I have profiled all of England’s remarkable Queens who ruled in their own right. Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anne, Victoria, and Elizabeth II. But there’s one more fascinating woman I simply must profile to complete the set; Empress Matilda. She was sent to Germany as a child to marry the Holy Roman Emperor. But after a shipwreck swallowed her younger brother, she returned to England to claim the crown. Had she been born a man, she would have been an undisputed monarch. But her sex allowed her cousin, Stephen to get his butt on the throne first. Their family feud lead to 15 years of civil war known as the Anarchy, from which neither emerged as a true monarch. Fans of House of the Dragon will recognize Matilda as the inspiration for Rhaenyra Targaryen. And Matilda was portrayed by Alison Pill in the 2010 historical fiction Pillars of the Earth. But let’s explore her true story, without the addition of fire-breathing lizards. And decide if she truly was first Queen Regnant of England... Music: Angevin - Thatched Villagers by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200110 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Witch! The word struck terror in the hearts of many a medieval man. It whispers of people, mostly women, using dark magic and even selling their souls to Satan to get what they want. Forcing men to fall in love with them and cursing their enemies. Sorceresses have been feared since ancient times. And while their certainly have been purveyors of magical arts throughout history, it was often healers, midwives, girls dabbling in divination games and innocent people who were accused of the most heinous of enchanted crimes. Between 1300 and 1850, nearly 40,000 people in Europe were victims of witch trials. And 14,000 met their end on the gallows or the pyre. Some of them came from the highest ranks of society, even the royal family. In fact witchcraft was a convenient accusation to level against inconvenient royal women. As courts operated on a notion of guilty until proven innocent, and it was infuriatingly difficult to prove that you hadn’t danced in the moonlight, uttered a curse or poisoned the king, the stigma of sorcery was strong. Let’s meet 7 women from history who were accused of being Royal Witches. Valentina Visconti, Duchess of Orléans, 1371 – 1408 Veronika Desinićka, Countess of Celje, ? – 1425 Joan of Navarre, Queen of England, 1368 – 1437 Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford, 1415 – 1472 Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, 1400 – 1452 Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England, 1437 – 1492 Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, 1501? – 1536 Sources: Hollman, G. (2020). Royal witches: witchcraft and the nobility in fifteenth- century England. First Pegasus Books hardcover edition. New York, Pegasus Books. Music: Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns, Public Domain, Performed by Kevin MacLeod Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Romanov Imperial House ruled Russia with an iron fist for 300 years. In that time they made plenty of enemies. From a grief-stricken mother who foretold the demise of the dynasty, to a scorned Tsaritsa who cursed St. Petersburg to calamity. From a hermit monk who claimed to know the hour of Catherine the Great’s death, to another monk, Rasputin, who cursed Tsar Nikolai’s family for causing his death. All culminating in the tragic slaying of the Imperial family, which fulfilled not one but two famous curses. Let’s take a spooky stroll through 3 centuries of Russia’s dark history and explore 4 curses and ominous prophecies laid on the Romanov dynasty. 1. “You began with the death of a Tsarevich, you will end with the death of a Tsarevich!” Ivan the Terrible, False Dmitry, Marina Mniszech, Michael Romanov 2. “St. Petersburg shall be empty!” Peter the Great, Eudoxia Lopukhina, Empress Catherine I 3. “Empress Catherine will die in 10 months and 10 days!” Catherine the Great, Monk Abel, Emperor Peter III, Emperor Paul I 4. Rasputin’s Curse "The Russian people will kill them!" Emperor Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodrovna, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei Music: From Russia With Love by Huma-Huma Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For millennia, royals have claimed that their right to rule over the unwashed masses was granted to them by God. But a few have been associated with powers originating far south of heaven. Tonight I’ll share with you the spooky and salacious tales of the demon countess who spawned the bloodthirsty Plantagenet dynasty, an unholy canine who ferociously defended his master on the battlefield; A holy roman Emperor who was not very holy and performed black masses on his Empress’s naked body; and a Spanish king who underwent exorcisms in an attempt to rid himself of his terrible afflictions. The Demon Countess of Anjou The Prince’s Poodle From Hell The UnHoly Roman Emperor’s Black Masses The Exorcisms of The King of Spain Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From sex-crazed libertines, to noble courtesans, to innocent Empresses; syphilis was a devastating disease which ravaged many, and sometimes changed the course of history. Let’s meet 10 royal and noble victims of this sexually transmitted infection. Lorenzo de’Medici, Duke of Urbino 1492 – 1519 Maria Salviati de’ Medici 1499 – 1543 Abbas II of Persia, Shah of Iran 1632 – 1666 John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester 1647 – 1680 Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor 1678 – 1711 Sally Salisbury 1692 – 1724 Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeld 1821 – 1861 Luís I, King of Portugal 1838 – 1889 Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria 1858 – 1889 Archduke Otto Franz Joseph of Austria 1865 – 1906 Music: Butterflies in Love by Sir Cubworth Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1700 the Stuart Dynasty was out of heirs, save one, Princess Anne. Parliament studied the royal family tree to determine who was next in line. The problem was they were all catholic. The succession skipped over 41 closer relations until they got to the nearest living Protestant, Sophia, Electress of Hanover. The Act of Settlement of 1701 declared that all future British monarchs must be her descendant. She ended up dying before Anne and the throne went to her son, George I. But who were the 41 royals skipped over? French Princes, Italian Kings, A Queen of Spain and a couple of Holy Roman Empresses, let’s meet the fascinating potential British Monarchs that never where. This succession uses the rules of male-preference primogeneture, the law of the land at the time. And only looks at dynasts who were alive in the year 1701. Brandenburg Concerto No4-1 BWV1049 - Classical Whimsical by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100303 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Queen Anne was the younger sister of Mary II, half of England’s only joint monarchy, William and Mary. When they died, Anne had no interest in sharing the throne with her husband. She was the first married Queen of England to rule on her own. Anne was a strong political player and oversaw the creation of the new nation of Great Britain. She had a long term, possibly romantic relationship with Sarah Churchill, but when political differences tore them apart, she transferred her affections to another lady in waiting, Abigail Marsham. Anne had 17 pregnancies, but none of her children survived childhood. Her death meant the end of the Stuart Dynasty and the throne went to her German cousin, George I. Let's examine the life of Queen Anne. Music: Brandenburg Concerto No4-1 BWV1049 - Classical Whimsical by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100303 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're bringing you a special teaser of You're Dead To Me, the BBC's hit comedy podcast that takes history seriously – on a topic close to our hearts, Tea! In this episode, host Greg Jenner is joined by historian Professor Yangwen Zheng and comedian Hugh Dennis to trace the story of tea back to its roots in ancient China. Expect hidden history, myth-busting and a lot of laughs. If you enjoy what you hear, find You're Dead To Me wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Queen Mary II was 1/2 of England’s only joint monarchy, and half of a pair of powerful sister Queens. She betrayed her father and took his throne with the support of her Dutch husband, William of Orange. She preferred to take a back seat but ended up doing most of the governing while William was away at war. There is evidence that both she and her sister Anne had romantic relationships with women. Mary’s life was marred by reproductive tragedy and cut short by smallpox. Let's examine the life of Queen Mary II. Music: Brandenburg Concerto No4-1 BWV1049 - Classical Whimsical by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100303 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the great pestilence burned across central Asia, north Africa and Europe, roughly 100 million people lost their lives in the worst pandemic in human history. More than half of the populations of Florence, Paris and London fell victim. We will never know the names of most of the poor souls who met their end in mass graves. But perhaps the best way to put a human face on this apocalyptic event is to explore the lives of those victims for whom we do have carefully kept records - the Royals. Today let’s meet 21 Kings, Queens and Princes who where cut out of history by the scythe of the black death, and the many outbreaks of plague that followed. And see how their sudden deaths changed the course of history. Abu Sa’id Bahadur Khan, Mongul Sultan Joan of England, daughter of Edward III Blanche of Lancaster Edward of Angoulême, Son of Edward the Black Prince Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England Gruffudd ap Owain George Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford, Future Prince of Wales Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond Joan II, Queen of Navarre Jeanne of Burgundy, Queen of France Bonne of Luxembourg Eleanor of Portugal, Queen of Aragon Alfonso XI, King of Castile Philippa of Lancaster, Queen of Portugal Duarte, King of Portugal Ludovico, King of Sicily Luigi I , king of Naples Maria I, Queen of Sicily Erik Magnuson, King of Sweden Beatrix of Bavaria, Queen of Sweden Margrethe I of Denmark Music: Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns, Public Domain, Performed by Kevin MacLeod Join me every Tuesday when I'm Spilling the Tea on History! Check out my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/lindsayholiday Please consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/LindsayHoliday and help me make more fascinating episodes! Intro Music: Baroque Coffee House by Doug Maxwell #HistoryTeaTime #LindsayHoliday Please contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices