Now nearly 40, Joanna had given up hope of producing a natural heir, meaning that now she had to solve a bit of a conundrum - who should succeed her as ruler of Naples?

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Joanna sits in triumph back in her capital city, but her kingdom still faced three terrible foes: invaders, plague and internal foes.

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Following the grisly murder of her husband, Joanna ends up facing war from within and without her kingdom, all of which would end up with her on trial for her life in Avignon.

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We travel to fourteenth-century Naples to hear about one of the most powerful female rulers of the whole medieval period. Joanna of Naples is one of very few queens regnant in the Middle Ages - her reign was action-packed.

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Call it the Dark Century, Rule of the Harlots, or, as I have, the Pornocracy, the tenth century was a nadir in papal history, with powerful nobles calling the shots. And at the centre of it all its matriarch: Marozia

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The legend of Pope Joan is quite possibly the most intriguing and enduring of Vatican myths. But how could the Papacy allow a story this astonishing, this embarrassing, to survive for centuries?

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The Papacy, which is going to be a hugely important factor in this series, is a two-thousand-year institution - where do you start? Well, talking to the host best papal podcast around seems like a good start. Today I talk to Bry Jensen, one half of the Pontifacts podcast, about what the Papacy is, and how it has affected European history.

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In what feels to me a lifetime ago, but was actually only about 12 months, I spoke to Ellen Alspten on the podcast about her book 'Tsarina.

Since then - and I can only assume because of it - the book has gone on to be tremendously successful. It has been shortlisted for the Author’s Club’s Best First Novel award, got a starred review from Booklist and has sold so well that it already has a sequel - 'The Tsarina's Daughter'.

I spoke to Ellen earlier this week about it. Enjoy!

Buy 'The Tsarina's Daughter' by Ellen Alpsten

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