How Orkney became the centre of Viking Age violence

Timur – sometimes known as Tamerlane – carved out one of history’s largest empires through sweeping military campaigns and ruthless violence. Emily Briffett and Justin Marozzi explore Timur’s rise from the Central Asian steppe, his extensive conquests from Delhi to Damascus, and the complicated legacy of a ruler remembered both as a cultural patron and a bloodthirsty, tyrannical conqueror. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST Slavery in the Islamic world has a diverse and controversial history. In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Justin Marozzi traces the networks of enslavement that stretched from sub-Saharan Africa to Central Asia: https://bit.ly/4uPbQim Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For much of the Viking Age, the Orkney archipelago served as a vibrant hub of Norse activity. But these islands were also plagued by violence, not least between the Earls of Orkney themselves, as they vied for control. Speaking to James Osborne about her new translation of the Saga of the Earls of Orkney, Judith Jesch traces these centuries of conflict, and shares her insights into what they tell us about the Norse peoples who lived there. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST For more stories from the Vikings, listen to our episode with Jackson Crawford, speaking about his translation of the Poetic Edda: https://bit.ly/4mOHZDS Or check out our episode with Emily Lethbridge, reflecting on the life of Aud the Deep-Minded: https://bit.ly/41Ro9y9 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thousands of years ago, a woman emerged on to the world stage whose name would echo down through the centuries: Cleopatra. But what we do we know about her youth? How did the geography, politics and society of her early life shape her personality? And why would you not want to get on the wrong side of her family? In this first instalment of our four-part Sunday Series chronicling Cleopatra’s life and cultural afterlife, Islam Issa – professor of public humanities at Birmingham City University – tells Matt Elton about the queen’s formative years. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST Captivated by Cleopatra? Matt Elton has curated a collection of essential reading, listening and viewing from the HistoryExtra vaults to help bring the ancient queen to life: https://bit.ly/3Pgs3hv And don’t miss our HistoryExtra Academy, Royal Women with Professor Kate Williams, for more on some of the past’s most powerful female leaders – from Cleopatra to Elizabeth II: https://bit.ly/3PRpwue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's the role that sacrifice has played in the history of Christianity? It's a history that might be more complex, and more surprising, than we think. Jonathan Sheehan's latest book is On the Altar: A History of Sacrifice from the Sacred to the Secular, and in this episode he tells Charlotte Vosper about how sacrifice has sat at the centre of Christianity from its very beginnings. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST If you’d like to find out more about sacrifice beyond Christian Europe, then check out this HistoryExtra Q&A with Caroline Dodds Pennock about how and why Aztecs practiced human sacrifice: https://bit.ly/3MlQ31g Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Motherhood has long been considered as something expected, rather than extraordinary. Yet from midwives questioning the status quo to pregnant women predicting their futures, there are plenty of historical stories that reveal this not to be the case. In this episode, historian, writer and researcher Elinor Cleghorn – whose latest book is A Woman's Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering – tells Lauren Good about some of the remarkable experiences of mothers, and the networks that offered them invaluable support. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Think of Lady Jane Grey, and your mind probably goes straight to her legacy as the Nine Days’ Queen. But what do we really know about her life? She might have been a young girl catapulted into the line of succession amid the tumultuous battle of religion in the Tudor period, but Jane was more than merely a victim of circumstance. In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Isabel King is joined by historian Nicola Tallis to explore Jane’s remarkable life and death. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST To find out more about life in the Tudor period, don't miss our HistoryExtra Academy series with historian Ruth Goodman: https://bit.ly/48froDi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Politicians and generals today talk a lot about the need for exit plans to be established if conflict erupts between nations. In the middle of the horrors of the Second World War, Britain's diplomats were doing exactly that – working hard to think what the peace would look like after the fighting. Lord Peter Ricketts, the former head of Britain's diplomatic service and author of new book Peace Makers, explores what happened in conversation with David Musgrove. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST Curious to find our more about the Arctic convoys? Check out our podcast episode with Hugh Sebag Montefiore here: https://bit.ly/4eojBqA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the first wave of the Black Death finally subsided, what sort of world did it leave behind? How did societies adapt in the decades that followed? And what lessons did this medieval catastrophe hold for future generations? In this final episode of our Sunday Series on the deadly disease, Emily Briffett and historian Thomas Asbridge – author of new book The Black Death: A Global History, published by Allen Lane –consider how the pandemic transformed economies, beliefs and everyday life, and assess its longer legacy. ––––– GO BEYOND THE PODCAST If you’d like to find out more about the Black Death and its impact on the medieval world, Emily Briffett has put together some essential reading, listening and viewing from the HistoryExtra archive to help deepen your understanding: https://bit.ly/4mVQu01 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did the union of England and Scotland come to fruition? From failed Scottish colonies to anti-independence espionage, Marc Mierowsky's book A Spy Amongst Us reveals how union wasn't inevitable, and how many Scottish people tried to choose their own future. In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Marc joins Isabel King to explore the complicated journey towards the Acts of Union 1707. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST To find out more about the revolution of 1688 and its impact on the monarchy and religion, read our interview with Professor Ted Vallance about what might have happened if James II and VII hadn't been usurped: https://bit.ly/4qB8Pj0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did a tiny band of guerrillas come to rule a quarter of humanity? And was the outcome of the Chinese Civil War really the ‘heroic’ popular uprising that the People’s Republic portrays? In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Danny Bird speaks to Frank Dikötter about the surprising reality behind the rise of the Communist Party of China – from its marginal beginnings in the 1920s and the myth of the Long March, to the decisive role of Stalin and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in 1945. Together they explore how violence, propaganda and military conquest – rather than mass popular support – culminated in the raising of the red flag over the Forbidden City in 1949. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices