The History Of England

Together the Elizabethan explorers, and authors like John Dee and Richard Hakluyt built excitement about the possibilities of global exploration. Francis Drake gave it expression.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From 1578 to 1582 the courts of France, Spain and England buzzed with the possibility of the latest office romance - between the Queen of England and Duke of Anjou. Was this classic Elizabethan distraction or an affair of the heart?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

By the 1580s, the English atrocities and the rebellion of James Fitzmaurice and the Earl of Desmond, Catholicism and its association with resistance ot English rule was clearly established. Events at Smerwick convinced the English that the foreign threat through Ireland w  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The later Tudors faced a choice in their policy towards Ireland - would they resign themselves to the old ways, ruling through the Old English with minimal control; or would they turn to outright conquest? In the 1560's Shane O'Neill demonstrated the weakness of Tudor power  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There are many myths about the Elizabethan Navy, the idea of a world-beating tool that created an international Empire. It wasn't quite, and it didn't, at all. None the less Elizabethan's reign and innovations did change England from naval also-ran to Premier league.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Black Africans began to make their way in increasing numbers to England - firstly mainly via trading countries like Spain and Portugal, but increasingly direct. What sort of lives did they make in England?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Elizabeth's reign famously saw England enter the search for new markets with which to trade and explore. In this episode, we focus on trade with West Africa, and John Hawkins' infamous voyages of the 1560s.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A horribly brief introduction to the West African kingdoms with which the Portuguese started to trade and a smidge of their backstory, before the English began to arrive in the 16th century.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What started as a curate's egg of an episode, ends up with an introduction to a new player, Francis Walsingham, and the story of the St Bartholomew's Day massacre in Paris in 1572.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Through the 1560s, the progress of the reformation gave both the Protestant Godly and Catholics much leeway and wriggle room. A series of events in the late 1560's and early 1570s would begin to end that. One of those was the Papal bull, Regnans in Excelsis.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The saga of the life and times of Mary Queen of Scots continues, but in 1568 something stirs in the north of England...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Scotland Mary's grasp on her kingdom begins to wobble. In 1566, Elizabeth's parliament also gives her serious grief, drawing an increasingly waspish response.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Did Elizabeth have a foreign 'policy'? If so what principles drove it - dynasty, parsimony, protestantism? This week Elizabeth intervenes in Scotland and France.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dudley was for long considered the front runner for any possible marriage; but there was a long list of suitors. And Elizabeth was under pressure from the badgers of the House of Commons.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What were the issues around marriage for Elizabeth and her subjects? Because as the continuing barney between the two of them would prove, it really mattered to both parties.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How did Elizabethan government work, and what was Elizabeth's court like?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Elizabeth's England was awash with expectation - from Mary's bishops demanding that no change be made to Mary's church, to a wave of Protestant Marian exiles returning with visions of Geneva. How to avoid a religious warlike that soon to engulf France?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A game of 2 halves this week; the major themes of Elizabeth's reign and then the Funeral of Mary and Elizabeth's coronation . Ooh, and the appointment of Cecil as the Queen's Secretary.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Elizabeth's reputation has been broadly positive except for Catholic historians, established by the man pictured, William Camden (1551-1623) though sometimes rather cold and unsympathetic. More recently the debate has questioned her level of control.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In January 1559, Elizabeth finally entered London, and on the day of her coronation, she processed through London. Elizabeth's personality turned the event into a more than just a spectacle - it became a conversation.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.