Episodes

  • Prince Rupert’s burning love of England, discovered in Birmingham’s flames

    Prince Rupert’s burning love of England, discovered in Birmingham’s flames
    Sep 20 2024
    On Easter Monday 1643 Prince Rupert led a force which assaulted the town of Birmingham as he moved along the road to meet up with Queen Charlotte who was on her way to meet Charles I in Oxford. This was a short and seemingly insignificant skirmish. Birmingham had no significant defences and the parliamentary defenders ... Read more
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    24 mins
  • The making of Oliver Cromwell – His early years

    The making of Oliver Cromwell – His early years
    Sep 9 2024
    The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, said: “Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man”. How far is this true of the life of Oliver Cromwell who rose from being an obscure yeoman farmer in East Anglia to become one of the most revered, and by some reviled, figures in ... Read more
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    49 mins
  • Were the Commonwealth and the Protectorate doomed from the start?

    Were the Commonwealth and the Protectorate doomed from the start?
    Jul 8 2024
    This is one of the great ‘what if’ questions of British history. Could the Commonwealth and the subsequent Protectorate have survived after the death of Oliver Cromwell on 3rd September 1658, or was it doomed to failure from the beginning? In our series ‘The Big Questions’, we invite distinguished historians to answer such critical important ... Read more
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    34 mins
  • The bloodiest battle – Marston Moor (2nd July 1644)

    The bloodiest battle – Marston Moor (2nd July 1644)
    Jun 28 2024
    By 1644, the Civil War was entering its third year. Until then, the conflict in the North of England had been dominated by a victorious Royalist Army led by the Marquis of Newcastle, but the intervention of a Scots Army of 20,000 men dramatically now changed the balance of power in Parliament’s favour. By April, ... Read more
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    28 mins
  • Yorkshire in the Civil Wars – A bloody stategic battleground

    Yorkshire in the Civil Wars – A bloody stategic battleground
    Jun 21 2024
    Many histories of the civil war fought in England focus on the south and the midlands. In contrast, this programme shines a light on the significant role played by the county of Yorkshire in the north of England in Parliament’s victory during the Civil Wars. In this programme, Professor Andrew Hopper of the University of ... Read more
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    35 mins
  • Uncovering a ‘forgotten’ massacre at Shelford House

    Uncovering a ‘forgotten’ massacre at Shelford House
    Jun 14 2024
    The military history of the British and Irish Civil Wars has been dominated by the stories of the battles between the two field armies in England such as Marston Moor, Newbury and Naseby. But in reality, this was largely a conflict of relatively small-scale local conflicts, often around strongpoints such as fortified houses. These engagements ... Read more
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    17 mins
  • Raids, skirmishes and sieges – How the Civil War was fought

    Raids, skirmishes and sieges – How the Civil War was fought
    Jun 7 2024
    While accounts of the British and Irish civil wars frequently focus on the large set-piece battles between the two field armies, much, if not most of the conflict was fought by regional or local forces in raids, skirmishes and sieges of strongpoints. These clashes disrupted local lives time and again as the conflict ebbed and ... Read more
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    28 mins
  • ‘The Christian Centurion’ – Sergeant-Major-General Philip Skippon

    ‘The Christian Centurion’ – Sergeant-Major-General Philip Skippon
    May 31 2024
    Sergeant-Major General Phillip Skippon was described by an earlier biographer, Lucas Phillips, as “… the type of man found in the best British armies throughout the centuries – not over-endowed with brains, but stout of heart, loyal of spirit, direct of speech, generous to a fault, God-fearing, the first into action and the last out ... Read more
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    32 mins