Rise of the Habsburgs

How did a woman rise to power, and keep it, in the fiercely male-dominated Habsburg Empire?From her distrust of the Enlightenment to her religious intolerance, and from family strategy to imperial power, Maria Theresa was a remarkable ruler driven by discipline, faith, dynastic a ...  Show more

How did England’s earliest travellers to India try to win favour in a Mughal golden age that scarcely noticed them?Professor Suzannah Lipscomb speaks with Dr Lubaaba Al-Azami about Tudor and early Stuart England’s turn to global trade after Elizabeth I’s break with Catholic Europ ...  Show more

People will do crazy things to keep hold of power.The Habsburgs - one of the most powerful families in European history - were a prime example of this. To keep hold of their power, they decided they would keep their gene pool as small as possible.What were the disastrous conseque ...  Show more

Dr. Eleanor Janega and author Stella Duffy dive into the extraordinary life and legacy of Empress Theodora.

A woman who rose from the lowest ranks of society as a prostitute at the Hippodrome to capture the heard of an emperor to become the most powerful woman ...

The later Tudor years were a time of turmoil, political intrigue, and national transformation. Initially defined by crises of succession, and shifts in the religious landscape, the period went on to see the reign of some of the most famous royal women in history. And, under the 4 ...  Show more

Tristan Hughes continues our special series on Great Disasters, journeying back to ancient Mesopotamia with Dr Paul Collins to explore the fall of the Sumerians.4,000 years ago, the great cities of Sumer — Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Girsu — stood as glittering centres of power, crowned wi ...  Show more