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Helen Castor and The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth. This segment of the BBC 4's Women's Hour radio program was broadcast on 4 October 2010. In Chapter 4 of the program, Jane Garvey interviews Dr. Helen Castor, Fellow in History at Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, about her new book, She-Wolves. From the synopsis by the publisher, Faber 6 Faber: "In 1553, England was about to experience the 'monstrous regiment' - the unnatural rule - of a woman. But female rule in England also had a past. Four hundred years before Edward's death, Matilda, daughter of Henry I and granddaughter of William the Conquerer, came tantalisingly close to securing her hold on the power of the crown. And between the 12th and the 15th centuries three more exceptional women - Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, and Margaret of Anjou - discovered, as queens consort and dowager, how much was possible if the presumptions of male rule were not confronted so explicitly."

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss King Alfred and the defeat of the Vikings at Battle of Edington. At the end of the 9th century the Vikings controlled almost all of what we now call England. Mercia had fallen and its king had fled, Northumbria had fallen and so had Essex. The only independent kingdom left standing against the rampaging Danes was Wessex, and Alfred the Great; then he was overrun, his treasury, palaces and castles taken whilst he and his most loyal followers were left to wander the moors. Yet he came back.

Medievalist Dr Stephen Baxter takes a fresh look at the Middle Ages through the eyes of children. At a time when half the population was under eighteen he argues that, although they had to grow up quickly and take on adult responsibility early, the experience of childhood could also be richly rewarding.

"Browse the Medieval era within the "In Our Time" archive."

"The Conqueror's men were frustrated in their efforts to capture 'Hereward the Wake' for over a year. In 1070 he and his men made a daring raid on the monastery at Peterborough which marked him as a dangerous and effective resistance leader. William and his army gradually closed on Hereward until he withdrew to the Isle of Ely where he lived in comfortably - out of reach of the invading force."

The Dark Origins of Britain is a landmark series dealing with the greatest unresolved mystery in our history - how the modern nations of England, Wales and Scotland were born out of the chaos of the Dark Ages. In 400 AD, when Roman power collapsed in Britain, we were a province inhabited by Celtic peoples speaking a mixture of early Welsh and Latin. But only two hundred years later, the foundations of a new, Anglo-Saxon, English-speaking nation were being laid.

Melvyn Bragg follows his long historical exploration of the Routes of English with Voices of the Powerless, in which he explores the lives of the ordinary working men and women

The leader of the West talks about a crusade to the Middle East. George Bush recently used the word in relation to Saddam Hussein and Iraq. It's traditional context goes back to the Middle Ages when Western Europe's Christian powers attempted to re-capture Jerusalem from the new Islamic regional Power. What are the parallels between these two attempts to lead crusades (and maintain coalitions) into the Middle East?

The Peasants' Revolt began in the Essex village of Fobbing in May 1381. It started with the arrival of a royal tax commissioner, John Bampton, enquiring into evasion of the new poll-tax. As a JP and former sheriff of Essex, Bampton was typical of the local notables against whom the risings were directed. Supported by men from nearby villages the rebellion had begun.

interactive timeline of British history

The Black Death was 'a squalid disease that killed within a week' and a national trauma that utterly transformed Britain. Dr Mike Ibeji follows its deadly path.

The long term effects of the Black Death were devastating and far reaching. Agriculture, religion, economics and even social class were affected. Contemporary accounts shed light on how medieval Britain was irreversibly changed.

The majority of the population lived in the countryside at the time of the Black Death. Dr Mike Ibeji traces the plague's devastating impact on the rural communities.

The conflicts with England's neighbours dragged on, draining the economy. Maintaining the basic border forts in France, Scotland and Ireland cost £46,000 pa and by 1381 three regressive poll taxes had been passed by parliament and extracted from an unwilling population, barely recovering from the ravages of the Black Death.

good overview page for "The story behind the Battle of Hastings and the leaders who fought it"

t was at a speech made outside Clermont Ferrand that Pope Urban II called for a Crusade to claim the holy city of Jerusalem for Christianity, and wrest it from Islamic control. This was the start of a movement that continued, some historians argue, for over 500 years.

From the 1360s, however, English architecture became simpler, moving to the more perpendicular style seen in Winchester Cathedral, which saw work on its west gate begin in 1360. The flamboyant masonry of major buildings was replaced by straight lines, partly due to the new shift towards austerity, but also because of the depleted workforce available.

"Almost exactly 750 years ago, an extraordinary parliament opened in Westminster. For the very first time, elected representatives from every county and major town in England were invited to parliament on behalf of their local communities."

Dr David Starkey's complete history of the British Monarchy, which reveals the epic and bloody stories of our Kings and Queens and charts the course of the oldest surviving political institution in Europe

Dr David Starkey's complete history of the British Monarchy, which reveals the epic and bloody stories of our Kings and Queens and charts the course of the oldest surviving political institution in Europe