16th century
49 episodes
Albrecht Dürer
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Dürer, the creator of some of the most memorable images in the late Renaissance from his woodcut of a rhinoceros to his stunning self portraits.
12 November 2020
Featuring: Susan Foister, Giulia Bartrum, Ulinka Rublack
Bruegel's The Fight Between Carnival and Lent
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Bruegel's painting The Fight Between Carnival and Lent.
15 January 2015
Featuring: Louise Milne, Jeanne Nuechterlein, Miri Rubin
Calvinism
Melvyn Bragg and guests Justin Champion, Susan Hardman Moore and Diarmaid MacCulloch explore the ideas of John Calvin and their impact.
25 February 2010
Featuring: Justin Champion, Susan Hardman Moore, Diarmaid MacCulloch
Catherine of Aragon
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Spanish Infanta so prized by the Tudors that, after her first husband the Prince of Wales died, she went on to marry his brother Henry VIII.
13 February 2025
Featuring: Lucy Wooding, Maria Hayward, Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer
Death
Melvyn Bragg discusses the development of Western philosophy on the subject of death and examines how it has helped to shape our culture, literature, attitudes and rituals.
4 May 2000
Featuring: Jonathan Dollimore, Thomas Lynch, Marilyn Butler
Elizabethan Revenge
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss why revenge tragedy was so popular with Elizabethan theatre goers, from Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy to Shakespeare's Hamlet.
18 June 2009
Featuring: Jonathan Bate, Julie Sanders, Janet Clare
Erasmus
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the Dutch humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus, one of the most significant figures of the Renaissance.
9 February 2012
Featuring: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Eamon Duffy, Jill Kraye
Fairies
Melvyn Bragg discusses the literary and visual depiction of fairies. Supernatural creatures inhabiting a half-way world between this one and the next, fairies are ubiquitous in human culture.
11 May 2006
Featuring: Juliette Wood, Diane Purkiss, Nicola Bown
Holbein at the Tudor Court
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Hans Holbein's role in the Tudor Court, painting Henry VIII as he asserted himself as supreme head of the Church during the Reformation.
15 October 2015
Featuring: Susan Foister, John Guy, Maria Hayward
Johannes Kepler
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
29 December 2016
Featuring: David Wootton, Ulinka Rublack, Adam Mosley
John Donne
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the extraordinary life and work of one of England's finest love poets and, as Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, most remarkable preachers.
12 January 2023
Featuring: Mary Ann Lund, Sue Wiseman, Hugh Adlington
CultureCritics of the Catholic ChurchAlumni of Hart Hall, OxfordPhilosophers of religionLiteracy and society theoristsEpigrammatistsEnglish people of Welsh descentIndependent scholars17th-century English poets16th-century English male writersMetaphor theoristsWriters about activism and social changeChristian poetsSonneteersEnglish male poets17th-century Anglican theologiansLutheran saintsAnglican poetsAnglican saints16th-century English poetsPeople celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendarWriters from LondonPeople from the City of London17th-century English male writersLiterary theoristsMetaphysical poetsEnglish satiristsPoet priestsEnglish male non-fiction writersPamphleteers17th-century English Anglican priests16th century17th centuryTheologyJourney to the West
Melvyn Bragg discusses the much loved Chinese novel from 1592, featuring Monkey, Tripitaka, Sandy and Pigsy, as they travel to India to bring back Buddhist texts.
20 May 2021
Featuring: Julia Lovell, Chiung-yun Evelyn Liu, Craig Clunas
Magnetism
Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of the mysterious force of magnetism.
29 September 2005
Featuring: Stephen Pumfrey, John Heilbron, Lisa Jardine
Margaret Beaufort
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the resilience of the child bride who made it her mission to protect her son during the Wars of the Roses and helped him become the first Tudor king
5 March 2026
Featuring: Joanna Laynesmith, Katherine Lewis, David Grummitt
History16th-century English womenAnnulmentHouse of Tudor16th-century English nobilityEnglish Roman Catholics15th-century English women, Founders of colleges of the University of Cambridge, Ladies of the Garter, People of the Wars of the RosesBurials at Westminster AbbeyMothers of English monarchs15th century16th centuryMarguerite de Navarre
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Marguerite, Queen of Navarre (1492 – 1549), author of the Heptaméron, a major literary landmark in the French Renaissance.
23 November 2023
Featuring: Sara Barker, Emily Butterworth, Emma Herdman
Marlowe
Melvyn Bragg discusses Christopher Marlowe; a forger, a brawler, a spy, but above all a playwright, a poet and the most celebrated writer of his generation.
