Pax Britannica: A History of the British Empire

At Sound Education I met up with Mike Duncan, creator of The History of Rome and Revolutions, and the author of the New York Times best selling Storm Before the Storm. We chatted about the state of podcasting, the differences between writing for the spoken and written word, the impact that the British Civil Wars had on future revolutions, and the most annoying revolutionary monarchs, among many other things.If you haven't yet listened to Revolutions, find it here: https://www.revolutionspodcast.com/Check out Sound Education: soundeducation.fmCheck out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Through a range of cultural, economic, and political changes, the old trading relationships that English merchants had enjoyed for centuries fully broke down during Elizabeth's reign. In their place, new opportunities for wealth emerged; new countries to trade with, new products to buy and sell, and a thinly-guarded colonial empire full to the brim with slave markets and gold mines. Opportunities aplenty for those with the naval expertise to seize them.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxFor this episode, I found the following publications particularly useful:- Clay C. G. A., 1940-. (1984). Economic expansion and social change : England 1500-1700- Benjamin Thomas, 1952-. (2009). The Atlantic world : European, Africans, Indians and their shared history, 1400-1900- John C. Appleby, 'War, Politics, and Colonization, 1558-1625', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire For a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For generations, Habsburg Spain had been a stalwart ally of England, their royal families connected by marriage and kinship, to counter-balance the Auld Alliance of France and Scotland. This had been the state of things for decades, and upon Elizabeth's accession there was no reason to think that this would change. Calais had just fallen to the French, and English armies had been rampaging through Scotland just years before, and a French regent ruled in place of her young child.And yet, by the time of Elizabeth's death, Scotland was a close ally whose king would soon inherit the crown of England and Ireland, and Spanish Armadas had narrowly missed invading English shores. What caused this dramatic reversal?Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Doran, S. (2000). Elizabeth I and Foreign Policy, 1558-1603- Croft, P. (2005). ‘“The State of the World is Marvellously Changed”: England, Spain and Europe 1558-1604’. Doran S. & Richardson G. (eds) Tudor England and its NeighboursFind a full bibliography on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Was James VI and I truly the witch-hunting, demon-studying zealot that he has traditionally been seen as? Today we take a look at the court of King James, and hear about the trials that dotted his early reign.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Holmes, R., Witchcraft in British History (1974)- MacFarlane, A., Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England (London, 1970)- Levack, B., 'State-Building and Witch Hunting', in Darren Oldridge (ed.), The Witchcraft Reader (London, 2002)- Poole, R., (ed.), The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories (2002)A full bibliography is on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With Buckingham protected from impeachment, but at the cost of taxation, Charles finds another way to raise the money needed to prosecute a war. Buckingham, eager to prove himself, leads a new expedition in person; to try and save the Huguenots that his ships had attacked. The Siege of Saint-Martin was the lynchpin, not only of Buckingham's recovered reputation, but of Charles' money troubles, Stuart foreign policy, and the course of the Thirty Years War.No prizes for guessing how it will go.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications: The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire. David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689 Kishlasnky, M, A Monarchy Transformed: 1603-1714 The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Parliament is back, and they are not happy. The Petition of Right isn't worth the paper its written on, and King Charles had flagrantly disregarded the spirit of it. He was displaying worrying tendencies - promoting Arminians and crypto-Catholics, and violating the fundamental rights of his subjects to raise money. The death of the Duke of Buckingham, rather than marking a sea change in unpopular government policy, instead cements it.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications: The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire. David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689 Kishlasnky, M, A Monarchy Transformed: 1603-1714 The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Historical Collections of Private Passages of State: Volume 1, 1618-29. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Despite the cheering crowds and warm welcome James received from his new subjects, all was not well in his new kingdom. As James would find out, England was not so different to Scotland. A number of plots against the king's life, spurred by fears or hopes for religious toleration, were hatched in the early years of James' reign. Some planned to be relatively bloodless, just another way to attract the king's ear. Others were much more... explosive in their intentions.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Nicholls, M. (1995). ‘Treason’s Reward: The Punishment of Conspirators in the Bye Plot of 1603’For a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Charles, yet again, calls a parliament in search of taxation, but the Commons are willing to negotiate. In return for an acknowledgement that Charles had acted illegally, they will grant him subsidies. The ever-present thorn that is the Duke of Buckingham hasn't gone away, and the king still protects him from political attack. But impeachment isn't the only way to remove an evil counsellor...Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications: The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire. David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689 Kishlasnky, M, A Monarchy Transformed: 1603-1714 The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Allen Ayers from the Political History of the United States podcast comes on to talk all about New England in the 1620s.Listen to the Political History of the United States HERE: https://uspoliticalpodcast.com/Follow Allen here: https://twitter.com/USHistpodcastCheck out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPax Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, we catch up with events across the Atlantic; the colonies of Virginia, Bermuda, and Newfoundland, and how they are faring. We also look at the ridiculously successful first decades of the East India Company, and get a glimpse of the fantastical levels of wealth that were on offer for investors in its voyages.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Philip Lawson, The East India Company : A History, 1993- Munis Faruqui,The Princes of the Mughal Empire, 1504-1719, 2012- K. N. Chaudhuri, English East India Company: The Study of an Early Joint-stock Company 1600-1640, 1865- Zahedeh, N. (2001). ‘Overseas Expansion and Trade in the Seventeenth Century’. Canny N. &Louis R. (eds) Origins of Empire : British Overseas Enterprise to the Close of the SeventeenthCentury.-Stern, P. J. (2011). The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India.- Reid, J. G., & Mancke, E. (2010). ‘From Global Processes to Continental Strategies: The Emergence of British North America to 1783’. Canada and the British Empire.A full bibliography can be found on the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the return of Buckingham and Charles from Madrid, the last chance for a diplomatic answer to the Thirty Years War fades away. As James' health worsens, his son and his favourite try and harness parliament to their own ends, which would one day backfire.