We're back in Venice this week with a couple of local legends set in the 8th and 9th centuries. First, we look at the story of the 12 Marias, featuring pirates, wedding calamities, sea battles, and the etymology of the marionette. Then we explain the supposed origin of the Venetian practice of giving a "bocolo", or rosebud, to your beloved on St Mark's Day, to commemorate the sad love story of Vulcana and Tancredi.

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We conclude our four-part investigation into the life of our own local heroine, Margaret Marshal, first Duchess of Norfolk, and we find a couple of unlikely connections to our main subject of the city of Venice in the process.

Margaret and Walter are now a serious power couple, but the Golden Age of Edward's Arthurian court is slowly starting to fade. Find out what happens to them both as the 14th century draws to a close.

Next week, we'll be back to some more Venetian content, so stay tuned.

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In the third part of our mini-series on our own local heroine, Margaret Marshal, we catch up with the glittering career of Walter Manny, the purveyor of relentless amounts of derring-do whom she married in 1353, after a long struggle to have her first marriage annulled. Get ready for Walter to buckle monumental quantities of swash as he cuts a dash through early stages of the Hundred Years War and wins the heart of our heroine.

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We continue our Rabbit Hole series on the life of Margaret Marshal, England's First Duchess. Margaret and her younger sister Alice are trying to negotiate their late teens and early 20s in an environment where, behind the veneer of courtly love and chivalric culture, danger lurks around every corner. Both sisters will be the subject of scandals. For one of them, it will prove fatal. 

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In a break from our usual narrative, today we start a special Rabbit Hole mini-series. This is the first of four episodes on the life of Margaret Marshal, the 14th century owner of our own local landmark, Framlingham Castle, and a customer of the many exotic foods and luxury goods that were traded by medieval Venetian merchants. Today we're looking at her background and her childhood, as a prelude to the scandals of her early adulthood, which we'll cover in part 2.

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Wrapping up our exploration of the lives of the Doges in the 9th century, we look at the turbulent lives and times of the final four office holders, before considering which of the 9 top dogs from the 800s deserves to be hailed as the century's Top Doge.

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We continue our look at the lives of the Doges and our quest to find who is worthy of the accolade of Top Doge. In the first episode of a two-parter, we look at the first five Doges of the 9th Century. 

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This week we take a break from the economic and social history of the Venetians to take a closer look at the lives of the early Doges. Who were they, and what do we know about them? After a brief canter through the eight Doges of the 8th century, we consider which of them deserve the accolade of "Top Doge" of the century.

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It's Double Trouble for Venice this week. Business has been going well, but as the city navigates the dangerous 9th century, Pirates and Saracens both want a piece of the action. Find out how our protagonists cope as we follow them through the perils of the 800s. 

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We return to the historical narrative of the early 800s this week, with the Venetian economy on the verge of taking off. The growing city is showing the first signs of its future as a commercial powerhouse. But how did it get to that position? And how dubious were the ethics of its trading practices? We look at the origins of the city's later mercantile pre-eminence and try to understand the moral and cultural context in which its merchants were operating.

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All music used under Creative Commons licence from musopen.org