Empress Matilda: Civil War and the Fight for the Throne

Hello everyone and welcome to The Rest is History and welcome to St Bartholomew the Great which is London's oldest medieval church and a very appropriate setting for what is a new mini series for club members. As a massive treat and because on the rest is history we are all heart. We are making this first episode free. If you like it and you would like to see the next two, then you know what you've got to do. It's an appropriate setting because the theme of this mini-series is the real-life Cersei Lannisters, the She-Wolves of medieval England.

And with me to talk about the She-Wolves is the author of a book called She Wolves. It's my dear friend and erstwhile colleague, Helen Castor. Helen, welcome to the rest is history. Thank you for having me. Before we go to the Middle Ages, should we just look at the century that follows the medieval period, the 16th century?

Because there are a lot of queens in the 16th century. And what perspective do all those queens kind of shed on the time that we're going to be talking about today in the series? It's interesting, isn't it, because it goes in two directions. In one sense, we tend to assume, I think, that because there are all these queens in the 16th century. So should we just list them?

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