Trial By Combat

In December of 1586, the King of Poland died suddenly and without an obvious successor. King was an elected position, and the noblemen bickered and tried to advance their own agendas, to no avail. It was a complete standsill. They needed an unbiased third party to be a temporary ...  Show more

Queen Mary I's decision to marry a foreign prince turned people against her. Some were so against her they planned an uprising to overthrow her in favor of her half-sister, Elizabeth. But how much did Elizabeth know? And when she was imprisoned in the Tower of London, how much ev ...  Show more

17-year-old Halia Culbertson and 18-year-old Bryanna Baronzinni went from friends to enemies over the course of a few months. Then, it all ended in a single, fatal fight. But did the person who set this tragic murder in motion walk away unscathed?Get instant access to all episode ...  Show more

For much of human civilisation, people have fought each to the death as a way of resolving arguments.

In this episode, we'll explore the curious and bloody history of one-on-one combat, from ancient Rome to 20th century France.

John Chiswell holds a bloody sword, a blade he pulled from the body of Robert Routledge, a man he once considered his friend. But was it murder or self-defense? Luckily for John Chiswell…he has some very powerful friends.  

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Hannah Skoda delves into the bloody and brutal spectacle of trial by combat in the Middle Ages  To coincide with the release of new film The Last Duel, Hannah Skoda explores the bloody and brutal spectacle of trial by combat in the Middle Ages. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she re ...  Show more