Eleanor of Aquitaine

In Our Time: History

01/28/16

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44m

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, times and influence of Eleanor of Aquitaine (c1122-1204) who was one of the most powerful women in Twelfth Century Europe, possibly in the entire Middle Ages. She inherited land from the Loire down to the Pyrenees, about a third of modern France. She married first the King of France, Louis VII, joining him on the Second Crusade. She became stronger still after their marriage was annulled, as her next husband, Henry Plantagenet became Henry II of England. Two of their sons, Richard and John, became kings and she ruled for them when they were abroad. By her death in her eighties, Eleanor had children and grandchildren in power across western Europe. This led to competing claims of inheritance and, for much of the next 250 years, the Plantagenet and French kings battled over Eleanor's land. With Lindy Grant Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading Nicholas Vincent Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia And Julie Barrau University Lecturer in British Medieval History at the University of Cambridge Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Previous Episode

Thomas Paine's Common Sense

January 21, 2016

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45m

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thomas Paine and his pamphlet "Common Sense" which was published in Philadelphia in January 1776 and promoted the argument for American independence from Britain. Addressed to The Inhabitants of America, it sold one hundred and fifty thousand copies in the first few months and is said, proportionately, to be the best-selling book in American history. Paine had arrived from England barely a year before. He vigorously attacked monarchy generally and George the Third in particular. He argued the colonies should abandon all hope of resolving their dispute with Britain and declare independence immediately. Many Americans were scandalised. More were inspired and, for Paine's vision of America's independent future, he has been called a Founding Father of the United States. With Kathleen Burk Professor Emerita of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London Nicholas Guyatt University Lecturer in American History at the University of Cambridge And Peter Thompson Associate Professor of American History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Next Episode

The Dutch East India Company

March 3, 2016

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46m

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC, known in English as the Dutch East India Company. The VOC dominated the spice trade between Asia and Europe for two hundred years, with the British East India Company a distant second. At its peak, the VOC had a virtual monopoly on nutmeg, mace, cloves and cinnamon, displacing the Portuguese and excluding the British, and were the only European traders allowed access to Japan.

With

Anne Goldgar Reader in Early Modern European History at King's College London

Chris Nierstrasz Lecturer in Global History at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, formerly at the University of Warwick

And

Helen Paul Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson.