HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-10-27T10:46:13.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: How the Gunpowder Plot unravelled
items: Who laid the fuse for the Gunpowder Plot?
items: Beyond the podcast: Gunpowder plot
items: Bandits & blasphemers: crime in 17th century Scotland
items: The sinister secrets of Samuel Pepys
items: Jonathan Healey: “A connection was made between the rarefied world of the royal court and the politics of the street”
items: Maria of Modena: life of the week
items: Maria of Modena: The queen who started a revolution
items: Are your neighbours spying on you? In the 17th century they had the power to destroy your life
items: Scotland's season of the witch

How the Gunpowder Plot unravelled
type: item
date: 2025-10-26T08:00:01.000Z
creator: Danny Bird
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
description: Historian John Cooper explains how the Gunpowder Plot was exposed – and how the men behind it were hunted down and subjected to brutal punishment
encoded: In the autumn of 1605, Catholic conspirators believed they were about to strike a blow to the heart of the English state – but then a mysterious letter exposed their plan. In this second episode of our four-part series on the plot, Danny Bird speaks to historian John Cooper about the Gunpowder Plot’s dramatic collapse. They examine Fawkes’s arrest and forced confession, the grisly public trials and executions that followed, and how James VI & I turned the plot's failure into political dynamite – consolidating power and turning treason into an abiding warning to posterity. Want to know more about the Gunpowder Plot? Danny Bird has curated a selection of essential reading from the HistoryExtra and BBC History Magazine archive to help you explore the religious tensions, political intrigue and lasting impact of this infamous act of treason. Go beyond the podcast. John Cooper is the author of The Lost Chapel of Westminster: How a Royal Chapel Became the House of Commons (Apollo, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon

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Who laid the fuse for the Gunpowder Plot?
type: item
date: 2025-10-19T07:00:39.000Z
creator: Danny Bird
subject: Elizabethan
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
description: Historian John Cooper introduces us to the conspirators behind the infamous plot to blow up king and parliament
encoded: In the autumn of 1605, Robert Catesby and Guy Fawkes led a desperate band of Catholic gentlemen in one of history's most daring conspiracies. Having smuggled 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath the Palace of Westminster, their plan was to blow up James VI & I, along with the majority of England’s Protestant elite, paving the way for the restoration of Catholicism. In this first episode of our four-part series on the plot, Danny Bird speaks to historian John Cooper to uncover a world of persecution, espionage and faith-driven extremism. They unfurl the conspirators’ bold plan and interrogate the powerful spy networks of late Elizabethan and early Jacobean England that set the scene for an explosive act of treason. Want to know more about the Gunpowder Plot? Danny Bird has curated a selection of essential reading from the HistoryExtra and BBC History Magazine archive to help you explore the religious tensions, political intrigue and lasting impact of this infamous act of treason. Go beyond the podcast. John Cooper is the author of The Lost Chapel of Westminster: How a Royal Chapel Became the House of Commons (Apollo, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon

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Beyond the podcast: Gunpowder plot
type: item
date: 2025-10-16T14:04:43.000Z
creator: Danny Bird
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
description: Want to delve further into the world of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot? HistoryExtra's Danny Bird rounds up some essential reading to help you explore the religious tensions, political intrigue and lasting impact of this infamous act of treason
encoded: "Remember, remember the 5th of November…’ The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 ranks among the most audacious acts of treason in British history – a dramatic attempt by a small group of disaffected Catholics to blow up King James I and parliament, not long after the new Stuart regime took the throne. In a new HistoryExtra podcast series, available weekly from Sunday 19 October 2025, I join Professor John Cooper for a four-part series that brings this fraught, combustible moment into sharp relief, exploring the motives, betrayals and what-could-have-been consequences of this explosive act of treason. Below I've selected some essential further reading from the BBC History Magazine and HistoryExtra archives that is intended to deepen your understanding of the religious tensions, political intrigue, and continuing legacy surrounding the plot. Whether you want to trace the conspirators’ inner motivations, follow how the scheme unraveled, or explore its echoes in later British culture, these articles will guide you further into one of early modern England’s most fascinating stories.

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Bandits & blasphemers: crime in 17th century Scotland
type: item
date: 2025-10-13T07:00:15.000Z
creator: Emily Briffett
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
description: Allan Kennedy unpacks what looking at crime and punishment can reveal about Scottish values in the 17th century
encoded: Which crimes were most common in Scotland in the 17th century – and what can those crimes reveal about society at the time? In today's episode, we're delving into a world of violence, vengeance, bandits and blasphemers, as historian Allan Kennedy speaks to Emily Briffett about his recent book Serious Crime in Late Seventeenth-Century Scotland. He explores what constituted a crime, who committed them, and how justice was pursued in a society shaped by intense religiosity and complex legal systems. Allan Kennedy is the author of Serious Crime in Late Seventeenth-Century Scotland (Edinburgh University Press, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon

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The sinister secrets of Samuel Pepys
type: item
date: 2025-09-12T08:00:15.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Historical people
description: His diaries are revered for their kaleidoscopic evocation of Restoration England. Yet a fresh analysis of Pepys’ world-famous journals – carried out by Guy de la Bédoyère – reveals a man with a proclivity for coercion and sexual violence
encoded: Samuel Pepys is England’s most celebrated diarist. Between 1 January 1660 and 31 May 1669, he recorded his day-to-day life in fascinating and illuminating detail. He wrote about his relationship with his wife, Elizabeth, and the frustrations of managing his household and the servants. He left first-hand accounts of the plague epidemic that likely claimed around 100,000 lives in the capital in 1665–66, and of the Great Fire of London that followed. He has come down through the years as one of the key primary sources for anyone trying to understand the early Restoration era. But there was a dark side to Pepys’ writings, which was never intended to be made public. He described a sordid litany of sexual encounters ranging from his relationships with long-term mistresses to his assaults on maids, including members of his own staff. In an era when corruption was commonplace, Pepys also wrote about using his position as a civilian naval official to coerce sexual services from women seeking promotion for their husbands or payment of unpaid wages. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/09/GettyImages-660416773webready-b8ec9d0.jpg" width="3680" height="2453" alt="London blazes in a colourised woodcut depicting the Great Fire of 1666, published the following year. Pepys’ diaries include valuable first-hand accounts of such events – but also explicit details of his often troubling personal activities (Image by Getty Images)" title="London blazes in a colourised woodcut depicting the Great Fire of 1666, published the following year. Pepys’ diaries include valuable first-hand accounts of such events – but also explicit details of his often troubling personal activities (Image by Getty Images)" /> Take the events of 18 February 1667, a day when Pepys met in his office with Elizabeth Burrows, who was around 30 years old and the widow of a naval lieutenant killed in action in 1665. Pepys had promised her financial assistance. His diary entry – tell…

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Jonathan Healey: “A connection was made between the rarefied world of the royal court and the politics of the street”
type: item
date: 2025-08-25T08:00:36.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Historical events
subject: Historical people
subject: Stuart kings and queens
description: Jonathan Healey tells Ellie Cawthorne about the dramatic moments that sparked the breakdown of Charles I’s relationship with parliament and the outbreak of the Civil War
encoded: Ellie Cawthorne: Why was the winter of 1641–42 such a pivotal time in British and Irish history? Jonathan Healey: In the heart of that winter came one of the most iconic moments in English political history. On 4 January 1642, angry at dissent from parliament, King Charles I marched down to the House of Commons and tried to arrest five MPs. I wanted to tell the backstory of that dramatic, divisive moment. The lead-up had been a really intense period of political strife, popular protest and gradually growing disorder, all of which fed into a very frightening political crisis. Afterwards, the country descended into civil war. Often when we read books about great revolutions or political events, we look at the deep, long-term causes. However, though that’s important, we also need to recognise trigger moments. Day-by-day or minute-by-minute, it’s often incredibly difficult to see which way things will go – but, as a historian, it’s important to immerse yourself in those turning points. Can you give us a sense of how parliament functioned at the time? In the early 17th century, parliament didn’t sit regularly – it was called only when the king needed it. Its role was essentially twofold: to grant taxes, particularly for war, and to propose legislation. That legislation would then get signed off by the king, which was how new laws were made. But increasingly, in the 17th century, parliament started discussing issues of high politics such as foreign policy. In the view of the king, this went beyond its remit – monarchs in this period believed that they alone had the right to decide on foreign policy. However, because they represented the taxpayers who had to pay for the wars, members of parliament felt that they should have a say. That created a flashpoint. In the 1620s, a series of conflicts had erupted between parliament and the monarchy over issues such as tax, religion and the crown’s right to imprison people without charge. The relationship between king and parliament…

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height: 1181

Maria of Modena: life of the week
type: item
date: 2025-08-12T06:30:47.000Z
creator: Elinor Evans
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Life of the week (podcast series)
description: Breeze Barrington explores the extraordinary story of Maria of Modena – the Italian-born queen consort to James VII and II – and considers how her controversial childbirth in 1688 paved the way for the Glorious Revolution
encoded: Born into Italian nobility and raised with quiet ambitions of becoming a nun, Maria (or Mary) of Modena was thrust on to the European political stage as a teenage bride to James, Duke of York, who was later crowned as James VII of Scotland and II of England. Talking to Elinor Evans, cultural historian Breeze Barrington shares how Maria navigated a foreign court, vicious anti-Catholic sentiment, and personal loss, to emerge as a resilient and principled queen. Breeze Barrington is the author of The Graces: The Extraordinary Untold Lives of Women at the Restoration Court (Bloomsbury, 2025) Buy now on Bookshop.org Buy now on Amazon <a href="https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?id=489797&clickref=historyextra-288187&awinmid=3787&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fthe-graces%2Fbreeze-barrington%2F9781526663788%23%3A%7E%3Atext%3DThe%2520Graces%253A%2520The%2520Extraordinary%2520Untold%2Cat%2520the%2520Restoration%2520Court%2520%28Hardback%29%26text%3DA%2520spellbinding%2520work%2520of%2520history%2Cmisogyny%2520of%2520the%2520Restoration%2520court.#:~:text=The%20Graces%3A%20The%20Extraordinary%20Untold,at%20the%20Restoration%20Court%20(Hardback)&text=A%20spellbinding%20work%20of%20history,misogyny%20of%20the%20Restoration%20court." rel="sponsored" target="_blank">Buy now on Waterstones

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Maria of Modena: The queen who started a revolution
type: item
date: 2025-08-11T09:03:21.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Catholic
subject: Historical people
description: She was an Italian Catholic in a ferociously anti-papist English court. An aspiring nun in a hotbed of hedonism. Breeze Barrington follows the extraordinary trials and tribulations of James II & VII’s second wife, Maria of Modena
encoded: Shortly after the queen rose on 10 June 1688, she felt a familiar swell of pain. “Send for the king!” she called, while her ladies helped her back into bed. Maria (Mary) of Modena was in labour. Soon the room in St James’s Palace began to fill: some 70 people crowded in to watch the queen give birth. There was no screen to shield her, and the bedcurtains were kept open as she screamed in pain: “I die! Oh! You kill me! You kill me!” Her cries were so terrible that many said they could hardly bear to listen. Yet the king – James II & VII – exhorted the members of his council to come nearer, to look more closely. He had heard the rumours that the pregnancy was fake, and was determined to ensure that no one could say this child was not born of the queen. The sight of so many faces so close to Maria was overwhelming; she could not give birth with so many men looking on her, she said. But while James stooped to cover her face with his periwig, the rest of her body remained on full display – and everyone present witnessed that crucial moment. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/08/BAL405188-640310b.jpg" width="1772" height="1181" alt="A painting shows a queen dressed in an orange gown and blue robe sitting on a throne. To her right stands a small boy in blue tights and a red cloak. To her left, a young girl in a blue dress sits on a table. On the far right, a king, also in a blue robe and with a large wig on sits on another throne." title="A 1694 portrait of James II and Maria of Modena, with their two children, Louisa Maria Teresa (right) and James Francis Edward. After the Glorious Revolution, the family fled England for France (Image by Bridgeman Images)" /> That evening, the London Gazette reported the news to the citizens of the capital: “This day between 9 and 10 in the morning the Queen was safely delivered of a PRINCE.” Protestant England now had a Catholic heir – and a constitutional crisis. It did not take long for the crisis…