7 July 2005
Featuring: Katherine Duncan-Jones, Jonathan Bate, Emma Smith
16th-century English poets16th-century English male writersEnglish male dramatists and playwrights16th-century English dramatists and playwrights16th-century English translatorsPeople of the Elizabethan eraEnglish male poetsEnglish spiesLatin–English translatorsEnglish Renaissance dramatistsDeaths by stabbing in England, English murder victims, People murdered in England16th centuryMarsilius of Padua
Melvyn Bragg & guests discuss one of the first to argue that political power came from the people, not from God or hereditary monarchy, and they could elect or remove their rulers.
30 May 2024
Featuring: Annabel Brett, George Garnett, Serena Ferente
Mary, Queen of Scots
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, who might have united the French, English and Scottish thrones.
19 January 2017
Featuring: David Forsyth, Anna Groundwater, John Guy
Matteo Ricci and the Ming dynasty
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Matteo Ricci's 16th-century mission to Ming Dynasty China, an important early encounter between east and west.
16 April 2015
Featuring: Mary Laven, Craig Clunas, Anne Gerritsen
Medical Ethics
Melvyn Bragg discusses how the medical profession should cope with the moral questions that the advancement of science and the modern application of medicine brings into it?
16 December 1999
Featuring: Barry Jackson, Sheila McLean
Rudolph II
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the coterie of brilliant thinkers gathered by Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II at his court in Prague.
31 January 2008
Featuring: Peter Forshaw, Howard Hotson, Adam Mosley
Shakespeare and Literary Criticism
Melvyn Bragg discusses the enduring popular and academic appeal of Shakespeare and examines whether literary criticism and the academic institution ruins the pleasure of reading.
4 March 1999
Featuring: Harold Bloom, Jacqueline Rose
English Renaissance dramatists16th-century English poets17th-century English poetsEnglish male dramatists and playwrights16th-century English male actors, 17th-century English male actors, Burials in Warwickshire, English male stage actors, King's Men (playing company), Male actors from Stratford-upon-Avon, People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare family, William Shakespeare, Writers from Warwickshire16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsPeople of the Elizabethan eraSonneteers17th-century English male writersEnglish male poets17th-century English dramatists and playwrights16th century17th centuryShakespeare's Life
Melvyn Bragg discusses what we know about the life of William Shakespeare, a tantalising conundrum that has exercised minds since the day the playwright died.
15 March 2001
Featuring: Katherine Duncan-Jones, John Sutherland, Grace Ioppolo
English Renaissance dramatists16th-century English poets17th-century English poetsEnglish male dramatists and playwrights16th-century English male actors, 17th-century English male actors, Burials in Warwickshire, English male stage actors, King's Men (playing company), Male actors from Stratford-upon-Avon, People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare family, William Shakespeare, Writers from Warwickshire16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsPeople of the Elizabethan eraSonneteers17th-century English male writersEnglish male poets17th-century English dramatists and playwrights16th century17th centuryShakespeare's Work
Melvyn Bragg discusses whether the work of William Shakespeare is 'not of an age but for all time' or increasingly irrelevant museum pieces embalmed in out of reach language.
11 May 2000
Featuring: Frank Kermode, Michael Bogdanov, Germaine Greer
English Renaissance dramatists16th-century English poets17th-century English poetsEnglish male dramatists and playwrights16th-century English male actors, 17th-century English male actors, Burials in Warwickshire, English male stage actors, King's Men (playing company), Male actors from Stratford-upon-Avon, People educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare family, William Shakespeare, Writers from Warwickshire16th-century English dramatists and playwrightsPeople of the Elizabethan eraSonneteers17th-century English male writersEnglish male poets17th-century English dramatists and playwrights16th century17th centurySir Thomas Wyatt
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Tudor courtier who found a way to write extraordinary and enduring poetry while under the intense scrutiny of Henry VIII's machinery of state.
9 May 2024
Featuring: Brian Cummings, Susan Brigden, Laura Ashe
Sovereignty
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the idea of sovereignty, from ancient Greece and Rome to wars in France in the 1500s, to Thomas Hobbes and the revolutionary era.
30 June 2016
Featuring: Melissa Lane, Richard Bourke, Tim Stanton
St Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Melvyn Bragg discusses the infamous St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 when the River Seine ran red with Protestant blood.
27 November 2003
Featuring: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Mark Greengrass, Penny Roberts
The Arthashastra
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ancient Indian Sanskrit text the Arthashastra.
3 March 2022
Featuring: Jessica Frazier, James Hegarty, Deven Patel
The Aztecs
Melvyn Bragg discusses the creation, power and legacy of the Aztec Empire, arguably the most ruthless, pre-Hispanic empire in North America which, at its zenith, ruled over 6 million people.
27 February 2003
Featuring: Alan Knight, Adrian Locke, Elizabeth Graham
The Battle of Lepanto
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the sea battle of Lepanto, in which the Christian forces of the Holy League defeated the Ottoman fleet of Selim II in 1571.
12 November 2015
Featuring: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Kate Fleet, Noel Malcolm
The Death of Elizabeth I
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the death of Queen Elizabeth I and its immediate impact, as a foreign monarch became King in the face of plots and plague.
15 October 2009
Featuring: John Guy, Clare Jackson, Helen Hackett
CultureEnglish people of Welsh descent16th-century English womenEnglish AnglicansPrisoners in the Tower of LondonHouse of TudorPeople excommunicated by the Catholic ChurchFounders of English schools and colleges16th-century English translatorsPeople of the Elizabethan eraEnglish women poets16th-century queens regnantBurials at Westminster Abbey16th centuryThe Diet of Worms
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Diet of Worms where the Holy Roman Emperor demanded Martin Luther explain his attacks on the Catholic Church. The ensuing arguments helped trigger the Reformation.
12 October 2006
Featuring: Diarmaid MacCulloch, David Bagchi, Charlotte Methuen
The Field of the Cloth of Gold
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, one of the greatest and most conspicuous displays of wealth and culture that Europe had ever seen.
6 October 2005
Featuring: Steven Gunn, John Guy, Penny Roberts
The Hanseatic League
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Hanseatic League or Hansa which dominated North European and Baltic trade in the medieval period.
1 February 2024
Featuring: Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz, Georg Christ, Sheilagh Ogilvie
The Inca
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the South American people who dominated from the Andes to the Pacific coast until the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors.
13 June 2019
Featuring: Frank Meddens, Helen Cowie, Bill Sillar
The Jesuits
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Jesuits and their role in the education, art, politics and mythology of the Counter-Reformation.
18 January 2007
Featuring: Nigel Aston, Simon Ditchfield, Dame Olwen Hufton
The Mamluks
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Mamluks, medieval rulers of Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517.
26 September 2013
Featuring: Amira Bennison, Robert Irwin, Doris Behrens-Abouseif
The Maya Civilization
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Maya civilization in central America, from consolidation of power in the great cities after AD250 to their abandonment by the 16th century.
10 March 2016
Featuring: Elizabeth Graham, Matthew Restall, Benjamin Vis
The Nicene Creed
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Nicene Creed, a statement of essential faith that established the Divinity of Christ and has been spoken for over 1600 years in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches
27 December 2007
Featuring: Martin Palmer, Caroline Humfress, Andrew Louth
The Renaissance
Melvyn Bragg explores the veracity of modern claims about the Renaissance and whether our current perceptions about its role in cultural history stem from a 19th century historian.
8 June 2000
Featuring: Francis Ames-Lewis, Peter Burke, Evelyn Welch
The Siege of Malta, 1565
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the fierce contest for Malta, which the Ottomans tried to prise from the Knights Hospitaller who they they had already driven from Rhodes in 1522.
11 January 2018
Featuring: Helen Nicholson, Diarmaid MacCulloch, Kate Fleet
The Siege of Munster
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Siege of Munster in 1534-35, when radical Anabaptists tried to create the 'New Jerusalem' in a small German town, with horrific consequences.
5 November 2009
Featuring: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Charlotte Methuen, Lucy Wooding
The Siege of Tenochtitlan
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Siege of Tenochtitlan, the event which precipitated the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521.
27 October 2011
Featuring: Alan Knight, Elizabeth Graham, Caroline Dodds Pennock
The Spanish Armada
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Spanish Armada, the fleet which attempted to invade Elizabethan England in 1588.
7 October 2010
Featuring: Diane Purkiss, Maria Jose Rodriguez-Salgado, Nicholas Rodger
The Spanish Inquisition
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Spanish Inquisition, whose defense of medieval orthodoxy is a story of heresy, torture, courage, imprisonment, exile and death.
22 June 2006
Featuring: John Edwards, Alexander Murray, Michael Alpert
The Tudor State
Melvyn Bragg discusses the role of the Tudor dynasty in reshaping the British state and whether their government of England laid the political foundations of our own age.
26 October 2000
Featuring: John Guy, Christopher Haigh, Christine Carpenter
The Valladolid Debate
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential debate in 1550 over whether it was right or not to enslave the people who lived on Spain's newly conquered land in the Americas.
20 February 2020
Featuring: Caroline Dodds Pennock, John Edwards, Julia McClure
Tycho Brahe
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the innovative 16th-century Danish astronomer, renowned for the accuracy of his observations, all taken before the invention of the telescope.
2 February 2023
Featuring: Ole Grell, Adam Mosley, Emma Perkins
William Cecil
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and influence of the 1st Baron Burghley, Elizabeth I's powerful Secretary of State who advanced England's interests throughout her reign
7 March 2019
Featuring: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Susan Doran, John Guy
