20m 22s
Oct 2024
Rich and Weekly: Ryan Murphy’s Menendez Mess, Bowen Yang’s Backlash, and a Divorce in 'The Valley'
<p>Over a hundred years before Princess Diana and Prince Charles, there was another doomed British royal couple: Queen Caroline and King George IV. Caroline and George’s hatred for each other runs so deep that it leads to a war that snowballs into a full blown tabloid circus ... Show More
22m 5s
Feb 2025
Victorians Got Super Weird With Flirting, Part One: "Fan Fiction"
The Victorian Era was, on the surface, a time of almost cartoonish sexual repression. Courtship was governed by rigid sets of rules and heirarchy, and even meeting a prospective partner outside of these codified steps could be considered a breach of cultural mores. So, what's a l ... Show More
41m 26s