Podcast appearances and mentions of Henry VIII

Anne of Cleves is always called the lucky one. She survived Henry VIII, kept her head, and walked away with Hever Castle and a generous income. But in July 1540 she actually had legal grounds to contest the annulment, a brother with diplomatic leverage, and Katherine of Aragon's playbook sitting right in front of her. So why did she say yes? And was it luck, or was it strategy? This week I'm looking at the decision Anne faced, what refusing might actually have cost her, and the moment after Katherine Howard's execution when Anne apparently decided she wanted back in after all. She wasn't the lucky one. She was the smart one. And I think we've been underselling her for about 500 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, roughly 2,000 nuns lost everything overnight. Their homes, their communities, their vocations, and in many cases the only life they had ever known. We talk endlessly about the monks and the land transfers. We almost never talk about the nuns. In this episode I'm looking at what actually happened to them after the dissolution. Some went home to families. Some married. Some kept living together informally, maintaining their communities without officially calling it a convent. And some, like the Bridgettines of Syon Abbey, went into exile on the continent and refused to stop existing for the next five centuries. The Syon community, dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539, was still going in Devon in 2011. We'll also look at what the dissolution really meant for women's options in England long-term, because for roughly three hundred years afterward, there was no structure in England that allowed women to lead communities and exercise real authority. That's not a footnote. That's a seismic shift. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though their romance had cooled by the 1670s, Barbara Villiers and King Charles II remained close for the rest of his life. He gifted her Nonsuch Palace, originally built by Henry VIII and used often by Elizabeth I. Barbara, who fell on hard times after four years living in Paris, had Nonsuch Palace demolished so she could sell off the building materials to pay her gambling debts. The King died in 1685, but Barbara still had decades to go. In 1705, after the death of her long-suffering husband, she married a second time. Unfortunately, her new husband, Robert Fielding, was a gigolo who had married a different woman, believing her to be an heiress, just two weeks earlier. This became its own scandal and legal odyssey, but also a sort of fitting bookend for the life of Barbara Villiers, one of history's most interesting women, who died in 1709. Listen ad-free at patreon.com/trashyroyalspodcast. To advertise on this podcast, reach out to info@amplitudemediapartners.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We take a pause in our narrative to go back a few years to look at the childhoods, and backgrounds of two men from London- both called Thomas, both growing up in and around London (even if their experiences were very different) and both would go onto have huge impacts into the story of the city and the politics of Henry VIII.This then is the story of Thomas More, and Thomas Cromwell, whose stories were to illuminate life in the city; its passions, its shadows, the smallness of it all, and also how experiencing it could shape a young mans life. This then is the tale of the two Toms…Cover shows ‘A laughing boy', by Guido Mazzoni, c.1498.

In this interview with renowned Tudor art and cultural historian Professor Elizabeth Goldring, we go beyond the famous portraits of Hans Holbein the Younger and into his fascinating life — exploring the man behind the masterpieces. (Get early access to all historian interviews plus bonus content and the videos ad-free, so no interruptions at Patreon.com/BritishHistory)Elizabeth shared with me insights into Holbein's religion, his journey from Augsburg to Tudor England, how the Shrove Tuesday riots in Basel affected him, plus, his relationships, artistic challenges, and the enduring legacy of his work in British history.We discussed Holbein's contribution to how we see the Tudor court of Henry VIII, if the Tudors would have been as famous as they are without Holbein and how Holbein was pivotal in the beginnings of art collecting.Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Holbein's Impact on Tudor History00:24 Holbein's Early Life and Artistic Beginnings01:20 Holbein's Move to England and Court Patronage02:16 Holbein's Personal Life and Challenges12:58 The Basel Riots and the Reformation's Impact on Holbein16:32 Holbein's Role in the Tudor Court and Portraiture24:33 The Realism and Flattery in Holbein's Portraits30:17 Holbein's Death and Legacy49:35 The Roots of Art Collecting and Connoisseurship in England54:59 Holbein's Influence on Modern Perceptions of the TudorsWhat to do next?Visit a museum to see Holbein's works up closeBuy Elizabeth Goldring's book on HolbeinExplore the history of Tudor portraitureWATCH THIS EPSODE ON YOUTUBE AT youtube.com/@britishhistoryThank you for listening to this episode, I hope you enjoyed it. There are many more history episodes here for you to enjoy including around 60 fantastic historian interviews with people such as Tracy Borman OBE, Gareth Russell, Helen Castor, Helen Carr and many more. Join my Patreon to enjoy ad-free, extended interviews with bonus content, Historical Book Club, early access to content, exclusive blogs, discounts on British History Events and more, all for £5/month.You can also give me one off support by donating at www.buymeacoffee.com/PhilippaYou can support me for free by commenting on this episode and subscribing to the podcast.Visit www.BritishHistoryTours.com for full details of history tours and events.⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️About PhilippaPhilippa is a Historian and the founder of British History Tours and British History Events.Receive weekly history news (including links to new historian interviews) from Philippa by subscribing to my Substack at Substack.com/ ⁨@BritishHistory⁩I'd really appreciate your help in making this show the best it can be. I know time is precious but if you do have 10 minutes you can spare to fill out this anonymous listener survey, I'd be really grateful - http://bit.ly/britishhistorypodcast-surveyPhilippa founded award-winning Historic Tour Operator British History Tours in 2014. Find out about these luxury, fully-escorted, immersive historical experiences at BritishHistoryTours.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before Katherine Parr became Henry VIII's sixth wife, she spent eight years at Snape Castle in North Yorkshire as Lady Latimer. In January 1537, armed rebels from the Pilgrimage of Grace showed up while her husband was away, took her and her stepchildren hostage, and ransacked the place. I think that moment explains everything about who Katherine became. Play the game here: https://www.englandcast.com/choose-your-path-snape-castle/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Goff, aka The Historical Gal, brings the Tudors to life, with 100 tales of gowns, gossip, and gory ends!Show NotesElizabeth Goff @TheHistoryGal  @thehistoricalgal@the_historical_gal on InstagramBloody, Brilliant TudorsCarol Ann Lloyd@shakeuphistoryhttps://carolannlloyd.com/ https://patreon.com/carolannlloydThe Tudors by NumbersCourting the Virgin QueenHistory reveals what's possible.Support the showHistory reveals what's possible.

For centuries, Anne Boleyn has been portrayed as the great seductress of Tudor history, the ambitious woman who bewitched Henry VIII and destroyed his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. But when we examine the evidence, the surviving sources tell a very different story. Henry VIII's own love letters reveal that he pursued Anne relentlessly, writing to her repeatedly and even worrying that she did not return his affection. Anne refused to become the king's mistress and, at times, even withdrew from court to avoid him. In this video, I explore what we actually know about Henry VIII's pursuit of Anne Boleyn: • When the courtship may have begun • The famous love letters Henry wrote to Anne • The gift that may have signalled Anne's acceptance • The terrifying sweating sickness outbreak of 1528 • And the myth that Anne Boleyn deliberately seduced the king This relationship would ultimately lead to the king's Great Matter, the break with Rome, and the English Reformation, transforming the course of English history. #anneboleyn #henryviii #tudorhistory #tudors #englishhistory #britishhistory #history #historyyoutube #reformation #historydocumentary

New episode out now! We watched all four episodes of the medieval mystery miniseries Shardlake. We discuss the character of Matthew Shardlake and how we were intrigued with his journey, enjoyed that his investigation challenged his faith in the institution he works for, and liked how he realized that the definitions of “truth” and “justice” change depending on who was talking. We thought the show had momentum in part due to the two totally separate threads of investigation, checked out a little at all the underlying politics, marveled at how so much of the investigation is sourcing bureaucratic records and waiting for letters, and got very frustrated with men in power in both the church and government. Katy drops some knowledge about spymaster John Dee, Carrie channels her inner NPR, Maddy shares suppository facts, and Mack teaches us about sword and knife culture. We also talk (a lot) about various Lord of the Rings references, learn about an imaginary competition Mack is in, debate how good the first 20 seconds of being tortured by rack would feel, and do not like Henry VIII. Listen to hear more about The Hunchback of Notre Dame, animal sounds, the Tower of London, Tumblrinas, swordfighting, Ea-nāṣir, and the shadow of Anne Boleyn. And is this the oldest-set mystery we will cover? So far, yes! Enjoy!TW: Sexual assault, religious hypocrisy, torture, misogyny, medieval views on disability SHOW NOTES:Disability Horizons article “Arthur Hughes on being an actor on stage and screen with an upper-limb difference”Chain-mail glove examples at MFA Boston here, here, and hereCurrent knife rules in the UKThe Original 007? University of Cambridge article about John Dee

Throughout the 16th century, one man stood between the Ottoman Empire and European domination, yet his name has been largely forgotten. Gabriele Tadino was an Italian military engineer whose genius transformed medieval warfare and saved Europe from one of history's greatest conquerors, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. In 1522, Tadino defied his Venetian masters by sneaking away in the night to defend Rhodes, where 700 Knights Hospitaller faced an impossible siege against 100,000 Ottoman troops. His revolutionary innovations—from acoustic devices using stretched skins and bells to detect enemy tunnels, to star-shaped fortifications that could withstand cannon fire—turned him into a legend among Renaissance military minds. Despite losing an eye in combat, Tadino continued directing the defense, holding off Suleiman for six months and forcing the Sultan to negotiate a peaceful surrender rather than achieve outright victory. Today’s guest is Edoardo Albert, author of “The Man Who Stopped the Sultan.” We see how Tadino's expertise came at a crucial moment when gunpowder was rendering centuries-old walls obsolete and Europe's power-hungry rulers—Henry VIII, Francis I, and Charles V—were too divided to mount a unified defense against Ottoman expansion. He pioneered counter-mining techniques like "camouflets," controlled explosions that buried enemy sappers alive, and ventilation shafts that redirected the force of gunpowder blasts away from fortress walls. His genius extended from Crete's massive Martinengo Bastion, which still stands today, to the walls of Vienna in 1529, where his underground warfare tactics stopped Suleiman's advance into Central.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Robins feels enormous. His Christmas Day, Ryder Cup and Tax Deadline Day have all come at once. That's right, a new supermarket has opened near his house, and he's primed and ready to make content that no one else would dream of making. Strap in for some gonzo journalism; it's Fear and Loathing in Rural Bucks.Supermarket excitement aside, we tackle the big questions: Did Elizabeth I wish she'd had meal deals? Did she resent not having a fridge, or Tetris, or yoghurt? What would Henry VIII have made of an air fryer?Plus, Elis's Welshness gets him in hypothetical hot water.Get in touch via the world's most reliable medium: email. It's elisandjohn@bbc.co.uk.

Henry VIII, Charles II and Richard the Lionheart. What do all of these men have in common?They're incredibly eligible bachelors! Well, if not that then they are all former kings of England.At this live show in London we asked our audience which of these men they would shag, marry or avoid, keeping in mind style, syphilis and sex appeal.This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  All music from Epidemic Sounds.Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Royalty, ego, and historical humiliation. Today on MACABRE, Henry VIII and Louis XIV face the ultimate punishment… Blaire and Halley are at it again, with a new installment of Roasting History on MACABRE.Loving MACABRE?Spotify Exclusive subscribers get ad-free episodes, early access, and bonus content you won't hear anywhere else.Want even more? Patreon members unlock additional bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early releases, and exclusive MACABRE perks.Have a story you want us to tell?

