Chalke Talk

The podcast from the Chalke Valley History Festival
Released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings

Chalke Talks for CENTURY: C16th


  • 02. THE KING’S WITCH: JAMES I AND THE GUNPOWDER PLOT
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    In this talk, inspired by her debut novel partially set at nearby Longford Castle, Festival favourite Tracy Borman takes us into the turbulent world of the early Stuart court, where King James I waged a war on witches and Catholics alike. It was not long before a dark campaign to destroy both King and Parliament […]

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  • 19. GAME OF QUEENS: THE WOMEN WHO MADE SIXTEENTH CENTURY EUROPE
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    Best-selling Tudor biographer Sarah Gristwood turns her expert eye to the Renaissance courts of Isabella of Castile, Margaret of Austria, Katherine of Aragon, Marguerite of Navarre, Anne Boleyn, Catherine de Medici, Mary Tudor, Elizabeth Tudor, Mary Stuart and others. An extraordinary cast of women who held power throughout the Continent in the face of great […]

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  • 30. THE BURNING CHAMBERS: THE FRENCH WARS OF RELIGION, HUGUENOTS v CATHOLICS
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    Kate Mosse discusses one of the darkest periods in French history. The Wars of Religion began in 1562 and ended, after millions had been massacred or displaced, with the Edict of Nantes in 1598. She examines the power struggles between Catholic and Protestant factions in Carcassonne, Paris, London and Amsterdam and how this dark history […]

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  • 37. TUDOR DYEING: FROM SHEEP TO CLOTH
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    From the process of dyeing to the weave, mother and daughter team Lindsey and George Ratcliffe demonstrate how Tudors would have prepared wool from fleece and turned it into a range of clothing.

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  • 40. THIS IS SHAKESPEARE
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    Shakespeare, a genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no others. A writer whose vision, originality and literary mastery were second to none. Professor Emma Smith debunks these common perceptions of the Bard and instead introduces an intellectually, theatrically and ethically exciting writer who treated topics such as individual agency, privacy, […]

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  • 90. THE SPANISH ARMADA
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    In 1585 Spain was the most powerful empire in the known world. As tensions between Protestant England and Catholic Spain grew, Spain decided to invade England and so launched the Spanish Armada. Sam Willis gives a thrilling account that explains how the English managed to overthrow the Spanish invasion, who the key figures were and […]

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  • 101. THE SECRET WORLD: THE LOST HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD TO THE 21st CENTURY
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    What difference have security and intelligence operations made to the course of history? Professor Christopher Andrew, Britain’s foremost intelligence scholar, provides the answers. Beginning with the shift in the ancient world from divination to recognisable attempts to gather intelligence, he charts the development of intelligence and security operations through Renaissance Venice, Elizabethan England and Napoleonic […]

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  • 104. PATRIOT OR TRAITOR: THE LIFE OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH
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    On 29th October 1618 one of the most charismatic and controversial figures in English history was executed. Sir Walter Ralegh was an adventurer, poet and hero of Queen Elizabeth I. How could a man once considered favourite find himself consigned to the Tower? Anna Beer uncovers the truth about this problematic national hero who in […]

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  • 107. MAPS OF WAR: MAPPING CONFLICT THROUGH THE CENTURIES
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    In this talk, Professor Jeremy Black explains how the development of mapping from the Renaissance onwards provides us with an invaluable guide to the history of warfare. From the impact of printing through to the two World Wars and beyond, this is a fascinating and revealing talk from one of our very finest historians.

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  • 108. HENRY VIII AND THE MEN WHO MADE HIM
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    Henry VIII is well known for his tumultuous relationships with women, but his relationships with the men who surrounded him reveal much about his beliefs, behaviour and character. Tracy Borman provides a new perspective by analysing Henry through the men in his life. His cruelty and ruthlessness are infamous, but his fierce loyalty towards those […]

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  • 110. THIS ORIENT ISLE: ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD
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    Professor Jerry Brotton turns his expert eye to Elizabeth I’s little-known relationship with the Islamic world, following her excommunication by the Pope in 1570. He reveals that England’s relations with the Muslim world were far more extensive than has ever been appreciated and that their influence was felt across the political, commercial and domestic landscape […]

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  • 115. ELIZABETH I: A STUDY IN INSECURITY
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    In the popular imagination Elizabeth I is the symbol of monarchical power, the Virgin Queen who ruled over a Golden Age. But the image is as much armour against reality as it is a reflection of the truth. Dr Helen Castor shows England’s iconic queen in a revealing new light, shaped by profound insecurity that […]

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  • 167. FOUR PRINCES: HENRY VIII, FRANCIS I, CHARLES V, SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT AND THE OBSESSION WHICH FORGED MODERN EUROPE
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    The late lamented John Julius Norwich weaves a colourful story of four great princes who were born within a single decade. Henry VIII, Francis I of France, Charles V of Spain and Suleiman the Magnificent were sometimes friends, but more often enemies. From the Field of the Cloth of Gold, Francis and Henry’s extravagant pageant, […]

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