After Vatican II, many traditionalist Catholics around the world decided that the heresies of the Pope meant that the papal throne was actually empty. For one member of that group, the only solution was to fill the position himself.

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The Thrift-Shop Pope

Author Dana Schwartz explores the stories of some of history&rsquo;s most fascinating royals: the tyrants and the tragic, the murderers and the murdered, and everyone in between. Because when you&rsquo;re wearing a crown, mistakes often mean blood.

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George Villiers was in his early twenties when he caught the eye of King James the VI and I. Almost immediately, George became an intimate "favorite," catapulted into a new title and world of courtly power. Whether the relationship between the two men was sexual is still a question historians debate, but the thing that can't be denied is that their relationship would have deadly consequences. Dana is joined by author Benjamin Woolley, whose book The King's Assassin inspired the new television series Mary & George. 

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Death and the King's Favorite (with Benjamin Woolley)

CW: murder, gore.
Sister Virgina (born Marianna) had made a terrible choice in secret lovers. When a young secular boarder at the convent where she was a nun threatened to expose her illicit relationship with a neighboring nobleman, the man killed the young boarder. Together they tried to cover up the crime, but there would be no way for Marianna to run from her sins forever.
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The Nun of Monza, Part 2

For plenty of young women in the early modern era, if their families couldn't afford their dowries, they simply shipped them off to a nunnery. That was the case for Marianna, a young girl who rose in the ranks of her monastery as an exemplary nun... until she crossed paths with the rakish nobleman who lived in the estate next door. 

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The Nun of Monza, Part 1

Why did the Roman Empire do away with kings? Simone de Beauvior would write that, through women, "certain historical events have been set off, but the women have been pretexts rather than agents. The suicide of Lucretia has had value only as symbol." CW: Sexual assault, suicide

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Lucretia as a Symbol

History is fascinated by the possible escape of Anastasia Romanov, the Grand Duchess killed alongside her family in the Russian Revolution. But there was a Grand Duchess that DID escape - Anastasia's aunt, Olga Alexandrovna, who would hold onto hope that her favorite niece escaped as well.
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The Thrift-Shop Pope

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