Send a text Step into the retro wave zone as DJ Paulie and Lou take you on a deep dive back to 1997 on this week's Back in Time Brothers radio show!The brothers kick off the show by recapping their wild, exhausting weekend at the Innings Festival in Tempe, Arizona, where they rocked out to legendary acts like Public Enemy, Big Boi from Outkast, Blink-182, and Switchfoot.The hilarity continues with a brand-new "Busted" segment, highlighting the world's dumbest criminals. You won't believe the stories of a safe cracker who gave a security camera a high-def close-up, a fugitive who had himself paged over a courthouse PA system, and a burglar who accidentally locked himself in a 5-degree meat freezer for seven hours.For the main event, DJ Brit takes over the Top 10 Countdown to celebrate the most iconic One Hit Wonders of 1997. Get ready to feel the nostalgia with massive tracks like Freak Nasty's "Da' Dip," Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping," Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack," and Meredith Brooks' smash hit "Bitch".The guys also hit the silver screen to count down the Top 10 Movies of 1997, reminiscing about massive blockbusters like Titanic, Men in Black, Face/Off, and Good Will Hunting. Then, Todd Snyder drops in for "Rock Talk" to uncover the biggest music industry scandals of the year, from the tragic loss of Notorious B.I.G. and heavy sampling lawsuits to Disney abruptly dropping the Insane Clown Posse.Finally, wrap up the episode with some mind-blowing trivia in "Random Fat Facts," where you'll learn why the famous MGM lion roar is actually a tiger, what horrific job the "Groom of the King's Stool" had to do for Henry VIII, and the sad story of the 52-hertz whale.Be sure to check out our brand new website at retrowavemedia.com and visit us at backintimebros.com. Plus, don't forget to catch our resident headbanger Chris K's "Big Hair Show" every Thursday!Tune in, turn it up, and let the music play!Support the showThanks for listening. Join us each Monday at 1pm Central at www.urlradio.net and follow us on Facebook!

For centuries, Anne has been cast in so many roles: temptress, reformer, political schemer, Protestant martyr. But what if her story looks very different when we place it not just in the court of Henry VIII, but in the wider legal, political, and religious world of sixteenth-century Europe?In this episode, I'm joined by Heather Darsie, whose new book takes a fascinating and fresh approach to Anne Boleyn's rise and fall. Drawing in part on her perspective as a lawyer, Heather explores how Anne's upbringing in the Low Countries and France, her connections to religious reform, and the legal structures developing under Henry VIII all help us better understand why Anne became so dangerous and why her end unfolded the way it did.We talk about Anne's continental influences, the difference between Henry's break with Rome and Anne's own religious interests, the legal precedents that made her execution possible, and why her death may have been about far more than adultery. This episode reminds us Anne Boleyn was not simply a symbol or a scandal, but a real woman caught in forces far larger than herself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Bridget of York, youngest daughter of Edward IV, chose a life at Dartford Priory over marriage to a Scottish prince, most people assume she had no better options. They're wrong. The Tudor convent wasn't a consolation prize. It was the only institution in England that offered women real governance experience, education, community, and a life that didn't depend on surviving childbirth or a husband's political fortunes. Abbesses ran estates and managed finances.Nuns elected their own leaders based on merit. When Cromwell's commissioners showed up before the dissolution and asked every single nun if she wanted to leave, virtually none said yes. Then Henry VIII closed all of it down. Over 800 houses, gone in four years. And for women, it wasn't just a religious change. It was the elimination of the only exit option they had. Today we're talking about what the convent actually was, who chose it and why, and what it meant when it disappeared. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before Elizabeth I became one of England's greatest monarchs, she faced a scandal that could have destroyed her reputation , and possibly her future. In 1547, after the death of Henry VIII, the young Princess Elizabeth went to live with her stepmother, the dowager queen Catherine Parr. Catherine had secretly married Thomas Seymour, the ambitious uncle of the new king, Edward VI. What followed became one of the most troubling and controversial episodes of Elizabeth's youth. According to sworn testimony later given to the government, Thomas Seymour repeatedly entered the teenage princess's chamber early in the morning and behaved in ways that alarmed members of the household. Rumours spread, servants were questioned, and eventually the government became involved. When Seymour was arrested for treason in 1549, Elizabeth herself was interrogated. In this video, we explore the evidence, the testimonies, and the political crisis surrounding the Thomas Seymour scandal, and examine how this early experience may have shaped Elizabeth's famous caution and determination to control her own life.   #ElizabethI #TudorHistory #ThomasSeymour #EdwardVI #TudorScandal #HistoryExplained

The opening years of the reign of Henry VIII were quite paradoxical; for a king who would become known as a radical, a man who changed the nation so completely as he did, the first years of his reign represented something else- a return to more traditional ways of doing things. This week we examine why London would have felt that especially so, while also covering the first major policy decision of the young kings long reign- why he suddenly decided to marry Catherine of Aragon, when by all accounts he was under no obligation to do so.Cover includes detail from ‘Portrait of Lady Margaret Beaufort'

The Tudor court was one of the most glamorous, exciting, and genuinely terrifying places in the world. And the people who lost their heads there were not stupid. Thomas More was a legal genius. Cromwell basically invented modern bureaucracy. Wolsey ran England for fifteen years. So what went wrong? Today we're building the actual survival guide. The real unwritten rules that separated the people who died in their beds from the people who died on Tower Hill. Spoiler: it is more complicated than "don't annoy the king." Topics covered: why being the most powerful person in the room will get you killed, how information could be currency or a death sentence, why your religion was a political decision you had to remake every few years, and why loyalty was sometimes the most dangerous thing you could offer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visit the past with Allie and Katie: Episode268 from October 2024 Anne of Cleves Episode 96 from October 2020 Catherine Howard Episode 234 from December 2023 Catherine Parr

Margaret Pole was 67 years old when Henry VIII had her executed. She wasn't plotting. She wasn't scheming. She was an old woman in the Tower whose son kept writing angry letters from Rome calling Henry a heretic. So today we're playing a game. What if Reginald Pole had kept his opinions to himself? Could Margaret have survived to see Mary on the throne? I think the answer is yes, and the story of why is one of the most infuriating what-ifs in all of Tudor history. We're talking about a man who had every possible advantage, chose righteousness over his mother's life, and then got a whole second act anyway. Margaret didn't. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send a textIt's a bittersweet day at The Wall Street Skinny, where we are recapping the SEASON FINALE!! While this one is lighter on finance than most episodes this season, we still dig into the mechanics of closing out a massive short position without spooking the tape. We also break down how hedge fund fees actually work — the industry-standard "two and twenty" structure where managers earn a 2% management fee on assets under management plus 20% of profits — and use that framework to reverse-engineer what this three-person fund operating out of a hotel room should have actually earned versus what got paid out. The numbers don't quite add up, and we have thoughts.This finale also takes a hard pivot into politics, power brokering, and some very dark territory for one of our favorite characters. We trace every reference and detail — from Walt Whitman to the Talented Mr. Ripley, George Orwell to Henry VIII — and debate what the show is setting up for its next chapter. Character arcs that have been building all season reach their breaking points, alliances shatter in stunning ways, and the episode forces us to ask whether people are truly capable of change or destined to become the very thing they fought against.We share our honest reactions to what worked and what left us frustrated, revisit our season-long theories one final time, and give our last bullish and bearish calls of the season. Thank you to every single listener who joined us on this ride — your feedback, theories, and insights made this our favorite recording day of the week. See you next season.For a 14 day FREE Trial of Macabacus, click HERE Visit https://iconnections.io/ to learn more about iConnections!Shop our Self Paced Courses: Investment Banking & Private Equity Fundamentals HEREFixed Income Sales & Trading HERE Wealthfront.com/wss. This is a paid endorsement for Wealthfront. May not reflect others' experiences. Similar outcomes not guaranteed. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. Rate subject to change. Promo terms apply. If eligible for the boosted rate of 4.15% offered in connection with this promo, the boosted rate is also subject to change if base rate decreases during the 3 month promo period.The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of 11/7/25, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY. Sources HERE.

Queen Elizabeth I is remembered as Gloriana, England's Virgin Queen and ruler of a golden age. But before the crown came danger. Born the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth went from celebrated princess to declared illegitimate, from royal heir to political suspect. Under her half-sister Mary I, she was imprisoned in the Tower of London, interrogated for treason, and at one point believed she would not survive the night. This video explores Elizabeth's extraordinary journey before her accession in 1558 - her upbringing, education, political dangers, imprisonment, and the lessons that shaped one of England's greatest monarchs. #ElizabethI #TudorHistory #BritishHistory #MaryI #AnneBoleyn #HenryVIII #HistoryDocumentary #EnglishHistory #WomenInHistory

In this week's episode, I take a historical digression to look at the four major Thomases of the English Reformation - Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store: QUEST25 The coupon code is valid through March 9 2026. So if you need a new ebook this winter, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 292 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February 27th, 2026. Today we are taking a digression into history by looking at the four Thomases of the English Reformation (with one bonus Thomas). We'll also have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing and publishing projects. First up, let's do Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragonskull series at my Payhip store. That coupon code is QUEST25 and as always, the links to the store and the coupon code will be available in the show notes of this episode. This coupon code is valid through March 9th, 2026. So if you need a new ebook this winter, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. I am very nearly done with Cloak of Summoning. As of this recording, I am 35% of the way through the final editing pass. This episode should be coming out on, let's see, March the 2nd. I'm hoping Cloak of Summoning will be available a few days (hopefully like one or two days) after this episode goes live, but we'll see how things go. In any event, it should be out in very early March, which is not far away at this point. I'm also 14,000 words into Blade of Wraiths, the fourth book in my Blades of Ruin epic fantasy series. Hopefully that will be out in April, if all goes well. That's my secondary project right now, but once it gets promoted to primary project once Cloak of Summoning is available, my new secondary project will be Dragon Mage, which will be the sixth book in the Rivah Half-Elven Thief series. I'm looking forward to that since it is going to bring to an end a lot of ongoing plot threads. So it should be quite a fun book to write and hopefully to read. That should hopefully be out in May or possibly June, depending on how things go. In audiobook news, Cloak of Titans, the audiobook narrated by Hollis McCarthy, should be available in more audiobook stores than it was this time last week, though it's still not on Amazon, Audible, or Apple. Brad Wills is working on recording Blade of Storms and I think the first six chapters are done. Hopefully we should have those audiobooks available to you before too much longer. So that is where I'm at with my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. 00:02:18 Main Topic: The Four Thomases of the English Reformation Now without further ado, let's get to our main topic and it's time for another of my favorite topics overall, a digression into obscure points of history. I've mentioned before that Wolf Hall (both the TV show and the book) is a lot easier to understand if you are at least passingly familiar with the key figures of the English Reformation, which happened during the reign of King Henry VIII. But who were these key figures? I had a history professor who said that to understand the English Reformation, you need to know about the four Thomases of the English Reformation: Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer, since each one of them altered events in a major way. Fun fact: only one of the four died from natural causes and right before he was about to go on trial for treason, which would have likely ended with his execution. The English Reformation was a tumultuous time and the Tudor court was not a place for the faint of heart or the morally scrupulous. So let's talk about the four Thomases and one bonus Thomas today. But first to understand them, we should look at three background trends that converged and boiled over during their lifetimes. #1: Henry VIII needs an heir. King Henry VIII was quite famously married six times and executed two of his wives in his quest for a male heir. To the modern era, this sounds odd and chauvinistic, but one of the errors of studying history is assuming that the residents of the past had any interest in 21st century standards of behavior. By the standards of Henry's time, having a male heir to assume the kingdom after his death was absolutely vital. In fact, an argument could be made that Henry was attempting to act responsibly by going to such lengths to father a male heir, though naturally he went about it in a spectacularly destructive and self-absorbed way. Remember, Henry's father, Henry VII, came to the throne after a 30-year civil war, and there were noble families that thought they had a better claim to the throne than Tudors and would be happy to exercise it. A good comparison is that the lack of a male heir for Henry VIII was as serious a crisis as a disputed presidential election in 21st century America would be. You can see evidence for this in Henry's famous jousting accident in 1536. For a few hours, people were certain that he was dead or was about to die, and this incident caused a brief constitutional crisis. If Henry died, who would rule? His daughter, Mary, who he had just declared a bastard? His young daughter Elizabeth from Anne Boleyn? His bastard son, Henry FitzRoy? A regent? One of the old families who thought they had a claim to the throne? Now, these are the sort of questions that tend to get decided by civil wars, which nobody wanted. So Henry needed a male heir and it weighed on him as a personal failure that he had been unable to produce one, which was undoubtedly one of the reasons he concluded that several of his marriages had been cursed by God and needed to be annulled. Though, of course, one of Henry's defining traits was that his self-absorption was such that nothing was ever his fault, but a failing of those around him. #2: The Reformation is here. At the same time Henry was beginning to have his difficulties, the Protestant Reformation exploded across Europe. The reasons for the Reformation were manifold. There was a growing feeling across all levels of society that the church was corrupt and more concerned about money than tending to Christ's flock, a feeling not helped by the fact that several of the 15th and 16th century popes were essentially Renaissance princelings more interested in luxury, money, and expanding the power of the papal states than in anything spiritual. Many bishops, archbishops, abbots, and other high prelates acted the same way. The situation the early 16th century church found itself in was similar to American higher education today. Many modern professors and administrators go about their jobs quietly, competently, and diligently, but if you want to find examples of corruption, folly, and egregious waste in American higher education, you don't have to try very hard. Reformers could easily find manifold examples of clerical and papal corruption to reinforce their arguments. Additionally, nationalism was beginning to develop as a concept, as was the idea of the nation state. People in England, Scotland, Germany, and other countries began to wonder why they were paying tithes to the church that went to build beautiful buildings in Rome and support the lavish lifestyle of the papal court when that money might be better spent at home. For that matter, the anti-clericalism of the Reformation was not new and had time to mature. At the end of the 14th century, Lollardy was a proto-Protestant movement in England that challenged clerical power. In the early 15th century, the Hussite wars in Bohemia following the teachings of Jan Hus were a preview of the greater Reformation to come. Papal authority had been severely damaged by the Great Schism at the end of the 14th and the start of the 15th century when two competing popes (later expanded to three) all tried to excommunicate each other and claim control of the church. In the aftermath, Renaissance Humanists had begun suggesting that only the Bible was the proper source and guide for Christianity, and that papal authority and many of the church's practices were merely human traditions that had been added later and were not ordained by God. A lot of the arguments of the Reformation had their earliest form from the writers of the 15th century. Essentially, the central argument of the Reformation was that the believer's personal relationship with God is the important part of Christianity and doesn't need to be mediated through ordained priests in the official sacraments of the church, though such things were still important. Of course, all the various reformers disagreed with each other about just how important and what the nature of that relationship was, how many sacraments there should be, and what the precise relationship between the individual, the church, and the state should be (and that argument got entangled with many other issues like nationalism), but that was a central crux of the Reformation. So all these competing pressures have been building up, and when Martin Luther posted his statements for debate on church reform in October of 1517, it was the equivalent of lighting a match in a barn that had been stuffed full of sawdust and was suffering from a natural gas leak. #3: The printing press. So why did Luther's action kick off the Reformation as we know it and not the other proto-Protestant movements we mentioned? I think the big part of that is the printing pass, perhaps the biggest part. The printing press did not exist during the early proto-Protestant movements, which meant it was a lot harder for the ideas of reform to spread quickly. The Lollards in particular wanted to translate the Bible into English instead of Latin, but the Bible is a big book and that is a lot of copying to do by hand. In 1539, after a lot of encouragement from Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII decreed that an English Bible should be placed at every church in England. In 1339, that would have been an impossible amount of copying by scribes. In 1539, thanks to the printing press, it was essentially on the scale of the government embarking on a mid-sized industrial project, perhaps a bit of a logistical and organizational challenge and you have to deal with contractors, but by no means impossible. The printing press made it possible for the various arguments and pamphlets of the Reformers to spread quickly throughout Europe. Luther published tracts on a variety of religious and political topics for the rest of his life, and those tracks were copied, printed, and sold throughout Europe. In fact, he had something of a flame war with Thomas More over Henry VIII's "Defense of the Seven Sacraments". Kings and governments frequently tried to suppress printers they didn't like, but the cat was out of the bag and the printing press helped drive the Reformation by spreading its ideas faster than had previously been possible. AI bros occasionally compare modern large language model AIs to the printing press as an irreversible technological advancement, but one should note that the printing press of the 16th century did not require an entire US state's worth of electricity and an unlimited supply of water. So those were some of the undercurrents and trends leading up to the English Reformation. With that in mind, let's take a look at our four Thomases. #1: Thomas Wolsey. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was Henry's right hand man during the first 20 years of his reign and essentially the practical ruler of England during that time. He started his career in Henry's reign as the almoner, essentially in charge of charity, and it ended up becoming the Lord Chancellor of England. Since Henry was not super interested in actually doing the hard work of government, Wolsey ended up essentially running the country while Henry turned his full enthusiasm towards the more ceremonial aspects of kingship. Wolsey was an example of the kind of early 16th Century church prelate we mentioned above, more of a Renaissance princeling than a priest. However, as Renaissance princelings went, you could do worse than to have been ruled by someone like Wolsey. And if you were a king, you would be blessed to have a lieutenant as diligent in his work as the Cardinal. Granted, Wolsey did amass a large fortune for himself, but he frequently patronized the arts, education and the poor, pursued some governmental reforms, and deftly maintained England's position in the turbulent diplomacy of the time. He was also much more forgiving in questions of religious dissent than someone like Thomas More. Wolsey was the most powerful man in England at his apex, and the nobility hated it for him because his origins were common. So long as he had Henry's favor, Wolsey was untouchable and the nobility couldn't move against him. But the royal favor came to an end as Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon was unable to produce a son. Since Catherine had previously (and briefly) been married to his older brother Arthur before Arthur's death, Henry became convinced (or succeeded in convincing himself) that his marriage was cursed by God for violating the prohibition against sleeping with your brother's wife in the book of Leviticus. His eye had already fallen on Anne Boleyn and Henry wanted an annulment and not a divorce in his marriage with Catherine. In the eyes of God, he would never have been married at all, and then he could marry Anne Boleyn with a clear conscience. Here, Wolsey's gift for diplomacy failed him, but perhaps it was an impossible task. Catherine of Aragon was the aunt of Emperor Charles V, who at the time was the most powerful man in Christendom. All of Wolseley's efforts to persuade the pope to annul the marriage failed, partly because the pope had already given Henry VIII dispensation to marry his brother's widow. Wolsey's failure eroded his support with the king. Anne Boleyn likewise hated Wolsey partly because she believed he was hindering the annulment, and partly because he had blocked her from marrying the Earl of Northumberland years before she had her eyes set upon Henry. Finally, Henry stripped Wolsey of his office of Lord Chancellor, and Wolsey retired to York to take up his role as archbishop there. Wolsey's popularity threatened Henry and Anne, so Henry summoned him back to London to face treason charges. Perhaps fortunately for Wolsey, he died of natural causes on the journey back to London. His replacement as Lord Chancellor was Thomas More, the next of our major for Thomases. #2: Thomas More. More was an interesting contrast-a Renaissance Humanist who remained a staunch Catholic, even though Renaissance Humanists in general tended towards proto-Protestantism or actual Protestantism. He was also in some ways oddly progressive for his time. He insisted on educating his daughters at a time was considered pointless to educate women about anything other than the practical business of household management. Anyway, More's training as a lawyer and a scholar led him to a career in government. He held a variety of posts under Henry VIII, finally rising to become the Lord Chancellor after Wolsey. In the first decades of his brain, Henry was staunchly Catholic and despised Protestantism, in particular, Lutheranism in general and Martin Luther in particular. In 1521, Henry published "Defense of the Seven Sacraments" against Luther, and More helped him write it to an unknown degree. In their dislike for all forms of Protestantism, More and Henry were in harmony at this point. More was involved in hunting down heretics (i.e. Protestants) and trying to convince them to recant. During his time as the Lord Chancellor, More ended up sending six people to be burned at the stake for heresy, along with the arrest and interrogations of numerous others. This rather clashes with his "humanist man of letters" aspect, but More was undoubtedly convinced he was doing the right thing. And while he might have believed in education, he most definitely did not believe in freedom of conscience in several areas. To be fair to More, in the view of many at the time, Protestants, especially Anabaptists, were dangerous radicals. Likely More viewed hunting heretics in the same way as some modern politicians view hunting down covert terrorist cells or surveilling potential domestic terrorists. Harsh measures true, but harsh measures allegedly necessary for the greater good of the nation. However, the concord between More and Henry would not last. Henry wanted to set aside Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, which More staunchly opposed. More especially opposed Henry breaking away from Rome and becoming head of an independent English Church. At first, More was able to save himself by maintaining his silence, but eventually Henry required all of his subjects take an oath affirming his status as head of the church. Thomas Cromwell famously led a deputation to try and change More's mind, but he failed. More refused, he was tried on specious treason charges, and beheaded in 1535. Later, the Catholic church declared him the patron saint of politicians. This might seem odd given that he oversaw executions and essentially did thought police stuff against Protestants, but let's be honest-it's rare to see a politician even mildly inconvenience himself over a point of principle, let alone maintain it until death when he was given every possible chance to change his mind. Probably the most famous fictional portrayals of More are A Man For All Seasons and Wolf Hall. I would say that A Man For All Seasons was far too generous to More, but Wolf Hall was too harsh. #3: Now for the third of our four Thomases, Thomas Cromwell. After Wolsey's fall and More's refusal to support Henry's desire to either annul his marriage to Catherine or to make himself head with the church so he couldn't annul the marriage, Thomas Cromwell rose become Henry's new chief lieutenant. Cromwell is both a fascinating but divisive figure. For a long time, he was cast as the villain in Thomas More's saga, but Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall really triggered a popular reevaluation of him. Like A Man For All Seasons was too generous to More, I would say Wolf Hall was too generous to Cromwell. Nonetheless, I suspect Cromwell was and remained so divisive because he was so effective. He got things done on a scale that the other three Thomases of the English Reformation never quite managed. Cromwell's origins are a bit obscure. It seems he was either of non-noble birth or very low gentry birth and his father Walter Cromwell was a local prosperous tradesman in a jack of all trades with a reputation for litigiousness. For reasons that are unclear, Cromwell fled his birthplace and spent some time in continental Europe, possibly as a mercenary soldier. He eventually made his way to Italy and started working for the merchant families there, gaining knowledge of trade in the law, and then traveled to the Low Countries. When he returned to England, he became Cardinal Wolsey's right hand man. After Wolsey's fall, Cromwell went into Parliament and defended his master whenever possible. This loyalty combined with his significant talent for law and administration caught the eye of Henry and he swiftly became Henry's right-hand man. Amusingly, Cromwell never became Lord Chancellor like More or Wolsey, but instead accumulated many lesser offices that essentially allowed him to carry out Henry's directives as he saw a fit. Unlike More and Wolsey, Cromwell had strong Protestant leanings and he encouraged the king to break away from the Catholic Church and take control of the English Church as its supreme head. Henry did so. His marriage to Catherine of Aragon was nulled. The rest of Europe never accepted this until Catherine died of illness and it became a moot point. In 1533, he married Anne Boleyn. Like Cromwell, Anne had a strong Protestant bent and began encouraging reformers to take various offices and began pushing Henley to make more reforms than he was really comfortable doing. For example, Cromwell was one of the chief drivers behind the English Bible of 1539. This, combined with Anne's inability to give Henry a son, contributed to Anne's downfall. Unlike Catherine, she was willing to argue with Henry to his face and was unwilling to look the other way when he wanted a mistress, and this eventually got on Henry's nerves. Events are a bit murky, but it seems that Henry ordered Cromwell to find a way he could set aside Anne and Cromwell complied. Various men, including her own brother, were coerced and confessing to adultery with Anne on charges that were most likely fabricated and Anne's "lovers" and Anne herself were executed for treason in 1536. Cromwell had successfully used a technique that many modern secret police organizations and dictatorships employ- if you want to get rid of someone for whatever reason, accuse them of a serious crime, coerce them to a confession, and then have them executed. Joseph Stalin did basically the same thing when he purged the Old Bolsheviks after Lenin's death. Henry married Jane Seymour shortly after Anne's execution, and she finally gave Henry his long-waited son, though she died soon afterwards of postpartum complications. Cromwell also oversaw the dissolution of the English monasteries in the 1530s. Monasticism had become quite unpopular even before the Reformation, especially among humanist writers. The concentration of property in the hands of monasteries made for a ripe target. Using Parliament and with Henry's approval, the monasteries of England were dissolved, the monks and nuns pensioned off, and the various rich properties held by the monasteries were given to the king and his friends. Cromwell himself profited handsomely. This was essentially legalized theft, but there was nothing the monasteries could do about it. Cromwell pushed for more religious reforms, but that combined with the dissolution of the monasteries caused "The Pilgrimage of Grace" in 1537, a rebellion that Henry was able to put down through a combination of lies, stalling, outright bribery, and brutal repression under the Duke of Norfolk (more about him later). Cromwell was at the zenith of his power and influence, but his reformist bent and made him a lot of enemies. For that matter, Henry was increasingly uncomfortable with further religious changes. He wanted to be head of his own church, but essentially his own Catholic Church, not his own Reformed or Lutheran one. Cromwell's alignment with the reform cause gave his more traditionalist enemies a tool to use against him. Cromwell's foes had their chance in 1540 when Henry married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. Cromwell had heavily pushed for the match, hoping to make an alliance with the Protestant princes of Germany against the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor. For whatever reason, Henry took an immediate dislike to Anne and never consummated the marriage, which was swiftly annulled and Anne pensioned off. Henry blamed Cromwell for the failed marriage and Cromwell's enemies, particularly Duke of Norfolk and Bishop Gardiner of Winchester, were able to convince Henry to move against him. Cromwell was arrested, stripped of all the titles and property he had amassed, and executed in July of 1540. The sort of legal railroading process he had born against Anne Boleyn's alleged lovers and numerous other enemies of Henry's was used against him. This was one of the very few executions Henry ever regretted. Within a year, the French ambassador reported that Henry was raging that his counselors had misled him into putting to death the most faithful servant he had ever had. Once again, nothing was ever Henry's fault in his own mind. The fact that Henry allowed Cromwell's son Gregory to become a baron and inherit some of his father's land shows that he likely changed his mind about the execution. For once in his life, Henry was dead on accurate when he called Cromwell his "most faithful servant". He never again found a lieutenant with Cromwell's loyalty and skill. The remaining seven years of Henry's reign blundered from setback to setback and all the money Henry obtained from the dissolution of the monasteries was squandered in indecisive wars with France and Scotland. I think it's fair to say that the English Reformation would not have taken the course it did, if not for Cromwell. As ruthless and as unscrupulous as he could be, he nonetheless did seem to really believe in the principles of religious reform and push such policies whenever he could do so without drawing Henry's ire. #4: Now the fourth of our four major Thomases, Thomas Cranmer. If Thomas Cromwell did a lot of the political work of the English Reformation, then Thomas Cranmer wrote a lot of its theory. Cranmer was a scholar and something of a gentle-minded man, but not a very skillful politician. He seemed happy to leave the politicking to Cromwell. I think Cranmer would have been a lot happier as a Lutheran pastor in say, 1950s rural Nebraska. He could have married a farmer's daughter, had a bunch of kids, and presided at weddings, funerals, and baptisms where he could talk earnestly about Jesus and Christian virtues, and he probably would have written a few books on obscure theological points. But instead, Cranmer was destined to play a significant part in the English Reformation. He started as a priest and a scholar who got in trouble for marrying, but when his wife died in childbirth, he went back to the priesthood. Later, he became part of the team of scholars and priests working to get Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled. While he was at university and later in the priesthood, he became fascinated by Lutheran ideas and became a proponent of reform. As with Cromwell, Henry's desire to marry Anne Boleyn gave Cranmer his great opportunity. Anne's family were also in favor of reform, and they arranged for Cranmer to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury. The new archbishop and the like- minded clerics and scholars laid the legal and theological groundwork for Henry to break with Rome and become head of the English church with Cranmer and the rest of the reform faction wanted to be used to push for additional church reforms. He survived the tumults of Henry's reign by total loyalty to the king – he mourned Anne Boleyn, but didn't oppose her execution (though he was one of the few who mourned for her publicly), did much the same when Cromwell was executed, and personally sent news of Catherine Howard's adultery to the king. Because of that, Cranmer had a great chance to pursue the cause of reform when Henry died and his 12-year-old son Edward VI became King. Edward's uncle Edward Seymour acted as the head of the King's regency council, and Seymour and his allies were in favor of reform. Cranmer was at last able to steer the English church in the direction of serious reform, and he was directly responsible for writing the Book of Common Prayer and several other key documents of the early Anglican church. But Cranmer's of luck ran out in 1553 when Edward VI died. Cranmer was part of the group that tried to put the Protestant Lady Jane Grey on the throne, but Henry's daughter Mary instead took the crown. Mary had never really wavered from her Catholicism despite immense pressure to do so, and she had last had a chance to do something about it. She immediately brought England back to Rome and started prosecuting prominent reform leaders, Cranmer among them. Cranmer was tried for treason and heresy and sentenced to be burned, but that was to be commuted if he recanted his views in public during a sermon, which he did. However, at the last minute, he thunderously denounced his previous recantation, asserted his reformist faith, and vowed that he would thrust the hand that signed the recantation into the flames first. Cranmer was immediately taken to be burned at the stake, and just as he promised, he thrust his hand into the flames, and his last word is that he saw heaven opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Cranmer had spent much of his life trying to appease Henry while pushing as much reform as possible, but in his final moments, he had finally found his defiance. When Mary died and Elizabeth took the throne, she returned England to Protestantism. Elizabeth was much more pragmatic than her half siblings and her father ever were, so she chose the most expedient choice of simply rolling the English church back to as it was during Edward VI's time. Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer and religious articles, lightly edited for Elizabeth's sensibilities, became the foundational documents of the Anglican church. So these four Thomases, Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and Thomas Cranmer were central to the events of the English Reformation. However, we have one bonus Thomas yet. Bonus Thomas: Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk. Thomas Howard was a powerful nobleman during the reign of Henry, and the Duke of Norfolk was frequently Henry's lieutenant in waging various wars and putting down rebellions. He was also the uncle of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, Henry's second and fifth queens. He was also involved in nearly every major event of Henry's reign. So with all that, why isn't Norfolk as remembered as well as the other four Thomases of the English Reformation? Sometimes a man would be considered virtuous by the standards of the medieval or early modern age, yet reprehensible in ours. For example, for much of the Middle Ages, crusading was considered an inherently virtuous act for a knight, whereas in the modern age, it would be condemned as war mongering with a religious veneer. However, by both modern standards and Tudor standards, Thomas Howard was a fairly odious character. For all their flaws and the morally questionable things they did, Wolsey, More, Cromwell, and Cranmer were all men of conviction in their own ways. More and Cranmer explicitly died with their faith. Cromwell's devotion to the Protestant cause got him killed since he insisted on the Anne of Cleves match. Even Wolsey, for all that he enriched himself, was a devoted servant of Henry after his downfall never betrayed the king. By contrast, Norfolk was out for Norfolk. This wasn't unusual for Tudor nobleman, but Norfolk took it to a new level of grasping venality. He made sure that his daughter was married to Henry's bastard son, Henry FitzRoy, just in case FitzRoy ended up becoming king. He used both his nieces, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, to gain power and lands for himself, and then immediately turned against him once he became politically expedient. In fact, he presided over the trial where Anne Boleyn was sentenced to death. After the failure of the Anne of Cleve's marriage, Norfolk made sure to bring his young niece Catherine Howard to court to catch Henry's eye, and to use the Anne of Cleve's annulment as a lever to get rid of Thomas Cromwell. Both stratagems worked, and he attempted to leverage being the new Queen's uncle to bring himself to new power and riches, as he had with Anne Boleyn. Once Henry turned on Catherine Howard, Norfolk characteristically and swiftly threw his niece under the bus. However, as Henry aged, he grew increasingly paranoid and vindictive, and he had Norfolk arrested and sentenced to death on suspicion of treason. Before the execution could be carried out, Henry died, and Norfolk spent the six years of Edward VI's reign as a prisoner in the Tower of London. When Edward died and Mary took the throne, she released Norfolk since she was Catholic and Norfolk had always been a religious traditionalist suspicious of reform. He spent the remaining year of his life as one of Mary's chief advisors before finally dying of old age. As I often say, history can be a rich source of inspiration for fantasy writers, and the English Reformation is full of such inspiration. Wolsey, More, Cromwell, and Cranmer can all make excellent inspirations for morally ambiguous characters. For that matter, you can see why the reign of Henry VIII has inspired so many movies, TV shows, and historical novels. The real life events are so dramatic as to scarcely require embellishment. So that's it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show and thank you for listening as I went on one of my little historical digressions. I hope you found the show enjoyable. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy, and we'll see you all next week.

