There are worse things than spending a holiday in Normandy. And one of those things is spending a holiday in Normandy because you just lost your entire Kingdom to the Danes. Support the Show

The post 334 – No Cnut November first appeared on The British History Podcast.

England in 1013 was a Kingdom begging to be conquered. Decades of bad decisions have eroded its foundations and now it sat as a mere shadow of its former glory. It had none of the military prowess established by King AEthelstan. None of the political stability enjoyed under King Edgar. And none of the smart […]

The post 333 – The Conquest of England first appeared on The British History Podcast.

Happy Halloween

The post Teig O’Kane and the Corpse first appeared on The British History Podcast.

The Court of AEthelred had turned over three times during his reign. First, there was his regency council.  Then, when he took full power he replaced his regency council with his young friends and corrupt enablers. Then the old guard reasserted itself, along with the powerful Wulf dynasty of the midlands in the 990s.  And […]

The post 330 – The Purge first appeared on The British History Podcast.

Now that we’ve checked in with the rest of the world, let’s get back to our story…which lately hasn’t been going so well. In the space of 70 years the Kingdom went from a preeminent power in the West to little more than a viking hunting preserve. By the year 1000, things had become so […]

The post 327 – Sail Away Sail Away Sail Away first appeared on The British History Podcast.

It’s so easy to lose the forest for the trees. This show is a show about one small island which, even at this part of the story, is still at the edge of civilization. It is very easy to forget that there is a whole other world out there… and, it is a world that […]

The post 326 – The Year 1000 first appeared on The British History Podcast.

When we left off, England was reforming its legal structure. Now, law isn’t known for being a sexy subject…neither are lawyers for that matter. But law shapes our societies in ways that are so fundamental that they are often invisible to us. And these reforms are no exception. These codes go on to transform English […]

The post 325 – From Bad to Worse first appeared on The British History Podcast.

With the Scandinavian raiders gone, and with AElfric of Hampshire defanged, England was free to get back to work. And, as we saw last episode, this meant that the King was once again redistributing wealth from the have-a-lots to the have-even-mores.

The post 324 – Law and Lawlessness first appeared on The British History Podcast.

The Dowager Queen AElfthryth has returned to the King’s inner council following what looks like a political coup against AElfic of Hampshire and his faction. And just because it was political doesn’t mean it was bloodless. All of AElfric’s allies were dead.  Only AElfric himself, who appears to have been too big to fail, remained […]

The post 323 – Brotherhood of the Wolf first appeared on The British History Podcast.

(We aren’t)

The post PSA: Are We Dead? first appeared on The British History Podcast.