Founded by Greek colonists 2,500 years ago, Paestum is a living testament to a vibrant, untold chapter of the ancient Mediterranean. Originally named Poseidonia, after the Greek god of the sea, the city was one of over 50 Greek settlements established along the Italian coastline – a region that became known as Magna Grecia (‘Greater Greece’). The settlers brought their rich culture, thriving on the fertile agricultural soils and lucrative trade routes, leaving an indelible mark in southern Italy well before the rise of Rome.

In History Hit’s new documentary, Paestum: A Tale of Three Cities, Tristan explores the magnificent ruins, revealing how three incredible civilisations – the Greeks, the native Italian Lucanians, and the mighty Romans – collided in this single, extraordinary location. 

Sign up to watch

Here, we focus on the city’s foundational Greek age, deciphering the art and architecture the Greeks left behind.

The colossal temples: a pinnacle of Greek grandeur

Paestum boasts three of the best-preserved, colossal ancient Greek temples in the world, monuments that rival anything found in Greece itself. Tristan focuses on the Temple of Neptune, which he rates as one of the best-preserved ancient Greek temples in the world. Standing over 10 metres tall and built decades before the famous Parthenon, it is the pinnacle of the Greek Doric style, instantly commanding awe with its long, fluted columns.

Inside the Temple of Neptune, Paestum, Southern Italy.

This documentary takes you inside the temple’s sacred heart and challenges assumptions about its dedication. While early archaeologists assumed the most monumental temple belonged to Poseidon, Director Dr Tiziana D’Angelo explains that evidence now points towards the goddess Hera or perhaps Apollo.

The temples also reveal a surprising truth of ancient ritual: most of the sacred ceremonies took place outside by the altar, rather than within the god’s house.

Paestum, Southern Italy

Image Credit: History Hit

The treasure of the Tomb of the Diver

The artistic legacy of Greek Paestum is revealed in one of its greatest treasures: the Tomb of the Diver. Discovered in 1968, this is one of the only surviving examples of a complete Greek wall painting from the early 5th century BC anywhere in the world.

In the documentary, Tristan and Tiziana discuss the symbolic meaning of this breathtaking fresco, which contains a central figure, diving into water – is it a metaphor for the passage from life to the afterlife, or a realistic scene of daily life? The other frescoes depict scenes of classical Greek life, including symposiums (Greek drinking parties) – scenes instantly recognisable to Greeks across the Mediterranean. This astonishing find proves that the Greek cultural zenith was not confined to Athens, but flourished with equal brilliance here in Southern Italy.

The Tomb of the Diver, Paestum, Southern Italy

Image Credit: History Hit

The collision of cultures

The documentary continues its journey by exploring the subsequent periods that defined the city, showcasing dramatic shifts in power and culture:

• The Lucanians – warriors and cultural fusion: Two centuries after its foundation, native Italian tribes, the Lucanians, took over the city. While some bitter Greek sources labeled them “barbarians,” you’ll see the reality was far more complex: far from destroying Greek culture, the Lucanians deeply admired it. They transformed the city’s art to feature vivid scenes of warriors and military prowess, creating a profound cultural fusion that incorporated Greek styles.
• The Roman conquest: Control shifted again in 275 BC. The Lucanians – having unwisely allied with the Greek warlord Pyrrhus against Rome – lost their protector and the city was conquered. The Romans were swift to establish authority, building the Forum as a new political and urban centre. Yet, while replacing many Greek structures, the Romans allowed the magnificent temples to stand, underscoring their enduring respect for Paestum’s Greek origins and ensuring the city’s foundational culture survived.

Tristan and Dr Tiziana D’Angelo stand beside a Lucanian artwork depicting chariot racing.

Image Credit: History Hit

As Tristan points out, Paestum fundamentally challenges the perception that ancient Italy was exclusively Roman, demonstrating instead that Rome existed alongside a vast array of extraordinary civilizations. As the site epitomises the dramatic collision of Greek, Lucanian, and Roman cultures, it reveals the rich, often overshadowed, histories of people who left behind some of the most beautiful wonders of the ancient world.

Join Tristan Hughes as he explores these layers of history, uncovering how three civilisations converged at this single, extraordinary site. Watch Paestum: A Tale of Three Cities to discover the art, politics, and power of the Mediterranean’s hidden gem.

Sign up to watch

In History Hit’s new documentary, A Very Victorian Scandal: The Trials of Oscar Wilde, Dr Anthony Delaney investigates the trajectory of the famous playwright. Delaney argues that these three trials were about far more than a single fate: they were a reckoning for Victorian society, where public virtues hid private vices and the press fuelled a voracious demand for scandal.

Anthony explores key locations – from the luxurious Savoy Hotel, where Wilde’s recklessness peaked, to the grim walls of Bow Street Police Station – uncovering how Wilde’s persecution fundamentally changed the social landscape and achieved his status as a modern icon of rebellion and resilience.

Sign up to watch

Art for art’s sake: the rise of a sensation

Late Victorian London was an imperial capital of immense outward confidence, and Oscar Wilde forged his reputation in this arena of ambition. The roots of his confidence lay in his brilliance: excelling at Oxford University, he embraced Aestheticism, a cultural movement that championed the supremacy of beauty over morality: “art for art’s sake”.

Wilde didn’t just advocate these ideals; he lived them. He meticulously curated his entire existence into an art form, from his signature fur coat and silk cravat to his razor-sharp wit. He summarised his approach with his now-famous quote:

“I treated art like the supreme reality, and life as a mere mode of fiction.”

By the early 1890s, Wilde’s career was soaring. His only novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, became a commercial success despite its scandalous themes, and his West End plays like The Importance of Being Earnest satirised polite society, making him a sensation. His celebrity status was cemented in America, where he instantly captured the nation’s attention, famously declaring at customs: “I have nothing to declare but my genius.”

Oscar Wilde (left) and ‘Bosie’ (right)

Image Credit: History Hit

The perfect storm: secrecy, vice, and the press

Despite the outward image of Victorian domesticity he maintained with his wife, Constance, and their two children, Oscar Wilde conducted many intimate relationships with other men, viewing these connections through the elevated lens of Greek philosophy.

Wilde’s private life began to unravel after he met Lord Alfred Douglas (‘Bosie’), a young, impulsive Oxford undergraduate. Bosie became an obsession, leading Wilde further into London’s underbelly – a world of covert meetings in bustling areas like Piccadilly Circus, where the anonymity of the expanding city allowed same-sex liaisons to flourish. Wilde confessed he deliberately “went to the depths in search for new sensation.”

However, the outward face of Victorian respectability masked deep anxieties about sexuality. As Professor Kate Williams explains, while society was outwardly moral, it hid a “really complex, seething world of sexualities, of crime and secret places.” Homosexuality, though common, was only tolerated if it was kept absolutely discreet.

Public attitudes were being rapidly shaped by a new, sensationalist popular press, explains historian Bob Nicholson. Literacy rates were soaring, and cheaper newspapers needed to attract millions of new readers. The successful papers knew their audiences didn’t want long reports on Parliament; they wanted “sensation and celebrity.”

Dr Anthony Delaney and Professor Kate Williams upstairs at The Savoy Hotel, London

Image Credit: History Hit

The law is weaponised

Adding to the perfect storm was a tightening of the law. The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 included the notorious Labouchere Amendment. Before 1885, prosecuting homosexual acts was notoriously difficult, requiring proof of penetration. The Labouchere Amendment changed everything: it criminalised any type of lewd activity, or “Gross Indecency,” between men. The ability to prove “fondling or fumbling” could now lead to imprisonment. This new, sweeping law became a devastating weapon against discretion.

Wilde’s celebrity made him the perfect target for a powerful adversary: Bosie’s furious father, the Marquess of Queensberry. In 1895, as Wilde prepared for his greatest success, The Importance of Being Earnest, Queensberry relentlessly pursued him. The Marquess left a notorious calling card for Wilde at the Albemarle Club he frequented, scribbling the accusation: “For Oscar Wilde, posing Somdemite.”

Wilde, compelled by honour and driven by Bosie, made a fatal miscalculation: he decided to prosecute Queensberry for libel.

One joke too many

The libel trial began in April 1895. Wilde, buoyed by his wit and social standing, believed he could win by outmanoeuvring Queensberry’s defence lawyer with his intellect. However, unbeknownst to him, Queensberry’s team had gathered witnesses – young working-class men who claimed they’d had liaisons with the playwright.

Although Wilde was the plaintiff, he was cross-examined as if he were the defendant. He was relentlessly interrogated, and attempted to turn the whole proceedings into a joke, giving flippant answers and defiant theatrics. Crucially, when asked if he had kissed a man called Granger, Wilde replied “Oh dear no, he was a peculiarly plain boy”. At this, Queensbury’s team zeroed in. The legal tables turned with devastating speed. 

As Wilde’s grandson, historian Merlin Holland, notes “One joke too many and he’s talked himself into prison”. As Anthony succinctly puts it, “From celebrated playwright to condemned man, Wilde walked into the courtroom a plaintiff, and left a fugitive”. 

The reckoning: a society on trial

Following his disastrous libel trial, Wilde was swiftly arrested for ‘gross indecency’. In the documentary, Anthony details the further trials Wilde faced, which ultimately led to his imprisonment.

The case quickly became bigger than Wilde himself, morphing into a public reckoning for the entire era. Professor Kate Williams argues that the trial epitomised all the late Victorian insecurities: “Oscar Wilde is a mirror held up to Victorian society, and what it shows is hypocrisy in all varieties.” 

The established aristocratic male identity was already under attack from labour strikes, colonial self-determination, and women demanding the vote. By condemning Wilde, society sought a scapegoat, believing that if they could just demonise and throw him out, the prevailing moral order would be safe. 

Anthony goes on to investigate the final trials that sealed Oscar’s fate and explores Wilde’s own profound reflections on his situation.

Historian Merlin Holland, who is also Oscar Wilde’s grandson.

Image Credit: History Hit

The legacy of resilience

The trials of Oscar Wilde were the culmination of a perfect storm, explains Anthony, “fuelled by press sensationalism, political anxiety, and buckling Victorian morality.” His conviction fundamentally changed the social landscape, making same-sex attraction a target of intense intolerance and fuelling a hostile environment for decades.

Nevertheless, Wilde’s defiance and maintenance of his integrity throughout his ordeal cemented his status as a modern icon. His grandson, Merlin Holland, explains that Wilde’s legacy endures today because he represents four essential qualities that inspire younger generations: Rebellion, Integrity, Individuality, and Sensuality.

Join Dr. Anthony Delaney as he investigates exactly what happened in each of the sensational 1895 trials of Oscar Wilde in A Very Victorian Scandal: The Trials of Oscar Wilde.

Sign up to watch

After years of civil war and instability, History Hit has gained unique access as the first documentary team in 15 years to film in the rarely seen extraordinary ancient sites within Cyrenaica, centred around one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, Cyrene – a vibrant and important part of the Greek and Roman world. 

This is a fascinating journey into a spectacular region where documentaries rarely go. From the majestic monumental Greek cities to active archaeology being revealed right before our eyes on the coast, this film celebrates the beauty, significance, and untold history of one of the ancient Mediterranean’s most powerful regions. Prepare for a film like no other, promising unprecedented access and a view of ancient history you’ve never seen.

Sign up to watch

The coastal city emerging from the waves

Most modern understanding of Libya is framed by the era of Colonel Gaddafi and the subsequent civil war. However, Dan’s journey travels back 2,000 years and beyond to Cyrenaica, a fertile strip of land in northeastern Libya that was once the breadbasket and powerhouse of the ancient Mediterranean. As Dan explains, “Very few news crews, let alone history documentary-makers get to come here.” 

Dan’s journey begins at the bay of Al Haniyah on the Mediterranean coast, where a fascinating archaeology project is rediscovering a long-lost coastal city, revealing its secrets thanks to natural coastal erosion. Working with teams from the University of Ulster and the University of Benghazi, Dan witnesses fascinating, active archaeology in progress that is disclosing the people who lived here two millennia ago. 

Dan Snow sees how objects embedded in the cliffs are being exposed due to coastal erosion.

Image Credit: History Hit

“Ancient objects are literally falling out of the cliffs,” Dan notes, as the intense winter storms of North Africa claw away at the cliff face, exposing layers of history spanning over 1,000 years. The erosion is a race against time, but offers a unique, exposed cross-section of an ancient port. Dan and the lead archaeologist, Dr. Julia Nikolaus, even discover human bones that have fallen out of a burial, a visceral reminder that the waves of the Mediterranean are exposing all aspects of daily life and death at Al Haniyah.

Along with hundreds of pottery shards, monumental buildings – including the remains of a temple and a Roman villa – are emerging, along with remaining patches of mosaic floors. This seemingly obscure town, which left little impression in the history books, is transforming our understanding of trade, proving it was a crucial hub for exporting goods like wine and Cyrenaican oil – once described as the oil of the ancient world.

Dan Snow with lead archaeologist Dr Julia Nikolaus – they are pointing at a blocked-up doorway or window emerging from the cliffs

Image Credit: History Hit

Dan even joins a team conducting an underwater survey that is uncovering columns and signs of an ancient harbour beneath the waves, proving that a “new chapter in the story of Cyrenaica is being recorded right here.”

We can imagine merchant ships anchored offshore; crews calling out as heavy amphorae were loaded; traders bargaining in the shade of warehouses; families strolling along the harbour-front. For centuries, this place supported busy routines of work, travel, and exchange.

The wonder of Cyrene: A claim to power

Heading inland, Dan travels up into the fertile mountains, site of the magnificent city of Cyrene, which was a wonder of the ancient Graeco-Roman world and a profound statement of Greek identity. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Dan’s excitement of exploring here is palpable. “I’ve dreamed of coming here all my life” says Dan. “We’ve been told that we’re (History Hit) are the first television crew to come and film here since the fall of Gaddafi. And as a result we have the whole place to ourselves – it feels almost like  we’re discovering it for the first time”. 

The Gymnasium at Cyrene, Libya, with the small theatre visible in the background.