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height: 1181

Are your neighbours spying on you? In the 17th century they had the power to destroy your life
type: item
date: 2025-05-30T13:06:31.000Z
creator: Lauren Good
subject: General Early Modern
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Discover / Apple News
description: In early modern Britain, neighbourly gossip was the backbone of a court system that turned moments of privacy into public spectacle and shame
encoded: Everyone loves to gossip – hiding secrets, swapping stories, passing quiet judgement. But what if your neighbour’s whispers could land you in court? In the early modern period, as the Stuart dynasty rose and fell, people lived in close-knit communities where privacy was a rare and precious commodity. It was also something that often aroused deep suspicion. It was in this context that bawdy courts, a Kafkaesque phenomenon unique to the era, thrived. Fuelled by neighbours who watched your every move, these tribunals could be triggered simply because you’d spent too much time alone, with potentially devastating social consequences. What were bawdy courts? These were ecclesiastical tribunals that thrived in the early 17th century, tasked with enforcing Christian moral conduct and turning ordinary people into judges. They earned the name ‘bawdy courts’ because they were often concerned with salacious cases, with jurisdiction over everything from adultery and fornication to seemingly minor violations like dancing on the Sabbath or failing to attend church. A strange blend of justice and spectacle, they institutionalised the human impulse to observe, judge and meddle. Read more | Stuart Britain: what was life like for ordinary people? At one tribunal held in Easter 1618 for instance, a man appeared for keeping his alehouse open during church services, accused of doing so to tempt the congregation to his establishment instead of places of worship. There are also examples of more violent crimes, like that of Roger Lodes, a curate, who drew his dagger in the churchyard against a man named Thomas Atkinson. Witness or voyeur? Perhaps the most remarkable element of this system wasn’t the crimes themselves but rather how they were discovered. Far from relying on confession or official investigation, these courts were powered by community surveillance. As sociologist and author Tiffany Jenkins describes on an episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, neighbours essentially spied on eac…

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Scotland's season of the witch
type: item
date: 2025-05-02T08:00:54.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Witches
description: In 16th and 17th-century Scotland, many hundreds of ‘witches’ were put to death – 10 times the proportion executed in England. Martha McGill asks what drove the killings
encoded: In November 1590, a servant named Geillis Duncan from East Lothian was interrogated by her employer, David Seton. According to Newes from Scotland, a 1591 pamphlet that included a report of the case, Geillis used to sneak out of her master’s house at night. She also “took in hand to help all such as were troubled or grieved with any kind of sickness or infirmity” and performed “many matters most miraculous”. Suspicions aroused, Seton questioned Duncan about how she worked her cures. When she gave no answer, he tortured her with thumbscrews and by “binding or wrenching her head with a cord or rope”. Still she remained silent. Finally, Seton and others searched her for a ‘devil’s mark’ – a blemish or insensitive spot created by Satan – and found one on her throat. She broke down and confessed “that all her doings were done by the wicked allurements and enticements of the devil, and that she did them by witchcraft”. Witchcraft had been criminalised in 1563, and there had been a handful of prosecutions since. But Duncan’s confession kicked off something new – Scotland’s first large-scale witch-hunt. What’s striking about this panic over supposed black magic is just how much more intense and lethal it was than witch-hunting in other European countries – perhaps most notably England. Read more | Why was King James VI and I obsessed with witch hunts? Following her interrogation (involving torture), Geillis Duncan claimed to have participated in a night-time witches’ gathering, also known as a sabbat, at North Berwick kirk. She alleged that other locals were present, and as many as 70 people were ultimately accused. Their confessions detailed bizarre and alarming practices. Supposedly they had sailed across the sea in sieves, meeting at the kirk to dance and sing. The devil had preached from the pulpit, and they had kissed his buttocks. Some of the accused also claimed to have attacked King James VI, casting spells to harm him or raising storms to sink his ships. Newes from…

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