Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Early Modern & Renaissance

118 Episodes 20 Series 128 Figures 67 Events 299 Books 233 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 118

2023

2 episodes

Lady Jane Grey: The Nine Days' Queen (Ep 1)

Lady Jane Grey · Part 1

This episode is the first of a two-part examination of Lady Jane Grey and the 1553 Tudor succession crisis. Holland and…

Lady Jane Grey: The Axe Falls (Ep 2)

Lady Jane Grey · Part 2

This episode — the second part of a two-part feature on Lady Jane Grey — recounts the rapid rise and fall of the teenag…

2022

10 episodes

Canada: Beaver Wars

Great World Cup Saga · Part 31

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook use the Canadian beaver as a lens on Canadian history, beginning with prehistoric Cas…

Japan: Samurai and Shoguns

Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland host a wide-ranging survey of Japanese history with guest Chris Harding, senior lectu…

Netherlands: The Maid of Holland

Great World Cup Saga · Part 22

This episode explores the symbolic figure of the Maid of Holland that emerged during the late 16th-century Dutch Revolt…

Switzerland: Calvin's Cancel Culture

Great World Cup Saga · Part 20

In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook focus on Geneva in the mid-16th century, using the 1553 execution of …

Senegal: The Door of No Return

Great World Cup Saga · Part 18

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook examine the history and modern meaning of Gorée Island and its House of Slaves in Sen…

Belgium: History's Greatest Artist

Great World Cup Saga · Part 17

In this episode of The Rest Is History hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook welcome Bart van Loo to discuss Jan van …

Poland: Copernicus, the Dragon and the Salt Mine

Great World Cup Saga · Part 16

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook present a travel-style cultural and historical tour of Poland framed as its “seven wo…

Ghana: The Ashanti Empire

Great World Cup Saga · Part 15

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the history of the Ashanti (Asante) Empire in what they frame as part o…

South Korea: The Riddle of Hwang Jini

Great World Cup Saga · Part 12

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue their World Cup marathon with an episode focused on Korean culture, sp…

Treason in Modern Britain (Ep 2)

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook visit the National Archives exhibition "Treason: People, Power and Plot" with N…

Page 7 of 10 (page size 12)

← Previous Next → Show all

Series in this era

20 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

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

Charles I: Trial and Execution

2 episodes Aired: 2022-01-27

Historical figures

128 tagged

Elizabeth I of England

29 episodes

Henry VIII of England

25 episodes

Charles I of England

21 episodes

Charles II of England (Charles Stuart)

19 episodes

Oliver Cromwell

19 episodes

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

18 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

Historical events

67 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

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

Columbian Exchange (post-1492 transatlantic exchange)

7 episodes

Books

299 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

233 tagged

Tom Holland

14 episodes

Dominic Sandbrook

9 episodes

Hugh Thomas

6 episodes

Traditional Attribution or Various

6 episodes

Samuel Pepys

4 episodes

William Shakespeare

4 episodes

Christopher Hill

3 episodes

Geoffrey Chaucer

3 episodes

John Guy

3 episodes

John Knox

3 episodes