Episode 2.81: French Roundheads
1654 As social unrest in France takes a revolutionary turn, England sends out feelers to potential republican comrades.
Nov 13, 2021•45 min
Early Stuart England
A narrative history of England (1603-1642)
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Episodes
Episode 2.80: Commonwealth Scotland
1652-3 With England distracted by the Dutch War, and turmoil at Westminster, a group of soldiers and administrators are left to determine Scotland's future on their own.
Nov 06, 2021•42 min
Episode 2.79: An End to Your Sitting
Spring 1653 A long stand-off culminates in the forced dissolution of the Long Parliament, twelve and a half years after its initial elections.
Oct 30, 2021•37 min
Episode 2.78: Impatience of Spirit
1652-3 Oliver Cromwell struggles to hold the disparate elements of the Commonwealth coalition together, but the mounting pressure seems to make a break all but inevitable.
Oct 23, 2021•36 min
Episode 2.77: Adventurers and Soldiers
1652 Having pacified all organized resistance in Ireland, the Puritan Commonwealth regime contemplates how to rule a pre-dominantly Catholic nation.
Oct 16, 2021•35 min
Episode 2.76: The Anglo-Dutch War
1652 The republics of England and the Netherlands test each other in battle, and in doing so act out a debate in naval tactics that had been brewing for a century.
Oct 09, 2021•41 min
Episode 2.75: The Rump and the Army
1651-2 As England prepares for a Dutch war, factions within the Commonwealth find that they have enemies at home.
Oct 02, 2021•40 min
Episode 2.74: The Key of Wealth
1652 Desperate to match the modernizing credit economy of the Dutch, the Commonwealth turns to a been enthusiast, an impoverished inventor, and England's spinsters.
Sep 25, 2021•45 min
Episode 2.73: The End of a Friendship
1651-1652 After decades of close co-operation, the Anglo-Dutch relationship falls apart due to heated economic competition.
Sep 18, 2021•36 min
Episode 2.72: Barbados
1651 Having pacified Scotland and Ireland, the Commonwealth regime looks to secure one last component of the old Stuart realms - the New World colonies.
Sep 11, 2021•42 min
Episode 2.71: Tied to Impossibilities
1651 Amid the soul searching after their defeat at Worcester, the royalists re-assess the philosophical underpinnings of their cause.
Sep 04, 2021•34 min
Episode 2.70: The Tories
1650-1 As Henry Ireton seeks to impose Commonwealth rule on Ireland, he finds his work obstructed by a persistent guerilla campaign.
Aug 28, 2021•40 min
Episode 2.69: A Bell, a Bib, and a Rattle
1651 When the Scots and Charles find themselves unable to defend Scotland, they turn the tables on Oliver Cromwell, and invade England.
Aug 21, 2021•39 min
Episode 2.68: The Commonwealth Navy
1649-50 In an effort to project the Commonwealth's military and economic power beyond the British Isles, the New Merchant faction re-organizes the navy.
Aug 14, 2021•42 min
Episode 2.67: Almost a Miracle
Summer 1650 Oliver Cromwell marches north to Scotland - and into a well laid trap.
Aug 07, 2021•40 min
Episode 2.66: The Exile King
1649-1650 Charles II attempts to balance his desire for revenge on the men who killed his father, and the need to build allies in Europe.
Jul 31, 2021•39 min
Episode 2.65: I Do Declare and Promise
1650 The Commonwealth government searches for the words to define itself, and at the same time, bind the people of England to its rule.
Jul 24, 2021•43 min
Episode 2.64: The Propagation of the Gospel in Wales
1650 A divided Commonwealth government institutes a pilot program in Wales that will determine the future of religion in England.
Jul 17, 2021•39 min
Episode 2.63: A Concentrated Assault on Sin
1649-50 While Cromwell continues his campaign in Ireland, Scotland veers from theocracy to reconciliation with the Stuart monarchy.
Jul 10, 2021•39 min
Episode 2.62: Hatred and Horror
Summer/Fall 1649 Oliver Cromwell takes the New Model Army into Ireland, where it faces a renewed coalition of royalist forces.
Jul 03, 2021•37 min
Episode 2.61: England's New Chains Discovered
Spring 1649 Fearing that they have merely traded one tyranny for another, the Levellers rise up to overthrow the infant Rump regime.
Jun 26, 2021•36 min
Episode 2.60: Triumphant by Default
Winter 1649 The men who executed the King struggled to define the new political world they've created.
Jun 19, 2021•40 min
Episode 2.59: This Honourable City
1649 London adapts to being the centre of a merchant republic with global ambitions.
Jun 12, 2021•37 min
Episode 2.58: Interlopers
1649 The new masters of London re-organize England's system of international trade, with their eyes firmly set on the East India Company.
Jun 05, 2021•42 min
Episode 2.57: The Plundering Time
1633-1649 The Calvert family founds the experimental colony of Maryland, but soon find their efforts undermined by the chaos of war.
May 29, 2021•41 min
Episode 2.56: America and the Civil War
1642-1649 With trans-Atlantic ties disrupted by war, the American colonies are forced to grow up quickly.
May 22, 2021•50 min
Episode 2.55: The Peace of Westphalia
1643-1648 Decades of conflict come to an end in Europe, presenting post-monarchical England with a brand new geo-political landscape.
May 15, 2021•43 min
Episode 2.54: The Legacy of War
1649 After a decade of conflict, England finds itself a changed nation on a new trajectory into the 1650s.
May 08, 2021•42 min
Episode 2.53: A Martyr to the People
January 1649 The King is put on trial. His life, and the future of England, hang in the balance.
May 01, 2021•41 min
Episode 2.52: The High Court of Justice
December 1648 A heavily purged parliament ends two and a half years of stalemate by putting the King on trial for his life.
Apr 24, 2021•37 min
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