How Rain, Dead Cows and the Black Death Started the Peasants' Revolt
In June 1381, rebels broke into John of Gaunt's Savoy Palace, the wealthiest house in England. They smashed the gold plate, crushed the jewels with hammers and threw the silver in the Thames. Accordin...
21 Sep 24min
What the Tudors Did When They Couldn't Control Anything
Every year in Tudor England, the weather warmed up and people wondered if this would be a plague year. On top of plague there was the sweating sickness, which could kill you between dinner and supper,...
18 Sep 27min
The Monks Henry VIII Left Behind, Told in 200 Sonnets
What happens to your whole world when the king decides your faith is wrong? Richard Smith's new book, Beyond Where Words Can Go, follows two young Benedictine monks, a lord's youngest son and a foundl...
16 Sep 46min
They Tried to Demolish Hampton Court. Then the Queen Died.
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14 Sep 11min
Where Were You on 9/11? Walsingham in Paris, 1572
Twenty-five years ago today, I was at my desk in Soho, emailing my friends about Thanksgiving plans, when one of them told me to open Yahoo because something big was happening in New York. For the ann...
11 Sep 11min
Henry VIII Lost at Cards to Anne Boleyn. It's in His Own Accounts.
In 1540, a printer in Venice published a beautiful, enormous book that let you tell your fortune with a deck of cards. The same year Henry VIII married Anne of Cleves, annulled it, and married Catheri...
11 Sep 35min
Murder at Crowhurst: A Tudor Cold Case
In August 1532 a charcoal burner named Robert Grame was murdered in a wood in Surrey. He worked alone, he carried a checkered board so he could count his money out there among the trees, and half the ...
3 Sep 25min
There's a Written Recipe for Henry VIII's Perfume
There is a written recipe for Henry VIII's perfume. It's in a 1608 book called A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen, and it's rosewater, sugar, musk, ambergris, and civet, boiled down softly for an ent...
31 Aug 47min
