In English cities of the 17th century, there was plenty to offend the eyes, ears, nose, taste buds, and skin of inhabitants. Residents were scarred by smallpox, refuse rotted in the streets, pigs and dogs roamed free.  

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Emily Cockayne — author of Hubbub: Filth, Noise and Stench in England — about all the unpleasant aspects of city life and how they were navigated, or endured, by citizens.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Elena Guthrie. 

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

England was the only European country that completely banned translating the Bible. The dissident Lollards had produced one after the death of their hero, the radical 14th-century theologian John Wycliffe, but owning a copy could be a capital offence. When idealistic humanist William Tyndale printed his English New Testament in Germany in 1526, it became the most influential text in the history of the English language.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Alec Ryrie, about how making the Bible accessible to English readers triggered a momentous and permanent shift of religious power away from the Church and university elites.

This episode was edited by Annie Coloe and produced by Elena Guthrie.

Mary, Queen of Scots wore red at her execution as a symbol of Catholic martyrdom. It was the climax of a life throughout which Mary used textiles to advance her political agenda, affirm her royal lineage and tell her story - from her lavish gowns to the subversive messages she embroidered in captivity for her supporters. 

In this episode to mark the 480th anniversary of Mary’s birth on 8 December 1542, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to artist Clare Hunter - author of Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power - to discover more about Mary via the textiles of her life. 

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

Making babies was a mysterious process for people in early modern England. Their ideas about conception, pregnancy and childbirth tell us much about their attitudes towards gender and power at that time.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, first released in September 2021, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Mary Fissell. She has been delving into a wealth of popular sources - ballads, jokes, witchcraft pamphlets, prayer books and popular medical manuals - to produce the first account of how women's reproductive bodies were understood in the 17th century.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

Christiaan Huygens was the greatest scientist working in the vital period between Galileo and Newton, as the scientific revolution gathered pace. He discovered Saturn’s ring, invented the accurate pendulum clock, and devised a wave theory of light far ahead of its time.

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to author Hugh Aldersey-Williams to find out more about Huygens and why — more even than Newton — he can be called the father of modern science. 

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

For at least 700 years, presumed criminals were publicly executed in London. Such occasions were often gruesome, gory and very popular.

A new exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands explores this grisly history - who the recipients of capital punishment were, the places where they met their end and how they died, and the crimes that were punishable by death.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb tours the exhibition with curator Tom Ardill.

**WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of executions**

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

In 1627 Zhu Youjian, the Chongzhen Emperor, became the 17th - and what would turn out to be the last - Emperor of China’s Ming Dynasty. It had ruled a vast realm stretching 6.5 million square kilometres for 250 years.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Timothy Brook to discover more about Zhu Youjian’s remarkable life and startling death, and explore the nature of his power and how it collapsed.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! 

To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

Already in 2022 we have celebrated England’s Lionesses winning the Women’s European Championships, and this month you may well be waiting with bated breath to see how England’s men fare in the World Cup. Such anticipation, celebration — and sometimes commiseration — are nothing new in football. In fact, the beautiful game goes back centuries. But what else is there to know about early modern football?

In today’s explainer episode, Professor Susannah Lipscomb takes us through the game: who played it, where it was played, and the rules people played by (or didn’t).

This episode was edited by Aidan Lonergan and produced by Rob Weinberg.

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

During the early part of the sixteenth century England should have been ruled by King Arthur Tudor with his wife Catherine of Aragon as Queen. Had the first-born son of Henry VII lived into adulthood, his younger brother would never have become King Henry VIII and married - and divorced - Arthur’s widow, and the subsequent history of England would have been very different. 

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Sean Cunningham, author of Prince Arthur: The Tudor King Who Never Was, in which he surveys Prince Arthur’s life and assesses what type of king he might have become.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

On 30 January 1649, King Charles I was executed for treason. Within weeks the monarchy had been abolished and the House of Lords discarded. The people were now the sovereign force in the land. What this meant, and where it would lead, no one knew.

In her new book, The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown, Anna Keay brings to life a fascinating cast of characters who lived through the turbulent years under Oliver Cromwell. In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Anna Keay about the most extraordinary and experimental decade in Britain’s history, when a conservative people tried revolution.

This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. 

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >