1666 and All That

Plots and conspiracies abounded in the the late 16th and early-mid 17th centuries. And with them came the evolution of a newly-professionalised culture of subterfuge and spying. Paul and Miranda explore the murky world of early modern espionage with historians Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman, authors of an intriguing new study of the spying tricks and techniques that developed rapidly at the time. We learn about the role of ciphers, micrographia and invisible ink, the creation of new state security networks, and the often overlooked role of women in transmitting forbidden messages, notably during the Civil Wars. 

'Spycraft: Tricks and Tools of the Dangerous Trade from Elizabeth I to the Restoration', by Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman, is published by Yale University Press. 

To create your own cipher wheel, as discussed in the podcast, visit the 'Spycraft' website at https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300267549/spycraft/

'1666 and All That' is presented by Paul Lay and Miranda Malins. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music is by George Taylor. The episode was mixed by Sam Gunn.

Historian Giles Milton joins Miranda and Paul to talk about the life and times of William Adams, an English navigator who was part of a Dutch expedition to the Spice Islands. Adrift in the Pacific, they ran aground in Japan, then a closed and secretive land in the grip of brutal civil war. Unusually for a European, Adams integrated into Japanese society and developed a strong working relationship with the all-powerful shōgun.

Giles told Adams' story in his book 'Samurai William'. Also inspired by the real tale was James Clavell, whose 1975 novel 'Shōgun' was recently adapted as a major drama series by Disney+.

'1666 and All That' is presented by Paul Lay and Miranda Malins. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music is by George Taylor. The episode was mixed by Sam Gunn. 

Who was King Charles II? As a controversial new drama-doc portrays him as a brutal avenger of his father's killers, Paul and Miranda go in search of the real Charles. With guest historians Linda Porter and Charlotte White as expert witnesses, we revisit Charles's childhood, his tumultuous experience of Civil War upheavals and years in exile, and his surprisingly conciliatory return to take the throne. 

Charles II is a larger-than-life figure renowned for his loose living and numerous mistresses. But he was also a champion of the sciences and patron of the arts. Perhaps more than anything else, this most enigmatic of kings was a true political survivor.

Linda Porter has published many books on the period including ‘Royal Renegades’, about the children of Charles I, and ‘Mistresses’ about the women Charles II had relationships with. 

Charlotte White is an author and podcast presenter who wrote the chapter on Charles II for Iain Dale’s recent ‘Kings and Queens’ book and is currently writing about Barbara Villiers, Charles II’s long-standing mistress.

'1666 and All That' is presented by Paul Lay and Miranda Malins. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music is by George Taylor. The episode was mixed by Sam Gunn. 

For better or for worse, the Stuart dynasty dominated the 17th-century English political landscape - with inevitable consequences for Scotland, Ireland and wider parts of a nascent empire. History's verdict on the Stuart monarchs is uncertain. Their absolutist inclinations led to Civil War, yet under Stuart leadership the century's turmoils resolved themselves in a way that left Britain stable and well-placed to grow in the following decades.

In this episode Paul and Miranda reassess the Stuart monarchs' respective achievements, reflect on their legacy, and ask the key question - did positive long-term developments come about because of the Stuarts, or despite them?

'1666 and All That' is presented by Miranda Malins and Paul Lay. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music is by George Taylor. The episode was mixed by Sam Gunn. 

From humble roots in Switzerland and Swabia, the Habsburg dynasty endured for 900 years, its survival due in part to genetic good fortune. As historian Martyn Rady tells Paul and Miranda, the Habsburgs gambled big on marital matches that would expand and consolidate their power across Europe - and more often than not, they hit the jackpot. Their territories came to include colonies in Africa, the Americas and Asia, further reinforcing their wealth and status. But in the 17th century, even this most adept of dynasties failed to control the forces that unleashed brutal war in central Europe. 

Martyn Rady's book 'The Habsburgs: the Rise and Fall of a World Power' is published by Penguin.

'1666 and All That' is presented by Miranda Malins and Paul Lay. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music is by George Taylor. The episode was mixed by Sam Gunn. 

The 17th century has rarely been as popular with film and TV dramatists as 'sexier' periods such as the Tudors, the Romans and the Second World War. But recently, 17th-century stories and characters have emerged from the shadows. Dramas such as Mary & George and Shogun - and the docudrama series Royal Kill List -  have attracted large audiences and plenty of media coverage, good and bad.

