Medieval Midwives Beyond Myth | Lucy
Aired: 3 August 2024 Who were medieval midwives and what did they do? As imagined in novels and films, the medical expertise of such women might be secret, mystical, persecuted, or some combination of all three. In the archives, traces of their activities can be tantalizingly hard to find. This podcast looks not only at the history of midwives in medieval Europe, but at the history of how scholars have tried to recover and reconstruct that history. |
Choose Your Own Adventure: The Many Accounts of the Execution of Anne Boleyn | Kristin
Aired: 18 May 2024 Historians rely a lot on primary source evidence to interpret the past. But what do you do when multiple sources tell a different story of what happened? Learn about the many accounts of the execution of Anne Boleyn and consider what they tell us about a major moment in English history with Kristin in this week’s episode of Footnoting History! |
Dressing Marie Antoinette | Kristin
Aired: 23 March 2024 Clothes and hair are among the most famous things about Marie Antoinette. But who were the designers behind the drama and what happened to them after the Revolution? And how did anyone actually wear – or afford – their creations? Find out this week on Footnoting History! |
The Witchcraft Trial of Alice Kyteler | Kristin
Aired: 14 October 2023 In 1324, a woman named Alice Kyteler was accused of witchcraft in Kilkenny, Ireland. Her story is mysterious and fascinating and considered a landmark case in the history of European witch trials. Find out what happened – or didn’t – this week on Footnoting History! |
Marlene Dietrich's Scandalous Trousers | Lucy
Aired: 20 May 2023 Defying Nazis and gender norms, Marlene Dietrich was far more than an Oscar-nominated actress… though she was that too. From Weimar Berlin’s cabaret scene to golden-age Hollywood and beyond, Dietrich carved a distinctive path for herself, and crafted an iconic star image. While that star image relied in large part on a cloud of golden hair and long, elegant legs, Dietrich was also often gender-non-conforming, on and off the stage and screen. This podcast episode looks at her international, multilingual, and intermittently scandalous life and career. |
The Public Arch | Josh
Aired: 22 April 2023 While one of the safest cities in the United States today, El Paso, Texas was one of America's most dangerous cities in the 1880s. Run by gunslingers, gambling brokers, and brothel madams, the city often descended into significant bouts of violence. One such episode occurred when the most renowned madams in the city, Alice Abbott, invaded the home of her chief rival, Etta Clark. The dispute ended with Alice Abbot shot and Etta Clark arrested for attempted murder. Eventually, Clark's brothel burned down. On this episode we unpack these events and get to the root of what they can tell us about this lively border town. |
Margaret Eaton and the Petticoat Affair | Christine
Aired: 11 March 2023 In January of 1829, a widow named Margaret O'Neale Timberlake married John Eaton, a United States Senator with his star on the rise. Inspired by the suggestion of a Footnoting History listener, Christine uses this episode to dive into the details of her life, including the marriage that caused tempers to flare in President Andrew Jackson’s Cabinet and the lesser-discussed drama of her later years. |
Rebecca Gratz: Philanthropist, Educator… Romantic Heroine? | Lucy
Aired: 28 January 2023 Rebecca Gratz helped to shape the vibrant cultural life of Philadelphia after the Revolutionary War. A second-generation immigrant, she supported artists and public institutions, and pioneered co-ed religious and cultural education for American Jewish children. She lived a remarkable life, and lived long enough to be photographed. She is also sometimes credited with being the real-life prototype for one of the nineteenth century’s most popular heroines, Sir Walter Scott’s Rebecca. |
Who Murdered Licoricia of Winchester? | Kristin
Aired: 8 October 2022 It’s an unsolved mystery: Licoricia of Winchester, once the wealthiest woman in England, was found stabbed to death, with her maid, in 1277. Licoricia was a businessperson, whose clients included the king of England. She was a wife and a mother. She was also Jewish. The life, times, and circumstances of this extraordinary woman reveal a lot about the history of women and Jews in medieval England, and her death remains a puzzle to historians. |
Godiva's Not-So-Naked Ride | Samantha
Aired: 21 May 2022 Today, the name Godiva evokes two things: fine chocolates, and a gorgeous blonde nude astride a horse. But in her own time Godgifu was best known as the wife of the earl of Mercia and as the generous benefactor of religious houses in Coventry and Lincolnshire. This episode will take you through what we know about this woman and will hint at the origins and growth of her legend through the middle ages and beyond. |
Anna May Wong: International Star, Forgotten Icon | Lucy
Aired: 7 May 2022 Ambitious, resilient, and internationally famous, Anna May Wong was one of the biggest movie stars of the 1930s. She had her first starring role in Hollywood before she was 20. She had also left Hollywood twice by the time she was 30, frustrated by the racism she faced as a Chinese-American woman. Throughout her career, she had to fight racism and censorship rules to get leading roles. But she also made international headlines for her performances on stage and screen. Though comparatively obscure today, Anna May Wong was a celebrity and style icon in a time when the options for women’s roles were being redefined in art and life. |
Sarojini Naidu: Beyond the Golden Threshold | Lucy
Aired: 12 March 2022 Poet and activist, scholar and politician, Sarojini Naidu inhabited many roles. The daughter of privilege, she enjoyed an elite education... defied societal norms in marrying for love. Before women students could receive degrees, she studied at universities in both India and England, including at Girton College, Cambridge. A gifted poet, she was known as the "Nightingale of India," and wrote about topics including her own experience of chronic illness. She was involved in activism and politics, supporting women's suffrage in England, and working internationally for the cause of Indian independence from the 1920s onwards. This podcast examines both her extraordinary life and her distinctive literary voice. |
Empress, Strategist… Saint? Irene of Byzantium | Lucy
Aired: 1 May 2021 Plucked from obscurity to become the wife of an emperor, Irene of Athens went on to become regent and empress in her own right. A ruthless strategist, an international diplomat, and an intelligent politician, she was also an influential participant in Byzantium’s early medieval controversy over icons, which some saw as threatening imperial power. This episode explores her life, reign, and historical reputation. |
Anne Neville and the Wars of the Roses | Christine
Aired: 3 April 2021 In the 15th century, Anne Neville married twice, once to each side fighting in the Wars of the Roses. Her first husband was the Lancastrian heir and her second became a Yorkist king. In this episode, join Christine for a look at Anne’s life and the people in it, including her two husbands, and her sister Isabel. |
Hurrem Sultan: The Women who Changed Ottoman Queenship | Elizabeth
Aired: 12 December 2020 In the Ottoman Empire, royal women were to be neither seen nor heard - after giving birth to the Sultan's child, they were supposed to recede into the background, focused on raising that potential heir. And, yet, in the 1500s, a young concubine captured the heart of one of the greatest leaders of all history. By doing so, she ushered in a period known as the Sultanate of Women. And we don't even know her real name. In this episode, join Elizabeth as she examines the history of the "Joyful One." |
Marie Louise: Napoleon's Second Empress | Christine
Aired: 28 November 2020 Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria became Emperor Napoleon I of France's second wife in 1810, only a few years before he was overthrown. This episode covers the ups and downs of Marie Louise's life before, during, and after her time with Napoleon. |
Milicent Patrick and the Creature | Josh
Aired: 14 November 2020 While most of us imagine life in Hollywood’s golden age as glamorous and full of star-studded extravaganzas, for Milicent Patrick, it was anything but. Working behind the scenes and on the sides of the sound stage, Patrick designed perhaps the most famous monster in movie history: The Creature from the Black Lagoon. In this episode, we trace the incredible intersections Patrick’s life had in history as well as her should-be-celebrated film career. |
Jane Manning James | Christine and Elizabeth
Aired: 5 September 2020 Jane Manning James was a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the moment she was baptized in the 1840s. Here, Christine and Elizabeth discuss her experiences as one of the earliest Black women in the majority-white religion - including her interactions with the church's founder, Joseph Smith, and her fight for full inclusion. |
The Parnell Affair | Christine
Aired: 16 May 2020 In the late 1800s, Charles Stewart Parnell was a heavyweight in Irish politics - until his affair with a woman named Katharine O'Shea came to light. Join Christine for a look at the scandal that dominated headlines and rocked the career of the so-called "Uncrowned King of Ireland". |
The Other Anne Boleyn | Kristin
Aired: 18 April 2020 In 1536, there were two Anne Boleyns in the Tower of London. One was a queen who helped inspire the English Reformation and stood accused of treason; the other was the aunt whose testimony may have helped to convict her. Lady Anne Shelton, née Boleyn, was the sister of the queen’s father, Thomas Boleyn and the mother of one of Henry VIII’s alleged mistresses. She was to play a critical role during the reign and fall of Henry’s second queen – who was her namesake and who became her nemesis. |
Pocahontas | Christine
Aired: 22 February 2020 In 1995, Disney released Pocahontas, its first animated film based on a real person. Set in 1607, the film depicts the encounter between Pocahontas, an American Indian woman, and John Smith, an English settler, in what is now the state of Virginia. In this episode Christine uses the popular movie that gave us songs like "Colors of the Wind" as the starting point for separating fact from fiction and investigating the real life of Pocahontas. |
The Unquiet Afterlife of Elizabeth Siddal | Christine
Aired: 2 November 2019 Following a tumultuous life entrenched in Britain's art world, Elizabeth Siddal was laid to rest in 1862, but only a few years later her coffin was reopened. Find out the story of her life, marriage to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, death, and afterlife in this episode. |
Jessie Pope (In)Famous Poet of World War One | Elizabeth
Aired: 18 May 2019 One of the most famous poets of WWI is largely unknown today. In this episode, Elizabeth reviews the life and poems of Jessie Pope to determine who she was, why Wilfred Owen hated her so, and why we don't know more about her today. |
The Woman Who "Signed" the Declaration of Independence | Lesley
Aired: 4 May 2019 The Declaration of Independence has many well-known men's names on it, especially that of John Hancock. But what of the woman whose name appears on the printed version of this auspicious document? In this episode, Lesley explores the life and role of Mary Katharine Goddard. An important contributor to the fledgling American government, Goddard's name should be better known for politics, journalism, and revolution. |
Escape from Slavery: The Story of Mary and Emily Edmonson | Elizabeth
Aired: 8 September 2018 Mary and Emily Edmonson were two of the youngest passengers who attempted to escape slavery on the ill-fated Pearl voyage in 1848. Join Elizabeth as she and a descendant of the Edmonson family discuss the role of these young women in not only the escape but also the abolition movement and Reconstruction. |
The Marriage of John Quincy and Louisa Adams | Christine and Elizabeth
Aired: 19 May 2018 This weekend Britain celebrates the wedding of Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle, and we at Footnoting History are thrilled. Join us as we mark the occasion by discussing another cross-Atlantic union: the marriage of US President John Quincy Adams and Louisa Johnson of England. |
The Blazing World of Lady Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle | Nathan
Aired: 5 May 2018 Poet, playwright, philosopher, scientist, and science fiction author--just a few of the occupations held by the 17th-century noblewoman, Lady Margaret Cavendish. One of the towering intellects of her day, Cavendish was a prodigious writer who was by her own account painfully shy, but whose works were revolutionary in their imaginativeness and insight. In this episode, we will explore the life of this remarkable woman, the story of her family during the tumult of the English Civil War, and how she navigated the male-dominated intellectual world of Stuart England. |
Yolande Du Bois and the Weight of W.E.B. Du Bois's Dreams | Elizabeth
Aired: 21 April 2018 In the 20th Century, W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the leading intellectuals of the movement to gain equality for African-Americans. His daughter, Yolande Du Bois, found much of her life shaped by her father's desire for his daughter to be the exemplar of the abilities and potential of African-Americans. In this episode, Elizabeth examines Yolande's life and to what it extent it was shaped by her father. |
Hoelun the Stolen Bride | Samantha
Aired: 10 March 2018 Some time before 1162 a Mongol girl named Hoelun was kidnapped and taken as a bride. A short time later she gave birth to a future emperor. Although the details of her story are shrouded in mystery, the tales that are told of her reveal a wealth of information about steppe culture and hint at the motivations of her son as he rewrote the very fabric of that society." |
How to be a Beguine | Lucy
Aired: 13 January 2018 In late medieval Europe, groups of women called beguines assembled in twos and threes, or in large communities, to practice the religious life. They lived simply, served the poor and sick, and sometimes engaged in business. But unlike nuns, they didn’t take vows. So what did it mean to be a beguine? This episode takes on that question, on which both medieval authorities and modern scholars have disagreed. |
Back of Every Great Work: The Story of Emily Warren Roebling | Samantha
Aired: 16 December 2017 According to a plaque on the Brooklyn Bridge “back of every great work we can find the self-sacrificing devotion of a woman.” Indeed, when John Roebling died and his son, Washington, was struck ill it was Washington’s young wife Emily Warren Roebling who worked day and night to ensure that the Brooklyn Bridge was built. |
Distrust of Chinese-Americans in Early 20th-Century New York City | Elizabeth
Aired: 4 November 2017 In 1910, Ida Delancey lost custody of her niece because her neighbors complained to child services that Ida, a white woman living in Brooklyn, was known to move in the same circles as Chinese-Americans. Elizabeth explores why this was a cause to have the child removed and how fears had increased after a 1909 murder of a young woman in New York City. |
Cemeteries: Washington Park Cemetery and Early 20th-Century Atlanta | Elizabeth
Aired: 7 October 2017 Join Elizabeth as she once again examines the stories of three people buried in a cemetery in the Atlanta metro area. Second-sight, sharecropping, and a street called Auburn Avenue provide context for the lives of those resting at Washington Park Cemetery many of whom were descendants of slaves. |
Belle Gunness, Black Widow Serial Killer | Nathan
Aired: 27 September 2017 In the quiet town of La Porte, Indiana at the beginning of the 20th century lived a widow farmer with three children. Originally from Norway, Belle Sørenson Gunness was, like many widows in the period, in search of a husband to help work her lands and provide for her family--until one night, a tragic fire revealed that all was not as it appeared. In this week's episode, we examine the grisly tale of how the outwardly unassuming Belle killed at least nine male suitors and probably two husbands, and the terrible methods that she used to evade capture. |
The Invention of the Chocolate Chip Cookie | Samantha
Aired: 26 August 2017 Who doesn’t love the chocolate chip cookie? Today, chocolate chip is the most popular variety of cookie in the United States, but it did not exist until the 1930s. This episode traces the confection from its invention in the kitchen of Mrs. Ruth Wakefield to your own home. |
The Murderess in History | Lesley
Aired: 12 August 2017 Serial killers can be fascinating subjects. The men who hunt strangers are terrifying and interesting studies of the human mind. Yet women in history have also killed, and in some cases they have killed in large, unexpected numbers. In this episode, Lesley discusses five lesser-known serial killers from throughout history and analyzes how the female motivations from the past may differ from the more famous serial killers of modern day. |
Cemeteries: Local History of Mid-20th Century Atlanta | Elizabeth
Aired: 17 June 2017 Taphophilia is the love of cemeteries and headstones. In this episode, Elizabeth indulges her taphophilia as she uses stories from East View Cemetery on the outskirts of Atlanta to learn about life in the city in the early to mid-20th century. Golf, textile mills, and military service help us complete the picture. |
The Trotula and Medieval Gynecology | Nathan
Aired: 11 February 2017 Imagine you were a medieval woman suffering from fertility problems or an irregular period. How would you deal with these issues, and what kinds of treatments might your physician prescribe? To what lengths would you be willing to go, what substances would you be willing to ingest or insert in order to solve menstrual cramps? In this week's episode, we'll talk about one of the most famous manuals of medieval gynecology and the ways women in the Middle Ages cared for their health. |
The Woman and the 20-Pound Tumor | Lesley
Aired: 28 January 2017 In the age before Anesthesia, what would you do with a pregnancy that would not end? Would you accept a doctor's diagnosis of death or would you press to find any possible treatment? Follow the story of Jane Todd Crawford, who traveled 60 miles by horseback to end a two-year "pregnancy"... and rode herself into the history books. |
Olga Nethersole and the Sapho Scandal | Christine
Aired: 3 December 2016 In early 1900, actress Olga Nethersole and several of her colleagues were indicted for their roles in the production of a play. Find out what caused them to be called "of wicked and depraved mind and disposition" when Christine covers the scandal that made New York City headlines. |
The Un-Engagement of Jane Austen | Christine
Aired: 5 November 2016 Jane Austen’s novels contain many courtships and brides, but the author herself never married. In this episode Christine will delve into the time in Jane’s life when she could have become a wife and introduce you to Harris Bigg-Wither, the man who sought her hand. |
Desert Queens? Women at the Edges of Empire from Hester Stanhope to Gertrude Bell | Lucy
Aired: 4 June 2016 Notorious eccentrics, esteemed researchers, loose-cannon diplomats: this podcast looks at the histories of the British women who were travelers and archaeologists in the Middle East and India in the early twentieth century. As women, their accomplishments were often assessed by British audiences in terms of respectability. As British women, however, they often reinforced imperial control and imperial ideas. |
Evelyn Nesbit and the Crime of the Century | Samantha
