Pax Britannica: A History of the British Empire

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 Ni...

24 Mar 201935min

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 p...

17 Mar 201940min

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...

10 Mar 201940min

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 Ca...

3 Mar 201959min

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 ...

27 Feb 201933min

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 reb...

24 Feb 201930min

For generations, Habsburg Spain had been a stalwart ally of England, their royal families connected by marriage and kinship, to counter-balance the Auld Alliance of France and Scotland. This had been ...

20 Feb 201933min

Through a range of cultural, economic, and political changes, the old trading relationships that English merchants had enjoyed for centuries fully broke down during Elizabeth's reign. In their place, ...

17 Feb 201934min