Miranda and Paul use this 17th-century moment to take an irreverent trawl through past screen attempts to capture the period. Highs have included the movies Cromwell (1970) and Witchfinder General (1968), while 2019's Fanny Lye Deliver'd and Winstanley (1975), about the leader of the Diggers, get a thumbs-down. The jury is split on controversial Oscar-winner The Favourite (2018), as well as many of the TV dramas inspired by 17th-century events.

Ultimately, Paul and Miranda agree that the finest dramatic depiction of the period came not on screen but on stage, in a play about the final days of King Charles I. 

'1666 and All That' is presented by Paul Lay and Miranda Malins. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music is by George Taylor. The episode is mixed by Sam Gunn. 

Great storytelling meets historical rigour in the podcast that brings the 17th century vividly to life. 

China at the start of the 17th century was wealthy, strong and well-governed – the Ming dynasty had been ruling for nearly 250 years and is generally thought of as one of the high points of Chinese civilisation. But within a few decades it suffered a cataclysmic collapse that some estimate cost the lives of 25 million people.

Paul and Miranda's guest in this episode is historian Timothy Brook, who believes that the Ming collapse was due not to administrative and political failure, as many earlier historians have argued, but to wider factors including economic hardship, globalisation and climate change. And Tim believes that the story of 17th century China is interlinked with events in Europe and the New World. 

Timothy Brook's book 'The Price of Collapse: the Little Ice Age and the Fall of Ming China' is published by Princeton University Press.

'1666 and All That' is presented by Paul Lay and Miranda Malins. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music is by George Taylor. The episode is mixed by Sam Gunn. 

Miranda and Paul are joined by art critic and author Laura Cumming, whose acclaimed book 'Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death' explores painting in the 17th-century Dutch Republic. It was a true Golden Age, an era of great artists whose prodigious output of paintings is unrivalled anywhere in European history. 

Laura's book focuses on the work of Carel Fabritius, whose extraordinary career was cut short when he died in the Delft Thunderclap, a huge explosion of stored gunpowder that devastated the small Dutch town. But her book is also a meditation on artists' relationship with time, and a memoir of Laura's father, himself a noted painter.

'1666 and All That' is presented by Paul Lay and Miranda Malins. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music is by George Taylor. The episode is mixed by Sam Gunn. 

After a short mid-season break, Paul and Miranda return with a timely exploration of 17th-century diaries. This was the century in which the habit of keeping daily personal reflections became widespread - perhaps because, for some devout Protestants, diaries replaced the confessional as a medium in which to confide their innermost thoughts. Greater literacy also contributed to the diary boom. 

Miranda and Paul revisit the wonderfully revealing diaries of genre superstars Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn, whose entries often juxtaposed the dramatic with the mundane. They also explore some lesser-known exponents of the art, such as Celia Fiennes, who visited every county in England on horseback and kept a daily record of her journeys for posterity. All human life is here - while some diarists laid bare the progress of the century's many conflicts, others used their diaries as a place to log recipes. 

'1666 and All That' is presented by Paul Lay and Miranda Malins. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music is by George Taylor. The episode is mixed by Sam Gunn. 

After James II was deposed and replaced by the Protestant William and Mary in 1688, he began a military campaign in Ireland, from where he hoped to launch a bid to regain his crown. But the Jacobite armies were defeated, ending James's hopes and starting a period of Protestant domination in Ireland. 

Historian Pádraig Lenihan of the University of Galway has uncovered a fascinating account of the Williamite Wars in Ireland - the Poema de Hibernia, an epic poem written in Latin by an anonymous Jacobite who was imprisoned after the defeat. Pádraig joins Paul and Miranda to discuss the 17th-century conflict in Ireland, and to describe how he rescued this crucial primary source from archival obscurity.

The Poema de Hibernia: a Jacobite Latin Epic on the Williamite Wars, edited by Pádraig Lenihan and Keith Sidwell, is published by the Irish Manuscripts Commission. 

'1666 and All That' is presented by Paul Lay and Miranda Malins. The producer is Hugh Costello. Original music by George Taylor. The episode is mixed by Sam Gunn.