Pax Britannica: A History of the British Empire

In a special episode BT Newberg and I talk about the highs and lows of making a history podcast. What made us want to start a podcast? Why did we pick the subjects we did? What are the best and worst things about it? Peak behind the curtain!

Go check out Dead Ideas: https://deadideas.net/

Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax

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In the personal politics of early modern England, the personalities and desires of the powerful were the stuff of policy. In this episode we examine the actions of: Queen Anne, the closet-Catholic; Prince Henry Frederick, the dashing future king of three realms; Elizabeth, the gracious future Queen of Bohemia; and Charles, the bookish, slightly sickly, future Archbishop of Canterbury. That is, unless Fate intervened...

Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax

In this episode I made particular use of the following publications:

- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I

- Pauline Croft, King James

- The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

For a full bibliography, see the website.

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Both before and after the Flight of the Earls territory in north Ireland was forfeited to the Crown and purchased by investors. Even while the burgeoning colony of Virginia was facing its earliest challenges, it was in Ulster that most government attention was focused. Money, men, and materials flooded the province, determined to make this latest plantation effort a success. The experiences of English, Scots, Welsh and Irish would form the basis of the next two centuries of British colonial expansion.

Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax

In this episode I made particular use of the following publications:

- Kennedy, L. and Ollerenshaw, P. (2012).Ulster Since 1600. Oxford

- Jane H. Ohlmeyer, ''Civilizinge of those Rude Partes': Colonization within Britain and Ireland, 1580s-1640s', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire

- David Edwards, 'Political Change and Social Transformation, 1603–1641', in The Cambridge History of Ireland: 1550–1730

- J. H. Elliott, Scots & Catalans: Union & Disunion

For a full bibliography, see the website.

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Compared to the kingdoms of Iberia, England was fairly late to the colonisation game. This episode covers the costly failures of Elizabeth's reign, and the successful, but still costly, attempts which James oversaw. Enormous death tolls from disease, starvation, and violence were not enough to prevent the foundations of British North America.

Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax

In this episode I made particular use of the following publications:

- Benjamin, T. (2009). The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History, 1400-1900. Cambridge

- Nicholas Canny, 'The Origins of Empire: An Introduction', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire

- John C. Appleby, 'War, Politics, and Colonization, 1558-1625', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire

For a full bibliography, see the website.

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A closer look at how James attempts to unite his kingdoms into one body, and the difficulty he faced. In Ireland, the English yoke tightens around both the Gaelic and Anglo-Irish in the wake of the Nine Year's War.

Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax

In this episode I made particular use of the following publications:

- Smith, David L., The Stuart parliaments, 1603-1689. (1999)

- David Edwards, 'Political Change and Social Transformation, 1603–1641', in The Cambridge History of Ireland: 1550–1730 

For a full bibliography, see the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite the cheering crowds and warm welcome James received from his new subjects, all was not well in his new kingdom. As James would find out, England was not so different to Scotland. A number of plots against the king's life, spurred by fears or hopes for religious toleration, were hatched in the early years of James' reign. Some planned to be relatively bloodless, just another way to attract the king's ear. Others were much more... explosive in their intentions.

Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax

In this episode I made particular use of the following publications:

- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I

- Nicholls, M. (1995). ‘Treason’s Reward: The Punishment of Conspirators in the Bye Plot of 1603’

For a full bibliography, see the website.

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With the death of Elizabeth, the King of Scots travels south to take up his new kingdoms of England and Ireland. James faces an uphill challenge; his rulership style is vastly different to Elizabeth's, and he inherits a number of serious problems. Adding to this is James' insistence on political union between his two larger kingdoms; he wants to become King of a single Great Britain.

Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax

In this episode I made particular use of the following publications:

- Jane H. Ohlmeyer, ''Civilizinge of those Rude Partes': Colonization within Britain and Ireland, 1580s-1640s', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire

- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I

- Julian Goodare, The Government of Scotland 1560-1625 

For a full bibliography, see the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sir John Elliott, Regius Professor Emeritus of Modern History at Oxford University, speaks with me in Edinburgh about composite monarchies and personal unions, the similarities between Scotland and Catalonia, the challenges that James will face as he travels south to take up his new crown, and how his and his son’s actions will echo throughout the century and beyond.

The recommended books, available from all good retailers, are:

- Scots and Catalans: Union and Disunion (2018)

- Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492-1830 (2006)

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James VI was crowned king at one year old, and his early life was spent as the puppet of a succession of regencies. When he finally asserted his independence, he faced down a series of rebellions and strengthened his royal authority through fire and sword. His relationship with Elizabeth of England was complicated and often violent, and his vassals were insubordinate and churlish. Yet he would emerge at the dawn of the 17th century the ruler of the entirety of the British Isles.

Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax

In this episode I made particular use of the following publications:

- Jane H. Ohlmeyer, ''Civilizinge of those Rude Partes': Colonization within Britain and Ireland, 1580s-1640s', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire

- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I

- Julian Goodare, The Government of Scotland 1560-1625 

For a full bibliography, see the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Irish lords rise up against English domination, lead by The O'Neill, the Great Earl of Tyrone, Hugh O'Neill. England, already at war with Spain, dispatches thousands of troops to try and quell the rebellion. Felipe II of Spain sees an opportunity, and sends his own soldiers to assist the Irish against Dublin and London. This was the largest military campaign of Elizabeth's reign, and the one with the most long-lasting consequences for the British Isles.

Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.info

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax

In this episode I made particular use of the following publications:

- Steven G. Ellis, Ireland in the Age of the Tudors 1447-1603: English Expansion and the End of Gaelic Rule

- Harold O’Sullivan, Dynamics of Regional Development: processes of assimilation and division in the marchland of south-east Ulster in late medieval and early modern Ireland

- David Edwards, 'Political Change and Social Transformation, 1603–1641', in The Cambridge History of Ireland: 1550–1730 

For a full bibliography, see the website.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices