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ROYALTY: Let’s Make Sense of This Sh*t

ROYALTY: Let’s Make Sense of This Sh*t

By: Let's Work This Sh*t Out
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About this listen

 Royalty: Let’s Make Sense of This Shit The podcast that finally unravels the real, messy, and deeply human world behind the crown. Ever wondered what actually goes on in royal families—beneath the headlines, scandals, jewels, and centuries-old myths? “Royalty: Let’s Make Sense of This Shit” is your backstage pass to the true, untidy story of kings, queens, and the legacy they leave behind. Every episode, host Isabella guides you through:
  • Hidden truths and missing voices—the royals you never learned about in school.
  • Family drama, wild betrayals, and myth-busting history—no detail too small, no scandal too big.
  • Full, unfiltered context—long-form deep dives that actually make sense of the mess.
  • Emotional honesty and gentle humor—because power, trauma, and legacy are always personal.
  • Real talk about why these stories still shape us today—identity, memory, survival, and belonging.
Forget sanitized timelines and fairy tales. This is history as it really happened—messy, raw, sometimes infuriating, and always deeply human. If you’re curious, skeptical, or just tired of the usual royal BS, this is your show. Subscribe, bring your questions, and join a community of fellow truth-seekers as we make sense of royalty, one wild story at a time.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/royalty-let-s-make-sense-of-this-sh-t--6635619/support.Copyright Let's Work This Sh*t Out Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Cuthred of Wessex: Defiance, Bloodshed, and the Fight to Break Mercia’s Grip

    Cuthred of Wessex: Defiance, Bloodshed, and the Fight to Break Mercia’s Grip
    Aug 17 2025
    Cuthred of Wessex: Defiance, Bloodshed, and the Fight to Break Mercia’s Grip
    Royalty: Let’s Make Sense of This Shit

    👑 Mud, betrayal, and a kingdom trapped under the shadow of a powerful overlord.

    Cuthred’s Wessex is a land of rough warriors, fragile loyalties, and brutal family strife. How did one king survive revolts, royal betrayals, and the weight of Mercia’s dominance—and even push back?

    🔥 In this episode:
    • The tense dance of power between Wessex and Mercia—what did it mean to be a king under an overlord?
    • Family torn apart: the brutal revolt of Cuthred’s own son and the harsh realities of royal survival.
    • The Battle of Burford: myth, legend, and the first real taste of Wessex’s defiance.
    • Court life beyond the battlefield—who held power behind the scenes, and what was daily royal life really like?
    • Legacy lost and found: why Cuthred is the forgotten king who shaped Wessex’s future.


    ✨ Why listen?
    Because history is never tidy. Cuthred’s reign is a messy, human story of endurance in a world that wants to keep you small. Isabella leads you through the grit and grime of early medieval politics with honesty, warmth, and a little irreverence.

    🤔 What’s at stake?
    What does it mean to fight for independence when every step is under watch?
    How do you survive betrayal and loss—and still hold on to your crown and your kingdom?

    🧾 Sources & Scholarship:
    The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s cryptic entries, later medieval genealogies, and fresh perspectives that challenge the usual heroic narrative.

    🌱 Listener Reflection:
    What would you do when your own blood turns against you? What does survival look like in your own life’s struggles? Send your stories, questions, and thoughts—we want to hear from you.

    Next up: Sigeberht’s brief and turbulent reign. The throne of Wessex shakes again. Subscribe, share your reflections, and let’s keep making sense of this royal shit—together.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/royalty-let-s-make-sense-of-this-sh-t--6635619/support.
    Show More Show Less
    33 mins
  • Æthelheard of Wessex: Survival, Shadow, and the Struggle for a Kingdom

    Æthelheard of Wessex: Survival, Shadow, and the Struggle for a Kingdom
    Aug 10 2025
    Æthelheard of Wessex: Survival, Shadow, and the Struggle for a Kingdom
    
Royalty: Let’s Make Sense of This Shit

    👑 A kingdom on the edge—step into 8th-century Wessex, caught between fading glory and rising threats.
Æthelheard’s reign is a story of survival amid political chaos, Mercian domination, and royal uncertainty. What does it mean to rule when your power is fragile and your enemies are stronger?

    🔥 In this episode:
    * The abdication of King Ine and a throne up for grabs—how Æthelheard seized power in a crisis.
    * Mercia’s growing shadow under Æthelbald—tribute, territory loss, and the making of a client king.
    * Royal family mysteries: the missing women, unnamed consorts, and the court behind the scenes.
    * Power as negotiation: legitimacy, survival, and the delicate dance of alliance and submission.
    * The quiet resilience that kept Wessex alive when defeat seemed inevitable.

    ✨ Why listen?

    This episode digs beneath the dusty chronicles to reveal the messy, human struggles behind early English kingship. Isabella guides you through the silences, the rumors, and the real stakes of a reign few remember but no one could ignore.

    🤔 What’s at stake?
    
The meaning of legitimacy and power in a world where everything is uncertain.
How survival itself becomes a form of victory.
The legacy of kings who hold on when glory is out of reach.

    🧾 Sources & Scholarship:

    The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Mercian charters, church records, and modern historical research—woven with myth-busting and personal reflection.

    🌱 Listener Reflection:

    What would you hold onto if everything was slipping away? Who do we remember, and who fades into the shadows? Share your thoughts, questions, and family stories—let’s keep the conversation alive.

    Next up: Cuthred, Æthelheard’s successor. The fight back begins. Politics, battles, and the slow rise of a kingdom that refused to die.

    Subscribe, send your stories, and let’s keep making sense of this royal shit—together.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/royalty-let-s-make-sense-of-this-sh-t--6635619/support.
    Show More Show Less
    40 mins
  • Ine of Wessex: Law, Loyalty, and the King Who Walked Away

    Ine of Wessex: Law, Loyalty, and the King Who Walked Away
    Aug 3 2025
    Ine of Wessex: Law, Loyalty, and the King Who Walked Away
    Royalty: Let’s Make Sense of This Shit

    👑 A kingdom on the edge—between war and law, faith and family, power and peace.
    Ine’s Wessex is a wild frontier where kings fight to hold territory, build order, and survive betrayal. But this isn’t just a tale of swords—it’s the birth of English kingship shaped by groundbreaking laws and fierce church alliances.

    🔥 In this episode:
    • A tangled web of family drama—loyal queens, lost heirs, and brothers turned rebels.
    • The oldest surviving Anglo-Saxon law code—what it reveals about justice, society, and royal power.
    • War with the Cornish, uneasy peace with Mercia, and the shifting alliances that defined a kingdom.
    • The surprising rise of Christianity’s influence in a violent, unstable world.
    • A king who dared to abdicate—and walk a pilgrim’s path to Rome, redefining what it meant to rule.
    ✨ Why listen?
    This is not a neat fairy tale, but a raw, deeply human story of survival and legacy at the dawn of England. Isabella guides you through the messy, often brutal realities of royal power, law, and faith—inviting you to question everything you thought you knew about kingship.

    🤔 What’s at stake?
    • What does leadership mean when every alliance is fragile and every decision can cost a kingdom?
    • How do we reconcile power with humility—and why does Ine’s choice to walk away still resonate today?
    🧾 Sources & Scholarship:
    The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ine’s law code, Bede’s writings, plus modern scholarship and fresh myth-busting insights.

    🌱 Listener Reflection:
    If you held a crown, would you fight to the death—or choose a different path? Share your stories, questions, and royal curiosities with us.

    Next up: Æthelheard. Ine’s successor faces a kingdom still on edge—can he hold it together? Subscribe, send your stories, and let’s keep making sense of this royal shit—together.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/royalty-let-s-make-sense-of-this-sh-t--6635619/support.
    Show More Show Less
    51 mins
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