Noble Blood

After the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers were desperate to prove America's strength on the world stage, especially compared to Europe. To Thomas Jefferson, this meant refuting the theory of...

29 Nov 202231min

Procopius is considered the preeminent historian of the Byzantine age, writer of works that extolled the virtue and power of Emperor Justinian. But in the 17th century, a work discovered in the Vatica...

22 Nov 202230min

Lady Mary Wroth is often considered the first female writer in England to publish a work of prose under her own name. But her romance, The Countess of Montgomery's Urania, would lead to scandal for mo...

15 Nov 202231min

Mansa Musa is often considered to be the richest man who ever lived. And, in the 14th century, he set out on a hajj to show his wealth and power to the world. Support Noble Blood: — Bonus episodes, st...

8 Nov 202229min

In 1599, Beatrice Cenci, the daughter of a wealthy Roman nobleman, was convicted of her father's murder. She almost certainly did it—no one was arguing that. But some things are more complicated than ...

1 Nov 202247min

In 1841, it seemed inevitable that the small, impoverished principality of Monaco would be absorbed by one of its larger neighbors. But the new Princess had an idea, a risky and possibly dangerous ide...

25 Okt 202231min

To this day, no one knows who stole the Irish Crown Jewels in 1907, but in the years since a number of suspects have emerged, and the mysterious case involves an Artic explorer, midnight "orgies," and...

18 Okt 202235min

Historian Helen Carr, author of The Red Prince: The Life of John of Gaunt, to talk about a key event in the life of the third surviving son of Edward III. John of Gaunt, father of the Lancasters and e...

11 Okt 202237min