Episodes

  • Blood in the winter – descent into civil war

    Blood in the winter – descent into civil war
    May 1 2026
    After years of tension between a king and his people, in 1641 England reaches a semblance of peace. Armies have disbanded, legislation has passed to ensure Parliament will continue to sit, and the people are tentatively optimistic. Radical politicians congratulate themselves on a stunning political victory. Royal servants are coming to accept an altered future. ... Read more
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    36 mins
  • The Quakers and the power of print

    The Quakers and the power of print
    Apr 24 2026
    The early Quaker movement was remarkable for its prolific use of print to spread its messages throughout Britain. Indeed, print was critically important in the successful proselytizing of the Quaker message across the country in these early days. It was through its pamphlets that Quaker thinking and arguments became so powerful so rapidly in revolutionary ... Read more
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    35 mins
  • Military welfare in Yorkshire revealed

    Military welfare in Yorkshire revealed
    Apr 17 2026
    Recent research, particularly by members of the Civil War Petitions Project, has shown how the experiences of the wounded and widowed are central to understanding the conflict’s impact on British society. In this talk by the Project’s Principal Investigator, Professor Andrew Hopper, we glimpse the dramatic extent of the War’s destructive effects upon the people of Yorkshire. Large sums of money were raised for military welfare, indicating the consent and commitment of ... Read more
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    35 mins
  • The wars of the five peoples – Ethnicity during the civil wars

    The wars of the five peoples – Ethnicity during the civil wars
    Apr 10 2026
    From the 1990s, the approaches of revisionist historians to the Civil Wars did much to recast the series of conflicts as ‘the Wars of the Three Kingdoms’. These historians stressed the importance of events in Scotland and Ireland in bringing about the eventual outbreak of Civil War in England. But the Civil Wars were not ... Read more
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    44 mins
  • Life in the Royalist Capital – the Oxford Experience

    Life in the Royalist Capital – the Oxford Experience
    Mar 27 2026
    In this programme, Vanessa Emmett, a doctoral student in English Local History at Kellogg College at the University of Oxford, discusses the contribution of Oxford’s citizens to the Royalist war effort between 1642 and 1646. When King Charles I and his court arrived in Oxford to take up residence in November 1642, he was welcomed by ... Read more
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    32 mins
  • Understanding the conquest and occupation of Scotland

    Understanding the conquest and occupation of Scotland
    Mar 20 2026
    Much has been written and discussed about the effects of the execution of Charles I on the future history of England. But its impact on Scotland has often received less attention. Yet, within a week of the death of Charles I, his son had been declared not just King of Scotland, but King of Britain ... Read more
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    36 mins
  • Making the Protectorate the strongest naval power of the age – Robert Blake (1598-1657)

    Making the Protectorate the strongest naval power of the age – Robert Blake (1598-1657)
    Mar 13 2026
    The military histories of the British and Irish Civil Wars largely focus on the land-based conflict, while the critical strategic importance of the wars at sea is often ignored or downplayed. Yet this was the period when the foundations were laid of the modern navy which gave Britain global maritime supremacy for centuries to come. ... Read more
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    37 mins
  • Charles II – The years in exile

    Charles II – The years in exile
    Feb 27 2026
    One of the most important and formative decades in the adolescent life of Charles Stuart, soon to become Charles the Second, between 1646 and 1660 was spent in exile. During this time, he experienced the loss of his father, publicly beheaded in his absence, military defeat and near-capture after the Battle of Worcester, friction with ... Read more
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    37 mins