History Extra Plus: Tudor History Extra

Sixteenth-century Europe was dominated by two female powerhouses: Elizabeth I of England and Catherine de Medici, the French Queen Mother. The two women had a tumultuous relationship, being sometimes friends and at other times foes, as Estelle Paranque reveals to Rhiannon Davies.

Phillipa Vincent-Connolly explores the lives of disabled people in the Tudor era. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she uncovers complex attitudes to disability in the period, and reveals how some disabled figures played key roles at the royal court.

The might of the Tudor dynasty was built on the blood and sweat of three generations of another family – the Dudleys. And sometimes, they paid the ultimate price. Rhiannon Davies speaks to Joanne Paul about the members of the family who were key players in the Tudor era, from Edmund Dudley’s efforts to raise taxes for Henry VII to Robert Dudley’s flirtatious friendship with Elizabeth I.

When Suleyman the Magnificent became Sultan of the Ottoman empire in 1520, he was proclaimed the world’s most powerful man, who could use his armies to smite Christendom. But behind the facade, scheming favourites pulled the strings and worked tirelessly to fulfil their own endless ambitions. Rhiannon Davies spoke to Christopher de Bellaigue to uncover the truth about Suleyman’s fascinating reign.

Through canny political manoeuvrings and passionate affairs, the Boleyns catapulted themselves from the sidelines of the Tudor court to the very apex of power. Dr Owen Emmerson, who recently appeared in the BBC docudrama The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family, traces the clan’s meteoric rise – and crushing fall

Originally released on 27th August 2021

Kate Hubbard, biographer of Bess of Hardwick, explores the fascinating life of a Tudor woman who rose from relative obscurity to become one of the richest and most influential people of her age.

Originally released on 20th December 2018