HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-08-11T09:03:21.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Maria of Modena: The queen who started a revolution
items: How are popes elected? Here's what happens after a pope dies
items: How to build a radical: what the Gunpowder Plot can teach us about extremism today
items: The 17th-century expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain: what happened?
items: How to become a saint
items: Why did the papacy move to Avignon in the 14th century?
items: Catholics in Elizabethan England
items: Britain’s Catholic emancipation
items: Taxing Catholics: how one Georgian government targeted a religious community
items: Why are bishops called Pontiffs?

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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How are popes elected? Here's what happens after a pope dies
type: item
date: 2025-04-21T09:09:01.000Z
creator: Nige Tassell
subject: General History
subject: Period
description: What comes after a pope dies? Step through the doors of Vatican into the conclave – the secretive, ritualistic and sometimes scandalous process that turns a cardinal into the next pontiff
encoded: From the death (or more rarely, resignation) of a pope to the famous white smoke drifting out of a Sistine Chapel chimney, the centuries-old process of electing a new pope is defined by ritual and ceremony, but also secrecy. Taking place behind closed doors, it falls to an assembly of cardinals – a conclave – to vote for the new head of the Catholic Church. What happens when a pope dies? The death of a pope has to be confirmed by a medic, but it is only official once a particular action is taken by the camerlengo – the cardinal who oversees the running of the Vatican’s property and revenue. The camerlengo calls out the pope’s baptismal name three times and only when he receives no response can he declare the death. Traditionally, the camerlengo have also tapped the pontiff’s head with a silver hammer. He then notifies both senior church officials and the general public. The pope’s apartment will be locked – according to a historic practice that prevented looting – and preparations are made for the symbolic destruction of the pope’s ring and seal, signalling the end of his authority. The pope must be buried between four and six days after the death, while the official period of mourning is observed for nine days. Not long after that, the cardinals gather for the conclave. How is a new pope chosen? The conclave explained A conclave is the gathering of cardinals summoned to the Vatican to elect a new pope. Not all members of the College of Cardinals, the most senior clergy of the Catholic Church below the papacy itself, are eligible to participate due to age restrictions. The word derives from the Latin for ‘with a key’, referring to how the cardinals are literally shut away from the wider world while they vote. Conclaves nearly always take place in the event of a pope’s death. Since Gregory XII in 1415, there has only been one papal resignation: Benedict XVI, who, in 2013, left the Holy See citing his advanced age. Read more | Holy smoke, antipopes and power struggles…

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How to build a radical: what the Gunpowder Plot can teach us about extremism today
type: item
date: 2025-01-23T11:09:00.000Z
creator: Lucy Worsley
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Catholic
subject: Stuart kings and queens
description: The experiences that shaped Guy Fawkes and his Gunpowder Plot co-conspirators into violent extremists seem all too familiar today. Lucy Worsley tells a story of religious clashes, state-sanctioned torture and comrades-in-arms willing to die for the cause
encoded: Towards the end of 1605, a man was being interrogated in a smallish building deep within the fortress of the Tower of London. It was here, in the most secure place in Britain, that the state dealt with its enemies. This particular enemy of the state was named Guy Fawkes. The records of that interrogation are today among the treasures of the National Archives, and going there to film them for the new series of Lucy Worsley Investigates was an unbelievable thrill. It’s evident that a secretary recorded Fawkes’s words, and that the conspirator was asked to sign his name to verify that the record was accurate. On one page, his signature is clear and confident: Guido Fawkes. Two days later, though, his name is no more than the faintest of scrawls. Historians generally agree that this difference is because, in the time between scribbling the two signatures, he’d been tortured and had lost the use of his hands. A few weeks later, he would also lose his life. Guy Fawkes and his Gunpowder Plot conspirators It’s quite extraordinary to think that, 400 years later, this tale of violence has morphed into an annual occasion for family-friendly fun. The reason for lighting bonfires and fireworks on the fifth of November is now largely forgotten. Technically, we’re celebrating the foiling of a plot against King James VI & I, planned by Catholic extremists whom many would call terrorists. Read more | Remember remember the 5th of November: why Bonfire Night is a 400-year-old political hot potato If you step off a London Underground train at Charing Cross, you can admire an enormous tiled image of the gunpowder plotters that takes up the whole height of the platform wall. Seen by thousands of commuters, tourists and schoolkids on a London day out, the image of the conspirators – with their tall hats, flowing locks and furtive body language – makes them look like a rather stylish rock band. But with violence and religious extremism wreaking havoc round the globe today, it seems timely …

