Black Tudors

Who would rule Britain after the childless Queen Anne died in 1714? Why was a distant German Protestant dynasty chosen over closer claimants to the throne?In the final part of our series on the Restoration monarchs, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Brent Sirota, to ex ...  Show more

Was Henry Tudor a tyrant obsessed with control, or a visionary who created peace and prosperity? How did a penniless exile with a tenuous claim to the crown found a dynasty that reshaped the nation? How did he fight off pretenders to the throne?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is join ...  Show more

There remains a tendency to reduce the history of African and Caribbean people in Britain to a simple story: it is one that begins in 1948 with the arrival of a single ship, the Empire Windrush. Yet, from the very beginning, from the moment humans first stood on this rainy isl ...

Earlier this month, it was reported that DNA analysis of the skeleton of a 10-year-old girl buried in Kent in the 7th century showed she was of West African descent. Thirty-three per cent of her DNA suggests that the girl’s grandfather or great-grandfather was probably from th ...

When his cousin King Edward the Confessor died childless, Duke William of Normandy saw the throne of England as his birthright. But one man stood in his way, Harold Godwinson, whom Edward had named as king on his deathbed.

In the third episode of our special series e ...

Overseeing a rich and diverse kingdom, Ethiopia’s medieval monarchs consolidated their power by claiming descent from the Biblical King Solomon. But why did they pursue long-distance diplomatic contacts with Latin Europe? 

In this episode of Gone Medieval</e ...