Prelude to the English Civil War

How did a dazzling young Tudor prince become one of history's most notorious kings? How much of Henry VIII’s later tyranny was shaped by the world into which he was born?Long before the six wives, the Reformation and the executions, Henry started out as the charismatic, highly ed ...  Show more

What was everyday life like for an ordinary person in Tudor times? How did dramatic changes in population, climate, disease and the economy reshape villages across England?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb steps beyond the royal palaces to discover the world most people actually knew. ...  Show more

Greg Jenner is joined in 17th-century England by Dr Jonathan Healey and comedian Toussaint Douglass to learn about King Charles I and the causes of the British Civil Wars.This year marks the 400th anniversary of Charles I coming to the throne on 27 March, 1625. Less than two deca ...  Show more

This is the first episode in a two-part series on the brutal, three-decade-long civil war that tore England in two. Today, we explore the complex allegiances, rivalries, and personalities that made it all happen before hearing about the first bloody battles between the houses ...

Greg Jenner is joined in 17th-Century England by Dr Jonathan Healey and comedian Toussaint Douglass to learn about King Charles I and the causes of the British Civil Wars.This year marks the 400th anniversary of Charles I coming to the throne on 27th March 1625. Less than two dec ...  Show more

What are the conditions needed for a civil war to start? Could we see a modern industrial nation turn upon itself again? Historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore examples from ancient history though to Spain in the 1930s and Yugoslavia in the 1990s to work out what it ...  Show more