Image Credit: History Hit

Cyrene’s grand architecture – including the colossal Greek gymnasium, a centre of learning and physical fitness lined with Doric columns – was designed to proclaim that visitors were entering the Greek world. Its origins, revealed in ancient writings by Herodotus, were humble: struggling Greek colonists were shown the fertile land by indigenous Libyans. Dan also explores a splendid house complete with an outdoor Hall of the Muses, where rich guests would enjoy music and poetry beneath a warm North African sky.  

The city’s immense wealth stemmed from one unique cash crop: Silphium. This legendary plant, which no longer exists, was literally worth its weight in gold due to its supposed healing properties. Dan visits the marketplace where this invaluable commodity was traded, a trade so vital it was thought to be protected by the goddess of agriculture, Demeter. Silphium was transported from Cyrene down to the coast, and then exported to the wealthy centres of the ancient Mediterranean, from Alexandria to Athens and Rome. 

Cyrene also exported knowledge. It was the home of the philosopher Aristippus, who founded the hedonistic school of thought focused on pleasure, and his daughter Arete, believed to be the first female philosopher in history.

The Sanctuary of Apollo in Cyrene, Libya

Image Credit: History Hit

In a unique fusion of storytelling and innovation, History Hit’s film collaborates with Ubisoft to recreate lost parts of the ancient city of Cyrene using stunning imagery from Assassin’s Creed Origins. This allows us to picture what it would have been like to walk these very streets and visit Cyrene’s magnificent theatre, temples and sacred places (including the Temple of Apollo and the spring of Apollo) over 2,000 years ago.

From Greek gymnasium to Roman arena

Dan charts Cyrene’s evolving identity after the Romans took over in 96 BC due to dynastic squabbles in Ptolemaic Egypt, when they transformed the city to better express their Roman-ness. The massive Greek theatre was converted into a Roman amphitheatre, trading the stage for the arena and gladiatorial shows. People from here continued to feature in accounts of the Roman world, men like Simon of Cyrene who the New Testament says helped to carry Jesus’ cross to his crucifixion. 

Dan concludes his journey at the harbour city of Apollonia, which ultimately would overshadow Cyrene. Here, the final transition of the ancient world is visible: the ruins of a Christian basilica, built largely from the recycled plinths and inscriptions of dismantled Roman temples. This basilica reflects the shift to the Byzantine era, proving that the legacy of those ancient civilizations can be explored just as profoundly in Northern Africa as in Athens or Rome.

Components of the ancient temple in Apollonia were rearranged by the Byzantines to create a space for Christian worship.

Image Credit: History Hit

A mainstay of the ancient world

As Dan concludes, the sites in Libya are on the same monumental scale as the Parthenon in Athens. They make a powerful claim: the Cyrenians were not some peripheral colonial outpost; they were one of the mainstays of the ancient world. As Dan reflects,

It’s easy to forget that the Mediterranean Sea was the centre of the Ancient world. You don’t need to go to Athens or Rome… you can explore them all in Northern Africa. It has been an eye-opening experience.”

History Hit’s Head of Programming, Bill Locke, reflects on the team’s experience in Libya:

“Filming in Libya was an extraordinary experience – seeing ancient Greek pottery emerging from the cliffs in a previously untouched site by the Mediterranean, and walking through the wonders of Cyrene, the first documentary crew to film there since the fall of Gaddafi.”

We’ll be speaking to Bill in more depth soon where we’ll delve deeper to learn more about the team’s fascinating and exclusive experiences filming in a spectacular region where documentaries rarely go.

Join Dan Snow for an unprecedented look at the treasures of North Africa in Ancient Adventures: Libya.

Sign up to watch

In a special film from 2022, Tutankhamun: A Century of Discovery, historian Dan Snow commemorated the centenary of that historic event, retracing the incredible story of dedication, despair, and dazzling triumph. Walking in the footsteps of Howard Carter, in the film Dan explores the key sites and exclusive archives that reveal the human story behind the golden mask.

The History Hit team gained unprecedented access to key locations associated with this legendary story: Highclere Castle (home of Lord Carnarvon), Tutankhamun’s Tomb in the Valley of the Kings, and the vast Howard Carter archives in Oxford, which hold the secrets of the dig. 

Sign up to watch

A needle in a haystack

To understand the discovery, Dan first travels to the Valley of the Kings, the deep gorge in the desert where the pharaohs sought their ultimate rest. Guarded by pyramid-like peaks, this was the land of the dead, set directly across the Nile and close to Thebes (modern-day Luxor).

The film explores the profound commitment of Howard Carter, whose ambition was so singular he built a functional, almost hermitic house as close to the Valley of the Kings as possible. Dan visits the meticulously conserved house and speaks with architectural historian Dr Nicholas Warner, revealing Carter’s intense focus. For 12 agonising years, Carter found nothing. As Dr Warner reveals, 1922 was meant to be the final season funded by his great sponsor, Lord Carnarvon. Carter was completely convinced a missing tomb belonging to the obscure New Kingdom pharaoh Tutankhamun was there, but he needed to be convincing enough to keep his patron on board – a true needle-in-a-haystack quest.

Dan also travels to Highclere Castle in Hampshire, Lord Carnarvon’s home, to meet Fiona, the Countess of Carnarvon. She discusses the immense faith Carnarvon placed in Carter – a quest that cost the equivalent of £20 million in modern terms – and the shared love of Egyptology that bound the two men together.

Howard Carter, Lord Carnarvon and his daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert at the steps leading to the newly discovered tomb of Tutankhamen, November 1922

Image Credit: Harry Burton (Photographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The archive

The most intimate details of the discovery are held not in Egypt, but in Oxford. Dan travels to the Bodleian Weston Library to explore the exhibition ‘Tutankhamun – Excavating the Archives’, home to Howard Carter’s extensive records.

Dan gets up close to Carter’s first hurried journal entry: “First steps of Tomb Found.” This led to a detailed note: “Discovered tomb under tomb of Ramses VI… found seals intact.” This meant the tomb was likely an undisturbed Egyptian royal resting place. Carter was forced to wait for his financier, Carnarvon, to sail from England before breaching the final seal.

The iconic moment occurred on 26 November 1922. Dan reads Carter’s account from his excavation journal, reliving the moment the archaeologist first gazed into the dark vault. When Carnarvon asked what he saw, Carter famously replied: “It is wonderful.”

Along with curator Daniela Rosenow at the Griffith Institute, Dan also examines the original glass plate negatives. These photos are extraordinary, capturing now-familiar objects still covered in the linen and flowers from the 19-year-old pharaoh’s funeral in 1323 BC, a far more immediate and human image than the conserved treasures we see today.

Howard Carter examining the innermost coffin of Tutankhamun

Image Credit: Exclusive to The Times, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The young king

Later in the programme, Dan travels into Tutankhamun’s tomb itself, describing it as “one of the most exciting places on earth.” Egyptologist Aliaa Ismail explains a profound irony: Tutankhamun died very young, so his tomb’s walls were left plain in the antechamber, reflecting the custom that “the longer you live, the more impressive your tomb.”

Yet, behind the wall lay the sealed and untouched burial chamber, revealing riches beyond measure. The photographs held in Oxford show what happened in the final moments of the burial: Carter’s notes detail how the team had to chop off part of the pharaoh’s feet to fit the coffin into the sarcophagus – a startling reminder of the human element in an otherwise divine ritual.

To mark the centenary, a local Oxford florist recreated one of the floral garlands found on Tutankhamun’s mummy. Dan gets a first glimpse of this meticulous recreation, which, as Professor Richard Parkinson explains, helps humanise the story. As Richard points out, the centenary is not just about gold, but “about the death of a young man.”

Immortality and legacy

Dan concludes the film back in Cairo, by being up close with Tutankhamun’s golden death mask, which he describes as “one of the most famous archaeological treasures ever recovered”: He explores some of the original treasures with conservator Eid Mertah, who uses modern techniques to understand how the treasures were made.

The legacy of Tutankhamun is a story of dedication, risk, and ultimate triumph. Howard Carter’s single-minded pursuit, Lord Carnarvon’s unwavering financial faith, and the detailed record-keeping in Oxford have ensured the pharaoh’s memory lives on. As Dan concludes, while Tutankhamun didn’t get to “rest” in the Valley of the Kings, he achieved a different form of immortality: his legacy is an inspiration for all generations.

Join Dan Snow as he walks in the footsteps of Howard Carter to relive the greatest archaeological discovery of all time in Tutankhamun: A Century of Discovery.

Sign up to watch

Discover more of History Hit’s Egyptology collection

In History Hit’s new documentary, The Trials of Joan of Arc, Dr Eleanor Janega investigates the evidence from the extraordinary trials that framed Joan’s short yet impactful life. Eleanor follows in Joan’s footsteps, from the royal court at Chinon to her military triumph in Orléans, tracing a journey of faith, warfare, and profound betrayal.

Join Eleanor as she unravels one of history’s most powerful “what ifs” and ask why a teenage girl remains the ultimate symbol of French national pride.

Sign up to watch

The Dauphin’s desperation

In 1429, with France fractured by the Hundred Years’ War (now in its 91st year), the monarchy faced collapse. After the crushing defeat at Agincourt in 1415, and deep divisions caused by the civil war between the Armagnacs and the powerful Burgundians, the French were dispossessed. The claimant to the French throne, Charles the Dauphin, was trapped in his castle at Chinon, desperate for a miracle as the English laid siege to Orléans, the last loyal stronghold.

Into this crisis stepped Joan, a young woman born in 1412, who claimed to receive holy visions telling her of a divine mission: she was sent by God to break the siege at Orléans and deliver the Dauphin to be crowned King of France.

Joan’s first trial was convincing the desperate Dauphin to listen to a poor peasant girl. Dressed in men’s clothing for credibility, she proved her mandate by immediately identifying Charles in the crowd at court despite his attempts to conceal himself.

The Dauphin was facing a political nightmare – following his father’s death, the French had been forced to disinherit their own royal line in favour of the English infant, Henry VI. Joan promised to fix everything, but the stakes were impossibly high. As Eleanor explains, in the Middle Ages, her visions could just as easily be attributed to the devil as to God. 

Joan of Arc’s visions – by Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848–1884)

Image Credit: Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848–1884) / Public Domain

Trials of plausibility and piety

Having gained the nickname ‘La Pucelle’ (the maiden) Joan faced intense theological and physical scrutiny to confirm she was not a heretic. Joan was rigorously questioned by clergy – a test few uneducated young women could have passed – to ensure her faith was sound. She also underwent a physical examination to ensure she was still a virgin (as the devil could not claim a virgin).  Her extraordinary conviction and quick wit – once telling a cleric her heavenly voices spoke in a better dialect than his own – made her plausible.

Joan passed every test. Convinced of her divine mission, the desperate Dauphin equipped her for war with special armour, a sword, and a white banner.

The battle came at Orléans, where six months of French efforts to break the siege had failed. Arriving in April 1429, Joan was not merely a figurehead; her presence and vision – that victory would come if her banner touched the English fortress of Tourelles – reinvigorated the demoralised French troops. 

Joan and her forces pressed forward successfully. As historian Matt Lewis asserts to Eleanor, “it’s hard to believe this would have happened if Joan was not here.” Joan had injected belief into the people – the crucial conviction that “not just that they could win, but that God wanted them to win”.

Historians Matt Lewis and Dr Eleanor Janega in Orléans, France

Image Credit: History Hit

Triumph and the turning point

With Orléans relieved, Joan’s mission was half complete. She smashed through English territory to reach Reims, the highly symbolic, traditional site for the coronation of French kings. Along the way, Joan had letters sent to French towns urging support and war supplies. Eleanor points out that while Joan likely couldn’t write, her ability to dictate and mark official documents with her signature was remarkable for a young girl of her time.

These letters also show a contrast in her character: one letter pleads with the Duke of Burgundy to call off his forces due to the sadness and pain the war was causing, demonstrating her conscience, while another urges the sending of gunpowder, revealing her fierce warrior spirit.

On 17 July 1429, the Dauphin Charles was crowned King Charles VII with Joan by his side. Despite having achieved everything she had promised, Joan wanted more. Her zeal to drive the English entirely from France quickly caused divisions with King Charles, who preferred diplomacy and treaties over the total warfare Joan felt was God’s command. The cracks widened when Charles called off the fighting at Paris, an action that enraged Joan, while the King grew weary of being commanded by a teenage girl. 

The campaign against Joan

By September 1429, Charles had disbanded the army, leaving Joan to set out on her own with a large volunteer force. Joan became the target of a campaign by English-aligned scholars to discredit her as a fraud: if she had divine favour, how could she lose a battle? The end came on 23 May 1430, when she was captured by the Burgundians and swiftly sold to the English. Shockingly, King Charles VII, whom she had saved, made no attempt to rescue her.

The English immediately initiated a political show trial for heresy in January 1431, led by Bishop Cauchon (a loyal Burgundian), intending to invalidate Charles’s kingship by proving Joan was sent by the devil. 

In the documentary, Eleanor meets Professor Anne Curry, who details how although treated formally, Joan’s independent religious conviction and insistence on wearing men’s clothes violated Canon Law and became pivotal evidence against her. 

After initially confessing her heresy to avoid death, 4 days later, knowing the likely outcome and perhaps intending on martyrdom, Joan relapsed, choosing to wear men’s clothing again and claiming she had heard her voices. This was deemed final proof of heresy, leading to her being burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, in Rouen. Her remains were destroyed to prevent the creation of martyr relics. 

Dr Eleanor Janega with Professor Anne Curry

Enduring icon

Though Joan was dead her cause endured. 22 years later, after the English had been expelled from almost all of France, Joan’s family successfully initiated a second trial to annul the conviction. Eyewitnesses were called, the archives were opened, and on 7 July 1456, Joan was officially pardoned, transforming her into a martyr. Eleanor notes that in death Joan became more important as a rallying point for an idea of Frenchness – “a symbol of a cause who hadn’t been worth enough alive to be protected by the people she died in service to”.

As Eleanor concludes, Joan’s immense legacy endures in art and popular culture, with Corentin Dury, Curator at the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans, explaining how Joan has “inspired so many people in so many different ways.” Her story reveals the surprising knowledge ordinary medieval women possessed regarding complex legal and church doctrine, military tactics, and politics.

Dr Eleanor Janega with Corentin Dury, Curator at the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans

Joan was made a saint in 1920, serving as an icon of resilience for post-World War One France. Interestingly, Eleanor notes that modern admiration for Joan often focuses on the traditionally “masculine” traits for which she was killed: her courage, leadership, and her willingness to fight, suggesting we still prefer to see female power expressed through warrior tropes. 

Nonetheless, despite her youth, Joan single-handedly changed the course of French and European history, offering thousands of reasons for her story to be reconsidered today.

Join Dr Eleanor Janega on a journey into one of history’s most captivating stories in The Trials of Joan of Arc.

Sign up to watch

In The Ashmolean Up Close: King Alfred’s Jewel, historian Dan Snow explores what he calls “one of the greatest treasures of the Ashmolean Museum.” Guided by the museum’s Director, Dr Xa Sturgis, Dan gets exclusive access to the meticulous craftsmanship and revolutionary clues contained within the jewel and other spectacular finds that are rewriting the history of Anglo-Saxon England.

Sign up to watch

The enigma of the Alfred Jewel

The Alfred Jewel is renowned for its intricate beauty, but also for its mystery. The original Alfred Jewel is too precious to be removed from its case, but Dan is allowed to handle a replica of the jewel, which features a tear-shaped rock crystal and a stylised enamelled figure set beneath it. Crucially, around the edge, a gold inscription mentions “Alfred” by name – an extraordinary link, as it makes the jewel one of the only objects besides coins that can be directly attributed to the King, even though the writing doesn’t specifically state the word ‘king’.

However, the identity of the figure remains debated: Is it Christ? Is it Alfred himself? Dr Sturgis explains that the lack of a crown or halo suggests it could be a personification of the sense of sight. Even the jewel’s purpose is a puzzle. Given a creature carved at the base has a hole for a rivet, the most accepted theory is that the jewel functioned as an “aestel” – a valuable pointer used by priests to keep their place while reading or copying precious manuscripts and to prevent damage to pages.

This theory aligns perfectly with a statement Alfred wrote in a book he sent to all his bishops, commanding that “in each book there is an aestel of gold, and I command in God’s name that no man take the pointer from the book.”

The Alfred Jewel

Image Credit: History Hit / Ashmolean Museum

Athelney and the turning point

The location where the jewel was found – near the Somerset bogs of Athelney – is “very suggestive indeed,” according to Dr Sturgis. Athelney is famously associated with the nadir of Alfred’s reign: the low point when he was driven out by the Vikings and forced to hold out on the marshy isle (giving rise to the legend of the burnt cakes). Ten years later, following his spectacular victory at the Battle of Edington in 878 AD, Alfred founded an Abbey near Athelney.

It makes historical sense that if Alfred were to send an aestel to the Abbey, it would be a particularly magnificent one, linking the grand object directly to the most critical turning point of his life and reign.

Anglo-Saxon broken sword handle and coins found in the Watlington Hoard

The secret life of a kingdom

Dan also examines other objects from the Ashmolean that reveal the complex power politics of Alfred’s time, a period when England was divided between Alfred’s Kingdom of Wessex, the Danes, and the independent Duchy of Mercia.

The key to rewriting this history lies in the Watlington Hoard, a recent discovery of coins and silver found by a metal detectorist in 2015. The hoard, believed to have been buried by a Viking around 880 AD due to the hack-silver (used as currency by weight), contained Anglo-Saxon coins that are a unique record of the shifting political balance. Dr Sturgis points out that most coins in the hoard are a combination of King Alfred’s coinage and coins of Ceolwulf of Mercia.

The coins feature images of Alfred and Ceolwulf side-by-side, strongly suggesting that at some point they were co-equals, cooperating on coinage and perhaps even military payments. This detail shatters the long-held historical view that Mercia was simply a powerless “zombie kingdom” controlled by the Vikings, which Alfred simply absorbed. Instead, the coin evidence suggests Alfred was happy, at least briefly, to accept another great English ruler as almost co-equal.

As Dr Sturgis points out, “this idea that a metal detectorist in a field near Watlington can rewrite a period of Anglo-Saxon history just from 200 things found in the ground is extraordinary and gives a sense of the fragility of our knowledge of this period”. 

Producer Fiona Turnock and Bill Locke (Head of Programming) film some of the objects featured in the programme with Dr Xa Sturgis.

Image Credit: History Hit / Ashmolean Museum

The legacy of conflict

The tumultuous era is also revealed as Dan examines a broken sword handle found in a river – a common way Anglo-Saxons decommissioned weapons after a warrior’s death. The intricate silver decorations prove it belonged to a high-status individual, likely dating from the same critical period of the late 870s.

The handle is not only Anglo-Saxon in style, but a Christian object, bearing the symbols of the Four Evangelists. This powerful artefact could have been present at the pivotal Battle of Edington, connecting the ultimate victory to faith and elite warfare.

The objects in the Ashmolean Museum clearly show that the late 9th century was a period of intense conflict and change. From the artistry of the Alfred Jewel to the political secrets held in a handful of coins, these treasures are not just relics of the past. They are a bridge to understanding the minds and motivations of the people who lived, fought, and died while England was born.

Join Dan Snow and Dr Xa Sturgis to uncover the historical secrets of this turbulent era in The Ashmolean Up Close: King Alfred’s Jewel.

Sign up to watch

In this special episode of What if the Gunpowder Plot Succeeded? Not Just The Tudors… Lates, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb invites fellow Early Modern historians – Jessie Childs, Gareth Russell, and Professor Anna Whitelock – to ponder an alternate history. Together, they unravel one of Britain’s most dramatic “what ifs,” asking how the successful execution of the Gunpowder Plot would have irrevocably transformed the nation’s future.

Sign up to watch

The immediate aftermath

The conspirators’ immediate goal was pure destruction: to kill King James I, his heir, and the entire Protestant ruling class during the state opening of parliament. But in the programme, the panel argues the plotters were incredibly naive about the chaos that would follow.

• Power vacuum: As Jessie Childs points out, the blast would have killed not only the King, Queen, and Prince Henry, but every bishop, judge, lawyer, and high-ranking civil servant – effectively decapitating the entire Protestant establishment. With the records of government also destroyed at Westminster, even the basics of governance would have been impossible. Who would have been left to organise a legitimate resistance?
• The kidnapping plot: The conspirators planned to kidnap the King’s nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and install her as a puppet queen, marrying her off to a suitable Catholic to “restore the ancient faith.” But would foreign powers have supported this new, violently unstable regime?
• Widespread condemnation: Far from uniting Catholics, Professor Whitelock argues that while the plotters sought to establish a Catholic state, their methods and the scale of the terror would have provoked widespread condemnation, possibly leading to an immediate, massive anti-Catholic backlash and even murder of Catholics in the streets.

Gareth Russell suggests the impact would have been absolute anarchy and chaos for months, as no legitimate Protestant or secular leader would have remained to organise a resistance.