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- Michael B Young, King James and the History of Homosexuality- David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Charles comes to terms with his French and Spanish enemies, and we examine what has been going on outside of Europe. The East India Company survives significant threats, while the Pilgrims gain new neighbours. Virginia continues its war with the locals, while Europeans in the West Indies commit a genocide.Complete the survey HERE: https://forms.gle/ojt6gRjBTzdyApF47Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications. See the website for a full bibliography: Dalrymple, William, (2019) The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company Virginia Dejohn Anderson, (1998) 'New England in the Seventeenth Century', The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I Beckles, H. M. (1998). ‘The “Hub of Empire”: The Caribbean and Britain in the Seventeenth Century’, The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I Lawson, Philip, (1993). The East India Company : a history Stern, P. J. (2011). The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the death of Elizabeth, the King of Scots travels south to take up his new kingdoms of England and Ireland. James faces an uphill challenge; his rulership style is vastly different to Elizabeth's, and he inherits a number of serious problems. Adding to this is James' insistence on political union between his two larger kingdoms; he wants to become King of a single Great Britain.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Jane H. Ohlmeyer, ''Civilizinge of those Rude Partes': Colonization within Britain and Ireland, 1580s-1640s', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Julian Goodare, The Government of Scotland 1560-1625 For a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Irish lords rise up against English domination, lead by The O'Neill, the Great Earl of Tyrone, Hugh O'Neill. England, already at war with Spain, dispatches thousands of troops to try and quell the rebellion. Felipe II of Spain sees an opportunity, and sends his own soldiers to assist the Irish against Dublin and London. This was the largest military campaign of Elizabeth's reign, and the one with the most long-lasting consequences for the British Isles.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Steven G. Ellis, Ireland in the Age of the Tudors 1447-1603: English Expansion and the End of Gaelic Rule- Harold O’Sullivan, Dynamics of Regional Development: processes of assimilation and division in the marchland of south-east Ulster in late medieval and early modern Ireland- David Edwards, 'Political Change and Social Transformation, 1603–1641', in The Cambridge History of Ireland: 1550–1730 For a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

James VI was crowned king at one year old, and his early life was spent as the puppet of a succession of regencies. When he finally asserted his independence, he faced down a series of rebellions and strengthened his royal authority through fire and sword. His relationship with Elizabeth of England was complicated and often violent, and his vassals were insubordinate and churlish. Yet he would emerge at the dawn of the 17th century the ruler of the entirety of the British Isles.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Jane H. Ohlmeyer, ''Civilizinge of those Rude Partes': Colonization within Britain and Ireland, 1580s-1640s', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Julian Goodare, The Government of Scotland 1560-1625 For a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A delve into the careers of two of the king's fond advisers/possible lovers: the Earl of Somerset, Robert Carr/Kerr, and the Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers. One rose to a great height, acquired riches and power, and came crashing down to earth like Icarus. The other would climb higher, attain more influence and wealth, and survive his king. These two men became manifestations, and major causes, of the Stuart Court's growing unpopularity.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoListen to The Siécle: http://thesiecle.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- The Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyFor a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What was the religious background to James' English reign? Was everyone on board with the established church? Of course not! We look at those who were content with the Church of England, those who wished for a return to Roman Catholicism, and those who believed the Church needed further reform. Outside of this debate were the Pilgrims, who thought the whole project was beyond repair, and were determined to make their own, perfect, society.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Milton, A. (2015). ‘Arminians, Laudians, Anglicans, and Revisionists’, Huntington Library Quarterly- Prior, C. W. A. (2005). Defining the Jacobean Church: The Politics of Religious Controversy, 1603–1625- Questier, M. C. (1997). ‘Loyalty, Religion and State Power in Early Modern England: English Romanism and the Jacobean Oath of Allegiance’, The Historical Journal- John C. Appleby, 'War, Politics, and Colonization, 1558-1625', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire- Virginia Dejohn Anderson, 'New England in the Seventeenth Century', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire- Virginia Dejohn Anderson, New England's Generation: The Great Migration and the Formation of Society and Culture in the Seventeenth Century- Richard Middleton, Colonial America Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Compared to the kingdoms of Iberia, England was fairly late to the colonisation game. This episode covers the costly failures of Elizabeth's reign, and the successful, but still costly, attempts which James oversaw. Enormous death tolls from disease, starvation, and violence were not enough to prevent the foundations of British North America.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Benjamin, T. (2009). The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History, 1400-1900. Cambridge- Nicholas Canny, 'The Origins of Empire: An Introduction', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire- John C. Appleby, 'War, Politics, and Colonization, 1558-1625', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of EmpireFor a full bibliography, see the website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happened in James' first Kingdom while he was down south living it up in London? Rebellious lords were brought to heel and the Kirk was forcibly brought closer to the Church of England. We also hear about the first, failed, beginnings of Nova Scotia, and the much more successful colony of St Kitts, while the burgeoning war in Europe becomes a family affair for James.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography- Jane H. Ohlmeyer, ''Civilizinge of those Rude Partes': Colonization within Britain and Ireland, 1580s-1640s', in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume I: The Origins of Empire  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As war engulfes Europe, James is stuck between a rock and a hard place: his son-in-law is now wearing a stolen crown, and he still wants a marriage with its owners. He's also in crippling debt, and the only way forward is to call another parliament.Check out the podcast website: https://www.paxbritannica.infoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodBritannica/Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritannicaPaxIn this episode I made particular use of the following publications:- Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I- Pauline Croft, King James- The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography-David Smith, The Stuart Parliaments, 1603-1689 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices