Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Early Modern & Renaissance

133 Episodes 25 Series 133 Figures 78 Events 336 Books 260 Authors

Covering roughly the 15th through 18th centuries, this collection examines religious, political, imperial, and cultural transformations of the Renaissance and early modern world. Series include American Crusades (Christianity’s influence on American foreign policy and warfare from the colonial era onward), Amsterdam (the city’s rise from a fishing village to a financial hub), Aztec Epic (Hernán Cortés’s expedition and the fall of the Aztecs), Charles I: Trial and Execution (causes and consequences of regicide), and Christopher Columbus (origins and Atlantic voyages). Episodes address public debate and coffee-house culture, Magna Carta, Elizabeth I’s early reign, Ireland and Cromwell, and oddities such as Hwang Jini. Figures and events discussed include Ignatius of Loyola, Anne Boleyn, Mehmed II, William III, Sack of Antwerp, Sack of Texcoco, encomienda, Great Trier witch trials, and works like The Embarrassment of Riches and Stations of the Sun.

Timeline Subway

Episodes Series Figures Events Books Authors

Episodes by year

Showing 12 of 133

2025

9 episodes

The Medici: The Bonfire of the Vanities (Part 4)

Medici · Part 4

This episode of The Rest Is History continues the hosts' ongoing Medici series, focusing on Girolamo Savonarola’s rise …

The Medici: Lorenzo the Magnificent (Part 2)

Medici · Part 2

This episode examines Lorenzo de' Medici's rise and the Pazzi Conspiracy. After outlining Lorenzo's family background, …

RIHC: Famous Traitors, The Renaissance, and Post-War Revolutions

This bonus episode features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discussing recent and upcoming series work (Medici,…

The Great Northern War: Murder in Moscow (Part 4)

The Great Northern War · Part 1

This episode is the concluding part of the hosts' Peter the Great series. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the…

Peter the Great: The Rise of Russia (Part 1)

Peter the Great

This episode introduces Peter I (Peter the Great) and the geopolitical context of late 17th‑century Russia. Holland and…

Peter the Great: Bloodbath in the Kremlin (Part 2)

Peter the Great

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue their multi-part series on Peter the Great, focusing on the tsar's lat…

RIHC: The Last English Pope, Persian Europe, and Tom and Dominic's Favourite Castles

In this bonus Q&A episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook answer listener questions on a wide range of topics. They d…

Death in the Amazon: Aguirre, the Wrath of God

This episode of The Rest Is History recounts the 1560–1561 Amazon expedition led initially by Pedro de Asura and domina…

Elizabeth I’s Sorcerer: Angels and Demons in Renaissance Europe

This episode examines the life and career of John Dee (b. 1527), an Elizabethan polymath whose activities straddled wha…

2024

3 episodes

RIHC: Murdered Martyrs, Norse Raids, and Mysterious Stone Circles

In this bonus episode Tom Holland interviews historian Peter Marshall about his book Storm's Edge: Life, Death and Magi…

RIHC: Cromwell & Britain's Revolutionary Decade

Dominic Sandbrook interviews Professor Alice Hunt about her book on the English Republic and the revolutionary decade 1…

The Food that Changed the World

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Professor John Dickey (UCL) about his book Delizia and the …

Page 4 of 12 (page size 12)

← Previous Next → Show all

Series in this era

25 series

Aztec epic

8 episodes Aired: 2023-11-06

Great World Cup Saga

8 episodes Aired: 2022-11-28 – 2022-12-17

Mary, Queen of Scots

7 episodes Aired: 2025-07-20 – 2025-07-30

Life and times of Martin Luther

6 episodes Aired: 2024-03-06 – 2024-03-25

The Fall of the Incas

6 episodes Aired: 2026-02-16

Medici

5 episodes Aired: 2025-06-08 – 2025-06-17

Christopher Columbus

4 episodes Aired: 2023-02-20

Elizabeth I (November 2025)

4 episodes Aired: 2025-11-10

12 (or 13) Days of Christmas

3 episodes Aired: 2021-12-25

Amsterdam

2 episodes Aired: 2023-07-17

Historical figures

133 tagged

Elizabeth I of England

29 episodes

Henry VIII of England

26 episodes

Charles I of England

21 episodes

Charles II of England (Charles Stuart)

19 episodes

Oliver Cromwell

19 episodes

Hernán Cortés

17 episodes

Mary, Queen of Scots

17 episodes

James VI and I of Scotland and England

16 episodes

Mary I of England

16 episodes

Edward VI of England

14 episodes

Historical events

78 tagged

English Civil War (1642–1651)

22 episodes

Execution of Charles I (1649, England)

16 episodes

Restoration of the Stuart monarchy (1660)

14 episodes

Protestant Reformation (16th century)

13 episodes

English Reformation (16th century England)

11 episodes

Glorious Revolution

11 episodes

Defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588)

9 episodes

Christopher Columbus's first voyage / European landfall (1492)

8 episodes

Conquest of Granada (1492)

8 episodes

Counter-Reformation / Thirty Years' War (1618–1648)

8 episodes

Books

336 tagged

Dominion

Author: Tom Holland

10 episodes

Diary of a Nobody / Diary of Samuel Pepys consolidation (Pepys kept as separate canonical)

Author: Samuel Pepys

4 episodes

Adventure in Time, the Fall of the Aztecs

Author: Dominic Sandbrook

3 episodes

God's Englishman

Author: Christopher Hill

3 episodes

Heart of Darkness

Author: Joseph Conrad

3 episodes

Paradise Lost

Author: John Milton

3 episodes

Rivers of Gold

Author: Hugh Thomas

3 episodes

The Canterbury Tales

Author: Geoffrey Chaucer

3 episodes

95 Theses (Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences)

Author: Martin Luther

2 episodes

Acts of the Apostle s

Author: Traditional Attribution or Various

2 episodes

Authors

260 tagged

Tom Holland

14 episodes

Dominic Sandbrook

9 episodes

Hugh Thomas

6 episodes

Traditional Attribution or Various

6 episodes

Geoffrey Chaucer

4 episodes

John Hemming

4 episodes

Samuel Pepys

4 episodes

William Shakespeare

4 episodes

Christopher Hill

3 episodes

John Guy

3 episodes