Some of the members of the Gunpowder Plot, featured in a 17th century engraving by Crispijn van de Passe

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

War and division

A successful plot would have instantly fractured the United Kingdom and plunged James’s former three kingdoms into war.

• A divided Britain: All panelists agree the Union of Crowns, which James I had skillfully forged, would have been instantly lost. Scotland would have been incandescent with fury over the regicide of its king and royal family, and would likely declared its own separate, Protestant monarch, leading to an inevitable war with an English Catholic regime.
• Ireland’s fate: The repercussions would have been different in Ireland, where the Catholic elite might have remained intact. If so, would this have potentially led to a completely different, independent Irish history?
• No easy alliances: The new regime in England would have faced immense problems securing a foreign alliance. Gareth Russell notes that while Catholic powers like Spain would have wanted peace, they would have been wary of marrying their heirs into such a risky, unstable regime that had just wiped out its own royal family.

• 

  Prof Suzannah Lipscomb (left), with the panel (from left to right), historians Professor Anna Whitelock, Gareth Russell, and Jessie Childs.

  Image Credit: History Hit

The unintended consequences

As Suzannah notes to the panel, “I was going to ask you what were the unintended consequences of this, but it feels like every consequence was unintended!” The discussion highlights how the assassination would have rippled across every facet of British culture and society, often with destructive, unintended effects:

• Cultural collapse: The plot would have effectively caused the pre-emptive euthanising of the Jacobean cultural flowering. The great writers of the era, including Shakespeare (who was the King’s man), would have lost their patronage and context. The production of the influential King James Bible would have ended.
• The martyr king: Jessie Childs notes that rather than being viewed as a tyrant, King James would have been immediately seen as a Protestant martyr, further hardening religious lines and potentially making any future reconciliation impossible.
• The seeds of revolution: Professor Whitelock suggests that the Gunpowder Plot, had it succeeded, would have been the first major instance where a story about a political “Popish plot” was confirmed, accelerating the process by which anti-Catholic anxiety became politically explosive, shifting the entire trajectory of the Stuart period. As the panel ponders, this chaos might have brought about a revolution, perhaps more aligned with the French Revolution of the 18th century, potentially eliminating the monarchy altogether.

Grievance is not a policy

The ultimate takeaway from this chilling historical conjecture is the sheer naivety of the plotters. As Gareth Russell succinctly puts it: “A grievance is not a policy.” The conspirators had no clear plan for what came after the destruction. Their act of devastating terror would have been followed by a “great silence” of governance and a massive, bloody struggle to fill the power vacuum.

Join Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and her expert panel as they explore the chilling alternative future where Guy Fawkes succeeded and the map of Britain was irrevocably redrawn in What if the Gunpowder Plot Succeeded? Not Just The Tudors… Lates.

Sign up to watch

In a new documentary, Witchmen: Witch Trials in the Land of Fire & Ice, historian Dr Kate Lister is on a mission to find out why. Her investigation takes her across the breathtaking landscape of the Westfjords in northwest Iceland, through dramatic jagged coastlines, high mountains, and roaring waterfalls, delving into a culture where a belief in magic still prevails today.

Kate uncovers the truth around some of the most unique and remote witch trials of the 17th century, revealing a story that is less about magic and more about human nature, conspiracy, and local power games.

Sign up to watch

Iceland’s male witches

The gender of those persecuted for witchcraft varied across Europe: while women were the typical targets in Mediterranean and Germanic countries, based on the ancient idea that women possessed innate magical abilities, the role of the witch or magician was stereotypically male in several northern and eastern regions, including Iceland, Normandy, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Austrian countries, and Russia.

As Kate explores, the supernatural has been part of Icelandic culture ever since the first Viking settlers arrived in the late 9th century. They brought with them the old Norse gods and folklore – Loki, Odin, and Thor – and a strong tradition of Rune and Stave magic. This ancient heritage was closely linked to men. Because Icelanders believed that men were much more capable of magic than women, the focus of the witch hunts shifted almost entirely to them.

For centuries, magic was an important everyday tool used to feel they had some control over a hostile landscape; many people would cast runes, spells and good luck charms. These ancient beliefs were practiced widely on the island for centuries alongside Christianity and never seemed to cause a problem. But when the witch craze spread from Europe, these ancient magical traditions suddenly looked like sorcery. 

Example of a rune

Image Credit: History Hit

The conspiracy and the confessions

In 17th century Iceland, a witch came to be defined as ‘somebody who used supernatural powers to cause others harm’. The trials began in earnest with the burning of the first alleged witch in 1625, accused of summoning a zombie to attack his neighbour’s horse. But it was the arrival of European zeal that truly amplified the terror.

Kate speaks with world-renowned witch expert Professor Ronald Hutton, who explains that the witch craze escalated across Europe during the turbulent years of the Reformation (1560–1640), becoming “the ultimate conspiracy theory.” In Iceland, this fervour was imported directly by local sheriffs and well-educated priests who had studied the witch hunts in countries like Denmark and Germany.

The local geography played a role: the most severe cases occurred in the remote Westfjords, where a few powerful, educated individuals had the influence to press accusations. Kate details the story of an early major case where a strange sickness affecting two young women was attributed to three men thought to be witches. Despite the likely cause being simple illness (or even bad corn), the three men were burned alive in 1654.

The documentary provides a fascinating look into the sources of this unique form of magic. Kate visits the Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft in Hólmavík, where she speaks to curator, Anna Pórarinsdóttir and is shown a replica of the infamous ‘necropants’ – trousers made from human skin and used in a grotesque ritual to magically acquire money. She also sees examples of Staves, ritual symbols often used in conjunction with Runes – the magical writing that was considered essential to kickstart any spell.

Kate Lister filming at the Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft in Hólmavík, where she speaks to curator, Anna Pórarinsdóttir and is shown a replica of the infamous ‘necropants’.

Image Credit: History Hit

Anna also shows Kate a replica of a 17th century turf house in the remote area of Klúka – an area famed for its mountain ranges, beautiful hiking trails and epic waterfalls. Such houses would have been adorned with Staves even for simple tasks, such as to help keep knives sharp while cutting grass, highlighting the commonality of such symbols in Icelandic history. 

Iceland is often seen as a magical place even today due to its association with the aurora borealis – the northern lights. The northern lights appear throughout Icelandic folklore and were often mythologised, as souls, waiting to pass to the other side, or even hidden people like the elves. In Norse mythology, the lights were a bridge that took fallen warriors to the world of the gods.

Replica of a 17th century Icelandic turf house

Image Credit: History Hit

The witch-hunter’s agenda

The rise of the witch hunts in Iceland was often driven by religious zealots with a clear agenda.

Kate examines the story of Paul Biörnson, a wealthy, well-connected priest in the village of Selárdalur. When his wife, Helga, fell ill, Biörnson embarked on a quest to “expel the devil” from the area, recognising that a reputation as a witch hunter would certainly grow his loyal congregation. Helga’s repeated accusations led to the death of seven people – one-third of all confirmed burnings in Iceland.

Crucially, Kate and curator Anna Pórarinsdóttir explore the one fact that protected Icelandic women: they could not own property or land. As Anna suggests, because the motive for many accusations across Europe was to seize the possessions of the accused, the women’s subordinate financial status ironically shielded them from prosecution.

