HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2025-11-13T14:43:17.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: The lie of succession: did James I steal Elizabeth I's crown?
items: Jonathan Healey: “A connection was made between the rarefied world of the royal court and the politics of the street”
items: How to build a radical: what the Gunpowder Plot can teach us about extremism today
items: Why was King James VI and I obsessed with witch hunts?
items: Killers of the king: the men who dared to execute Charles I
items: Oliver Cromwell: the secret of his military genius
items: History quiz – witchcraft and superstition
items: From Nell to Meghan: 10 romances between actors and royals
items: The art of a king
items: A deadly royal favourite?

The lie of succession: did James I steal Elizabeth I's crown?
type: item
date: 2025-10-13T08:00:19.000Z
creator: Tracy Borman
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Tudor
subject: British queens
subject: Stuart kings and queens
subject: Tudor kings and queens
description: Did James I ‘steal’ Elizabeth I’s crown? Tracy Borman considers evidence that the transition from Tudor to Stuart dynasties may not have been quite as seamless as we’ve been led to believe
encoded: Richmond Palace, 22 March 1603. Elizabeth I – the self-proclaimed Virgin Queen who had ruled England for 44 years, seeing off the Armada, healing religious divisions and creating a court so magnificent it was the envy of Europe – lay dying. Her anxious advisers clustered around her bedside, urging her to do the thing she had resisted throughout her long reign: name her successor. Rousing herself from her stupor, the 69-year-old queen declared: “I will that a king succeed me, and what king, but my nearest kinsman, the king of Scots?” Wanting to make completely sure, her chief minister, Robert Cecil, asked whether that was her “absolute resolution” – to which she irritably retorted: “I pray you trouble me no more, I’ll have none but him.” That “kinsman” was James VI of Scotland, son of Elizabeth’s old rival Mary, Queen of Scots. Her closest surviving blood relative, he had emerged as the front runner in the race for the English crown. He had the support of Cecil and most of his fellow privy councillors, who had been working behind the scenes to smooth James’s path to the throne. The queen, too, had shown him favour, sharing the pearls of her monarchical wisdom during their 20-year correspondence, as if grooming him as her successor. But she had always flinched from actually naming him as such. Now, almost with her last breath, she had. Elizabeth died two days later – and the Tudor dynasty gave way peacefully to the Stuarts. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/10/GettyImages-544183312webready-e7c6f5b.jpg" width="3727" height="2485" alt="A portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. She had the strongest blood claim to Elizabeth's throne, but her son would go on to be the next monarch (Image by Getty Images)" title="A portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. She had the strongest blood claim to Elizabeth's throne, but her son would go on to be the next monarch (Image by Getty Images)" /> This dramatic depiction of Elizabeth’s last-gasp naming of the…

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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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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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Why was King James VI and I obsessed with witch hunts?
type: item
date: 2024-04-09T08:57:15.000Z
creator: Tracy Borman
subject: Elizabethan
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Stuart kings and queens
subject: Witches
description: The witch hunts that swept across Europe between 1450 and 1750 are one of the most controversial and terrifying phenomena in history, resulting in the trial of around 100,000 people (most of them women), a little under half of whom were put to death. Here, Tracy Borman explores the most notorious royal witch-hunter of all time: James VI and I...
encoded: A holocaust of their time, historians have long attempted to explain why and how the European witch craze that spread around Europe between the 15th and 18th century took such rapid and enduring hold. One of the most active centres of witch-hunting was Scotland, where up to 4,000 people were put to the flames. This was striking for such a small country, and was more than double the execution rate in England. The ferocity of the Scottish persecutions can be attributed to royal witch-hunter James VI and I. James’s obsession with witchcraft can be traced back to his childhood. The violent death of his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, seems to have inspired a dark fascination with magic. “His Highness told me her death was visible in Scotland before it did really happen,” related Sir John Harington many years later, being, as he said, “spoken of in secret by those whose power of sight presented to them a bloody head dancing in the air”. Two years after Mary’s execution, another dramatic event deepened James’s growing obsession with magic and witchcraft. In 1589 he was betrothed to Anne of Denmark, but she almost lost her life in a violent tempest when she set sail across the North Sea to meet her new husband. In an uncharacteristic show of chivalry, James resolved to sail across to Denmark and collect her in person. But on their return voyage the royal fleet was battered by more storms and one of the ships was lost. James immediately placed the blame on witches, claiming that they must have cast evil spells upon his fleet. As soon as he reached Scottish shores, James ordered a witch-hunt on a scale never seen before. No fewer than 70 suspects were rounded up in the coastal Scottish town of North Berwick on suspicion of raising a storm to destroy James and his new bride. Most of the suspects soon confessed – under torture – to concocting a host of bizarre and gruesome spells and rituals in order to whip up the storm. They included binding the severed genitalia and limbs of …

