History Hit Podcasts

Theoderic the Great

In the year 493, the leader of a vast confederation of Gothic warriors personally cut down Odoacer, the man famous for deposing the last Roman...

William the Silent, Father of the Netherlands

What encouraged a young man who had spent most of his formative years being raised by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, to bite the hand that feeds...

Figures of Baghdad | Trailer

In Figures of Baghdad, we’ll get to know some of the great minds of the Abbasid Empire, all of whom are characters you can find in Assassin's...

The WW2 Witch Trial of Hellish Nell

What made a working class woman from Edinburgh become such a threat to British intelligence services during the Second World War, that they tried...

What if the South Won the Civil War?

What if the Civil War had ended differently, with the South seceding from the Union? Would slavery have continued? Would the southern states have...

Origins of Medieval Universities

The University of Vienna is one of the oldest in the world. Founded by Rudolph IV Habsburg in 1365, it has been teaching students for centuries....

Witchcraft: A History in Four Trials

Most of our knowledge of witchcraft accusations and executions comes from the proceedings of high profile and significant...

Education & The House of Wisdom

The sharing of culture was vital for the Abbasids. Even their predecessors, the Umayyads, had been fascinated by the knowledge of other cultures...

War between the Brothers

Muslims spilled a lot of ink pondering what good government should look like, what a wise ruler should be like, and why it mattered for society....

Tyre: Jewel of Phoenicia

One of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, Tyre was a jewel of the Ancient World. A Phoenician metropolis, and the birth place of numerous...

Alexander The Great

This is everything you need to know about the famed conqueror Alexander the Great. Alongside Tristan Hughes, host of the hit podcast The Ancients,...

Age of Consent: Medieval Meaning, Victorian Scandals & Modern Relevance

While the age of consent has fluctuated over time, it reveals some fascinating and enlightening things about how we view sexuality in...

Origins of the Vietnam War

In 1969, at the height of US presence, there were over half a million Americans in Vietnam.

But why were they there in the first place? When...

Normal Women with Philippa Gregory

Did women really do nothing to shape England’s culture and traditions through centuries of turmoil, plague, famine and religious reform? In...

The Venerable Bede

Bede, whose name towers over early medieval English literature, is often referred to as the “father of English history.” He calculated the...

Gladiators in Britain

When you think of Gladiators you tend to think of Roman Amphitheatres, Hollywood films, and probably not Colchester in the UK. But thanks to the...

England's Greatest Monarchs with David Mitchell

David Mitchell joins Dan in today's episode to ask the all-important question - who was England's greatest monarch? From the 'overrated' William...

Achilles

This episode contains themes of a sexual nature

Achilles is one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology. The son of Peleus, a Greek King,...

Sex: The Medieval Rules

Given that the medieval period covers the best part of 1000 years, there's a fair amount of sexual myth and beliefs to get through.

How...

Suleyman the Magnificent

The Lion House is a riveting new book from journalist and historian Christopher De Bellaigue, written like a novel that tells the dramatic story...

The American Buffalo with Ken Burns

'It's one of those threads you pull on and immediately you're connected to the whole fabric of American history.'

The American Buffalo,...