Aired: 12 March 2016 In December 1900 the beautiful, fifteen year old Evelyn Nesbit arrived in New York. Within a year she became the “glittering girl model of Gotham,” the first iconic American sex-goddess. Her fame would transform into notoriety after June 25, 1906 when her millionaire husband, Harry Thaw, murdered Evelyn’s one time lover, Sanford White, in what was known by contemporaries as “the crime of the century.” |
After Napoleon: Josephine Divorced | Christine
Aired: 13 February 2016 What happens when one of the most powerful men in Europe ends your marriage? What do you do when you are replaced as Empress of France? In this episode Christine delves into Josephine Bonaparte’s life as the ex-wife of Emperor Napoleon. |
The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots | Lesley
Aired: 29 August 2015 The lives of Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I of England may be seen as a contrast in social expectations during early modern Europe worthy of scholarship, and television dramas. Perhaps lesser known is the story of Mary's trial and the legacy of her execution. Go behind the romanticism of Mary's life and learn about her death and the legacy of Elizabeth's final action to end of the life of her "Sister Queen." |
Bonapartes in America: Jerome and Elizabeth | Christine
Aired: 9 May 2015 As his brother Napoleon rose to power in France, Jerome Bonaparte was across the ocean in Baltimore, Maryland. While there the young Bonaparte did what many men do, he married a beautiful woman. Unfortunately his union with Miss Elizabeth Patterson was not welcomed by Napoleon, who had other plans for his little brother. In this episode we’ll examine what happened in Baltimore and how Emperor Napoleon’s disapproval changed the future of the newlywed couple. |
The Lepers and the London Nurse: The Remarkable Travels of Kate Marsden | Lucy
Aired: 14 March 2015 Kate Marsden was born and died in London, but in the intervening decades, she traversed thousands of miles - and engaged the patronage of two empresses - in her efforts to ameliorate the lot of lepers, from London to the Russian steppes. Her exploits and her writings about them both inspired and scandalized society. This week's podcast uses Marsden's career to discuss truth-telling, travel-writing, and Victorian ideas of virtue. |
Watson, Franklin, and the Drama of DNA | Lesley
Aired: 14 February 2015 In the 1950s, a series of discoveries allowed biologists to capture and construct the double-helio structure of DNA. For these efforts, James Watson, Maurice Wilkins, and Francis Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962. The implications of this work transformed the field of biology and led to dramatic new advancements in medicine. But the story of DNA was not so simple. James Watson's personal behavior diminished the contributions of other scientists. In this episode of Footnoting History, we learn about the complex drama behind the scenes of a landmark and transformative discovery...and the complications that continue to dog the career of a prominent scientist today. |
Empress Eugénie in Exile, Part I: Flight from Paris | Christine
Aired: 3 January 2015 When Napoleon III’s French Empire began to crumble in the late 19th century, his wife was trapped in Paris. Who could possibly help the Bonaparte Empress flee before the mobs got to her? An American dentist named Thomas Evans, of course. We’re kicking off the new year with a podcast about escapes and unlikely allies! |
Empress Eugénie in Exile, Part II: Life After Empire | Christine
Aired: 17 January 2015 The Second French Empire has fallen and Empress Eugénie fled to England, but what happened next? Today we conclude our look at her life in exile, including her reunions with Napoleon III and their son, as well as the lasting piece of French imperialism she established in the English countryside. |
Mental Institutions, Part I: Nellie Bly's Exposé | Elizabeth
Aired: 8 November 2014 In 1887, Nellie Bly was asked to pass a week at an insane asylum. She said she would and she could and she did. |
Warrior, Wife, and Mother: The Story of Sichelgaita of Salerno | Samantha
Aired: 16 August 2014 According to Anna Comnena, the Byzantine historian, Sichelgaita of Salerno personally turned the tide at the battle of Dyrrachium when she charged at her own troops and drove them towards their enemy. But did such a thing ever happen? Who was Sichelgaita – a warrior, a wife, or a protective mother? |
The Scientific Passions of Mary Buckland | Lucy
Aired: 9 August 2014 In the early 19th century, ancient fossils formed the basis of cutting-edge discoveries. Geology still hovered between amateur pursuit and scientific profession. Mary Buckland, married to the dinosaur-discovering William, participated in international research networks, and was a silent partner in creating some of the new discipline's most important works. |
Laura Bridgman, Charles Dickens, and Helen Keller | Christine
Aired: 2 August 2014 Laura Bridgman made headlines in the 19th century when her parents enrolled her at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Under the guidance of Samuel Gridley Howe she learned how to speak with her fingers and became the first formally educated deaf-blind person in the United States. Though we hear little about her today, she was regularly named as an inspiration by Helen Keller- so who was Laura Bridgman and what was she doing hanging out with Charles Dickens? |