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The 17th-century expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain: what happened?
type: item
date: 2020-10-13T12:17:51.000Z
subject: General Early Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Stuart
subject: Period
subject: Catholic
subject: Islam
description: In 1609, Spain initiated the expulsion of 300,000 'Moriscos' - descendants of Muslims converted to Christianity - in what was then among the largest forced depopulations in history. Matt Carr explores divergent experiences of an early exercise in 'ethnic cleansing'
encoded: On 4 April 1609, the Habsburg king Philip III of Spain and his corrupt, all-powerful first minister, the Duke of Lerma, authorised the phased expulsion of the entire population of the people known as Moriscos (‘Little Moors’) from Iberian soil. These were all nominal Catholics, their ancestors having been forcibly converted to Christianity in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The king’s order was not made public, in order to preclude flight or rebellion, and stipulated that the expulsion should begin that autumn in the kingdom of Valencia – home to the largest Morisco population in Spain. Throughout the spring and summer, Spanish officials worked in total secrecy to prepare for the expulsion of the Valencian Moriscos. Spanish naval ships and specially commissioned foreign ships from across Europe were brought to designated ports on the Valencian coast. Soldiers and militia forces stockpiled weapons throughout Valencia and also inland in Castile to prevent the Moriscos from retreating into the interior. On 24 September, town criers in the city of Valencia accused the kingdom’s entire Morisco population of apostasy, heresy and “divine and human lese-majesty”, and announced the king’s intention to expel them to Barbary (as the north African coast was then known) to ensure the “conservation and security” of his realms. The persecution of Jews in medieval England Perilous journeys Over the following three days, Morisco families and communities across the kingdom frantically attempted to gather their possessions and sell them to their Christian neighbours before they were escorted by the king’s officers to their designated ports. Not all acquiesced quietly: in October, thousands of Moriscos in the Valencian interior launched a doomed rebellion that was quickly and brutally suppressed. Your guide to the Spanish Inquisition At the coast, some were taken immediately on board the waiting ships and shipped across the Mediterranean to Barbary. Others waited for days and e…

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How to become a saint
type: item
date: 2019-10-03T08:44:37.000Z
subject: General ancient history
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Tudor
subject: Catholic
subject: Medieval Life and Death
description: What does it take to be declared a person of exceptional holiness? Historian Emma J Wells explains how to enter the holy A-List…
encoded: Cardinal John Newman’s canonisation in 2019 was no small deal for us Brits: he is Britain’s first saint in more than 30 years (and the first to be canonised who has lived since the 17th century). The last were John Ogilvie, a Scottish Jesuit priest hanged for treasonable activities (namely declining the king’s authority) in 1615, and the famed Forty Martyrs (Catholics executed under Reformation laws), canonised in the 1970s. It was Newman’s journey from ordained Anglican priest to leader of the Oxford Movement before a conversion to Catholicism in 1845 that secured him the supreme title of saint: a person of exceptional holiness. Gaining this special status as one who demonstrates a life of almost perfect virtue is no easy feat. But, if you think sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church might be for you, here are some tips on how to enter the holy A-List… Medieval saints and sinners: tales of saintly miracles in the Middle Ages Don’t bother befriending the pope To start, don’t even think about reeling off a quick email to the pope. He doesn’t have the supreme jurisdiction to promote you to this exclusive club. That’s the canny job of the Vatican group exclusively created to sanction the official canonisation process to authorise people for sainthood: The Congregation for the Causes of Saints. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2019/10/GettyImages-1173047460-4bf873f.jpg" width="5356" height="3318" alt="Pope Francis waves to worshipers as he arrives to hold the weekly general audience on 2 October 2019 at St Peter's square in the Vatican. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images)" title="Pope Francis waves to worshipers as he arrives to hold the weekly general audience on 2 October 2019 at St Peter's square in the Vatican. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images)" /> Don’t expect sainthood in your lifetime Some more bad news: wannabe-saints have to shuffle off their mortal coils to be in the running. As the entire point is consid…

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Why did the papacy move to Avignon in the 14th century?
type: item
date: 2019-09-08T11:00:15.000Z
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Catholic
subject: Family and parenting
description: The Italian capital city of Rome took an unprecedented break in the 14th century when the residence of the papacy relocated to the French city of Avignon. BBC History Revealed explains why
encoded: From 1309 to 1377, the Italian capital took an unprecedented break as the residence of the papacy, which relocated to the French city of Avignon. French-born Pope Clement V ordered the move in response to the increasingly fractious and political environment in Rome, which had seen his predecessors face off against Philip IV of France – the man who had ensured Clement’s election by the conclave and who was pressing for the papal residence to move to France. Everything you need to know about the Holy Roman Empire Europe's holy war: how the Reformation convulsed a continent The influence of the French crown over the Roman Catholic Church was significant. Not only did Clement choose Lyon as the site of his coronation in 1305, but all six of his successors in the Avignon Papacy and 111 of the 134 cardinals installed at this time were French. The idea that these popes were puppets for France, whether entirely true or not, hurt the Church’s reputation. But things only got worse. When Gregory XI returned the papal court to Rome in 1377, many of the cardinals weren’t happy with that decision, or with his successor, Urban VI. They chose an alternative pope to continue in Avignon. This was the start of the Great Schism, 40 turbulent years when the papacy in Rome was challenged by a line of rival claimants. This article was first published in the September 2019 issue of BBC History Revealed

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Catholics in Elizabethan England
type: item
date: 2018-07-26T14:26:06.000Z
subject: Elizabethan
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Catholic
subject: Religion in Elizabethan England
subject: Tudor kings and queens
description: Jessie Childs tells the story of Tudor gentleman Thomas Tresham whose faith set him at odds with the Virgin Queen
encoded: Historian Jessie Childs tells the story of Thomas Tresham, a Tudor gentleman who built a remarkable monument to his Catholic faith and risked the anger of the Virgin Queen

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Britain’s Catholic emancipation
type: item
date: 2018-06-07T16:22:45.000Z
subject: Georgian
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Catholic
description: Antonia Fraser discusses her new book The King and the Catholics: The Fight for Rights 1829
encoded: Acclaimed historian and author Antonia Fraser joins us to discuss her new book The King and the Catholics: The Fight for Rights 1829.

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Taxing Catholics: how one Georgian government targeted a religious community
type: item
date: 2015-09-08T04:00:00.000Z
subject: Georgian
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Catholic
description: When the British government discovered a plot to kill George I, it responded by demanding money from an entire religious community. Ted Vallance describes what happened next...
encoded: In April 1722, Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole received news of a plot to restore the exiled Stuart dynasty to the British throne. The conspirators, a horrified Walpole learned, hoped to seize power through a series of co-ordinated local risings in England. Meanwhile, leading Jacobites, such as the exiled Irish soldier the Duke of Ormond, would land invasion forces in Scotland and south-west England. Walpole acted fast, ordering the opening of post to smoke out further evidence of the conspiracy. However, it was not until the summer that he discovered any substantial evidence of the plot, in the form of a series of letters penned by Christopher Layer, a Norfolk lawyer who acted as an agent for the Jacobite lord William North. These letters contained detailed plans for the rebellion and the assassination of King George. The authorities arrested Layer and other leading plotters – including Francis Atterbury, bishop of Rochester, after whom the plot would derive its name – and had the lawyer hanged, drawn and quartered for treason on 17 May 1723 (his severed head was reportedly later sold to the antiquary Richard Rawlinson). Read more | The Gordon Riots: how an anti-Catholic petition escalated into the most destructive riots in London’s history Yet Layer’s intransigence – he repeatedly refused to implicate his co-conspirators, despite having the possibility of a reprieve repeatedly dangled before him – meant that there was not enough evidence to put Atterbury himself on trial. Instead, Walpole forced through parliament a special act designed to inflict severe punishments less than death on an individual deemed guilty of serious offences. As a result, Atterbury was stripped of his bishopric and sentenced to perpetual banishment. Walpole’s prosecution of the plot, however, did not end with the punishment of the leading Jacobites. Habeas Corpus – a writ that was often seen to offer protection from arbitrary imprisonment – probably pre-dated Magna Carta, and was enshrine…

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Why are bishops called Pontiffs?
type: item
date: 2014-03-27T11:17:04.000Z
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Catholic
description: The term ‘Pontiff’ comes from the Latin title Pontifex maximus, which was traditionally awarded to the high priest of Rome
encoded: The origins of the title, which may literally be translated as ‘the greatest (maximus) bridge-builder / maker of bridges (pons facere)’ are obscure. Christ’s communists: the radical religious sect that challenged the Holy Roman Empire Roman Britain’s greatest rebel It may have initially been used as an acknowledgement of the importance of the man whose job it was to oversee the spanning of the sacred river Tiber, or it may have been intended to convey a more symbolic role, an official whose job it was to act as a bridge between the human world and that of the gods. The chief priest had many important duties, including the overseeing of the state calendar, the regulation of marriage and the supervision of public morals. According to Roman legend, the first Pontifex maximus was Numa Marcius, appointed by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, in around 700 BC. Augustus, the first emperor, took control of the priesthood in 13 BC, the title becoming one of many used by successive heads of the Roman State, Pope Leo I acquiring it in the mid 5th century. Today the term ‘Pontiff’ is used to describe any bishop, the Pope having the official title of ‘Supreme Pontiff of the whole Church’ (Summus Pontifex Ecclesiae Universalis). This article was taken from BBC History Revealed magazine

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