Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is episode 372.

Hostile Takeover. This show is ad-free due to member support. And as a way of thanking

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If I could interview one figure from this period, I think it would be Queen Edith. That woman

had a weird life. She was married off to a king, then she watched that king try and destroy

her family. As thanks, she got stuffed into a ninery by that same king, and then got

to watch as her family utterly spanked that king with a pirate-fueled civil war. And

her prize for victory was getting pulled out of that ninery only to be dropped right

back in where she started, in the king's bed chambers.

I'm not sure how happy poor Edith's life was, but it definitely was interesting. And

to make matters worse, the records clearly indicate that Edith was a brilliant political

mind. She was likely the most intelligent and true to all of Godwin's kids. But Edith

was a woman, and women were a subjugated class in Anglo-Saxon society. So there's only

so much she was allowed to do with her significant talents.

But even with those limitations, she managed to pull off quite a bit. And English history

might have been quite different if Edith hadn't been behind the scenes, diligently working

to advance the schemes of her husband, the king. Which meant that Edward, like many kings,

didn't truly reign alone. More often than not, right beside him was the queen, working

her ass off and getting pretty much no credit. But more often than not, the queen was always

...