Rosamund: 6th-Century Regicide and Politics | Nicole
Aired: 26 July 2014 The sixth century was one of serious upheaval and shifting alliance. Get a glimpse of this world as we explore the life of Rosamund, a Gepid princess who witnessed the rise of the power of the Lombards, through their final defeat of her people and their invasion of Italy, before delivering a near fatal blow to it. |
Love, Parachutes, and Käthchen Paulus | Lucy
Aired: 12 July 2014 Käthchen Paulus was born in the late 1860s, in a German village where she supported her mother by working as a seamstress. She died in the mid-30s in relative obscurity. But in between, she ran away with an adventurer, made and lost a fortune, became an international celebrity, an entrepreneur, a WWI military advisor, and an inventor of lasting influence. |
Before Napoleon: Josephine's First Marriage | Christine
Aired: 24 May 2014 May 29, 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Empress Josephine, first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. Josephine’s life did not begin when she married the famous Corsican so this week, to honor her, we are looking at the time before she became a Bonaparte. Join Christine as she explores the years when Josephine answered to a different name, had a husband named Alexandre, and almost became a victim of the Reign of Terror. |
Mademoiselle de Maupin: The Life and Afterlife of a 17th-century Swashbuckler | Lucy
Aired: 1 March 2014 How did a swashbuckling seventeenth-century opera singer become the heroine of a nineteenth-century novel? What does this tell us about the performance and perception of gender in both eras? And did the mysterious Mademoiselle de Maupin really run away with a nun? This week’s episode of Footnoting History looks at all that... and dueling! |
Buck and Blanche (and Bonnie and Clyde) | Christine
Aired: 15 Feb 2014 The love story of infamous American outlaw pair Bonnie and Clyde is cemented in modern pop culture- but they were not the only couple in the Barrow Gang. Clyde’s older brother, Buck, and his wife, Blanche, often traveled with their relatives and had a dynamic (and tragic) love story of their own. This week Christine delves into the outlaw romance of the American depression era that is barely mentioned in the folk ballads and Hollywood films. |
2:31:56*: The Rosie Ruiz Scandal | Esther
Aired: 4 Jan 2014 How did an unassuming office assistant from New York fool her way to the winners' circle of the 1980 Boston Marathon? The first major cheating scandal in long-distance running had nothing to do with drugs or endorsement deals, but with the shameless moxie of a woman whose journey into cheating infamy was probably more accidental than intentional. |
Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Part I: The Abduction | Christine and Elizabeth
Aired: 23 November 2013 The abduction of Ellen Turner was the talk of early 19th century England and at the center of it was Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a widower with dreams of a seat in Parliament. How did Wakefield lure the young heiress from her school and convince her to marry him? What happened when her family found out? And is there life after being British newspaper fodder? Join us for Part I of the life of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. |
Queer Women in the Golden Age of Mysteries | Elizabeth and Lucy
Aired: 12 October 2013 From the early to mid-twentieth century, queens of crime Sayers, Christie, Marsh, and Wentworth reigned supreme over British detective fiction. Their works not only reveal whodunit but give insight into how queer women lived in and were viewed by wider society from capital to countryside. |
The Husband-Killing She-Wolf: The Life of Joanna of Naples | Nathan
Aired: 20 July 2013 Joanna I of Naples led a fascinating life marked by both triumph and tragedy. Orphaned as a child, married four times, and rumored to have had her first husband killed outside her own bedchamber, she was a controversial figure even in her own day. Join us as we examine the ups and downs of one of the most powerful (yet oft-forgotten) women of the fourteenth century. |
Science, Plague, and Pericles: Reconstructing the Face of Myrtis | Kirsti
Aired: 27 April 2013 In 430 BCE, a plague swept through ancient Athens, killing thousands. It eventually claimed even the great Pericles. But what was it? In 1994, a group of historians and scientists banded together to find out, starting with the skull of one little girl.! |
Heresy and You: The Example of Alice Rowley | Kirsti
Aired: 16 March 2013 Some people just get all the luck. Others, like poor Alice Rowley of Coventry, just can’t seem to catch a break. Join us as we explore Alice’s dedication to the Lollard community and what that meant for her in court! |