Visit the past with Allie and Katie: Episode14 from January 2019 Catherine of Aragon Episode 105 from December 2020 Anne Boleyn We have not covered Jane Seymour yet, but will soon!

We think of the Tudor period as velvet and poetry and dramatic executions. We do not think of it as siege warfare. That's a mistake. In this episode I'm looking at three Tudor sieges that completely wrecked my assumptions about this era: - Henry VIII personally showing up to besiege a French city (and having to be hoisted onto his horse to get there), - a Protestant reformer who ended up as a galley slave after one of the most dramatic castle standoffs in Scottish history, - and a massacre on an Irish headland that the Elizabethan golden age narrative tends to skip past. Gunpowder was changing everything in this period. The Tudors were living in a world of constant violence and instability that the pretty portraits don't show us. And some of the most consequential moments of the 16th century happened not in a court or a council chamber, but outside a set of walls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katherine Howard is remembered as the tragic teenager who lost her head at seventeen. But what if she didn't have to? In the winter of 1541, everyone at the English court thought Henry VIII was dying. They were just waiting him out. All Katherine had to do was survive a few more months. And then Cranmer slipped that letter under Henry's door, and everything fell apart. But what if two things had gone differently? What if Katherine had gotten pregnant during her secret meetings with Thomas Culpepper? And what if Henry had died when everyone expected him to? Today we're following that thread all the way to the ending Katherine Howard never got. I've also been reading Philippa Gregory's newest book, The Boleyn Traitor, and it gave me a lot to think about regarding Jane Boleyn's role in all of this. Links below! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As complex figures go, you can't get much more complex than Sir Thomas More. Was he a Saint? Was he a Sinner? Was he simply a man of his time? Dr Joanne Paul seeks to answer these questions in her book ‘Thomas More. A Life and Death in Tudor England' which explores More's roles as a statesman, scholar, and martyr, and understand how his beliefs, actions, and the historical context shaped his enduring reputation.(WE WILL BE COVERING JOANNE'S BOOK IN BOOK CLUB ON 24TH MAY - JOIN IN AT PATREON.COM/BRITISHHISTORY)In my interview with Joanne, filmed at the Harvington History Festival 2025, I asked her about Thomas More's multifaceted identity, his role in Henry VIII's court, his religious beliefs and persecution of heretics, and his influence on political and religious history.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Thomas More and his significance01:45 Different ways people encounter Thomas More02:40 Was Thomas More as complex as his legacy suggests?03:46 The importance of understanding his life in context05:46 More's family and personal beliefs07:53 The roots of his religious fervor and fear08:54 His stance on heretics and persecution10:53 His beliefs about society and community12:55 The impact of the Reformation on his views13:46 Where to find more about Joanne Paul and her workBuy the book at Blackwells for Worldwide Delivery - Click Here If you've enjoyed this please follow and rate this podcast.Hi! I'm Philippa, welcome to the British History Channel. Thank you for listening to this episode, I hope you enjoyed it. There are many more here for you to browse through including over 50 fantastic historian interviews with people such as Tracy Borman OBE, Gareth Russell, Helen Carr and many more. Buy books from these incredible historians, shipped worldwide from Blackwells - click here (This is an affiliate link. I get a commission on books sold via this link but they are at no extra cost to you).Join my Patreon - click here and enjoy ad-free extended interviews with bonus content, Historical Book Club, early access to content, exclusive blogs, discounts on British History Events and more for all for £5/month.You can also give me one off support by donating at www.buymeacoffee.com/PhilippaYou can support me for free by commenting and rating this episode. Visit British History Tours for full details of history tours and events.⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️⚔️About PhilippaPhilippa is a Historian and the founder of British History Tours and British History Events.Receive weekly history news (including links to new historian interviews) from Philippa by subscribing to my Substack I'd really appreciate your help in making this show the best it can be. I know time is precious but if you do have 10 minutes you can spare to fill out this anonymous listener survey, I'd be really grateful - http://bit.ly/britishhistorypodcast-surveyPhilippa founded award-winning Historic Tour Operator British History Tours in 2014. Find out about these luxury, fully-escorted, immersive historical experiences at BritishHistoryTours.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1538, a man named Geoffrey Pole was arrested and taken to the Tower of London. He hadn't plotted against Henry VIII. He hadn't raised an army. He'd written letters to his brother and said, once, that he wished he could see him. That was enough. What followed was one of the most psychologically devastating interrogations of the Tudor period, and one of the least talked about. Over seven sessions, Geoffrey gave evidence that brought down his entire family: his brother Lord Montagu, his cousin Henry Courtenay the Marquess of Exeter, and eventually his 67-year-old mother Margaret Pole, the last surviving Plantagenet. He survived. He was pardoned. He spent the next twenty years in exile carrying what he'd done. This is not really a spy story. It's a story about what surveillance states actually run on, not information, but fear. And about the brother who burned the family from a safe distance in Rome and somehow came out of it as Archbishop of Canterbury. Tudor history has been calling Geoffrey Pole weak for five centuries. I want to make the case that we don't get to say that from here.

fWotD Episode 3218: The Voices of Morebath Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Wednesday, 25 February 2026, is The Voices of Morebath.The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village is a 2001 non-fiction history book by the Irish historian of British Christianity Eamon Duffy and published by Yale University Press about Morebath, England, during the English Reformation of the 16th century. Using the detailed churchwarden's accounts maintained by Sir Christopher Trychay, the vicar of Morebath's parish, Duffy recounts the religious and social implications of the Reformation in a small conservative Catholic community through the reign of Henry VIII, during the violent 1549 Prayer Book Rebellion, and into the Elizabethan era. Trychay's accounts – first reprinted in 1904 – had been used in other scholarly works and were first encountered by Duffy during research for his 1992 The Stripping of the Altars on pre-Reformation English religion. The Voices of Morebath depicts both Morebath and Trychay through their strong early resistance to the Reformation to their eventual adoption of new religious norms under the Protestant Elizabethan Religious Settlement.The Voices of Morebath was praised for its coverage of ecclesiastical and secular parochial matters, particularly its personal treatment of Trychay. It drew criticism for instances where examples from Morebath are used to comment on broader subjects. Other reviewers commented that Duffy conceded the limitations of a local source. Though popular, some reviewers appraised the book as overly complex for the broad audience it had been written and marketed towards. In 2002, The Voices of Morebath won Duffy the Hawthornden Prize and the book was shortlisted for both the Samuel Johnson Prize and British Academy Book Prize.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:08 UTC on Wednesday, 25 February 2026.For the full current version of the article, see The Voices of Morebath on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Niamh.

If people are still talking about your divorce and rumoured penis related issues 500 years later, it's safe to say you've had a bad break up.For the final episode in our Worst Breakups series, we're heading back to Renaissance Rome to meet Lucrezia Borgia, the daughter of history's naughtiest pope, and her first husband, Giovanni Sforza, in a story that ended mired in controversy over incest and impotence.For this episode, Kate is joined by Catherine Fletcher, author of ‘The Beauty and the Terror', ‘The Black Prince of Florence' and ‘Our Man in Rome: The Divorce of Henry VIII'.This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  All music from Epidemic Sounds.Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lady Antonia Fraser, noted writer of English history and biography, discusses her book, “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” with Probabilities hosts Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff, recorded November 17,1992 while she was on tour in San Francisco. With the arrest of the former Prince Andrew, we can look back at other scandals in the history of England, such as the story of Henry the Eighth and his six wives, seen through the eyes of the great historian Antonia Fraser. Antonia Fraser, now age 93, is best known for her various biographies and non-fiction works, often focusing on women in history and on various members of the British crown. She is also the author of several mysteries featuring her amateur detective, Jemima Share, published between 1977 and 1995, followed by two omnibus collections. At present, there are 17 works of history, plus three memoirs, one of which, Must You Go: My Life with Harold Pinter, about her life married to the late playwright who died in 2008, was published in 2010. Antonia'Fraser's most recent book, Caroline Lamb: A Free Spirit, was published in 2023. Along with her discussion of English history, she also talks about her work as a mystery writer and her then most recent Jemima Shore novel, The Cavalier Case. The interview ends with a look at her next book, The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605, which would be published in 1996.. She would return on tour for that book, and the second of two Probabilities/Cover to Cover interviews.   This interview was digitized, remastered and edited by Richard Wolinsky on February 20, 2026. An edited for time version aired in 1992, and the complete version has never seen the light of day until now. The post From the Archive: Antonia Fraser, “The Six Wives of Henry VIII,” 1992 appeared first on KPFA.

A pendant linked to Catherine of Aragon has reportedly been discovered — and it's more than just Tudor jewellery. It's a window into one of the most dramatic marriages in English history, the break with Rome, and the personal cost of power.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we explore the significance of a newly identified Tudor pendant associated with Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Was it a romantic gift? A royal emblem? A symbol of legitimacy? Or a silent witness to the collapse of a marriage that changed the course of England forever?Catherine of Aragon was not merely a discarded queen. She was a Spanish princess, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, regent of England during Henry's campaigns, and a woman of formidable intelligence and deep Catholic faith. Her refusal to accept Henry's annulment triggered the English Reformation and the establishment of the Church of England under royal supremacy.We examine how Henry VIII used Scripture to justify his desire for a male heir, how the Tudor court turned marriage into political theatre, and how Catherine's dignity in exile reshaped the moral narrative of the Reformation. The discovery of a Catherine of Aragon pendant invites fresh discussion about Tudor history, royal authority, marriage, conscience, and the abuse of power.With Mark's poetic reflections and Pete's Christian commentary, this episode asks: what happens when rulers bend truth to serve appetite? And what does this Tudor drama teach modern Britain about covenant, leadership, and integrity?This is history, faith, politics, and cultural reflection — all wrapped in one small piece of gold.Topics include: Catherine of Aragon pendant, Henry VIII marriage crisis, Tudor England, English Reformation, Church of England origins, royal divorce, Catholic vs Protestant history, biblical marriage, power and conscience, British history podcast.

There were moments in Mary Tudor's life when escape seemed like the safest choice. Imperial ambassadors discussed secret routes to the coast. Ships waited across the Channel. Loyal advisers urged her to leave England before her enemies could move against her. In this video, we look at the most dangerous periods of Mary's early life, first under her father Henry VIII, when Anne Boleyn's rise left her isolated, illegitimate, and under constant pressure, and then again under her brother Edward VI, when her refusal to abandon the Catholic Mass brought her into direct conflict with the Protestant government. At least once, imperial ships were ready to carry her to safety in the Low Countries. All she had to do was go. But Mary refused every plan. She stayed in England, even when it put her at risk, and that decision would shape the dramatic events of 1553, when she claimed the throne. This is the story of the times Mary nearly escaped, and why she chose not to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1522, Anne Boleyn returned to the English court, and within a few years, she was already at the centre of political tension, whispered promises, and poetic legend. Long before Henry VIII began his pursuit, Anne was linked to two influential men: Henry Percy, heir to the Earl of Northumberland, and Sir Thomas Wyatt, courtier and poet. Did Anne Boleyn and Henry Percy secretly promise to marry? Was there a binding precontract, something that, under Tudor canon law, could have invalidated a later royal marriage? Why did Cardinal Wolsey intervene? And what really lies behind Wyatt's famous poem “Whoso List to Hunt” and its haunting line: “Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am”? In this episode, I explore: Anne Boleyn's place in the Tudor marriage market The political implications of a precontract The Cavendish account of Percy and Anne The later denials in 1532 and 1536 The myths surrounding Thomas Wyatt The Spanish Chronicle story How Anne's reputation began forming long before she became queen Subscribe for more Tudor history deep dives, myth-busting, and documentary-style episodes on Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII, and the Tudor court.    #AnneBoleyn #TudorHistory #HenryPercy #ThomasWyatt #HenryVIII  

In 2019, a group of American college students arrives in London for a short study abroad program—excited, restless, and eager to experience everything they can in a few nights. During a visit to the Tower of London, the tour turns heavy as the group hears stories of imprisonment, execution, and the long shadow of Henry VIII's reign. Most of the students fall quiet. One doesn't.A student from another school treats the history like a comedy routine—mocking the dead, laughing at the warnings, and pushing the moment past discomfort into outright disrespect.Later that night, while the city sleeps and the rest of the group is scattered between pubs, hotel rooms, and late-night streets, the trip jolts into chaos. A loud knock. A rushed meeting. A sudden hospital visit.And a question that lingers long after London: was it only bad luck… or did something answer back?#RealGhostStoriesOnline #TowerOfLondon #TrueGhostStory #Paranormal #HauntedHistory #LondonGhosts #StudyAbroad #Unexplained #CreepyStories #GhostPodcastLove real ghost stories? Want even more?Become a supporter and unlock exclusive extras, ad-free episodes, and advanced access:

On 4 July 2026 the US will mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the nation's founding document. But huge divisions in US society and culture are symbolised in a number of disputes relating to its history and the representation of its people. The latest furore came this week, when it emerged that the Trump administration had removed the rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall Monument, the landmark for LGBTQ+ rights in New York. Ben Luke speaks to Ben Sutton, The Art Newspaper's editor-in-chief, Americas, about this and other flashpoints as the US grapples with its history, and we explore the cultural initiatives that are marking the semiquincentennial. One of London's best known and longest-established art dealers, Stephen Friedman, has announced the closure of his London gallery, following that of his New York space last year. Ben speaks to our contributing art market editor, Anny Shaw, about the fallout from the closure and the significance for the wider London art market. And this episode's Work of the Week is the Tudor Heart, an intricately decorated golden pendant with links to Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. The British Museum has raised £3.5m to acquire the work, following a four-month fundraising campaign. Our digital editor, Alexander Morrison, talks to Rachel King, the curator of Renaissance Europe and the Waddesdon Bequest at the museum, about the pendant.The Tudor Heart pendant is now on view at the British Museum. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Josh Widdicombe is one of the most recognisable comedians on our TV screens right now. Along with Adam Hills and Alex Brooker (both in our back catalogue) he's presented more than THIRTY seasons into The Last Leg - a show which was only meant to run for a few weeks during the 2012 Paralympics!He's also, along with fellow comedian Rob Beckett, responsible for Parenting Hell - one of the most successful podcasts of all time. It's fast approaching a BILLION downloads, and having been sold to Spotify in a big money deal it's still a fan favourite.Now Josh is turning his attention to the 90s and his passion for the decade's pop culture. And why not - it was brilliant. From Nasty Nick to Mr Blobby, we chat about some of the moments that defined the decade, as well as his relation to Henry VIII and the moments that made him.It's a lovely chat as he joins us from his relatively new Devon home (which used to belong to Noel Edmonds!) so get comfortable and enjoy.Cheers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The head of New South Wales police says officers "did what they needed to do" at a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney. Video shows police punching protestors at the event, held to oppose a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog in the wake of the antisemitic Bondi Beach attack. Also, the watchdog Transparency International says public sector corruption is worsening around the world, with the US and UK getting their worst-ever ratings in the group's annual Corruption Perceptions Index. Nairobi condemns Russia for recruiting Kenyan citizens to fight in the war in Ukraine. And the British Museum pays $4.8m for a piece of jewellery from the reign of Henry VIII, found by a metal detectorist. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk

Thomas More is best remembered as a martyr and a saint, but the circumstances of his death were just one facet of his controversial life. Historian and biographer Dr Joanne Paul speaks to Kev Lochun about More's many faces: the Lord Chancellor who refused to yield to Henry VIII; the writer who gave us Utopia, and the zealot who believed heretics deserved to be burned. Yet, she argues, he was none of these things of in isolation, but instead a complicated man whose life has lessons for us today. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST Thomas More's Utopia is considered one of the most influential pieces of political philosophy today, but how did his contemporaries see it? Joanne Paul considers that thorny question for HistoryExtra: https://bit.ly/49IOYt6. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's almost Valentine's Day - Gyles's favourite day of the year (the old romantic...) - and we've got a special episode for you: all about love letters. We start off with some romantic Gyles and Harriet chat, featuring bunk beds, stolen glances from train carriages, and a case of mistaken identity. Then, Harriet takes Gyles to the National Archives at Kew, to visit their exhibition: Love Letters, and to talk to two of their expert historians about some of the exhibits. We meet Dr Sean Cunningham, who tells us about a letter from Robert Dudley to Queen Elizabeth I, and about a letter from Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard, to Thomas Culpepper, which was part of the incriminating evidence which led to her eventual execution. Then we chat to Vicky Iglikovsky-Broad, the Chief Curator of the exhibition, who tells us about a romantic WWI letter and about a letter to the courts from the father of the Kray twins. We hope this gets you in the mood for love... and learning something along the way, too!"Love Letters" is on at the National Archives at Kew until April 12. It's free - and you can find out more information here.Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube here. Join The Rosebud Family here. And visit our website here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you hear the name Mary I, you probably hear one phrase: “Bloody Mary”. A queen of fire and fear. A religious fanatic. A failure compared to Elizabeth I. But that version of Mary is a shortcut, and it isn't good history. Before the burnings, Mary was Henry VIII's celebrated heir. A princess educated to rule. A woman who endured humiliation, illegitimacy, and political coercion, and survived. In 1553, when Edward VI died and her succession was challenged, England rallied behind her. She became the first woman to rule England in her own right. In this Beginner's Guide to Mary I, we explore: • Her celebrated birth in 1516 • The trauma of her parents' annulment • Her years of resistance under Henry VIII • Her open defiance under Edward VI • How she won the throne in 1553 • What she actually tried to achieve as queen • The context and consequences of the Marian burnings Yes, we discuss the burnings. But in context, not isolation. Mary was not a caricature. She was a politically intelligent, legally minded, deeply devout Tudor shaped by fear, faith, and survival. If you think you know Mary I… think again. Recommended reading: Linda Porter - The Myth of "Bloody Mary": The First Queen of England Anna Whitelock - Mary Tudor Princess, Bastard, Queen Melita Thomas - The King's Pearl Research by Johanna Strong & Peter Stiffell - Google them! Or access talks by them, Melita Thomas, Linda Porter and more in my Discovering Mary I course - https://claireridgway.com/history-event-archive/discovering-mary-i-instant-access-replay/ I'm Claire Ridgway, historian and author, and this is part of my Beginner's Guide series exploring Tudor lives and turning points in depth. If you enjoy serious, nuanced Tudor history, don't forget to subscribe and turn on notifications, there's much more to come. #MaryI #BloodyMary #TudorHistory #HistoryExplained #WomenInHistory #HenryVIII #ElizabethI #EnglishReformation

Greg Jenner is joined in the sixteenth century by Dr Alanna Skuse and comedian Ria Lina to learn all about medicine and medical professionals in Tudor and Stuart England. In Renaissance-era England, medicine was still based on the theory of the four humours, passed down from ancient Greek and Roman physicians like Hippocrates and Galen. But from the reign of Henry VIII, there were signs of change. The invention of the printing press led to an explosion in medical and anatomical books, and the circulation of ideas from across Europe. The College of Physicians was founded in 1518, and the Company of Barber-Surgeons in 1543. Medicine became a real business, with a range of specialists, professional bodies overseeing different kinds of healthcare, and an explosion of medical providers advertising their services to the general public. This episode explores the landscape of healthcare in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, looking at everyone from physicians, surgeons and apothecaries to domestic healers and midwives, and even taking in quacks and frauds. Along the way, it examines the sensible social distancing measures taken during the Great Plague, the cures both sensible and dangerous offered for all kinds of diseases, and the cutting-edge experiments men like William Harvey and Christopher Wren were carrying out on the circulation of the blood. If you're a fan of the history of everyday life in Tudor England, petty professional rivalries, and the whacky wellness trends of the past, you'll love our episode on medicine in Renaissance England. If you want more from Ria Lina, listen to our episodes on pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao and medieval traveller Marco Polo. And for more on the history of health and wellness, check out our episodes on Ancient Medicine, Renaissance Beauty and the Kellogg Brothers. You're Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past. Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Katharine Russell Written by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Dr Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett Senior Producer: Dr Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

Imagine learning embroidery in the home of Henry VIII's famed Abraham Tapestries, which have hung on these hallowed walls since 1547. Turns out, it's a thing. The Royal School of Needlework is based at Hampton Court, and offers Europe's only degree program specialising in hand-embroidery. We meet three students from the class of 2025. Featuring: hard work and failing eyes, the marvellous crusty vibes of sea creatures, melted plastic, rock animism, Indigenous wisdoms and a possible haunting... who said embroidery was quiet pursuit? If you find the Episode valuable, please help us share it.Find links and further reading at thewardrobecrisis.comSupport the show on Substack - wardrobecrisis.substack.comTell us what you think. Find Clare on Instagram @mrspress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's February! The season of love. But in this month's guide to Denver, we're going beyond flowers and chocolate. Newsletter editor Peyton Garcia and producer Olivia Jewell Love join host Bree Davies to share the best things to do, see, drink, eat, and explore in and around the Mile High City this month, with some fun twists on the traditional romantic gestures — from a “herstorical” take on Henry VIII at the theater to date night at a food court that's worth a drive.  Bree mentioned a mini-documentary on the Citadel Mall in Colorado Springs.  If you're new here, welcome! We've put together a starter pack for you, with episodes and articles to welcome you to the City Cast Denver community.  For even more tips on how to make the most of December in Denver, check out our newsletter Hey Denver's take on what to do this month.  If you enjoyed today's sponsored interview with Andy Cambron, the CEO of Multipass, learn more here. Check out their upcoming events below! City Cast Denver is made possible by our awesome sponsors, like Arvada Center, South by Southwest, and Multipass.  If you enjoyed today's interview with Andy Cambron, the CEO of Multipass, learn more here. Check out upcoming events below: Lob Denver - Feb 28th Elevation After by Colorado Bassheads Shroomski Night - Valentines Scorned Lover's Valentine's Day Show Love & Dabs: A HiGhTaTs Valentine's Exclusive And we're also powered by our members, who enjoy an ad-free version of the show. Find out more membership.citycast.fm about how to become a member of City Cast Denver. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info here citycast.fm/advertise.  Got questions or comments about this episode? You can reach us at denver@citycast.fm  Looking to advertise on City Cast Denver? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise

When Henry VIII died at Whitehall Palace in January 1547, England faced a dangerous moment. His heir was nine years old, power was about to shift, and the death of a king had to be handled with extreme care. In this video, we follow Henry VIII from his deathbed through one of the most elaborate royal funerals of the sixteenth century. We look at how his body was prepared, why his burial was delayed, how the funeral procession moved from Whitehall to Windsor, and what those towering candle-filled hearses actually were. Along the way, we examine one of the most enduring stories associated with Henry's death - the claim that his coffin burst open at Syon Abbey - and why that story almost certainly isn't true. We also explore Henry's plans for a monumental tomb and a perpetual chantry at St George's Chapel, Windsor, and why neither was ever completed. Despite the scale of his funeral, Henry VIII ended up buried without a visible monument, his vault unmarked for centuries. To celebrate the announcement of Nathen Amin as our Tudorcon keynote, Tudorcon tickets are currently on flash sale - use the code BEAUFORT to save 15 percent (including on payment plans) at https://tudorcon.englandcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus, Jack answers listener questions on Fannie Mae, profit taking, and scrip dividends.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Full panic mode sets in for those who were exposed as part of my H-1B scam documentary. Texas congressional candidate and a leader in the fight against H-1B scams N. Lee Plumb joins the show to discuss how people can get involved and start their own local investigations. Democrats and mainstream media get caught in another lie, as they pushed the false narrative that an ICE agent kidnapped a 5-year-old child. Former special counsel for the DOJ Jack Smith testified in a House Judiciary Committee hearing about his shady investigation into Donald Trump. The arts have gone so woke that transgender Dylan Mulvaney has been cast as one of Henry VIII's wives in a Broadway musical. ► Watch my full documentary on how I exposed H-1B visa scams here: https://youtu.be/9sfeESywMUs?si=23qLeBI8neFymdFu ► Subscribe to my second YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SaraGonzalesTX?sub_confirmation=1 ► Read about our investigation at Blaze News: https://www.theblaze.com/news/where-are-all-the-workers-blazetvs-sara-gonzales-exposes-potential-h-1b-visa-fraud-in-texas ► Email me at saratips@blazemedia.com if you have uncovered potential fraud in your area. Sponsors: ► Kindred Harvest Teas Go to https://www.kindredharvest.co and use code SARA for 20% off. ► Patriot Protect Use my code SARA for 15% off all Patriot Protect plans at https://www.patriot-protect.com/sara. ► BetterWild BetterWild is offering our listeners up to 40% off your order at https://www.BetterWild.com/SARA. ► BlazeTV Subscribe today and save $20 with promo code SARA at https://www.blazetv.com/sara. Timestamps: 00:00 – H-1B Scam Response 08:11 – How You Can Find Visa Fraud 22:15 – Media Caught Lying About ICE 34:44 – Jack Smith Hearing 44:17 – Dylan Mulvaney's Starring Role Connect with Sara on Social Media: https://twitter.com/saragonzalestx https://www.instagram.com/saragonzalestx http://facebook.com/SaraGonzalesTX ► Subscribe on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sara-gonzales-unfiltered/id1408958605 ► Shop American Beauty by Sara: http://americanbeautybysara.com Sara Gonzales is the host of Sara Gonzales Unfiltered, a daily news program on Blaze TV. Joined by frequent contributors & guests such as Chad Prather, Eric July, John Doyle, Jaco Booyens, Sara breaks down the latest news in politics and culture. She previously hosted "The News and Why It Matters," featuring notable guests such as Glenn Beck, Ben Shapiro, Dave Rubin, Michael Knowles, Candace Owens, Michael Malice, and more. As a conservative commentator, Sara frequently calls out the Democrats for their hypocrisy, the mainstream media for their misinformation, feminists for their toxicity, and also focuses on pro-life issues, culture, gender issues, health care, the Second Amendment, and passing conservative values to the next generation. Sara also appears as a recurring guest on the Megyn Kelly Show, The Sean Spicer Show, Tim Pool, and with Jesse Kelly on The First TV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discussion of things literally or figuratively unearthed in the last quarter of 2025 continues. It begins with potpourri then covers tools, Neanderthals, edibles and potables, art, shipwrecks, medical finds, and repatriations. Research: Abdallah, Hanna. “Famous Easter Island statues were created without centralized management.” PLOS. Via EurekAlert. 11/26/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1106805 Abdallah, Hannah. “Early humans butchered elephants using small tools and made big tools from their bones.” PLOS. Via EurekAlert. 10/8/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1100481 Abdallah, Hannah. “Researchers uncover clues to mysterious origin of famous Hjortspring boat.” EurekAlert. 10/12/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108323 Archaeology Magazine. “Medieval Hoard of Silver and Pearls Discovered in Sweden.” https://archaeology.org/news/2025/10/14/medieval-hoard-of-silver-and-pearls-discovered-in-sweden/ Archaeology Magazine. “Possible Trepanation Tool Unearthed in Poland.” 11/13/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/11/13/possible-trepanation-tool-unearthed-in-poland/ Arkeologerna. “Rare 5,000-year-old dog burial unearthed in Sweden.” 12/15/2025. https://news.cision.com/se/arkeologerna/r/rare-5-000-year-old-dog-burial-unearthed-in-sweden,c4282014 Arnold, Paul. “Ancient ochre crayons from Crimea reveal Neanderthals engaged in symbolic behaviors.” Phys.org. 10/30/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ancient-ochre-crayons-crimea-reveal.html Arnold, Paul. “Dating a North American rock art tradition that lasted 175 generations.” Phys.org. 11/28/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-dating-north-american-art-tradition.html Bassi, Margherita. “A Single Gene Could Have Contributed to Neanderthals’ Extinction, Study Suggests.” Smithsonian. 10/30/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-neanderthal-gene-variant-related-to-red-blood-cells-may-have-contributed-to-their-extinction-180987586/ Benjamin Pohl, Chewing over the Norman Conquest: the Bayeux Tapestry as monastic mealtime reading, Historical Research, 2025;, htaf029, https://doi.org/10.1093/hisres/htaf029 Benzine, Vittoria. “Decoded Hieroglyphics Reveal Female Ruler of Ancient Maya City.” ArtNet. 10/27/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/foundation-stone-maya-coba-woman-ruler-2704521 Berdugo, Sophie. “Easter Island statues may have 'walked' thanks to 'pendulum dynamics' and with as few as 15 people, study finds.” LiveScience. 10/19/2025. https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/easter-island-statues-may-have-walked-thanks-to-pendulum-dynamics-and-with-as-few-as-15-people-study-finds Billing, Lotte. “Fingerprint of ancient seafarer found on Scandinavia’s oldest plank boat.” EurekAlert. 10/12/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109361 Brhel, John. “Rats played major role in Easter Island’s deforestation, study reveals.” EurekAlert. 11/17/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1106361 Caldwell, Elizabeth. “9 more individuals unearthed at Oaklawn could be 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims.” Tulsa Public Radio. 11/6/2025. https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/local-regional/2025-11-06/9-more-individuals-unearthed-at-oaklawn-could-be-1921-tulsa-race-massacre-victims Clark, Gaby. “Bayeux Tapestry could have been originally designed as mealtime reading for medieval monks.” Phys.org. 12/15/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-bayeux-tapestry-mealtime-medieval-monks.html#google_vignette Cohen, Alina. “Ancient Olive Oil Processing Complex Unearthed in Tunisia.” Artnet. 11/21/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ancient-olive-oil-complex-tunisia-2717795 Cohen, Alina. “MFA Boston Restores Ownership of Historic Works by Enslaved Artist.” ArtNet. 10/30/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/mfa-boston-david-drake-jars-restitution-2706594 Fergusson, Rachel. “First DNA evidence of Black Death in Edinburgh discovered on teeth of excavated teenage skeleton.” The Scotsman. 11/5/2025. https://www.scotsman.com/news/first-dna-evidence-black-death-edinburgh-discovered-teeth-excavated-teenage-skeleton-5387741 Folorunso, Caleb et al. “MOWAA Archaeology Project: Enhancing Understanding of Benin City’s Historic Urban Development and Heritage through Pre-Construction Archaeology.” Antiquity (2025): 1–10. Web. Griffith University. “Rare stone tool cache tells story of trade and ingenuity.” 12/2/2025. https://news.griffith.edu.au/2025/12/02/rare-stone-tool-cache-tells-story-of-trade-and-ingenuity/ Han, Yu et al. “The late arrival of domestic cats in China via the Silk Road after 3,500 years of human-leopard cat commensalism.” Cell Genomics, Volume 0, Issue 0, 101099. https://www.cell.com/cell-genomics/fulltext/S2666-979X(25)00355-6 Hashemi, Sara. “A Volcanic Eruption in 1345 May Have Triggered a Chain of Events That Brought the Black Death to Europe.” Smithsonian. 12/8/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-volcanic-eruption-in-1345-may-have-triggered-a-chain-of-events-taht-brought-the-black-death-to-europe-180987803/ Hjortkjær, Simon Thinggaard. “Mysterious signs on Teotihuacan murals may reveal an early form of Uto-Aztecan language.” PhysOrg. 10/6/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-mysterious-teotihuacan-murals-reveal-early.html Institut Pasteur. “Study suggests two unsuspected pathogens struck Napoleon's army during the retreat from Russia in 1812.” Via EurekAlert. 10/24/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1102613 Jones, Sam. “Shells found in Spain could be among oldest known musical instruments.” The Guardian. 12/2/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/02/neolithic-conch-like-shell-spain-catalonia-discovery-musical-instruments Kasal, Krystal. “Pahon Cave provides a look into 5,000 years of surprisingly stable Stone Age tool use.” Phys.org. 12/16/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-pahon-cave-years-stable-stone.html Kristiansen, Nina. “Eight pages bound in furry seal skin may be Norway's oldest book.” Science Norway. 11/3/2025. https://www.sciencenorway.no/cultural-history-culture-history/eight-pages-bound-in-furry-seal-skin-may-be-norways-oldest-book/2571496 Kuta, Sarah. “109-Year-Old Messages in a Bottle Written by Soldiers Heading to Fight in World War I Discovered on Australian Beach.” Smithsonian. 11/6/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/109-year-old-messages-in-a-bottle-written-by-soldiers-heading-to-fight-in-world-war-i-discovered-on-australian-beach-180987649/ Kuta, Sarah. “A Storm Battered Western Alaska, Scattering Thousands of Indigenous Artifacts Across the Sand.” Smithsonian. 10/31/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-storm-battered-western-alaska-scattering-thousands-of-indigenous-artifacts-across-the-sand-180987606/ Kuta, Sarah. “Archaeologists Unearth More Than 100 Projectiles From an Iconic Battlefield in Scotland.” Smithsonian. 11/5/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-unearth-more-than-100-projectiles-from-an-iconic-battlefield-in-scotland-180987641/ Kuta, Sarah. “Hundreds of Mysterious Victorian-Era Shoes Are Washing Up on a Beach in Wales. Nobody Knows Where They Came From.” Smithsonian. 1/5/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hundreds-of-mysterious-victorian-era-shoes-are-washing-up-on-a-beach-in-wales-nobody-knows-where-they-came-from-180987943/ Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “Golden ‘Tudor Heart’ Necklace Sheds New Light on Henry VIII’s First Marriage.” Artnet. 10/14/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/tudor-heart-pendant-british-museum-fundraiser-2699544 Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “Long-Overlooked Black Veteran Identified in Rare 19th-Century Portrait.” ArtNet. 10/27/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/black-veteran-thomas-phillips-portrait-identified-2704721 Lipo CP, Hunt TL, Pakarati G, Pingel T, Simmons N, Heard K, et al. (2025) Megalithic statue (moai) production on Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile). PLoS One 20(11): e0336251. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0336251 Lipo, Carl P. and Terry L. Hunt. “The walking moai hypothesis: Archaeological evidence, experimental validation, and response to critics.” Journal of Archaeological Science. Volume 183, November 2025, 106383. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440325002328 Lock, Lisa. “Pre-construction archaeology reveals Benin City's historic urban development and heritage.” 10/29/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-pre-archaeology-reveals-benin-city.html#google_vignette Lock, Lisa. “Pre-construction archaeology reveals Benin City's historic urban development and heritage.” Antiquity. Via PhysOrg. 10/29/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-pre-archaeology-reveals-benin-city.html#google_vignette Lynley A. Wallis et al, An exceptional assemblage of archaeological plant fibres from Windmill Way, southeast Cape York Peninsula, Australian Archaeology (2025). DOI: 10.1080/03122417.2025.2574127 Lyon, Devyn. “Oaklawn Cemetery excavation brings investigators closer to identifying Tulsa Race Massacre victims.” Fox 23. 11/6/2025. https://www.fox23.com/news/oaklawn-cemetery-excavation-brings-investigators-closer-to-identifying-tulsa-race-massacre-victims/article_67c3a6b7-2acc-44cb-93ce-3d3d0c288eca.html Marquard, Bryan. “Bob Shumway, last known survivor of the deadly Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire, dies at 101.” 11/12/2025. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/12/metro/bob-shumway-101-dies-was-last-known-cocoanut-grove-fire-survivor/?event=event12 Marta Osypińska et al, A centurion's monkey? Companion animals for the social elite in an Egyptian port on the fringes of the Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd c. CE, Journal of Roman Archaeology (2025). DOI: 10.1017/s1047759425100445 Merrington, Andrew. “Extensive dog diversity millennia before modern breeding practices.” University of Exeter. 11/13/2025. https://news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-humanities-arts-and-social-sciences/archaeology-and-history/extensive-dog-diversity-millennia-before-modern-breeding-practices/ Morris, Steven. “Linguists start compiling first ever complete dictionary of ancient Celtic.” The Guardian. 12/8/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/08/linguists-start-compiling-first-ever-complete-dictionary-of-ancient-celtic Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Resolves Ownership of Works by Enslaved Artist David Drake.” 10/29/2025. https://www.mfa.org/press-release/david-drake-ownership-resolution Narcity. “Niagara has a 107-year-old shipwreck lodged above the Falls and it just moved.” https://www.narcity.com/niagara-falls-shipwreck-iron-scow-moved-closer-to-the-falls Newcomb, Tim. “A 76-Year-Old Man Went On a Hike—and Stumbled Upon a 1,500-Year Old Trap.” Popular Mechanics. 11/21/2025. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a69441460/reindeer-trap/ Nordin, Gunilla. “Ancient wolves on remote Baltic Sea island reveal link to prehistoric humans.” Stockholm University. Via EurekAlert. 11/24/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1106807 Oster, Sandee. “DNA confirms modern Bo people are descendants of ancient Hanging Coffin culture.” Phys.org. 12/6/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-dna-modern-bo-people-descendants.html Oster, Sandee. “Rare disease possibly identified in 12th century child's skeletal remains.” PhysOrg. 10/10/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-rare-disease-possibly-12th-century.html Osuh, Chris and Geneva Abdul. “Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student.” The Guardian. 11/1/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/01/lost-grave-daughter-black-abolitionist-olaudah-equiano-found-by-a-level-student Silvia Albizuri et al, The oldest mule in the western Mediterranean. The case of the Early Iron Age in Hort d'en Grimau (Penedès, Barcelona, Spain), Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105506 Skok, Phoebe. “Ancient shipwrecks rewrite the story of Iron Age trade.” PhysOrg. 10/14/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ancient-shipwrecks-rewrite-story-iron.html The History Blog. “600-year-old Joseon ship recovered from seabed.” 11/15/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74652 The History Blog. “Ancient pleasure barge found off Alexandria coast.” 12/9/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74860 The History Blog. “Charred Byzantine bread loves stamped with Christian imagery found in Turkey.” 