King vs. Emperor: The Battle of Pavia, 1525

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

500 years ago, the fields outside Pavia in Italy became the stage for one of the most dramatic and decisive battles of the Renaissance. Francis I of France led his army into Italy, waiting for him was his greatest rival, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Professor Glenn Richardson joins Professor Suzannah Lipscomb to unravel the gripping story of the Battle of Pavia, the rivalry between the monarchs and how their clash reshaped early modern Europe.

MORE:

François I, King of France

Henry VIII's Brothers in Armour

Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

You can take part in our listener survey here:

https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb.
0:02.6	If you'd like not just the Tudors ad-free to get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit.
0:10.5	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries,
0:16.0	including my own recent two-part series, A World Torn Apart, the Dissolution of the Monastries, and enjoy a new release every week.
0:25.2	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:32.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome to not just the Tudors from History Hit, the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise.
0:46.8	Relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft.
0:51.0	Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.
1:18.6	The fields outside the Italian city of Pavia lay shrouded in mist on the morning of the 24th of February 1525. Beneath a sky veiled in fog, a king prepared to charge into battle.
1:24.6	Francois, the first of France was 30 years old and loved standing at the centre of things,
1:31.9	the centre of court, the centre of culture, the centre of Europe.
1:36.2	Tall, handsome and battle-hungry, he had led his army into Italy for glory and revenge.
1:44.2	What stood against him were the forces of his greatest rival and princely contemporary,
1:49.2	Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
1:51.5	A mixture of Spaniards, Germans and Italians, men pulled from across Charles' vast European
1:56.2	dominions, sought to frustrate Francis.
2:03.6	When the fighting began, it was chaos.
2:07.5	Gunpowder and pikes tore through French cavalry.
2:10.6	Trees exploded.
2:12.1	Knights were dragged from their saddles and hacked down in the mud.
2:15.5	By the end of the day, Renaissance Europe would have its turning point.
2:23.4	The French king taken prisoner on the battlefield and the myth of noble warfare shattered beyond repair.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 4 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.