In August 1642 King Charles I raised his standard at Nottingham, declaring war on his own Parliament. The most serious challenge to royal authority in English history was about to begin - British history, actually, as the mid-1600s saw war engulf the three kingdoms of the British isles. How did it come to this? In this episode we talk through the steps to 1642 and what brought Parliament and the King to the brink of war....

Henry VIII had to deal with the challenge to his authority, but how? This episode wraps up the events of 1536 and looks at the impact it had for the people who rebelled, Henry and Thomas Cromwell.

In 1536 Henry VIII faced the most serious challenge to his power - the most serious challenge to any monarch since 1381. Why did nobles, commons and peasants alike join together to rise up against the Tudor king?

This is the second of the two episodes on the Peasants' Revolt; here we discuss the events and consequences of the revolt. We also discuss the differing interpretations of the revolt depending on the different point of view of different historians.

This is another episode for the Power and the People Theme Study.

In the summer of 1381, peasants from the south east of England rampaged through towns and cities. They murdered merchants and tax collectors and even the Archbishop of Canterbury. What caused this sudden outburst of violence? This episode looks at the social, politcial and economic causes of the revolt while the next one looks at the events and consequences.

The book mentioned in the podcast is available here: Summer of Blood

How important was Simon de Montfort and what was the significance of his Parliament? This episode looks at the next major challenge to royal authority after Magna Carta and considers whether Simon de Monfort's meeting deserves the title of 'The First Parliament'.

Welcome to the second episode on Magna Carta with a new microphone cable. In this episode we cover the key clauses of the Great Charter and why they matter today.

Apologies for the sound quality on this episode - the microphone cable was damaged and I didn't have a spare.

This is the first episode of the Power to the People Theme Study and it looks at where it all began: in 1215 witrh the document held by some to be the cornerstone of all modern democracy - the Magna Carta.

But why did the Magna Carta come about?

Cathedrals were an important part of the organisation and structure of the Church, and Durham Cathedral was the one that established the pattern for all other Norman Cathedrals.

This episode will prepare you for the 16-mark Historic Site question on Paper 2.

1066 is seen as a cataclysmic event, a moment that changed England forever: but how much actually changed for the peasant in the field? This summary episode looks at all the aspects of Norman England we've discussed so far and considers how life chnaged in the Norman period and, perhaps more importantly, for who.