• 56 minutes 23 seconds
    The Tudors Abroad

    What did it mean to be English when merchants, sailors, captives, diplomats, and migrants were constantly crossing borders?

    Pirates, a Kentish man becoming a Samurai and a king on the warpath; Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Professor Nandini Das trace tales of reinvention, danger and belonging in this exciting, hugely changing world.


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    England’s First Ambassador to India: Thomas Roe

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    Giordano Bruno: Mystic, Heretic, Spy

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, plus early access, ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    28 May 2026, 2:00 am
  • 41 minutes 5 seconds
    Royal Favourites: Hatton, Elizabeth I's Favourite

    How did Sir Christopher Hatton became one of Elizabeth I’s favourites?  How true were the rumours that they were lovers?

    After catching the Queen's eye in 1561, Hatton was quickly promoted to the Privy Council, making a significant impact on Elizabeth's complex religious policy. Yet he has often been overshadowed by her other favourites like Dudley, Cecil and Walsingham.

    In the final episode of our series on Royal Favourites, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb finds out more about Hatton’s rise from minor gentry to Elizabeth I's closest aide from Dr. Neil Younger.


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    Young Elizabeth I

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    Plots against Elizabeth I

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. Edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, plus ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    25 May 2026, 2:00 am
  • 55 minutes 55 seconds
    Battle of the Eras: Medieval v. Early Modern

    What if the medieval world did not end with a bang, but with a messy argument over who gets to define history itself? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb spars with Gone Medieval's host Matt Lewis over Gutenberg, the Reformation, witchcraft, plague, the Renaissance, and the Wars of the Roses to ask where medieval ends and early modern begins. The result is a lively, surprising fight over power, change, and the making of the modern world.


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    Mother of All Tudors: Margaret Beaufort

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    Henry VII

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    21 May 2026, 2:00 am
  • 47 minutes 38 seconds
    Royal Favourites: Queen Anne & Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough

    How did Sarah Churchill become the most powerful woman in Queen Anne’s court? What happens when a royal friendship turns into a political battlefield? How did one absent set of jewels signal the beginning of the end?

    Professor Suzannah Lipscomb continues her series on royal favourites with the extraordinary story of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough — the intimate friend, political operator and fierce chronicler whose influence shaped Queen Anne’s reign and who refused to go quietly.


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    Queen Anne: The Last Stuart Monarch

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    Sister Queens: Mary II and Anne

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    18 May 2026, 2:00 am
  • 47 minutes 22 seconds
    Louis XIV: Sun King and Propagandist

    How did Louis XIV use his day-to-day life, especially his marriage, to help create the mythology of the Sun King as semi-divine, radiant and unrivalled?

    In 17th-century France, monarchy was performed, witnessed, and widely circulated. Using portraits, medals, sculptures and official pamphlets, Louis XIV meticulously constructed his own image, appearing as Apollo, Jupiter, Hercules, Neptune, a Roman emperor, and even as the sun itself. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Dr. Abby Zanger explore the Sun King's carefully staged world.


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    Marie Antoinette

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    Montaigne: Philosopher of the French Renaissance

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    14 May 2026, 2:00 am
  • 1 hour 3 minutes
    Royal Favourites: James I and George Villiers

    How did a relatively humble gentleman become the most powerful man in Stuart England?

    Few figures embodied the glamour and instability of the Jacobean court more completely than George Villiers, who rose to become one of the most influential men in England. To some he was charismatic, brilliant, and irresistible; to others, he was reckless, arrogant, and dangerously powerful.

    In the second episode of our series on Royal Favourites, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb explores the extraordinary rise and dramatic fall of George Villiers with his biographer Lucy Hughes-Hallett.


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    Private Life of King James VI & I

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    What if Guy Fawkes had succeeded?

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Want to find out even more about what it takes to become a royal favourite? Sign up to History Hit and climb under the sheets and into the arms of the first Stuart King of England, James I and VI of Scotland. Dr Kate Lister is walking in George’s footsteps and investigating how you catch the king's eye, fight your way to the top...and stay there! Sign up for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    11 May 2026, 2:00 am
  • 56 minutes 23 seconds
    Hoaxes and Lies in the Enlightenment

    How did a ghost story bring London to a standstill? Was it a haunting, a fraud, or something even more revealing about Georgian society? Why did rational, educated people fall for elaborate hoaxes?

    Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr.Madeleine Pelling, co-host of History Hit’s After Dark podcast, to uncover the darker side of the Age of Enlightenment. Why was this period remembered for science, reason, and progress, also fascinated by hoaxes, imposters, fake identities, ghost stories, sensational crime and public spectacle?


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    Murderous Women

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    True Crime on the Elizabethan Stage

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Tim Arstall and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    7 May 2026, 2:00 am
  • 43 minutes 4 seconds
    Royal Favourites: Robert Dudley, Elizabeth I's Forbidden Love

    Passion, scandal, and power collided in the tumultuous relationship between Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley. Rumours of secret trysts between them set the court ablaze, but their love was doomed from the start.

    In the first of four episodes looking at royal favourites in the Tudor and Stuart courts, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Dr. Joanne Paul unravel the complex tapestry of Robert Dudley's life, Elizabeth's devotion and the decades of political intrigue and personal heartbreak.


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    Tudor True Crime: Murder of Amy Dudley

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    Death, Desire, Power & Scandal: The House of Dudley

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    4 May 2026, 2:00 am
  • 46 minutes 16 seconds
    Anne of Cleves: New Discoveries

    What if Henry VIII’s “discarded bride” actually showed real promise as queen?

    Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr James Taffe to discuss new discoveries about Anne of Cleves’ surviving account book, a rare 200-page record of every pound, shilling and penny that reveals Anne’s queenship through spending, patronage and household life.

    They discuss the “shadow” household retained after Jane Seymour, what the accounts do (and don’t) show about roles and wages, and the striking discovery that many servants were paid by the king—raising questions of loyalty once Henry turned against Anne.


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    Six Wives: Anne of Cleves

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    Henry VIII on Screen: The Historians' Verdict

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    30 April 2026, 2:00 am
  • 48 minutes 27 seconds
    Francisco de Cuéllar: Spanish Armada Captain

    How did a condemned Spanish Armada captain survive shipwreck, betrayal, and war to leave behind one of the most extraordinary first-person accounts of the 16th century?

    Francisco de Cuéllar was a career officer shaped by the harsh realities of early modern warfare, surviving looting, imprisonment, betrayal, and a brutal overland escape through a hostile landscape. Cuéllar's journey became one of the most gripping survival stories to emerge from the Spanish Armada shipwrecks.

    Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Cuéllar's biographer Francis Kelly to explore a story of survival, imperial warfare, and one man’s determination not to be erased by history.


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    When the Spanish Armada Reached Ireland

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    The Spanish Armada

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    27 April 2026, 2:00 am
  • 53 minutes 45 seconds
    Anne Boleyn at Hever Castle

    What was Anne Boleyn like before she became the most controversial queen in English history? Can the rooms and gardens at her childhood home reveal more about the world that shaped her?

    Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Owen Emmerson to find out more about the magical place where Anne Boleyn grew up, how Hever shaped her early life, education, language skills, and future role at the courts of Europe and England.


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    Cromwell, Boleyn & Aragon: A New Discovery

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    Becoming Anne Boleyn

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    Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

    All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

    Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast


    Sign up to History Hit to see Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb explore Hever Castle in 'The Face of Anne Boleyn'. Also access hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. 

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    23 April 2026, 2:00 am
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