Not Just the Tudors

In the same way that Shakespeare’s women characters were performed by boys in female costume, African, Middle Eastern, Hispanic and Jewish roles in his plays were taken by white men, deploying a series of racial symbols, stereotypes and, to modern ears, troubling racial language. But how did Shakespeare's original audiences view race and racial difference? And how has this understanding changed? In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Farah Karim-Cooper, whose new book The Great White Bard raises important questions about Shakespeare's depiction of both race and racism. This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here >You can take part in our listener survey here >

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, is often vilified as one of the Tudor century's most unpleasant characters. His was a family marked by treason, beheadings and incarceration - a dynasty whose pride and ambition secured only their downfall. But can this uncle to two wives of Henry VIII be rescued at all from infamy?To unpick this complex man, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Robert Hutchinson, author of House of Treason: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Dynasty.This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here >You can take part in our listener survey here >

Henry VIII's sixth wife Kateryn Parr was a scholar and a writer in her own right. She was one of the first English women to have works published under her own name, creating a new role as both queen and author, translating politically sensitive texts in collaboration with Henry and Thomas Cranmer.In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb meets Dr. Micheline White. Her discoveries also shed new light on Kateryn Parr’s influence on the future Queen Elizabeth I, the English Reformation and its ongoing legacy.This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here >You can take part in our listener survey here >

What did the Tudor age understand about digestion? How did this affect what foods people prepared and ate? Was there such a thing as healthy eating? How did they manage seasonal food changes and seasons of scarcity? And what role did food play in establishing class, belonging and status?In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Brigitte Webster, a culinary historian and journalist. Her new book, Eating with the Tudors: Food and Recipes is full of extraordinary insights that give us an idea about how the Tudors really lived.This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here >You can take part in our listener survey here >

In some portraits of Henry VIII there appears another, striking figure. This is Will Somer, the king’s fool, a celebrated wit who could raise Henry’s spirits and spent many hours alone with him. But was Somer an “artificial fool” - a comedian who spoke truth to power - or a “natural fool,” someone with intellectual disabilities?In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Swedish historian Peter K. Andersson, whose new biography of Somer - Fool: In Search of Henry VIII’s Closest Man - reveals a little-known world where comedy could be something cruel and unpleasant.This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here >You can take part in our listener survey here >

In an age when literature was dominated by men, Margaret Cavendish wrote passionately about gender, science and philosophy. She published under her own name, and advocated for women in work. Her 1666 novel The Blazing World was one of the earliest works of science fiction.In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Francesca Peacock, author of Pure Wit: The Revolutionary Life of Margaret Cavendish, which recounts Cavendish’s fascinating, pioneering, yet often complex and controversial life.This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here >You can take part in our listener survey here >

One of Early Modern Europe’s most powerful families, the Hapsburgs shared a physical trait so distinctive that it came to be regarded as a badge of honour - the large, jutting jaw that was a result of family inbreeding. But that was only part of their physiological challenges.In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks genetics, inbreeding and the sad fate of the Hapsburgs with Dr. Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes.This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here >You can take part in our listener survey here >For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

At 31, Michelangelo was considered the finest artist in Italy, perhaps the world. Long before he died at almost 90, he was widely believed to be the greatest sculptor or painter who had ever lived. Few of his works - including the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, David and The Last Judgment - were small or easy to accomplish. Like a hero of classical mythology, Michelangelo was subject to constant trials and labours. In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Martin Gayford, author of Michelangelo: His Epic Life, about the life and work of Michelangelo and how he transformed forever our notion of what an artist could be.This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here >You can take part in our listener survey here >

The Safawid Dynasty, which ruled Iran from 1501 to 1736, marked the beginning of modern Iranian history. At its height, it controlled all of what is now Iran, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Armenia, eastern Georgia, parts of the North Caucasus including Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The period was extensively documented by scholars, western travellers, in literary works and commercial and political records. There are surviving buildings, monuments, coins, pottery, carpets, paintings, metalwork, and illustrations.In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb meets Professor Andrew Newman to find out more about this fascinating history.This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians including Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here >You can take part in our listener survey here >For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >