We think of the Tudor period as velvet and poetry and dramatic executions. We do not think of it as siege warfare. That's a mistake.

In this episode I'm looking at three Tudor sieges that completely wrecked my assumptions about this era:

- Henry VIII personally showing up to besiege a French city (and having to be hoisted onto his horse to get there),

- a Protestant reformer who ended up as a galley slave after one of the most dramatic castle standoffs in Scottish history,

- and a massacre on an Irish headland that the Elizabethan golden age narrative tends to skip past.

Gunpowder was changing everything in this period. The Tudors were living in a world of constant violence and instability that the pretty portraits don't show us. And some of the most consequential moments of the 16th century happened not in a court or a council chamber, but outside a set of walls.

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Katherine Howard is remembered as the tragic teenager who lost her head at seventeen. But what if she didn't have to?

In the winter of 1541, everyone at the English court thought Henry VIII was dying. They were just waiting him out. All Katherine had to do was survive a few more months. And then Cranmer slipped that letter under Henry's door, and everything fell apart.

But what if two things had gone differently? What if Katherine had gotten pregnant during her secret meetings with Thomas Culpepper? And what if Henry had died when everyone expected him to?

Today we're following that thread all the way to the ending Katherine Howard never got.

I've also been reading Philippa Gregory's newest book, The Boleyn Traitor, and it gave me a lot to think about regarding Jane Boleyn's role in all of this. Links below!

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In 1538, a man named Geoffrey Pole was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. He hadn't plotted against Henry VIII. He hadn't raised an army. He'd written letters to his brother and said, once, that he wished he could see him.

That was enough.

What followed was one of the most psychologically devastating interrogations of the Tudor period, and one of the least talked about. Over seven sessions, Geoffrey gave evidence that brought down his entire family: his brother Lord Montagu, his cousin Henry Courtenay the Marquess of Exeter, and eventually his 67-year-old mother Margaret Pole, the last surviving Plantagenet.

He survived. He was pardoned. He spent the next twenty years in exile carrying what he'd done.

This is not really a spy story. It's a story about what surveillance states actually run on, not information, but fear. And about the brother who burned the family from a safe distance in Rome and somehow came out of it as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Tudor history has been calling Geoffrey Pole weak for five centuries. I want to make the case that we don't get to say that from here.

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#TudorHistory #HenryVIII #Tudor #HistoryYouTube #BritishHistory #MedievalHistory #RenaissanceHistory

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Everyone knows the Princes in the Tower, but what happened to their sisters? After Bosworth, five daughters of Edward IV faced a new Tudor king who needed one of them and feared the rest. This is the story of how Henry VII solved the problem of Elizabeth, Cecily, Anne, Catherine, and Bridget of York... and what each solution cost.

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Follow Anglotopia in all the places

Anglotopia website: anglotopia.net

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Anglotopia app: available on iOS App Store and Google Play Store

Quentin Lake's coastal walk: https://theperimeter.uk/

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What makes someone dedicate their life to a country that isn't their own? Jonathan Thomas, founder of Anglotopia, has spent 19 years building a community for Americans obsessed with British history, culture, and travel. We talk about how he started the site in a closet in Chicago, what turns a casual Anglophile into a lifelong devotee, the best places to visit in Britain beyond the tourist trail, and his plans to walk Hadrian's Wall this summer. Plus we swap notes on what it actually takes to build a business around something you love.

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We talk a lot about living through uncertain times, especially now. New technology nobody fully understands. Institutions that keep changing the rules. A world that feels like it's shifting faster than anyone can keep up with.The Tudors would have recognized that feeling immediately.Between 1485 and 1603, England went through changes that were, by any measure, total: the printing press, the Reformation, the dissolution of the monasteries, the literal discovery of unknown continents. And unlike us, they didn't get to look back at it from a safe distance. They were living inside it, without knowing the outcome.This video looks at how ordinary people actually experienced that upheaval — and what it might tell us about our own.

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If you emptied the pockets of a Tudor woman in 1535, what would spill out?

In this episode, we’re opening the drawstring purses, apron folds, and girdles of 16th-century women to see what they actually carried. Not the romanticized version. The practical one.

From gold pomanders packed with ambergris and spices…
To iron keys tied on fraying string…
To bread wrapped in linen because there was no such thing as “grabbing something later.”

We’ll look at:

• The scented luxury of court life
• The devotional habits that traveled at the waist
• The money, keys, and tools women kept on their bodies
• The stark differences between noblewomen, merchants’ wives, and servants
• And what everyday objects quietly reveal about class, privacy, and control

This is a “What’s In My Bag” video: Tudor edition.

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There were moments in Mary Tudor’s life when escape seemed like the safest choice. Imperial ambassadors discussed secret routes to the coast. Ships waited across the Channel. Loyal advisers urged her to leave England before her enemies could move against her.

In this video, we look at the most dangerous periods of Mary’s early life, first under her father Henry VIII, when Anne Boleyn’s rise left her isolated, illegitimate, and under constant pressure, and then again under her brother Edward VI, when her refusal to abandon the Catholic Mass brought her into direct conflict with the Protestant government.

At least once, imperial ships were ready to carry her to safety in the Low Countries. All she had to do was go.

But Mary refused every plan. She stayed in England, even when it put her at risk, and that decision would shape the dramatic events of 1553, when she claimed the throne.

This is the story of the times Mary nearly escaped, and why she chose not to.

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Did the Tudors celebrate Valentine’s Day? And if so, what did it actually look like before chocolates, roses, and greeting cards?

In this episode, we step into mid-February in Tudor England, that quiet stretch between Candlemas and the start of Lent, and explore how people marked St. Valentine’s Day. From candlelit church processions and weather lore to love poems written in the Tower of London, we look at the real traditions behind the holiday.

You’ll hear about the medieval belief that birds chose their mates in mid-February, the Duke of Orléans writing a valentine from captivity, and Margery Brews’ heartfelt love letter to John Paston. We’ll also look at how Tudor households actually celebrated, from drawing valentines by lot to exchanging gloves, ribbons, and small gifts.

It’s a gentler, quieter kind of Valentine’s Day, set in a world of church calendars, cold February mornings, and handwritten letters carried across the countryside.

A small holiday, but one that brought a little warmth to the middle of winter.

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What did a typical morning look like in Tudor England?

There were no alarm clocks, no hot showers, and no coffee waiting in the kitchen. Instead, people woke in cold rooms, often sharing beds, with the fire nearly out and the day’s work already ahead of them.

In this episode, we walk through a full Tudor morning routine, from first light to the start of work. You’ll hear about rush-covered floors, chamber pots, quick basin washes, layered clothing, bread and small beer for breakfast, morning prayers, and the all-important task of bringing the fire back to life.

It’s a practical, physical start to the day that depended on the household, the season, and the light of the sun.

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Late February was one of the hardest times of year in Tudor England. Food stores were running low, the weather was damp and cold, and spring still felt far away. But in the middle of that hungry season came Shrovetide, a brief burst of pancakes, games, and noise before the long fast of Lent began.

In this video, we spend a day inside a Tudor household at the end of winter. From thin pottage and smoky hearths to Shrove Tuesday pancakes and rough village football, this is what the season actually looked like for ordinary people.

We’ll follow the rhythm from the final feast of Shrovetide into the quiet first days of Lent, when the tables grew plainer and the long wait for spring began.

If you’d like to experience this season in a more reflective way, you can join The Tudor Spring: A 40-Day Sanctuary, a gentle, history-based journey through Lent with daily stories, music, and reflections:
https://heatherteysko.thrivecart.com/the-tudor-spring-a-40-day-sanctuary/

#TudorHistory #Shrovetide #DailyLifeHistory #Lent #SocialHistory

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