Women Leaders, part 4: Killing Vikings With Murder Bees (Rerelease)

Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians was a significant figure in English history. Not only did she repel Viking invaders through the clever use of BOILING BEER and BEES, she also worked alongside her brother Edward to see through their father’s goal of a united England. Also: BEES.

Episode image is a statue of Æthelflæd, erected in Tamworth in 2018. Artist is Luke Perry (not that one).

References:

Founder, Fighter, Saxon Queen: Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians by Margaret C. Jones

Æthelflæd: Lady of the Mercians by Tim Clarkson

Æthelflæd: England’s Forgotten Founder (A Ladybird Expert Book) by Tom Holland

—

Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at commonera.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

—

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

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon  at patreon.com/annfosterwriter

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Movie Discussion: A Knight’s Tale (2001)

As my gift to you all, enjoy this newly-edited (just for audio issues, not for content!) discussion of the 2001 movie A Knight’s Tale with myself, Allison Epstein, and Lana Wood Johnson! Spoiler: we all LOVED it.

Want to hear more episodes of Vulgarpiece Theatre? Join the Patreon!

—

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

—

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

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Interview: Mary McMyne (A Rose By Any Other Name)

William Shakespeare dedicated many of his sonnets to someone known only as the Dark Lady. Novelist Mary McMyne imagines that this was maybe a witch named Rose in her new novel, A Rose by Any Other Name. Mary joins us to talk about her book, and Shakespeare, in this week’s episode!

Click here to buy a copy of A Rose By Any Other Name.

—

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

—

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

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cassie Chadwick, The Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age (with Annie Reed)

Cassie Chadwick, one of history’s most successful con artists, was a master of reinvention. In the dusk of the Gilded Age, she swept from town to town, assuming fresh identities to swindle a fortune so large that it rivaled the robber barons of the time.

Annie Reed, author of a new biography of Cassie Chadwick, joins us to share the saga of one of history’s earliest scam goddesses.

Click here to buy a copy of The Imposter Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age.

—

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

—

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

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Interview: Therese Oneill (The Forgotten Sluts and Shrews Who Shaped America)

Slut. Shrew. Sinful. Scold. The 19th- and early 20th-century American women profiled in Therese Oneill’s new book Unbecoming A Woman were called all these names and worse when they were alive. And that’s just fine.

Therese joins us to celebrate these women who forever changed what women can become.

Click here to buy a copy of Unbecoming A Lady: The Forgotten Sluts and Shrews Who Shaped America.

—

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

—

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

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vaccination Pioneer Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat, medical pioneer, writer, and poet. She learned about the practice of smallpox inoculation while in the Ottoman Empire, and lobbied to bring the practice to England. We’re joined by Sean Lusk, author of A Woman of Opinion, a new novel about Mary’s life.

Click here to buy a copy of A Woman of Opinion.

—

Hilary Mantel’s essay on the importance of historical fiction.

—

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

—

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

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mysterious Foreign Princess Who Wasn’t What She Seemed

It’s a crossover special! Last month, I went on The Art of Crime to share the story of Princess Caraboo (not her real name). And today, we’re playing that episode here in the Vulgar History feed. Gavin Whitehead and I talk about the enigmatic Princess Caraboo, who claimed to be an exotic princess who washed up on English shores in 1817. But who was she really?

Learn more about Gavin’s show The Art of Crime at artofcrimepodcast.com

—

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

—

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

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices