Margaret of Anjou

In Our Time: History

05/24/18

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50m

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most remarkable queens of the Middle Ages who took control when her husband, Henry VI, was incapable. Margaret of Anjou (1430-1482) wanted Henry to stay in power for the sake of their son, the heir to the throne, and her refusal to back down was seen by her enemies as a cause of the great dynastic struggle of the Wars of the Roses.

The image above is from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book, showing John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, presenting Margaret with that book on her betrothal to Henry

With

Katherine Lewis Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Huddersfield

James Ross Reader in Late Medieval History at the University of Winchester

And

Joanna Laynesmith Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Reading

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Previous Episode

The Emancipation of the Serfs

May 17, 2018

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49m

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1861 declaration by Tsar Alexander II that serfs were now legally free of their landlords. Until then, over a third of Russians were tied to the land on which they lived and worked and in practice there was little to distinguish their condition from slavery. Russia had lost the Crimean War in 1855 and there had been hundreds of uprisings, prompting the Tsar to tell the nobles, "The existing condition of owning souls cannot remain unchanged. It is better to begin to destroy serfdom from above than to wait until that time when it begins to destroy itself from below." Reform was constrained by the Tsar's wish to keep the nobles on side and, for the serfs, tied by debt and law to the little land they were then allotted, the benefits were hard to see. With Sarah Hudspith Associate Professor in Russian at the University of Leeds Simon Dixon The Sir Bernard Pares Professor of Russian History at UCL And Shane O'Rourke Senior Lecturer in History at the University of York Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Next Episode

Persepolis

June 7, 2018

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51m

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of the great 'City of the Persians' founded by Darius I as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire that stretched from the Indus Valley to Egypt and the coast of the Black Sea. It was known as the richest city under the sun and was a centre at which the Empire's subject peoples paid tribute to a succession of Achaemenid leaders, until the arrival of Alexander III of Macedon who destroyed it by fire supposedly in revenge for the burning of the Acropolis in Athens.

The image above is a detail from a relief at the Apadana, the huge audience hall, and shows a lion attacking a bull.

With

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University

Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis Curator of Middle Eastern Coins at the British Museum

And

Lindsay Allen Lecturer in Greek and Near Eastern History at King's College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.