Crusader Criminals

What if everything you think you know about medieval Croatia is wrong?Dr Eleanor Janega is joined by Professor Florin Curtin to uncover how Dalmatia’s coastal cities defied “Dark Age” collapse, why Slavic identity may have been a political invention, and how frontiers became home ...  Show more

In the mid‑13th century, the Mongols seemed unstoppable until a former slave‑soldier stood in their way. Mamluk Sultan Qutuz of Egypt defied an empire that had crushed Baghdad and Syria, and began the beginning of the end of the Crusader States.Matt Lewis and Nicholas Morton unco ...  Show more

**This podcast contains graphic descriptions of murders and the punishments of those convicted**

Gruesome murders carried out by women captivated the public imagination in Early Modern Britain. Pamphlets, ballads, and woodcuts spread the stories of t ...

The rich and powerful Guise family was one of the most treacherous and bloodthirsty in sixteenth-century France. They whipped up religious bigotry, overthrowing the king. They ruled Scotland for nearly 20 years through Mary Queen of Scots, plotting to invade England and overthrow ...  Show more

Cesare Borgia, one of history's most controversial figures, was known for his ruthless ambition and political cunning. From his dramatic rise to power through to his notorious military campaigns and the legends surrounding his alleged crimes and complex relationships, he inspi ...

**This episode contains brief descriptions of tortures**

Between 1570 and 1630 there was intense persecution as thousands of people were accused of being witches in Lorraine, a small duchy on the borders of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Suspicion spread like a de ...