Podcast
THIS IS HISTORY — A DYNASTY TO DIE FOR
Hosted by Sony Music Entertainment · EN
This is a story of three brothers, one crown, and not an ounce of loyalty between them. It’s the beginning of the end for England's most storied royal dynasty, the Plantagenets.
Dan Jones brings you the story of the Yorkist King, Edward IV – tall, golden, ferocious – a young king who wins his throne on the battlefield and then destabilises it in the bedroom. His secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, a Lancastrian widow of minor nobility, detonates the political order. The old guard revolts. The Earl of Warwick aka the Kingmaker, emerges as a lethal enemy.
What follows is a sequence of betrayals so baroque they border on the operatic. Alliances invert overnight as Warwick makes daring political moves. Kings drown in malmsey wine, princes mysteriously disappear from Towers and Richard III, becomes England’s last ever Plantagenet king.
Through this carnage emerges a family that will define English history: The Tudors. In a freezing Welsh castle, a thirteen-year-old Margaret Beaufort delivers a son she will spend decades manoeuvring towards the throne. Henry Tudor's claim is thin. His exile is long. His invasion, when it finally comes, is a bet against every reasonable odds.
A Sony Music Entertainment production.
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84episodes
Episodes
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S10 E4 | The Kingmaker Strikes Back
6d ago00:30:05Summary readyIt’s a gorgeous, calculated provocation. In the summer of 1469, in Calais, the Earl of Warwick, marries his daughter Isabel to George, Duke of Clarence, brother and heir to King Edward IV. It’s another shot across the bow to Edward, who doesn’t seem to understand that the kingmaker wants him out. Within weeks, Warwick's rebels crush a royal army at Edgcote and the Kingmaker imprisons the king himself in the Tower of London. England collapses into anarchy. Warwick, humbled, is forced to release Edward. Astonishingly, he is pardoned. More astonishingly, he rebels again. Defeated at Losecoat Field, he flees to France, where he finds an unlikely ally. – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al discuss the "congenital shitbird” that is George, Duke of Clarence. Plus, Dan settles the rumours about whether Edward IV was really illegitimate after all. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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You may also like: Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford
2w ago00:44:38Summary readyHey Dan here. Here’s a podcast from none other than TIH alumna, producer Georgia Mills! If you can’t get enough of historical failure after History’s Greatest Fails, give Cautionary Tales a listen. My royal favourites get one month free of a free subscription — look out for the gift link on our Patreon Court Gossip thread. In the meantime, here’s a sample episode. It’s the tale of a poet who thought his poem about the Battle of Crecy was going to rival Shakespeare… evidently, it did not. William McGonagall's poems are something else. The jarring meter, the banal imagery, the awkward rhymes: they made him a laughing stock in 19th Century Scotland and are still derided to this day. How does someone get that bad at poetry? Or have we been misunderstanding McGonagall all along? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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S10 E3 | LOVEBOMBING
2w ago00:29:38Summary readyRichard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, knows there’s no such thing as a free lunch. And the best way to keep the people on your side is through their stomachs. It’s a lesson King Edward IV has yet to learn. After marrying for love, and starting a diplomatic thaw with Europe, Edward soon finds out that there’s really only one task that matters: keeping his most powerful subject loyal. So the young king allows a raid on a Hanseatic League storehouse on Warwick’s behalf, he moves his entire court to Coventry just to coax Warwick to a council meeting, and then stages a grand ceremony at Windsor Castle to project unity. None of it works. Warwick takes every gift and offers nothing in return. Generosity can be its own kind of trap door. The question is whether the king will recognise it before he’s swallowed whole… – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al trace how the Earl of Warwick was able to attain power that rivalled that of the king’s. Plus, Dan gets stuck into how the restive Northern counties provides Warwick with a vulnerability to exploit. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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S10 E2 | Rise of the Woodvilles
3w ago00:32:52Summary readyEdward IV marries in secret, then springs the news like a trap. England’s new Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, arrives with two sons, a Lancastrian past, and a family ready to take their chance. When the newly-married couple introduces themselves at Reading Abbey, nobles gape. But Elizabeth takes her newfound royal status with aplomb. She stages a dazzling churching, forcing courtiers to kneel for hours. Elsewhere, England’s pitiable former king Henry VI is found wandering and locked quietly in the Tower. Elizabeth’s siblings are married into great royal houses at speed, tightening their grip, much to the dismay of England’s noble class. In London, her brother Anthony fights the Grand Bastard of Burgundy before a roaring crowd. All the while, a wounded Earl of Warwick watches on. The kingmaker’s been left humiliated and restless by this union, and the balance of power in between Warwick and Edward won’t stay cordial for long. – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al discuss the basics of marriage in the medieval world… and how they bend and warp when the groom is a king. Plus, get the inside scoop on 1464’s HOTTEST scandal: Edward IV’s secret wedding to Elizabeth Woodville — the low-born widow who nobody saw being England’s next Queen. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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S10 E1 | A New Hope
4w ago00:36:13Summary readyA 13-year-old girl labours in a sealed chamber at Pembroke Castle as the plague circles them. Miraculously, Margaret Beaufort survives. Her son does, too. His name is Henry Tudor. This birth doesn’t register in the minds of many nobles, as they’re focused on England’s first Yorkist King, Edward IV. After his decisive victory at the Battle of Towton, his mission as king is to do what Henry VI couldn’t: rebuild a broken kingdom. He solidifies power in concert with his ally, the Earl of Warwick, who fancies himself as a kingmaker. Warwick grows rich on titles, ports, and power, until some say he rules as much as the king. They stamp out a few threats to Edward’s rule, but ultimately their mission is to stamp order over the kingdom. The best way to do that is to find England a new Queen. – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al discuss the Earl of Warwick’s lust for power, and why the role of matchmaker has been thrust upon him. Plus, Dan gives you a close insight into the social discord of England early on in Edward IV’s reign thanks to the Paston Letters — the largest surviving collection of 15th-century private correspondence, written in English between 1422 and 1509. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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You may also like: Hidden History with Dr Harini Bhat
May 2100:08:51Summary readyHello from Dan! Don’t fret. There’s nothing happening to This Is History! I thought I’d give you a little treat ahead of Season 11 of A Dynasty to Die For. The excellent Dr Harini Bhat has kindly given you a special preview of her new podcast, Hidden History. She’s a clinical pharmacist and storyteller obsessed with the moments in history that still can't be fully explained. Every week she investigates real events that defy easy explanation. Mass hysterias. Vanished civilizations. Medical oddities. Strange signals. Unexplained phenomena that keep repeating across centuries, as if history is trying to tell you something. Hidden History doesn't dismiss ancient events as myth or superstition. It treats them as open case files, shaped by the limits of knowledge, technology, and record-keeping. Because the unknown isn't a failure of explanation. It's a constant in human experience, one that evolves, repeats, and sometimes deepens the more we learn. Get new episodes every Monday. Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or watch on YouTube @hiddenhistorypod. Listen here: https://play.megaphone.fm/65qgwrg-sq-mmvg7tpqgfa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Introducing… Season Ten of a Dynasty to Die For
May 1900:02:14Summary readyThree brothers. One crown. And no ounce of loyalty between them. In the final Plantagenet season of A Dynasty to Die For, Dan Jones traces the spectacular implosion of a dynasty that defined medieval England. You will meet King Edward IV, who marries for love and splits his court in half. His former champion, the Earl of Warwick, becomes a mortal enemy. Edward’s heirs mysteriously vanish in the Tower of London… just before their uncle becomes England’s last Plantagenet monarch — Richard III. As the Plantagenet dynasty crumbles,, across the sea, a boy nobody wanted is about to upend English history forever. His name is Henry Tudor. It took centuries to forge this dynasty. It will take one battle to bury them. Listen to the debut episode of Season 10 of This Is History — A Dynasty to Die For, premiering on Tuesday May 26. Subscribers can listen to episode two straight away on the same day — become one of Dan’s Royal Favourites to get early ad-free access: patreon.com/thisishistory. –– A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices – Presented by Dan Jones Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Executive Producer - Louisa Field Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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War — History’s Ultimate Failure
May 1200:32:17Summary readyElizabeth Day grew up in Belfast and would as a child walk past the most bombed hotel in Europe. Dan Jones recalls a Croatian widow whose husband went out for bread and never returned. In this final episode of History’s Greatest Fails, Dan and Elizabeth name war as history's ultimate failure and reflect on the changes that follow societal collapse. Together, they draw on conflicts that have changed the course of world history, such as the Hundred Years' War, the World Wars, the Troubles, and the breakup of Yugoslavia. Plus, Elizabeth delves into a special area of interest: How societies choose to remember war and how that has influenced the evolution of art, literature, and architecture. So what can we learn from history’s ultimate failure? – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al are dissecting the biggest historical failures as submitted by the royal favourites. In this episode, they attempt to answer why invading Russia is never a good idea, and the futility of France’s Maginot line amid the 20th-Century’s rapid technological change. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Researcher - Phoebe Joyce Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Executive Producer for Daylight Productions - Elizabeth Day Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Ear Today, Gone Tomorrow: Van Gogh’s Guide to Artistic Failure
May 500:33:23Summary readyIf you’re an artist, when would you like recognition to strike? Do you want it to be in your lifetime, only to be forgotten decades after your death? Or do you want to remain undiscovered, with your story potentially echoing for centuries after you’ve been discovered posthumously? These are some of the thorny questions Dan and Elizabeth consider in this episode about artistic failure. Together, they trace the stories of artists whose lives don’t neatly match up with the reputations their works have gathered: French writer George Sand, and the painters Vincent Van Gogh, and Artemisia Gentileschi. Each artist presents a differing experience of the kaleidoscope that is artistic failure: Van Gogh and Gentileschi suffered great personal anguish yet have given the world canonical paintings, while Sand was one of the most popular novelists of the 19th century – only to be cast out of the canon in the next century. So what would you rather: Acclaim now, or acclaim posthumously? – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al are dissecting the biggest historical failures as submitted by the royal favourites. In this episode, they discuss a potential research fail about Battle of Hastings, what happens when failure is lost in translation, and what American Reconstruction can teach us about historical failure. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Researcher - Phoebe Joyce Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Executive Producer for Daylight Productions - Elizabeth Day Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Why isn’t Leonardo Da Vinci remembered as an engineer?
Apr 2800:32:18Summary readyIf you judge him by his own elaborate metrics, Leonardo da Vinci was a failure. Long before the Mona Lisa became shorthand for genius, Leonardo imagined himself as something else entirely: a military engineer, a designer of bridges and armoured vehicles, a master of siegecraft and architecture. In 1482, he wrote a breathless letter to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, itemising these talents with bravado and noting, quickly, that oh, he could paint, too. Many of his boldest designs never left the page, or arrived centuries too early to be built. By his own standards, the future-facing polymath fell short. In this episode, Elizabeth Day and Dan Jones roam through history’s workshops, laboratories, monasteries, and battlefields to ask what failure really looks like. From Leonardo’s unrealised machines to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s accidental discovery of microbiology, from champagne’s explosive beginnings to gunpowder’s grim transformation, they trace how curiosity, misjudgement, and wrong turns can quietly reshape the world. What emerges is a gentler, stranger truth: failure is often just invention, waiting for the world to catch up. – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al are dissecting the biggest historical failures as submitted by the royal favourites. In this episode, they discuss history’s colossal maritime failures, from the White Ship disaster to the Titanic. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Researcher - Phoebe Joyce Executive Producer - Simon Poole Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Executive Producer for Daylight Productions - Elizabeth Day Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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