The King is dead.  Long live the King. Eadwig, the 18 year old King known for his beauty, had died.  Somehow.

The post 307 – Cleaning House first appeared on The British History Podcast.

The King is dead, long live the King. So … last episode was a bit of a shocker wasn’t it? After it launched, I got an email from a listener (who hilariously, is the daughter of a Judge that once scared the hell out of me in Court)… small world. Understandably, she was confused that […]

The post 306 – King Eadwig first appeared on The British History Podcast.

History is known as a field for being a bit of a slog. Tracing events, and people, and social movements through decades and centuries is a huge task and the results are usually dense at the best of times. But once in a while, in between all the battles and the politics and the dynasties, […]

The post 305 – A Very Special BHP Valentine’s Day Episode first appeared on The British History Podcast.

Northumbria was always the hot mess of the heptarchy. There are a few exceptions where they manage to pull it together long enough to produce something important, like Bede, or when Leeds United won the premiership in 1991.

The post 304 – A Kingdom Divided first appeared on The British History Podcast.

We can probably assume that Harald Fairhair, the King of Norway, had fantastic hair. It was either big, or really long, or super glossy, and it was almost definitely blonde. But it wasn’t the only trait he was known for. Harald Fairhair was also  known for getting around… and around… and around. According to records, […]

The post 303 – Eric Bloodaxe first appeared on The British History Podcast.

Ok, where were we? With all this focus on culture, it’s been a little bit since we last talked about the political situation in Britain.  So lets remind ourselves of where things were politically.

The post 302 – King Eadred first appeared on The British History Podcast.

This isn’t going to end well.  

The post Chapter Eight – Twilight of the Anglo Saxons first appeared on The British History Podcast.

Today, we’re going to wrap up this cultural series with a focus on my favorite group of people.  The people who rarely, if ever, get talked about. The commoners.

The post 301 – Common Folk first appeared on The British History Podcast.

When we left off, we were talking about Thegns. Specifically, we were talking about King’s Thegns and how they could wield degrees of power that could rival even the formidable Ealdormen.

The post 300 – Noble Lives first appeared on The British History Podcast.

Ealdormen… Thegns… Ceorls. These were the  important cogs in the machine of government. They had powerful roles, and held powerful spaces within anglo saxon culture. And it’s time we get to know these roles like the back of our hand. Support the Show

The post 299 – The Shape of Power first appeared on The British History Podcast.