Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About the Tudors

I just watched Nolan's Odyssey and went down a rabbit hole: did the Tudors even know this story? Turns out, not the way you'd think.

For most of the dynasty, England's version of the Trojan War came from a completely different, largely invented medieval tradition, one that literally cut the gods out of the story. The real, translated Homer didn't arrive in English until the dynasty was basically over.

In this one: two forged "eyewitness" accounts of the Trojan War, the first book ever printed in English, the Tudors' fake Trojan ancestor Brutus, Cambridge's Greek revival, and why not a single Tudor monarch ever got to read a finished English Homer.

Join me for Taste of TudorCon, a free online preview of this year's conference, on August 29th: https://tudorcon.englandcast.com/tasteoftudorcon2026/
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I got on a Zoom call with two Blue Badge guides from Context Travel, and by the end of it I had a list of about a dozen places in London I've never been and now desperately need to see.

Sean spent almost 30 years in financial services before deciding life was too short not to spend it obsessing over history and art instead.

Caroline taught history at a girls' school and specialized in Edward VI, the Tudor everyone skips past on the way from the six wives to Elizabeth I.

We talked about the pieces of Tudor London hiding in plain sight: a tennis court wall tucked behind Buckingham Palace, a portrait of Edward VI you can only see properly through a spy hole, a single rose that's been paid as rent since 1381, and why Henry VIII's waistband tells you basically his entire biography.

I've been doing this for over 15 years and I did not know most of this going in. Keep a notebook handy, you're going to end up with a list.

Context Travel does small private tours led by working historians (not flag tours!) all over London and beyond. Link to check them out: https://www.contexttravel.com/

TudorCon 2026 is October 23-25 in Richmond, VA. In-person tickets are almost gone (less than 10 left), or join virtually with TudorCon From Home: https://tudorcon.englandcast.com

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This video was made in partnership with Context Travel.
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So I recently went to England to sleep in historic places. This is the first episode of a mini series I'm calling Heather Stays in Olde Inns, because England is full of medieval places to stay, and I wanted to stay in them. First stop: The Mermaid Inn in Rye.

The cellars here date back to 1156. The building you see today went up in 1420, after the French burned the whole town to the ground in 1377 (yes, really). A very organized gang of 18th century smugglers used the place as one of their bases. There are still tunnels running under the building to another inn down the street, because apparently that's just what you do when you're moving contraband and don't want the authorities noticing.

I got to sleep in a building that has survived fire, smugglers, and about 600 years of English history going about its business upstairs from a bar. Come stay with me.

Book your own stay at The Mermaid Inn: https://www.mermaidinn.com/
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In 1513, Charles Brandon knelt in front of Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands, and lifted the ring right off her finger. Twice. The gossip reached all the way to her father, the Holy Roman Emperor, and for a minute, Henry VIII was actually pushing for his best friend to marry one of the most powerful women in Europe.It never happened. But what if it had?

In this episode I dig into the real story behind the ring, why the marriage was never actually going to happen, and what it would have meant for England, the Habsburgs, and the entire Tudor succession, including a very direct line to Lady Jane Grey never existing at all.

Join us for TudorCon 2026, October 23-25 in Richmond, VA. About 20 in-person tickets remain: tudorcon.englandcast.com

Can't make it in person? Join us for TudorCon From Home, and for a limited time get early bird pricing on the Privy Council tier (ends September 15): tudorcon.englandcast.com
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This conversation totally rearranged some things in my brain. I sat down with Tracy Borman, Chief Historian at Historic Royal Palaces, to talk about her new novel The House of Boleyn, and it flips the whole family on its head.

Thomas Boleyn, the guy we all love to hate as the scheming dad pimping out his daughters? Tracy did the research and found basically none of that. He comes across as actually protective, terrified of what Henry could do to Anne.

And Jane Boleyn, who Wolf Hall (and basically everyone else) paints as the ultimate betrayer? Tracy found letters of her BEGGING Henry to spare her husband.

We also get into Anne's grandmother Lady Margaret Butler, who Tracy compares to the Maggie Smith character from Downton Abbey (I'm obsessed with this comparison), plus the Duke of Norfolk, who might be one of the most legitimately villainous people in Tudor history, no rehabilitation needed there.

And Tracy tells this incredible story about inventing a plot line for the book, and then finding actual historical evidence afterward that proved she'd accidentally landed on the truth. Chills.

Tracy also gives her take on whether Anne actually loved Henry (spoiler: she doesn't think so), and where she thinks Anne's heart really was.

Huge thanks to Tracy for coming back on the channel; and also a shoutout for her talk at Tudorcon a few years back (tickets for October 23-25 still available, by the way - https://tudorcon.englandcast.com for details!).

Grab The House of Boleyn here: https://www.amazon.com/House-Boleyn-Novel-Tracy-Borman/dp/0802167853/
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