So as I talked about in the last post, I’ve been in complete isolation due to this covid catastrophe and have had to find a myriad of ways to fill my time! One of the ways I’ve managed to do that is by listening to podcasts! Now I’ve always been a visual learner; I find it so much easier to memorise things and take it in if it’s on a piece of paper or on a screen in front of me, however during my time at uni I missed a significant amount of lectures (thank you crappy health). Luckily for me lectures were usually recorded at my uni or at least they were on my course so I had to adapt my learning and was able to stay up to date by listening to the lectures. This combined with spending a significant amount of time in hospital in the last two years and having to ease my boredom whilst there, has led to me developing a new-found appreciation for podcasts. I thought writing about the the history podcasts I’ve found and enjoyed would make a cool blog post so here we go!
If you click on the images, it will take you to the podcast’s main page/website.
This was one of the first historical podcast that I started listening to regularly and is very possibly my favourite. The premise for the episodes is fairly simple; each episode focuses solely on an incredible female historical figure. Their 3-part special on Eleanor of Aquitaine is perfect and their episodes on some of my other historical faves such as Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia, Anne Boleyn, Empress Theodora, Catherine de Medici and Nefertiti are also pretty damn wonderful. They also have an episode on Hürrem Sultan who I told you all about in a 3-part profile!! You can tell that the hosts of the podcast have done in depth research but they do it in a way that’s not too overly academic and fun to listen to. I absolutely love this podcast and if you have interest in historical women, political and personal drama and scandal galore than I’m sure you will too.
If there is one thing in life that is rarely drama free, it’s divorce. And this podcast talks about some pretty famous ones that are trashy and scandalous and in all honesty a bit of clusterfuck! Although the majority of the divorces included on this site are current or within the last century, they also occasionally talk about historical divorces including a pretty fab episode on the Elizabeth I/Robert Dudley/Amy Robsart calamity and an episode on the queen of my heart Eleanor of Aquitaine who divorced one king (Louis VII of France) in March and married another in May (Henry II of England). Did I mention that husband number 2 was not only over a decade younger than husband number 1 but also husband number’s 1 main political rival and the feud between these two set the foundations for the England-France feud that dominated European politics for CENTURIES??? I loved the episode about her and I hope they do more historical divorces because I mean who doesn’t love a good scandalous royal divorce story?
Although I wouldn’t necessarily say ancient history is my area of expertise, it’s a period I love nevertheless and the episodes of this podcast are just amazing, covering a broad number of topics. Of course my favourites were the ones that focused on the women of the ancient world. The “Badass Women Make Ancient History” episode was super interesting as was the episode of Fulvia; a woman who as Mark Antony’s third wife unfortunately gets lost in the Cleopatra-Antony-Caesar drama but was 100% as much of a badass and 100% worthy of as much attention. There are also a number of episodes on the likes of Cleopatra, Agrippina (both the Younger & the Elder) and the Amazons (Warrior Women of Greek Mythology) which are also super interesting. The other episodes which focus on other areas of ancient history besides it’s ladies, are just as good too. If you want to learn more about the ancient world, then this is a really good accessible way to do so. The information is well sourced and it’s not overly complex or confusing. Just a really good podcast.
Noble Blood is a podcast by author Dana Schwartz which “explores history’s most fascinating royals – the tyrants, the tragic and everyone in between”. The episode on Arbella Stuart (who very few people seem to know about) was great as was the episode on Wu Zetian the first & only Empress of China. This podcast is slightly different from some of the others which have more of a conversational tone to them; the way Noble Blood is recorded is much more theatrical. That might not be to everyone’s taste, although I enjoy it!
This is a comedy-history podcast that focuses it’s episodes on women that are considered notorious; this means the women the podcast covers is hugely varied. Some women deserve the notoriety, others do not. I appreciate this because sometimes history doesn’t always acknowledge that women are just as complex as men and in some cases just as bad. Women liked Eva Braun and murderess Lizzie Borden are covered in an episode or two however so are historical heroines such as Ida B Wells. Contemporary political figures such as Diane Abbott (UK MP) and Greta Thunberg are also covered. The majority of the episodes are a little too modern for my personal liking however I did enjoy the episodes on scientist extraordinaire Ada Lovelace and Charlotte of Mecklenburg who was maybe/potentially the first mixed race Queen of England. Anyone who has an interest in modern history will enjoy this immensely.
So this podcast is a series that features different historians talking about their favourite topics. The topics are super varied and cover a phenomenal number of eras; from an episode on William the Conqueror all the way to an episode on the Korean War. The episodes that were best suited to my historical preferences were the episodes on the Mistresses of Charles II, Artemisia Gentileschi, Elizabeth I and the Rise and Fall of the Boleyns. The episodes on Catherine the Great and Eleanor of Aquitaine; two of history’s most gossiped about women were also AMAZING because it assessed their legacies and did a fab job of sorting out the fact from fiction (no Catherine did not have sex with a horse and no Eleanor probably did not have sex with her uncle!!!). I also particularly enjoyed the episode by Janina Ramirez on extraordinary medieval women; the only problem with this series of podcasts is that you need an account to be able to listen. Another thing about this series that some people may find problematic is that they’re much more academic than some of the others and therefore may not be as engaging to some people.
This fab podcast is a combination of comedy and history and covers a HUGE variety of topics and eras. It specifically labels itself a blog for people that don’t necessarily like history and that comes across in the way history and comedy are combined. It’s less academic perhaps than some of the others but I personally find it immensely enjoyable and I do quite like Greg Jenner as a writer/historian. Unsurprisingly the Eleanor of Aquitaine episode was my favourite but then again anything related to that woman gets 10/10 in my book. The Justinian & Theodora episode was also super enjoyable (Hollywood I’m still waiting for a film/mini-series on these two!!). A thoroughly enjoyable podcast that I think will have vast appeal to many.
So there you go! Here’s just a few podcasts I’ve enjoyed and you might too! Thank you for reading, see you soon!
Alexandra x
The Monstrous Regiment of Women 