Episode 2: Matchmaking in Madrid

Plots and conspiracies abounded in the the late 16th and early-mid 17th centuries. And with them came the evolution of a newly-professionalised culture of subterfuge and spying. Paul and Miranda explo...

3 Juli 202442min

Historian Giles Milton joins Miranda and Paul to talk about the life and times of William Adams, an English navigator who was part of a Dutch expedition to the Spice Islands. Adrift in the Pacific, th...

19 Juni 202442min

Who was King Charles II? As a controversial new drama-doc portrays him as a brutal avenger of his father's killers, Paul and Miranda go in search of the real Charles. With guest historians Linda Porte...

29 Maj 202444min

For better or for worse, the Stuart dynasty dominated the 17th-century English political landscape - with inevitable consequences for Scotland, Ireland and wider parts of a nascent empire. History's v...

15 Maj 202433min

From humble roots in Switzerland and Swabia, the Habsburg dynasty endured for 900 years, its survival due in part to genetic good fortune. As historian Martyn Rady tells Paul and Miranda, the Habsburg...

24 Apr 202444min

The 17th century has rarely been as popular with film and TV dramatists as 'sexier' periods such as the Tudors, the Romans and the Second World War. But recently, 17th-century stories and characters h...

27 Mars 202440min

Great storytelling meets historical rigour in the podcast that brings the 17th century vividly to life.  China at the start of the 17th century was wealthy, strong and well-governed – the Ming dynasty...

6 Mars 202447min

Miranda and Paul are joined by art critic and author Laura Cumming, whose acclaimed book 'Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death' explores painting in the 17th-century Dutch Republic. ...

14 Feb 202445min