HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2026-05-01T13:19:53.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Margaret Beaufort catapulted the Tudors to the throne. But that wasn’t her original plan
items: History's Greatest Battles: The Wars of the Roses
items: History's Greatest Battles: Bosworth
items: History's Greatest Battles: Tewkesbury
items: History's Greatest Battles: Barnet
items: History's Greatest Battles: Towton
items: History's Greatest Battles: The First Battle of St Albans
items: It felt like the end of the world, but this medieval ‘apocalypse’ left a legacy no one saw coming
items: The final mystery of Richard III: how 21st-century science cracked a 500-year-old cold case
items: Henry III and the Magna Carta that mattered

Margaret Beaufort catapulted the Tudors to the throne. But that wasn’t her original plan
type: item
date: 2026-05-01T13:19:53.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
subject: Tudor
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: Before Bosworth, Margaret Beaufort’s actions were shaped less by maternal devotion to Henry Tudor than by trauma – and the harsh reality of shifting politics
encoded: Who was responsible for the ascendency of the Tudor dynasty, defining over a century of English history? There might not be a single answer – but Margaret Beaufort must surely take as much credit as anyone. Often depicted as a Game of Thrones-like schemer, Beaufort could be portrayed as a calculating woman who orchestrated the rise of her son, later Henry VII – and in doing so, sank the fortunes of the Plantagenets while simultaneously ending decades of ferocious civil war. But how much of that view rests on hindsight? Speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, historian Lauren Johnson explains that, rather than following a carefully drawn blueprint for royal success, Margaret’s manoeuvring was born out of constant – though certainly canny – adaptation to changing and dangerous circumstances. Her relationship with her son, and her ambitions for his future, developed gradually. Indeed, in the first phase of her motherhood she seemed to want nothing to do with him. A kingdom in crisis Henry was born during the opening phase of the Wars of the Roses, which rumbled on for some three decades from 1455. This was a series of intermittent conflicts between rival branches of the English royal family: the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Both factions claimed descent from King Edward III, and competed for the throne. Henry Tudor’s claim came through his young mother. Margaret was a descendant of John of Gaunt, a son of Edward III, though through a line that had originally been barred from royal succession. This made Henry’s claim relatively weak, especially compared with rival Yorkist claimants. At the time of his birth, there was no clear expectation that he would ever become king. Read more | Married three times by the age of 15: Margaret Beaufort, the woman who birthed the Tudor Dynasty Henry was born on 28 January 1457 at Pembroke Castle, south Wales. His mother, Margaret, was only 13 years old. In the 15th century, noble girls were technically eligible for marriage a…

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History's Greatest Battles: The Wars of the Roses
type: item
date: 2026-04-14T15:59:58.000Z
creator: Kev Lochun
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
description: Emily Briffett and historian and author Lauren Johnson explore the most momentous clashes of the Wars of the Roses, the 15th-century struggle for the English throne that ushered in the Tudor dynasty
encoded: History’s Greatest Battles returns with a new run, focusing on that blood-soaked 15th-century struggle for the English throne: the Wars of the Roses. In the company of historian Lauren Johnson, Emily Briffett revisits five of the most gripping clashes of this dynastic showdown. Along the way, they spotlight the decisive moments and power players who flipped fate on its head, and explore what these brutal encounters reveal about power, propaganda and survival in late medieval England. How might history have twisted differently if a single charge, arrow or act of treachery had gone another way?

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History's Greatest Battles: Bosworth
type: item
date: 2026-04-14T15:53:50.000Z
creator: Emily Briffett
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
subject: History's Greatest Battles (podcast series)
description: Dr Lauren Johnson and Emily Briffett round off our series on the Wars of the Roses with Bosworth, the battle that ushered in the Tudor dynasty
encoded: In 1485, England stood at a crossroads, scarred by decades of civil war. Against this grim backdrop, two armies headed for a fateful confrontation: one led by a battle-hardened king determined to ensure the success of a dynasty he had fought to protect for years; the other by a new challenger in an old conflict. In this final episode of our History’s Greatest Battles series charting the Wars of the Roses, Emily Briffett is joined by historian and author Lauren Johnson to explore how, in one fateful meeting on one remarkable day, a new king would be crowned – and history would never look the same again. History’s Greatest Battles is produced by HistoryExtra, the home of ‘History’s Greatest’ podcasts. Listen to our other podcasts: History's Greatest Dishes, History’s Greatest Conspiracy Theories, History’s Greatest Scandals, History’s Greatest Cities and HistoryExtra Long Reads.