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Killers of the king: the men who dared to execute Charles I
type: item
date: 2019-01-18T15:59:56.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Stuart kings and queens
description: "It would have been better to have let the king try to run and shot him in the back" – Charles Spencer talks to Matt Elton about his book on the men who tried and executed Charles I, and the vengeance wrought by the king's son Charles II on his return to England after the Civil War
encoded: What were the circumstances that led to Charles II returning from Europe? The lack of a strong leader following the death of Oliver Cromwell led the British almost to revert to default, thinking: ‘Well, we’ll have the monarchy back.’ So almost out of nowhere Charles II came back to England from Europe in 1660. He had given up hope, and nobody was paying him any attention apart from a few diehard royalists. But he was told that he would be allowed to return, so long as he conceded on various points – including not seeking vengeance against those who had fought on parliament’s side in the Civil War. He agreed, and returned to a tumultuous welcome. This was a problem for 50 per cent of the country, who had to pretend that they had never really meant to be parliamentarian. As a result, scapegoats had to be found: the regicides – the men involved in the trial and execution of Charles II’s father, Charles I. What impression did you get of Charles I and Charles II? My natural leanings would have put me on the parliamentarian side, so I considered the kings with critical eyes. I found Charles I to have been a very decent human being – intelligent, devout, but so weak. He always took the last word of advice, which is not good in a crisis such as a civil war. But, as is well known, he died bravely. So you have to admire him at the end, however much of a mess he made of the last 10 years of his rule. I’d always assumed that Charles II, meanwhile, was just a pleasure-loving man, albeit a fairly intelligent one. But he showed quite a focus when it came to revenge: he was still calling for the deaths of those responsible for his father’s demise right to the end of his life. I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to do justice to Charles II in the book’s illustrations, but we found a great portrait of him sitting in splendour on his throne, looking out at you with a rare steeliness. You think: ‘Yes, that’s the man.’ He had power he never thought he’d have, and he was going to use …

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Oliver Cromwell: the secret of his military genius
type: item
date: 2018-09-03T08:00:42.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Stuart kings and queens
description: In just two years, Oliver Cromwell made the journey from little-known MP with no experience of armed combat to brilliant, battle-winning leader. Martyn Bennett, author of Cromwell at War: The Lord General and His Military Revolution reveals how a military novice became one of British history's greatest warriors...
encoded: In the early evening of 2 July 1644, two powerful armies faced each other across an expanse of wild meadow eight miles west of York. On one side was gathered a royalist force led by King’s Charles I’s German nephew, Prince Rupert, and the Marquis of Newcastle. On the other, occupying a ridge known as Bramham Hill, stood an allied army of parliamentarians and Scottish covenanters. At about 7pm, with a storm approaching and light slowly beginning to fade, the royalists decided that there was no prospect of a battle that day, and started to stack arms, find food and unsaddle horses. Yet, just as they began to settle down for the night, their enemies struck. On the western fringe of the battlefield, Lieutenant General Oliver Cromwell led three lines of horse regiments down from the hill towards the royalists camped on the low ground in front of them. The front line advanced at a trot, then a canter, a gallop and a charge. Each man was pressed up against his colleagues with his sword drawn, ready to smash into the enemy. Caught unprepared on rough ground, those royalists who had managed to mount their horses in an attempt to launch a counterattack were driven back. Read more: No Christmas under Cromwell? The Puritan assault on Christmas during the 1640s and 1650s 12 facts about the Stuarts <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2017/02/Christmas-Cromwell-62bb1cb.jpg" width="801" height="801" alt="Vintners in an ale house, 1642. From a broadsheet titled ‘Health to All’, artist unknown. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)" title="Vintners in an ale house, 1642. From a broadsheet titled ‘Health to All’, artist unknown. (Photo by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)" /> As Cromwell introduced more men into the fight, the royalist right flank broke and began to flee. But not all the royalists had such a bad experience. On the opposite flank, they caused such chaos that the three parliamenta…

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History quiz – witchcraft and superstition
type: item
date: 2018-06-14T11:00:46.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Quiz
subject: Stuart
subject: Tudor
subject: Halloween
subject: Stuart kings and queens
subject: Witches
description: How much do you know about the superstitions surrounding witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries? Historian Tracy Borman, author of new novel The King's Witch, puts your knowledge to the test
encoded: View Riddle on the source website How did you do? Share your result on social media to see how your knowledge of the history of witchcraft compares to other History Extra readers! Tracy Borman’s debut novel, The King’s Witch, is set in the court of King James VI and I and is published by Hodder & Stoughton on 14 June 2018.

