89 The Great Famine
For a long time we have been having a ball, economy wise - the medieval warm period, towns springing up all over the place, prices gently rising, population growing. So the Great Famine of 1315-1317 c...
23 Mars 201327min
88 Politics, scandal, intrigue and turmoil
The period between 1308 and 1311 was dominated by the attempts of the barons to resolve the issues left unsolved from Edward I's reign; and by the scandal and disruption caused by the king's favourite...
23 Feb 201331min
87 Scandal was brought upon the People
This week, and introduction to Edward II, quite probably the most reviled king in English history. So this week he have a bit of a survey of how history has treated the lad, and the chroniclers that h...
16 Feb 201330min
86 Handing over
In 1305 two Scottish lords had a fall out next to the altar of a church in Dumfries. One them, Robert Bruce, resolved the argument by sticking a knife in the other, John the Red Comyn. Robert then rai...
10 Feb 201330min
85 Crime and Punishment
A digression this week - the state of the crime and punishment in 14th century, and the story of the theft of the crown jewels in 1303. We also get the final and rather gruesome end of William Wallace...
3 Feb 201336min
84 War, Tournaments and Victory
We spend a bit of time in this episode having a bit of a catchup up - about arms, armour and armies, and about warfare for real and for pretend. Despite that we also find time to talk about the seemin...
19 Jan 201334min
83 Crisis
From 1297, things became harder for Edward. The relentless pressure of external wars led to increased taxation. This continuous pressure on the magnates, church and people eventually led to a resistan...
12 Jan 201334min
82 The Sucker Punch
Since the Treaty of Paris in 1259, England and France had been friends, united by a monarchy with close ties and relationships. So when in 1293 a dispute blew up over a sea fight in the Channel, Edwar...
30 Dec 201234min