History's Greatest Battles: Tewkesbury
type: item
date: 2026-04-14T15:53:48.000Z
creator: Emily Briffett
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
subject: History's Greatest Battles (podcast series)
description: Dr Lauren Johnson and Emily Briffett consider the blood and brutality of the battle of Tewkesbury, where the Lancastrian cause was broken
encoded: Survivors desperately fleeing to the apparent safety of a nearby abbey. A young prince on the brink of death. A dynasty on the precipice. The battle of Tewkesbury, which played out during May 1471, certainly had its fair share of high drama, and high stakes, as armies clashed and the Lancastrian cause was shattered. In this fourth episode of our History’s Greatest Battles series charting the Wars of the Roses, Emily Briffett joins historian and author Lauren Johnson to consider those remarkable events – and their legacy. History’s Greatest Battles is produced by HistoryExtra, the home of ‘History’s Greatest’ podcasts. Listen to our other podcasts: History's Greatest Dishes, History’s Greatest Conspiracy Theories, History’s Greatest Scandals, History’s Greatest Cities and HistoryExtra Long Reads.

History's Greatest Battles: Barnet
type: item
date: 2026-04-14T15:53:46.000Z
creator: Emily Briffett
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
subject: History's Greatest Battles (podcast series)
description: Dr Lauren Johnson and Emily Briffett travel delve into the fog of war of the battle of Barnet
encoded: April 1471: a thick, blinding fog smothered the fields near Barnet, swallowing banners, muffling orders and turning friend into foe. Opposing armies became disoriented – and then one mistake proved fatal. In this third episode of our History’s Greatest Battles series charting the Wars of the Roses, Emily Briffett joins historian and author Lauren Johnson to chronicle the clash at Barnet, in which lines buckled and trust collapsed. History’s Greatest Battles is produced by HistoryExtra, the home of ‘History’s Greatest’ podcasts. Listen to our other podcasts: History's Greatest Dishes, History’s Greatest Conspiracy Theories, History’s Greatest Scandals, History’s Greatest Cities and HistoryExtra Long Reads.

History's Greatest Battles: Towton
type: item
date: 2026-04-14T15:53:44.000Z
creator: Emily Briffett
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
subject: History's Greatest Battles (podcast series)
description: Dr Lauren Johnson and Emily Briffett travel to 1461 and the frost and fury of the battle of Towton
encoded: In the bitter spring of 1461, the freezing fields of Yorkshire became a blood-soaked battlefield in which two rivals fought for the throne of a divided nation. But who would emerge victorious? In this second episode of our History’s Greatest Battles series charting the Wars of the Roses, Emily Briffett joins historian and author Lauren Johnson at the 1461 battle of Towton. History’s Greatest Battles is produced by HistoryExtra, the home of ‘History’s Greatest’ podcasts. Listen to our other podcasts: History's Greatest Dishes, History’s Greatest Conspiracy Theories, History’s Greatest Scandals, History’s Greatest Cities and HistoryExtra Long Reads.

History's Greatest Battles: The First Battle of St Albans
type: item
date: 2026-04-14T15:53:36.000Z
creator: Emily Briffett
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
subject: History's Greatest Battles (podcast series)
description: Dr Lauren Johnson and Emily Briffett explore the clash that ignited the Wars of the Roses: the First Battle of St Albans
encoded: History’s Greatest Battles is back! This time around, Emily Briffett and historian and author Lauren Johnson will be chronicling the most momentous clashes of the Wars of the Roses. In this first episode, they explore 1455’s First Battle of St Albans, a bitter brawl that sparked a dynastic struggle and set in motion a chain of events that would redefine power in England for centuries to come. History’s Greatest Battles is produced by HistoryExtra, the home of ‘History’s Greatest’ podcasts. Listen to our other podcasts: History's Greatest Dishes, History’s Greatest Conspiracy Theories, History’s Greatest Scandals, History’s Greatest Cities and HistoryExtra Long Reads.

It felt like the end of the world, but this medieval ‘apocalypse’ left a legacy no one saw coming
type: item
date: 2025-07-17T15:32:48.000Z
creator: James Osborne
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: Historian Helen Carr explores the disastrous 14th century, a time when famine, war, pestilence and rebellion took medieval England to the brink of collapse
encoded: In 14th-century England, the prevailing experience wasn’t of medieval splendour, of chivalric knights, illuminated manuscripts and mighty monarchs. Rather, according to historian Helen Carr, speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, it was a time of continuous catastrophe. From the early 1300s to the century’s close, England endured a sequence of calamities so severe and overlapping, that to many it felt like the end of the world had arrived. “The greatest human catastrophe, the Black Death, happened in the 14th century. That was also a period of famine and two major wars. I think it's reasonable that it’s been called the ‘calamitous century’.” But while this period of a hundred years is often defined by collapse, it was also a century that laid the foundations of immense social and cultural transformations that created the framework for a better future. A very wet disaster The first crisis of the 14th century was brought about by rainfall of biblical proportions. Beginning in 1315, England was struck by years of near-continuous rain that resulted in widespread crop failure. What followed was the Great Famine, a disaster that ravaged much of northern Europe, but hit England particularly hard. Harvests failed and food stores ran dry. Grain prices soared. Disease wiped out herds of livestock. Entire villages “ceased to exist because of the famine”, says Carr, and they disappeared from the record. Read more | Britain's Little Ice Age The “appalling situation”, says Carr, “often gets overshadowed by the Black Death, but the famine was pretty bad as well,” Carr explains. “It just constantly rained.” Malnutrition made the population more vulnerable to disease, and the social fabric began to fray. In some regions, reports of theft, cannibalism and infanticide spread. Though the rains would eventually ease by 1317, the memory of the disaster, and the collapse precipitated by it, remained stark and keenly felt. But the population would have little time to recover. <img src="http…

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The final mystery of Richard III: how 21st-century science cracked a 500-year-old cold case
type: item
date: 2025-04-11T11:43:50.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
description: Turi King led the verification team that worked on Richard III’s rediscovered remains. Here, on the 10th anniversary of the king’s reburial service, she reveals how science finally solved a 500-year-old cold case
encoded: History isn't often made in car parks. Yet in the early autumn of 2012, something remarkable was in the air – or, should I say, under the ground. On Wednesday 5 September, 13 years ago, an archaeologist and osteologist called Jo Appleby could be found crouching over a skeleton in what had once been the medieval church of the Greyfriars in Leicester – now an unremarkable car park. Jo was clad head-to-toe in white overalls, wearing a face mask, and giving the human remains below her every last drop of her attention. The reasons for Jo’s great care would soon become all-too evident. The skeleton over which she crouched had lain under the soil for more than 500 years – and it would yield one of the most remarkable historical discoveries of the 21st century. Jo could tell a few things about the skeleton as she, bone by bone, brought it into the light. This appeared to be a male, with injuries incurred at or around the time of death – injuries that could have been sustained in battle. He was aged in his twenties or thirties. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/03/GettyImages-160632583cmyk-7409349.jpg" width="4400" height="2355" alt="Dr Jo Appleby points to an image of the skull of Britain's King Richard III, during a press conference at the university in central England, on February 4, 2013. (Photo by Andrew Cowie/AFP via Getty Images)" title="Dr Jo Appleby points to an image of the skull of Britain's King Richard III, during a press conference at the university in central England, on February 4, 2013. (Photo by Andrew Cowie/AFP via Getty Images)" /> Yet it was when Jo uncovered the spine – and noticed that it was curved – that, as she later told me, the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end. Could this skeleton be the remains of Richard III, the monarch so famously described by Shakespeare as a “bunch-back’d toad”? It looked promising. But we had to prove it. Quiz | Richard III quiz: how much do you know about the last …

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Henry III and the Magna Carta that mattered
type: item
date: 2025-02-20T16:19:13.000Z
creator: Professor David Carpenter
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
description: King John’s sealing of a charter at Runnymede in 1215 is one of the most feted moments of the Middle Ages. Yet, writes David Carpenter, it was the charter issued by his son 10 years later that became fundamental to England’s history
encoded: February 2025 marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. But wait – surely we already commemorated that milestone in 2015? Certainly, on 15 June that year, the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the archbishop of Canterbury, prime minister David Cameron and assorted dignitaries gathered at Runnymede. At the meadow by the Thames between Windsor and Staines, they celebrated the charter King John had sealed there exactly 800 years earlier. That document, sealed under duress from rebel barons and famously subjecting the king to the law and promising justice to all, is widely lauded today as a milestone in the establishment of English law. Read more | What did Magna Carta mean to the English in 1215? Yet the fact is that, in the centuries after 1215, the term Magna Carta was hardly ever used for John’s document. Rather, that was the name given to the charter issued nearly a decade later by King John’s son, Henry III, at Westminster on 11 February 1225. Although Henry’s charter was based on his father’s, the earlier iteration was usually called simply the ‘Charter of Runnymede’. So when, in 1297 and 1300, Henry’s son Edward I confirmed Magna Carta, he meant the charter of 1225 – and the same was true of all later confirmations. Indeed, though most of its provisions have since been repealed, those chapters that remain on the statute book of the UK today are from the 1225 version. So how did the Charter of Runnymede in 1215 become Magna Carta in 1225? On the podcast | Are we celebrating the wrong Magna Carta? Abandoned promises At the end of 1215 any progression beyond the Charter of Runnymede would have seemed unlikely, for it appeared to be a failure without a future – quashed by the pope, at the king’s behest. It had also, in effect, been abandoned by the rebel barons. Having failed to hold the king to its terms, they had taken another route: they deposed John and offered the throne to Louis, eldest son of the king of France. Louis came to England in May 1216, on a wave of s…

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