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From Nell to Meghan: 10 romances between actors and royals
type: item
date: 2018-05-17T09:45:56.000Z
creator: Catherine Curzon
subject: 20th Century
subject: Edwardian
subject: Georgian
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Victorian
subject: Royal weddings
subject: Stuart kings and queens
subject: The royal family
subject: Valentine's Day
description: On 19 May 2018, the American actress Meghan Markle married into British royalty when she wed Prince Harry in a ceremony at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The wedding was the latest in a long tradition of romances between members of royal family and the acting profession. There are 10 such relationships from the 17th century to today, from all across the world – though not all of them ended happily…
encoded: Writing for History Extra, Catherine Curzon examines 10 famous relationships between actors and royals… Margaret ‘Peg’ Hughes (c1630–1719) Better known as Peg, Margaret Hughes holds the distinction of being one of the first recorded actresses to grace the London stage, appearing as Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello on 8 December 1660 at the Vere Street Theatre. Up until this point, women had been forbidden to act on stage at all, and it wasn’t until King Charles II issued a royal warrant declaring that female roles must be played by women in 1662 that actresses became a common sight, as opposed to young men dressed up to look like them. Peg was no young man though, and she not only bewitched her audience, but managed to steal the heart of Rupert of the Rhine, cousin to Charles II. Read more Royal wedding traditions through history: etiquette, menus and the dress code When royals marry 'commoners': a brief history <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2018/05/Elizabeth-II-wedding-2-5136340.jpg" width="1200" height="730" alt="The future Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace following their wedding, 20 November 1947. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" title="The future Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace following their wedding, 20 November 1947. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)" /> After Rupert’s death in 1682, Peg gambled away much of his bequest to her and sold off many valuables, including a necklace which was bought by the infamous Nell Gwynne. Peg died in 1719, having never regained the lifestyle she once enjoyed. Nell Gwynne (1650–1687) Perhaps the most famous of all England’s royal mistresses, Nell Gwynne began her career selling oranges to the patrons of a theatre on London’s Brydges Street, Charles II’s royal playhouse. By the time she was 14 years old, Nell was treading the boards as an actress and she found h…

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The art of a king
type: item
date: 2018-01-01T12:15:49.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Stuart
subject: Period
subject: Stuart kings and queens
description: The treasures of Charles I’s art collection, which were sold off after his death on the orders of Oliver Cromwell, are to be reunited for the first time since the 17th century, at a Royal Academy of Arts exhibition. Assistant curator Lucy Chiswell tells Charlotte Hodgman what eight of these artworks reveal about the king
encoded: This article was first published in the January 2018 edition of BBC History Magazine A mythological masterpiece Cupid and Psyche by Anthony van Dyck, 1639–40 “Portraiture was perhaps the most common genre of art in 17th-century England, particularly at the royal court,” says Lucy Chiswell. “This was reflected in the career of Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck, who became court painter to Charles I in 1632.” Van Dyck created several portraits of Charles and the royal family. But his true artistic love was of the mythological and narrative paintings of the Italian Renaissance. So he would have particularly relished painting this interpretation of the legend of Cupid and Psyche for the Queen’s House at Greenwich. “This work is a beautiful mix of Italian and English influences,” Chiswell explains. “The oak tree that dominates the piece places the painting firmly in England, but the reclining nude, Arcadian landscape and billowing drapery is reminiscent of one of Charles and Van Dyck’s favourite Renaissance artists, Titian.” Cupid and Psyche is the only surviving mythological painting from Van Dyck’s employment as Charles’s court artist. It fetched £110 when the collection was broken up and sold off between 1649 and 1651. The human monarch Le Roi à la Chasse (Charles I in the Hunting Field) by Anthony van Dyck, 1636 This painting of Charles I at the hunt is arguably Van Dyck’s most personal portrait of the king. Set against a traditional English landscape, Charles has dismounted from his horse and looks directly out at the viewer. He is dressed for the hunt, rather than in full royal regalia, which makes him appear softer – an altogether more human figure. “Little is known about the provenance of this painting,” says Chiswell. “It is not listed in the inventory of artworks at Whitehall Palace, drawn up in 1639 by Abraham van der Doort, keeper of Charles’s pictures, so we don’t know where it hung. But we do know that it ended up in France. “Given its personal nature, it was…

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A deadly royal favourite?
type: item
date: 2017-08-31T16:34:39.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Stuart kings and queens
description: Benjamin Woolley explores the relationship between James VI and I and his favourite the Duke of Buckingham
encoded: Author and broadcaster Benjamin Woolley explores the very close relationship between James VI and I and his favourite the Duke of Buckingham. He also considers what role Buckingham may have played in the king’s demise.

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