Brunhild of Austrasia (with Shelley Puhak)

November 29, 2023

Remember awhile ago, we did three episodes about the iconic Queen Fredegund? And she was so iconic we re-named the scandilicious scale after her? WELL

By popular request, we’re back to look at Fred’s arch-nemesis, Brunhild of Austrasia. To keep my #TeamFred energy from overwhelming things, our guest this week is Shelley Puhak, author of The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Formed The Medieval World aka, the person who introduced Fred and Brun into all our lives!!

Learn more about Shelley and her work at shelleypuhak.com.

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Buy The Dark Queens from bookshop.org and support Vulgar History with this link: https://bookshop.org/a/1419/9781639730759

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Here’s the Radegund book Shelley spoke about. Radegund: The Trials and Triumphs of a Merovingian Queen by E.T. Dailey (published by Oxford University Press).

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Author Interview: Katherine Howe (A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself )

November 22, 2023

Today we’re joined by Katherine Howe to talk about her pirate-y new novel, A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself.

Learn more about Katherine and her work at katherinehowe.com

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Buy A True Account from bookshop.org and support Vulgar History with this link: https://bookshop.org/a/1419/9781250304889

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Mary Ann Bugg (with Meg Foster)

November 15, 2023

This week, it’s a Foster duet as we’re joined by Dr. Meg Foster (no relation) to talk about Australia’s legacy of bushrangers, and her recent book Boundary Crossers: The Hidden History of Australia’s Other Bushrangers. If you don’t know who the bushrangers were, don’t worry, that’s the first thing Meg explains.

Our discussion focuses on Mary Ann Bugg, a mixed-race Worimi woman often left out or misrepresented in bushranger sagas.

Learn more about Meg and her work at hist.cam.ac.uk/people/dr-meg-foster

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Buy Boundary Crossers from bookshop.org and support Vulgar History with this link: https://bookshop.org/a/1419/9781742237527

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Listen to the Patreon bushrangers super spectacular featuring Allison Epstein, here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/so-these-guys-82314035–

Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories, including the Anne Boleyn gold vermeil pendant, at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

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Author Interview: Emma Southon (A Rome Of One’s Own: Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire)

November 8, 2023

Today, we’re joined by Emma Southon to talk about lesser-known women of Roman history and her new book, A Rome of One’s Own: Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire.

Learn more about Emma and her work at emmasouthon.com

Listen to Emma’s podcast History Is Sexy historyissexy.com

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Buy A Rome of One’s Own from bookshop.org and support Vulgar History with this link: https://bookshop.org/a/1419/9781419760181

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Shop the full list of all books I’ve featured on Vulgar History: https://bookshop.org/lists/authors-interviewed-on-vulgar-history

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Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories, including those featuring Roman women like Boudica, Livia, and Agrippina at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

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Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl (with Lucy Hinnie)

November 1, 2023

It’s a slightly belated Halloween super special/ continuation of the Mary, Queen of Scots saga this week! We’re talking about Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl: older sister of one of the Four Marys and also a witch who was never arrested or punished for it.

Our guest is Lucy Hinnie, an Early Career Researcher, Wikimedian and digital humanist. She is currently Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, and a Digital Skills Wikimedian for Wikimedia UK.

Learn more about Lucy and her work at lucyrhinnie.co.uk

Get all the tea about Lucy’s time working at Holyrood Palace in The Vulgar History Aftershow on Patreon!

Eleanor Janega’s blog about why you are (probably) not the granddaughter of the witches they couldn’t burn

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References:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fleming-160

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fleming,_Countess_of_Atholl

Queen Mary’s Women: female relatives, servants, friends and enemies of Mary, Queen of Scots by Rosalind K. Marshall

The Scottish witch-hunt in context edited by Julian Goodare

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Here’s the “A Catte” pillow designed by Jan Jupiter avail in the merch store

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Get merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)

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Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories, including the Anne Boleyn pendant, at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

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Support Vulgar History on Patreon

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Author Interview: John Guy and Julia Fox (Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe)

October 25, 2023

Historians and authors Julia Fox and John Guy join us this week to talk about their new co-written biography, Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and the Marriage that Shook Europe.

Learn more about Julia and her work at juliafox.co.uk

Learn more about John and his work at johnguy.co.uk

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Buy Hunting the Falcon from bookshop.org and support Vulgar History with this link: https://bookshop.org/a/1419/9780063073449

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Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)

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Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories, including the Anne Boleyn pendant, at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

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Support Vulgar History on Patreon

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Empress Elisabeth of Russia (with Allison Epstein)

October 18, 2023

This week we’re talking about the six-foot-tall fashion and party-loving queen who had a loving male companion she discovered singing in a choir… no, not Mary QofS, it’s Empress Elisabeth!!! With a thrilling cameo of a past VH fav but I’ll wait for you to hear until I reveal who it is!!

We’re joined by Allison Epstein, whose new book Let The Dead Bury the Dead takes place in olde timey Russia. Buy a copy of it at bookshop.org or anywhere you get books, and join the Vulgar History Book Club discussion at vulgarhistory.com/bookclub from Oct 18-Nov 15!!

Want to know what Allison has to say about the TV series The Great? Check out the Patreon-only Aftershow where she airs her grievances.

Louisa May Alcott (with Alice Rutkowski)

October 11, 2023

Today we’re talking about beloved American author Louisa May Alcott, best known as the author of Little Women. Joining me to discuss Alcott’s life and career is Dr. Alice Rutkowski, Chair and Associate Professor of English at SUNY Geneseo.

Our discussion today will look at Alcott’s life through a queer, trans lens, which Alice has written about in academic articles.

Learn more about Alice and her work at geneseo.edu/english/rutkowski

This is Peyton Thomas’s NYT article on this topic, as mentioned by Alice in the podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/24/opinion/did-the-mother-of-young-adult-literature-identify-as-a-man.html

Listen to the queer Little Women podcast Jo’s Boys here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2uY5Gp38XQYColfh5VHrOw

And buy a copy of my friend Amanda Sellet’s retelling Belittled Women at this link: https://bookshop.org/a/1419/9780358567356

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Author Interview: Denny S. Bryce (The Other Princess: A Novel of Queen Victoria’s Goddaughter)

October 4, 2023

Today we’re talking about Sarah Forbes Bonetta, an African princess raised in Queen Victoria’s court as the Queen’s goddaughter. Author Denny S. Bryce’s new book The Other Princess takes its inspiration from this recently rediscovered historical figure.

Learn more about Denny and her work at dennysbryce.com

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Buy The Other Princess from bookshop.org and support Vulgar History with this link: https://bookshop.org/a/1419/9780063144125

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Author Interview: Heather Redmond (Death and the Sisters: A Mary Shelley Mystery)

September 27, 2023

Today we’re talking about Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont, Percy Shelley and (a fictional) MURDER with author Heather Redmond, author of Death and the Sisters.

Learn more about Heather and her work at heatherredmond.com

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Buy Death and the Sisters from bookshop.org and support Vulgar History with this link: https://bookshop.org/a/1419/9781496737991

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