The consequences for those accused were horrific. Alleged Icelandic witches were burned to death – a rare punishment in Europe, where the condemned were usually strangled or beheaded first. Professor Hutton explains that burning was reserved for those deemed “utterly evil,” as it was believed to remove the body, which was “impregnated with bad magic,” preventing the evil from poisoning the soil.

Dr Kate Lister at the Burning Ravine, Þingvellir National Park, Iceland

Image Credit: History Hit

The legacy of magic

Kate travels to Þingvellir National Park, the site of Iceland’s first parliament and a location where several accused witches were burned in the “Burning Ravine.” She explores the process of prosecution and even writes down a defensive Stave, demonstrating how these beliefs persist today.

The programme reveals one of the worst curses imaginable: the Fart Rune, a magical affliction with symptoms similar to dysentery, a real killer in the 17th century. The fact that people confessed to using this – even knowing they faced death by fire – underscores how real magic was to them.

Kate’s investigation suggests the witch trials were less about the supernatural and more about human nature and the terrifying ease with which hate and suspicion allowed neighbour to turn on neighbour. In a world still consumed by conspiracy theories and mass condemnation, how far have we truly progressed from the anxieties of the 17th century?

Join Dr Kate Lister as she uncovers the ultimate true crime conspiracy in Witchmen: Witch Trials in the Land of Fire & Ice.

Sign up to watch

This confrontation with the inevitable was captured in a unique artistic tradition: Memento Mori, Latin for “Keep death in your thoughts.” These were not objects of grief, but stark, often beautiful, reminders of life’s impermanence.

In The Ashmolean Up Close: Memento Mori – the fourth film in History Hit’s partnership with the University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum – Professor Suzannah Lipscomb goes behind the scenes to investigate this morbid side to life in early modern Europe. Guided by Matthew Winterbottom, Assistant Keeper of Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Suzannah explores the surprising significance of these items, uncovering what they reveal about faith, wealth, and the honest acceptance of death.

Sign up to watch

The morbid motif: luxury and humility

Given that death was ubiquitous in early modern life, why did people need constant reminders of it? Matthew Winterbottom explains that Memento Mori were a continuous call to spiritual readiness, but they were also objects of conspicuous display.

These were not modest artefacts. Made of expensive silver, gold, diamonds, and ivory by the finest craftsmen, they were designed to be worn as jewellery. As Suzannah notes, this creates a strange contradiction: people were proclaiming their humility and commitment to a good Christian life by literally showing off their immense wealth. The skull or the decaying body became a highly fashionable motif, used ubiquitously across the arts.

The documentary examines one of the Ashmolean’s earliest objects: a large carved ivory bead from the early 16th century, thought to have hung at the end of a rosary used in a monastery or cathedral. Carved into a double-sided head, one side depicts a skull, and the other shows a horrifying process of decay, covered in writhing worms, toads, and snakes. This brutal imagery, Matthew explains, was a direct link to the medieval world’s understanding of “dust to dust,” an age before refrigeration and when people frequently saw dead bodies and charnel houses where bones were stacked.

For the believer, this was an honest reminder of their fate before the eventual resurrection on Judgment Day – a shared belief among Protestants and Catholics in 16th and 17th century Europe that death was not final, and one day the dead would rise to face God’s judgement.

Double-sided ivory skull bead, one side showing a recently deceased head, the other showing a head in the process of putrefying.

Image Credit: History Hit / Ashmolean Museum

Time ticking away

The concept of Memento Mori was inextricably linked to the idea of fleeting time. Suzannah and Matthew explore three small silver skull watches from the mid-17th century. Opening the jaw of the skull reveals the ticking clock beneath. This remarkable object is a perfect metaphor: life is constantly ticking away, and death is not far behind.

The watches, possibly made in England or France, were a highly conspicuous way of carrying this philosophy. They often bore powerful Latin inscriptions, urging the wearer to live life to the fullest while simultaneously preparing for a “good death” to ensure passage to heaven.

From self-reflection to commemoration

Some Memento Mori objects were crafted not only for self-reflection but also to send a clear message to others. In the documentary, Suzannah and Matthew explore some rings, including one highly ornate piece of enamelled gold and diamonds featuring a skull and crossbones. This extravagant display of wealth – an object a modern mind might consider “spooky” – was, in the 17th century, a serious statement. The wearer wasn’t just reminding himself of mortality; he was showcasing his commitment to Christian duty, demonstrating that his wealth also translated into support for charities and the less fortunate.

Ring featuring enamelled gold and diamond skull and crossbones

Image Credit: History Hit / Ashmolean Museum

The meaning of these objects began to shift in the early 18th century. Suzannah and Matthew examine a mourning ring commemorating Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart monarchs. The ring features a tiny, coffin-shaped vessel with a skull and crossbones. Inside the coffin is Queen Anne’s cypher and, chillingly, woven strands of her hair. This practice, where quantities of hair were cut from the deceased and turned into mementos for distribution across the court, was the beginning of the mourning jewellery trend that would become widespread in the Georgian and Victorian eras. 

These eras also saw mourning practices became standardised and spread across social classes, notably shifting the traditional colour for mourning from the cheaper white to black, which had previously been reserved for the wealthy elite.

The unsanitised truth

The Ashmolean’s collection also holds unique, ephemeral objects designed for public ritual, such as a rare early 18th century funerary shield, shown to Suzannah by Anne van Camp, assistant keeper of northern European art. Anne explains that for her, “it’s the ultimate Memento Mori’.

This wooden print, adorned with a skull, cross, and crossbones, was never meant to survive. Bearing traces of candle wax, it was likely carried in a funeral procession, and would have looked spectacular and eerie ritual in a darkened church – giving us a glimpse into the world of ornamentation and ritual around funerals we otherwise would have lost.

Early 18th century funerary shield

Image Credit: History Hit / Ashmolean Museum

Perhaps the most curious object is an ivory figure carved inside a tortoiseshell lantern. When the object is turned, the figure of a beautiful naked woman instantly transforms into a shrouded skeleton. This was a tactile, immediate message: life is fleeting, and beauty is transient. Matthew further explains how life would have been quite brutal, especially for poorer people, back then, and so for some, death might have been seen as a form of sweet release, on to a better afterlife.

The most profound takeaway from the documentary, however, is the contrast between the past and the present. When Suzannah asks Matthew if the early modern approach to mortality was healthier than our modern taboo around death, he offers a powerful answer. He suggests the honesty of the Memento Mori tradition – the willingness to confront the ugly, messy process of rotting – was a far healthier way of living. Death was ubiquitous; they couldn’t avoid it, so they embraced it.

This collection of Memento Mori – symbols of mourning, faith, hope, and contemplation – invites us to reflect on our own transience and recognise that the minds of those who lived centuries ago, though profoundly different, were grappling with the same ultimate reality as our own.

Join Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Matthew Winterbottom as they delve into the beautiful, morbid art of the past in The Ashmolean Up Close: Memento Mori.

Sign up to watch

In History Hit’s new documentary, Death in the Parsonage: The Brontës, Dr Madeleine Pelling and Dr Anthony Delaney investigate this extraordinary paradox. They explore the grim reality of life in 19th-century Haworth – where the average age of death rivalled London’s worst slums – and how this family, steeped in tragedy, created such enduring, vibrant art, finding their escape in their wild, gothic imaginations.

Sign up to watch

A life lived with loss

Whilst a pretty place today, 200 years ago, Haworth was an industrial town where deadly diseases like cholera and typhus were rife, with tuberculosis (or ‘consumption’) being the most common killer. For the Brontë children, living cheek by jowl with death was their reality.

Nevertheless, on the edge of the town, the Brontё sisters could step out of the confines of Haworth. Surrounded by books and periodicals and treated as intellectual equals to their brother, this tightly-knit group of creative, intelligent siblings needed no company but their own. 

However, tragedy struck the family early and relentlessly. Little over a year after they arrived, their mother, Maria Brontë, died of cancer. The enduring longing for her, especially among the younger siblings who barely remembered her, is hauntingly captured in Charlotte Brontë’s idealised portrait of her mother – a ghost haunting the parsonage and the pages of their novels, which are full of motherless children yearning for family.

The loss intensified when Patrick Brontë sent his daughters to a new clergy daughters’ school at Cowen Bridge, which, unbeknownst to him, was a harrowing experience of harsh discipline and appalling hygiene. The unsanitary conditions led to devastating outbreaks of typhus and tuberculosis, claiming the lives of the two eldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, within weeks of each other. Patrick brought his remaining daughters home soon after. Charlotte later immortalised her harrowing time there in ‘Jane Eyre’, describing the school as a place that left her “physically stunted.” 

Imagination and rebellion

Faced with relentless death, the surviving Brontë children – Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne – found a powerful escape in their wild, gothic imaginations. Their home was rich with intellectual stimulus, and their father encouraged them to read widely from his private library, treating his daughters as intellectual equals.

To fill the void of their lost family members, the siblings created elaborate imaginary worlds, including their ‘Glass Town Confederacy’, ‘Angria’ and ‘Gondal’. In the documentary, Anthony talks to the Principal Curator of the Brontё Parsonage Museum, Ann Dinsdale, and explores the tiny, hand-stitched miniature books they created. Filled with microscopic script for secrecy, they were full of shocking content – murder, dark romance, and immoral heroes – and became the blueprint for their later, world-shaking novels.

Ann Dinsdale, Principal Curator of the Brontё Parsonage Museum, being filmed with the Brontё’s miniature hand-stitched books.

Image Credit: History Hit

The documentary shows how these creative worlds became a vital sanctuary. Their youthful tales, featuring burning beds and murderers driven mad by ghosts, became precursors to the potent gothic sensibility that would define their masterpieces, such as the fire set by Bertha in Jane Eyre.

Branwell’s downfall

Forced by financial necessity to find careers, historian Juliet Barker explains that the fiercely private sisters viewed education as essential for future independence, knowing they would have no income after their father’s death. While initial work as governesses proved miserable, Charlotte and Emily sought opportunity by traveling to Brussels to improve their teaching skills, hoping to eventually open their own school. However, their time abroad was cut short by the death of their aunt, and the costly venture ultimately failed, forcing them back to the parsonage.

While the sisters channelled their passion into their writing, their only brother, Branwell, struggled under the weight of expectation. After failed attempts as an artist and a railway clerk, he found work as a private tutor for the wealthy Robinson family. This job, meant to provide stability, instead led to a consuming and scandalous affair with the family’s mistress.

Dismissed and his romantic world shattered, Branwell spiralled into a devastating addiction to opiates and alcohol, which masked the real cause of his decline: consumption. Anthony visits the Brontë Parsonage Museum to see a recreation of Branwell’s chaotic room and a chilling sketch he drew in his final year, showing himself in bed with Death as a skeleton looming over him – a powerful, creative self-prophecy. Branwell died in his father’s arms in September 1848, having declared he had done “nothing either great or good.”

The power of the moors

Grief over his wife and children galvanised Patrick into action. Taking his role as a minister seriously, he successfully campaigned for an inspection of Haworth by the general board of health which produced the damning Babbage Report. Its shocking findings revealed the horrifying local reality: the average age of death was just 25.8 years old, rivalling London’s worst slums.

In the midst of their grief, the remaining sisters found solace in the raw, elemental landscape of the moors. For Emily, walks on the moors with her beloved dog ‘Keeper’ were a potent creative force. She began work on her singular masterpiece, ‘Wuthering Heights’, where the wild, untamed nature of the landscape becomes an active participant in the savage saga of doomed love and vengeance.

The moors near Haworth

Image Credit: History Hit

The landscape was littered with folklore that directly inspired their darkest novels. In the documentary, Madeleine explores local legends of the moors like the Gytrash (a spectral dog or horse that portended misfortune) and the “wailing woman” with folkloric historian Dr Ceri Houlbrook. She explains how such tales were passed down to the Brontës by their family servant, Tabitha Ackroyd. Such stories blurred the line between religion and folklore, reinforcing the gothic sensibility that defined the Brontë’s writing.

The Brontë sisters published their visionary novels under male pen-names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Madeleine speaks to historian and Brontё expert, Dr Claire O’Callaghan to discuss how the Brontё’s imagination shaped their rebellious literature. Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre – quintessential gothic masterpieces – blended dark romance and supernatural elements that immediately shocked Victorian society, yet they were overwhelmingly successful.

But just as the world discovered Emily’s genius, she too fell victim to tuberculosis, dying on 19 December 1848 after stubbornly refusing medical aid. Anne followed her sister just months later on 28 May 1849, having spent her final months with her sister Charlotte and friend Ellen Nussey in her beloved Scarborough.

Presenter Dr Madeleine Pelling (left) with Director & Producer Laura McMillen (centre) and Shooting Assistant Producer, Shane Smith (right) – on location in Scarborough.

Image Credit: History Hit

An enduring legacy

Charlotte was now left alone, her life becoming, in her words, “a long, terrible dream”. However, as Dr Claire O’Callaghan tells Madeleine, her solitude led her to safeguard her sisters’ legacy, publishing their works and writing their biographies (and collections of poetry in ‘The Literary Remains of Acton and Ellis Bell’) to appease Victorian critics and which would become the foundation of the Brontë myth. Charlotte found a brief moment of unexpected happiness with her marriage to her father’s assistant curate, Arthur Bell Nichols, in June 1854, only to be cut short by illness (likely exacerbated by pregnancy and extreme morning sickness) less than a year later on 31 March 1855, aged 38.

As Madeleine points out, while the Brontës’ story is one of relentless tragedy, their enduring legacy lies in the literature they left behind. Their novels – exploring themes of madness, sex, and violence – were rebellious works that pierced the veneer of Victorian politeness.

As the documentary concludes, the Brontës were shaped by their unique environment: the close family life, the ambition of their father, the constant presence of death in Haworth – and the wild elemental landscape just outside their door. Their literature is a mirror reflecting the gritty truth of the volatile world they lived in, proving that you cannot have the Brontës without Haworth.

Watch Death in the Parsonage: The Brontës to discover how a family steeped in loss created a literary legacy that still speaks to human nature today.

Sign up to watch