10/13/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74352 The History Blog. “Early medieval silver treasure found in Stockholm.” 10/12/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74343 The History Blog. “Roman amphora with sardines found in Switzerland.” 12/15/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74904 The Straits Times. “Wreck of ancient Malay vessel discovered on Pulau Melaka.” 10/31/2025. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/wreck-of-ancient-malay-vessel-discovered-on-pulau-melaka Thompson, Sarah. “The forgotten daughter: Eliza Monroe Hay’s story revealed in her last letters.” W&M News. 9/30/2025. https://news.wm.edu/2025/09/30/the-forgotten-daughter-eliza-monroes-story-revealed-in-her-last-letters/ Tuhkuri, Jukka. “Why Did Endurance Sink?” Polar Record 61 (2025): e23. Web. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/polar-record/article/why-did-endurance-sink/6CC2C2D56087035A94DEB50930B81980 Universitat de Valencia. “The victims of the Pompeii eruption wore heavy wool cloaks and tunics, suggesting different environmental conditions in summer.” 12/3/2025. https://www.uv.es/uvweb/uv-news/en/news/victims-pompeii-eruption-wore-heavy-wool-cloaks-tunics-suggesting-different-environmental-conditions-summer-1285973304159/Novetat.html?id=1286464337848&plantilla=UV_Noticies/Page/TPGDetaillNews University of Glasgow. “Archaeologists recover hundreds of Jacobite projectiles in unexplored area of Culloden.” 10/30/2025. https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_1222736_en.html University of Vienna. “Neanderthal DNA reveals ancient long-distance migrations.” 10/29/2025. https://www.univie.ac.at/en/news/detail/neanderthal-dna-reveals-ancient-long-distance-migrations Zhou, H., Tao, L., Zhao, Y. et al. Exploration of hanging coffin customs and the bo people in China through comparative genomics. Nat Commun 16, 10230 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65264-3 Zinin, Andrew. “Ancient humans mastered fire-making 400,000 years ago, study shows.” Phys.org. 10/10/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-humans-mastered-years.html See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The show's coverage of things literally or figuratively unearthed in the last quarter of 2025 begins with updates, books and letters, animals, and just one exhumation. Research: Abdallah, Hanna. “Famous Easter Island statues were created without centralized management.” PLOS. Via EurekAlert. 11/26/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1106805 Abdallah, Hannah. “Early humans butchered elephants using small tools and made big tools from their bones.” PLOS. Via EurekAlert. 10/8/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1100481 Abdallah, Hannah. “Researchers uncover clues to mysterious origin of famous Hjortspring boat.” EurekAlert. 10/12/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108323 Archaeology Magazine. “Medieval Hoard of Silver and Pearls Discovered in Sweden.” https://archaeology.org/news/2025/10/14/medieval-hoard-of-silver-and-pearls-discovered-in-sweden/ Archaeology Magazine. “Possible Trepanation Tool Unearthed in Poland.” 11/13/2025. https://archaeology.org/news/2025/11/13/possible-trepanation-tool-unearthed-in-poland/ “Rare 5,000-year-old dog burial unearthed in Sweden.” 12/15/2025. https://news.cision.com/se/arkeologerna/r/rare-5-000-year-old-dog-burial-unearthed-in-sweden,c4282014 Arnold, Paul. “Ancient ochre crayons from Crimea reveal Neanderthals engaged in symbolic behaviors.” Phys.org. 10/30/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ancient-ochre-crayons-crimea-reveal.html Arnold, Paul. “Dating a North American rock art tradition that lasted 175 generations.” Phys.org. 11/28/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-dating-north-american-art-tradition.html Bassi, Margherita. “A Single Gene Could Have Contributed to Neanderthals’ Extinction, Study Suggests.” Smithsonian. 10/30/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-neanderthal-gene-variant-related-to-red-blood-cells-may-have-contributed-to-their-extinction-180987586/ Benjamin Pohl, Chewing over the Norman Conquest: the Bayeux Tapestry as monastic mealtime reading, Historical Research, 2025;, htaf029, https://doi.org/10.1093/hisres/htaf029 Benzine, Vittoria. “Decoded Hieroglyphics Reveal Female Ruler of Ancient Maya City.” ArtNet. 10/27/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/foundation-stone-maya-coba-woman-ruler-2704521 Berdugo, Sophie. “Easter Island statues may have 'walked' thanks to 'pendulum dynamics' and with as few as 15 people, study finds.” LiveScience. 10/19/2025. https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/easter-island-statues-may-have-walked-thanks-to-pendulum-dynamics-and-with-as-few-as-15-people-study-finds Billing, Lotte. “Fingerprint of ancient seafarer found on Scandinavia’s oldest plank boat.” EurekAlert. 10/12/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1109361 Brhel, John. “Rats played major role in Easter Island’s deforestation, study reveals.” EurekAlert. 11/17/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1106361 Caldwell, Elizabeth. “9 more individuals unearthed at Oaklawn could be 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre victims.” Tulsa Public Radio. 11/6/2025. https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/local-regional/2025-11-06/9-more-individuals-unearthed-at-oaklawn-could-be-1921-tulsa-race-massacre-victims Clark, Gaby. “Bayeux Tapestry could have been originally designed as mealtime reading for medieval monks.” Phys.org. 12/15/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-bayeux-tapestry-mealtime-medieval-monks.html#google_vignette Cohen, Alina. “Ancient Olive Oil Processing Complex Unearthed in Tunisia.” Artnet. 11/21/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ancient-olive-oil-complex-tunisia-2717795 Cohen, Alina. “MFA Boston Restores Ownership of Historic Works by Enslaved Artist.” ArtNet. 10/30/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/mfa-boston-david-drake-jars-restitution-2706594 Fergusson, Rachel. “First DNA evidence of Black Death in Edinburgh discovered on teeth of excavated teenage skeleton.” The Scotsman. 11/5/2025. https://www.scotsman.com/news/first-dna-evidence-black-death-edinburgh-discovered-teeth-excavated-teenage-skeleton-5387741 Folorunso, Caleb et al. “MOWAA Archaeology Project: Enhancing Understanding of Benin City’s Historic Urban Development and Heritage through Pre-Construction Archaeology.” Antiquity (2025): 1–10. Web. Griffith University. “Rare stone tool cache tells story of trade and ingenuity.” 12/2/2025. https://news.griffith.edu.au/2025/12/02/rare-stone-tool-cache-tells-story-of-trade-and-ingenuity/ Han, Yu et al. “The late arrival of domestic cats in China via the Silk Road after 3,500 years of human-leopard cat commensalism.” Cell Genomics, Volume 0, Issue 0, 101099. https://www.cell.com/cell-genomics/fulltext/S2666-979X(25)00355-6 Hashemi, Sara. “A Volcanic Eruption in 1345 May Have Triggered a Chain of Events That Brought the Black Death to Europe.” Smithsonian. 12/8/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-volcanic-eruption-in-1345-may-have-triggered-a-chain-of-events-taht-brought-the-black-death-to-europe-180987803/ Hjortkjær, Simon Thinggaard. “Mysterious signs on Teotihuacan murals may reveal an early form of Uto-Aztecan language.” PhysOrg. 10/6/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-mysterious-teotihuacan-murals-reveal-early.html Institut Pasteur. “Study suggests two unsuspected pathogens struck Napoleon's army during the retreat from Russia in 1812.” Via EurekAlert. 10/24/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1102613 Jones, Sam. “Shells found in Spain could be among oldest known musical instruments.” The Guardian. 12/2/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/02/neolithic-conch-like-shell-spain-catalonia-discovery-musical-instruments Kasal, Krystal. “Pahon Cave provides a look into 5,000 years of surprisingly stable Stone Age tool use.” Phys.org. 12/16/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-pahon-cave-years-stable-stone.html Kristiansen, Nina. “Eight pages bound in furry seal skin may be Norway's oldest book.” Science Norway. 11/3/2025. https://www.sciencenorway.no/cultural-history-culture-history/eight-pages-bound-in-furry-seal-skin-may-be-norways-oldest-book/2571496 Kuta, Sarah. “109-Year-Old Messages in a Bottle Written by Soldiers Heading to Fight in World War I Discovered on Australian Beach.” Smithsonian. 11/6/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/109-year-old-messages-in-a-bottle-written-by-soldiers-heading-to-fight-in-world-war-i-discovered-on-australian-beach-180987649/ Kuta, Sarah. “A Storm Battered Western Alaska, Scattering Thousands of Indigenous Artifacts Across the Sand.” Smithsonian. 10/31/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-storm-battered-western-alaska-scattering-thousands-of-indigenous-artifacts-across-the-sand-180987606/ Kuta, Sarah. “Archaeologists Unearth More Than 100 Projectiles From an Iconic Battlefield in Scotland.” Smithsonian. 11/5/2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-unearth-more-than-100-projectiles-from-an-iconic-battlefield-in-scotland-180987641/ Kuta, Sarah. “Hundreds of Mysterious Victorian-Era Shoes Are Washing Up on a Beach in Wales. Nobody Knows Where They Came From.” Smithsonian. 1/5/2026. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hundreds-of-mysterious-victorian-era-shoes-are-washing-up-on-a-beach-in-wales-nobody-knows-where-they-came-from-180987943/ Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “Golden ‘Tudor Heart’ Necklace Sheds New Light on Henry VIII’s First Marriage.” Artnet. 10/14/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/tudor-heart-pendant-british-museum-fundraiser-2699544 Lawson-Tancred, Jo. “Long-Overlooked Black Veteran Identified in Rare 19th-Century Portrait.” ArtNet. 10/27/2025. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/black-veteran-thomas-phillips-portrait-identified-2704721 Lipo CP, Hunt TL, Pakarati G, Pingel T, Simmons N, Heard K, et al. (2025) Megalithic statue (moai) production on Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile). PLoS One 20(11): e0336251. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0336251 Lipo, Carl P. and Terry L. Hunt. “The walking moai hypothesis: Archaeological evidence, experimental validation, and response to critics.” Journal of Archaeological Science. Volume 183, November 2025, 106383. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440325002328 Lock, Lisa. “Pre-construction archaeology reveals Benin City's historic urban development and heritage.” 10/29/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-pre-archaeology-reveals-benin-city.html#google_vignette Lock, Lisa. “Pre-construction archaeology reveals Benin City's historic urban development and heritage.” Antiquity. Via PhysOrg. 10/29/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-pre-archaeology-reveals-benin-city.html#google_vignette Lynley A. Wallis et al, An exceptional assemblage of archaeological plant fibres from Windmill Way, southeast Cape York Peninsula, Australian Archaeology (2025). DOI: 10.1080/03122417.2025.2574127 Lyon, Devyn. “Oaklawn Cemetery excavation brings investigators closer to identifying Tulsa Race Massacre victims.” Fox 23. 11/6/2025. https://www.fox23.com/news/oaklawn-cemetery-excavation-brings-investigators-closer-to-identifying-tulsa-race-massacre-victims/article_67c3a6b7-2acc-44cb-93ce-3d3d0c288eca.html Marquard, Bryan. “Bob Shumway, last known survivor of the deadly Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire, dies at 101.” 11/12/2025. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/12/metro/bob-shumway-101-dies-was-last-known-cocoanut-grove-fire-survivor/?event=event12 Marta Osypińska et al, A centurion's monkey? Companion animals for the social elite in an Egyptian port on the fringes of the Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd c. CE, Journal of Roman Archaeology (2025). DOI: 10.1017/s1047759425100445 Merrington, Andrew. “Extensive dog diversity millennia before modern breeding practices.” University of Exeter. 11/13/2025. https://news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-humanities-arts-and-social-sciences/archaeology-and-history/extensive-dog-diversity-millennia-before-modern-breeding-practices/ Morris, Steven. “Linguists start compiling first ever complete dictionary of ancient Celtic.” The Guardian. 12/8/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/dec/08/linguists-start-compiling-first-ever-complete-dictionary-of-ancient-celtic Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Resolves Ownership of Works by Enslaved Artist David Drake.” 10/29/2025. https://www.mfa.org/press-release/david-drake-ownership-resolution “Niagara has a 107-year-old shipwreck lodged above the Falls and it just moved.” https://www.narcity.com/niagara-falls-shipwreck-iron-scow-moved-closer-to-the-falls Newcomb, Tim. “A 76-Year-Old Man Went On a Hike—and Stumbled Upon a 1,500-Year Old Trap.” Popular Mechanics. 11/21/2025. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a69441460/reindeer-trap/ Nordin, Gunilla. “Ancient wolves on remote Baltic Sea island reveal link to prehistoric humans.” Stockholm University. Via EurekAlert. 11/24/2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1106807 Oster, Sandee. “DNA confirms modern Bo people are descendants of ancient Hanging Coffin culture.” Phys.org. 12/6/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-dna-modern-bo-people-descendants.html Oster, Sandee. “Rare disease possibly identified in 12th century child's skeletal remains.” PhysOrg. 10/10/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-rare-disease-possibly-12th-century.html Osuh, Chris and Geneva Abdul. “Lost grave of daughter of Black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano found by A-level student.” The Guardian. 11/1/2025. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/01/lost-grave-daughter-black-abolitionist-olaudah-equiano-found-by-a-level-student Silvia Albizuri et al, The oldest mule in the western Mediterranean. The case of the Early Iron Age in Hort d'en Grimau (Penedès, Barcelona, Spain), Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105506 Skok, Phoebe. “Ancient shipwrecks rewrite the story of Iron Age trade.” PhysOrg. 10/14/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-ancient-shipwrecks-rewrite-story-iron.html The History Blog. “600-year-old Joseon ship recovered from seabed.” 11/15/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74652 The History Blog. “Ancient pleasure barge found off Alexandria coast.” 12/9/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74860 The History Blog. “Charred Byzantine bread loves stamped with Christian imagery found in Turkey.” 10/13/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74352 The History Blog. “Early medieval silver treasure found in Stockholm.” 10/12/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74343 The History Blog. “Roman amphora with sardines found in Switzerland.” 12/15/2025. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/74904 The Straits Times. “Wreck of ancient Malay vessel discovered on Pulau Melaka.” 10/31/2025. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/wreck-of-ancient-malay-vessel-discovered-on-pulau-melaka Thompson, Sarah. “The forgotten daughter: Eliza Monroe Hay’s story revealed in her last letters.” W&M News. 9/30/2025. https://news.wm.edu/2025/09/30/the-forgotten-daughter-eliza-monroes-story-revealed-in-her-last-letters/ Tuhkuri, Jukka. “Why Did Endurance Sink?” Polar Record 61 (2025): e23. Web. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/polar-record/article/why-did-endurance-sink/6CC2C2D56087035A94DEB50930B81980 Universitat de Valencia. “The victims of the Pompeii eruption wore heavy wool cloaks and tunics, suggesting different environmental conditions in summer.” 12/3/2025. https://www.uv.es/uvweb/uv-news/en/news/victims-pompeii-eruption-wore-heavy-wool-cloaks-tunics-suggesting-different-environmental-conditions-summer-1285973304159/Novetat.html?id=1286464337848&plantilla=UV_Noticies/Page/TPGDetaillNews University of Glasgow. “Archaeologists recover hundreds of Jacobite projectiles in unexplored area of Culloden.” 10/30/2025. https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_1222736_en.html University of Vienna. “Neanderthal DNA reveals ancient long-distance migrations.” 10/29/2025. https://www.univie.ac.at/en/news/detail/neanderthal-dna-reveals-ancient-long-distance-migrations Zhou, H., Tao, L., Zhao, Y. et al. Exploration of hanging coffin customs and the bo people in China through comparative genomics. Nat Commun 16, 10230 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65264-3 Zinin, Andrew. “Ancient humans mastered fire-making 400,000 years ago, study shows.” Phys.org. 10/10/2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ancient-humans-mastered-years.html See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.