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History Cafe

History Cafe

By: Jon Rosebank Penelope Middelboe
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 True history storytelling at the History Café. Join BBC Historian Jon Rosebank & HBO, BBC & C4 script and series editor Penelope Middelboe as we give history a new take. Drop in to the History Café weekly on Wednesdays to give old stories a refreshing new brew. 90+ ever-green stand-alone episodes and building...

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Episodes
  • #94 'Political gangsterdom' - Ep 4 What Wars? What Roses?

    #94 'Political gangsterdom' - Ep 4 What Wars? What Roses?
    Mar 18 2026
    By the time Henry VI finally lost the last bit of England's French Empire in 1453 he could no longer go to war in France to occupy and enrich his nobility. This small, interrelated and bickering group, cooped up in England with an agricultural depression settling in, now resorted to what the historian Michael Postan long ago (in 1939) famously called ‘political gangsterdom.’ (R)

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    35 mins
  • #93 'A plague on both your houses' - Ep 2 What Wars? What Roses?

    #93 'A plague on both your houses' - Ep 2 What Wars? What Roses?
    Mar 11 2026
    Why was the 15th century in England and Wales so violent? It certainly wasn’t York v Lancaster, white-rose v red-rose rivalry. Monarchs were useless but that’s not unique to the 15th century. So what was it that defined this period? It has everything to do with the plague… (R)

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    31 mins
  • #92 'Welcome traitor!' - Ep 1 What Wars? What Roses?

    #92 'Welcome traitor!' - Ep 1 What Wars? What Roses?
    Mar 4 2026
    Why do we know so little about medieval history? About England and Wales in the fifteenth century? The Wars of the Roses (Lancaster v York) lasted 4 months not the traditional 85 years. Even the roses were (mostly) inventions. And was it even medieval? The execution of the King’s chief minister as a traitor in 1450, by sailors dissatisfied with an ineffective king, was shocking. It revealed that the common people believed the true crown was the community. You can’t get more modern than that. (R)

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    28 mins
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