logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2022
50m 16s

The Davidian Revolution

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of David I of Scotland (c1084-1153) on his kingdom and on neighbouring lands. The youngest son of Malcolm III, he was raised in exile in the Anglo-Norman court and became Earl of Huntingdon and Prince of Cumbria before claiming the throne in 1124. He introduced elements of what he had learned in England and, in the next decades, his kingdom saw new burghs, new monasteries, new ways of governing and the arrival of some very influential families, earning him the reputation of The Perfect King.

With

Richard Oram Professor of Medieval and Environmental History at the University of Stirling

Alice Taylor Professor of Medieval History at King’s College London

And

Alex Woolf Senior Lecturer in History at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Up next
Aug 21
Germinal (Archive Episode)
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emile Zola's greatest literary success, his thirteenth novel in a series exploring the extended Rougon-Macquart family. The relative here is Etienne Lantier, already known to Zola’s readers as one of the blighted branch of the family tree and his s ... Show More
51m 35s
Aug 14
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle (Archive Episode)
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German physicist who, at the age of 23 and while still a student, effectively created quantum mechanics for which he later won the Nobel Prize. Werner Heisenberg made this breakthrough in a paper in 1925 when, rather than starting with an idea ... Show More
58m 10s
Aug 7
Napoleon's Hundred Days (Archive Episode)
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Napoleon Bonaparte's temporary return to power in France in 1815, following his escape from exile on Elba . He arrived with fewer than a thousand men, yet three weeks later he had displaced Louis XVIII and taken charge of an army as large as any th ... Show More
58m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2022
The Davidian Revolution
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of David I of Scotland (c1084-1153) on his kingdom and on neighbouring lands. The youngest son of Malcolm III, he was raised in exile in the Anglo-Norman court and became Earl of Huntingdon and Prince of Cumbria before claiming the thron ... Show More
50m 16s
Mar 2019
William Cecil
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact on the British Isles of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the most poweful man in the court of Elizabeth I. He was both praised and attacked for his flexibility, adapting to the reigns of Protestant and Catholic monarchs and, under Eliz ... Show More
51m 23s
May 2021
The Second Barons' War
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the years of bloody conflict that saw Simon de Montfort (1205-65) become the most powerful man in England, with Henry III as his prisoner. With others, he had toppled Henry in 1258 in a secret, bloodless coup and established provisions for more par ... Show More
56m 32s
May 2023
The 'Stone of Destiny' and a self-proclaimed Emperor
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the Scottish students who removed the 'Stone of Destiny' from Westminster Abbey in London. Former King Simeon II of Bulgaria explains how he went from child King to ... Show More
51m 36s
Jun 2021
Edward Gibbon
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of one of the great historians, best known for his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (published 1776-89). According to Gibbon (1737-94) , the idea for this work came to him on 15th of October 1764 as he sat musi ... Show More
52m 22s
Oct 2015
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great is one of the most celebrated military commanders in history. Born into the Macedonian royal family in 356 BC, he gained control of Greece and went on to conquer the Persian Empire, defeating its powerful king, Darius III. At its peak, Alexander's empire cover ... Show More
47m 13s
Oct 2023
David Mitchell on a new history of England’s monarchy
From his turn as Shakespeare in Upstart Crow to his historical sketches with Robert Webb, comedian and actor David Mitchell’s work has often touched on the past. Now he’s written his first history book, Unruly, charting England’s monarchy from its earliest days to the reign of El ... Show More
41m 29s
Jan 2024
William the Conqueror
When his cousin King Edward the Confessor died childless, Duke William of Normandy saw the throne of England as his birthright. But one man stood in his way, Harold Godwinson, whom Edward had named as king on his deathbed. In the third episode of our special series examining the ... Show More
42m 8s