1066 - one of the most famous years in English history. In a succession crisis like no other three warlords separated by hundreds of miles and savage seas vied for control of the English throne in a series of bloody battles. From Harald Hardrada's crowning victory at Fulford to the renowned Battl...

In 865 AD, England was invaded by the Great Heathen Army. The Great Viking Army, as it was also known, was made up of a coalition of Scandinavian warriors mainly from Denmark and, legend has it, four of the five sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, including Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Irone...

Helen Carr, medieval historian and author of 'The Red Prince', answers the key questions about King Richard II. What kind of England did Richard inherit? Why was John of Gaunt so influential during his reign? What did John achieve? How significant was the 'Peasant's Revolt'? And many more.

Michael Hicks, former Professor of Medieval History at the University of Winchester, answers key questions about Richard III. From Richard's noble beginnings to his demise on the battlefield at Bosworth Michael sorts the fact from the fiction about the last Plantagenet king.

Religious belief looks more precarious in the modern world than ever before. But is that the truth? Dan Snow explores the role of unbelievers throughout history, to discover if we're uniquely unbelieving now, or whether there have always been those who wouldn't believe. This project was made poss...

Just east of where the Strand turns into Fleet Street in London, there is a small stone archway. Walking through it, one stumbles across a hidden world – one that is leafy, serene and historic. Most of the people who wind their way here don’t realise that the whole area was actually the stronghol...

In July 2021, the remains of a 13th Century Carmelite friary, also known as Whitefriars, were recently found by archaeologists beneath a demolished multi-storey car park in Gloucester city centre.

Historians knew roughly where Whitefriars had stood, but its exact location was a mystery. The dig,...

The region stretching from eastern Europe and sweeping right across into Arabia and the north coast of Africa, was home to one of the most extraordinary empires in history: the Ottoman Empire. Along its routes flowed ideas, goods, disease and death. In existence for 600 years, it also saw the swe...

Windsor Castle has a legendary connection to the British monarchy: the longest-serving royal palace in the whole of Europe. Ever since the days of William the Conqueror, the Castle has dominated this strategic point on the banks of the Thames, overlooking west London. Over the next 1,000 years ki...

Dan sat down with Angela Saini to talk about the history behind race and the history of interactions between civilisations.

Great leaders? Industrial change? Revolutions? If you thought these were the things that shaped history, think again. Back by popular demand, Lewis Dartnell returns to the show. He explains how modern political and economic patterns correlate with events which happened not decades or centuries ag...

For the anniversary of the Battle of Hastings, we revisit Marc Morris' brilliantly constructed narrative of the Battle of Hastings, and all of the build-up. Taking us from the sources of William, Harold and Harold's claims to the throne all the way to William's rule, Marc's account is as comprehe...

Jessica Dalton joined me on the podcast to talk about the history of the Inquisition. We discussed the Roman Inquisition, the Spanish Inquisition, and how religion and politics have clashed and intertwined in Europe since the fifteenth century.

The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England. It took place approximately 7 miles (11 kilometres) northwest of Hasting...

As a way of life, as heritage, and as art, folk singing has long met at the crossroads between the past and the present. It draws old songs into common memory, hearkens back to a simpler way of living, reminds us of the communities that came before us and enshrines new traditions into living memo...

Emily Ward and Pragya Vohra talk about the history of the Viking invasion of 1066.

Africa is the second largest continent in the world and is home to the second largest population; but it is second-to-none regarding its ethnic diversity. Throughout history Africa has been the home of many thousands of ethnological groups; the historic sites, places, cultures, kingdoms and civil...

Dan sits down with Marc Morris to discuss the forgotten French invasion of England in 1216, at the end of the disastrous reign of England's worst king: John.

We are a land animal. But millions of us have taken to the sea to live, fight, travel, eat, escape and seek fame and fortune. I am obsessed with the sea. On how humans have built ever more efficient and capable ships to exploit its riches and opportunities. This is an conversation I’ve been longi...

I invited Kate Lister to join me after the enormous popularity of her last appearance on the pod. But this time we talked about how our sexual habits are both dulled and invigorated in unprecedented times - wars, plagues, pandemics. We discussed licentious widows who let loose during plagues, the...

In the past few months more than a billion people have faced restrictions unlike any seen before. Shops are closed; the death toll is rising; people across the globe have been forced to rise to an extraordinary challenge. But it is important to remember that humans have experienced pandemics befo...

Andrew Simms is an author, analyst and co-director of the New Weather Institute. He comes on the show to explain how history is full of examples where humans have proven their capacity to make radical transformation. He explains why we must be capable of similarly-extraordinary things today to co...

For nearly a thousand years, something high in the forest has been watching over the Welsh capital. A community pulled together in the Sixties, giving St. Mary's church in Caerau a short new life.