1.23 - 15 Aethelred, Svein Forkbeard and...

In 1012, Aethelred looked down and out. But Svein died, and Edmund Ironside appeared on the scene. Suddenly, Aethelred was a real king and all action, and Cnut was forced to flee. But he came back, and 1016 saw one of the great confrontations of English History, and a great...<di ... Show More

Cnut was pretty much the complete king. Conqueror of the English, ruler of a Scandinavian empire that spanned 4 countries. And a man who knew how to win the peace as well as the war. The History of England podcast this week looks at his reign. Cnut was probably born...<div class= ... Show More

Cnut's dynasty survived him by only 7 years, and in 1042 the house of Cerdic returned in the form of Edward the Confessor. Edward is an enigma - weak man or determined survivor? This week the History of England podcast looks at how he came to the throne and his...<div class="feed ... Show More

In the early 1400s, England welcomed a new king, a new ruling family, and a new role for the English language in the administration of government. In this episode, we explore the rise of the House of Lancaster and the emergence of a standard form of written English for the first ... Show More

What happened in the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings? What horrors did William the Conqueror have to inflict upon his Anglo Saxon subjects in order to consolidate his new realm? And, what role did castles, the Harrowing of the North, and the Doomsday Book play in the creation ... Show More

In the spring of 1540 Thomas Cromwell was at the height of his power, but just a few months later he found himself at the scaffold on Tower Hill preparing to be executed for treason and heresy. What had gone so badly wrong for Henry VIII's right-hand man? As the BBC drama Wolf Ha ... Show More

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the intense political activity at the turn of the 18th Century, when many politicians in London went to great lengths to find a Protestant successor to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland and others went to equal lengths to oppose them. Queen A ... Show More

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the intense political activity at the turn of the 18th Century, when many politicians in London went to great lengths to find a Protestant successor to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland and others went to equal lengths to oppose them. Queen A ... Show More

For the last six years, AEthelstan had been ruling in a manner that hasn’t been seen in Britain for generations. Beyond being a warlord, or even a King… AEthelstan was acting more like an Emperor. All of the Anglo Saxon territories were annexed into his new Kingdom of England, th ... Show More

With the accession of James I and VI in 1603, Scotland was assimilated into the composite monarchy of the United Kingdom. James, an eccentric, insecure and rambling figure, preoccupied with witches, was himself an alien in his new English court. Even at this stage though, it seem ... Show More

<p>In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I died and King James VI of Scotland, became King James I of England.&nbsp; Elizabeth was a hard act to follow for the Scottish newcomer who faced a host of problems in his first years as king: not only the legacy of his predecessor but also unrest in ... Show More

His statue may stand proudly outside the Houses of Parliament in London, but in Ireland, Oliver Cromwell is remembered as “the Devil from over the Sea” for the bloodshed he unleashed there from 1649 to 1653.  Rising to prominence as a Parliamentarian during the English Civil War ... Show More