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Mar 2025
54m 52s

Six Kings and the Making of the English ...

Intelligence Squared
About this episode

Between 1199 and 1399, English politics was high drama. These two centuries witnessed savage political blood-letting - including civil war, deposition, the murder of kings and the ruthless execution of rebel lords - as well as international warfare, devastating national pandemic, economic crisis and the first major peasant uprising in English history.


In today’s episode, historians Caroline Burt and Richard Partington discuss the six Plantagenet kings who ruled during these two centuries, and the significance of these monarchs to England's emergent statehood. Drawing on original accounts and new scholarship, they explore the resonances between government, international relations, and the abilities, egos and ambitions of political actors, then and now. 


Burt and Partington are joined in conversation by medieval historian and author, Helen Carr.


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