The 1650s: Britain's Decade Without a Crown

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1649 Britain was engulfed by revolution. Charles I was executed for treason and within weeks the English monarchy had been abolished and the House of Lords discarded. The people, it was announced, were now the sovereign force in the land. What did this mean for the decade that would follow?

Anna Keay is a historian, broadcaster and Director of the Landmark Trust. Anna joins Dan on the podcast to discuss the extraordinary and experimental decade of the 1650s - how these tempestuous years set the British Isles on a new course and what happened when a conservative people tried revolution.

Produced by Hannah Ward

Mixed and Mastered by Dougal Patmore

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by Audible, where you can now stream the new series of that brilliant Stephen Fry's
0:06.7	Secrets of podcast. It peaks behind the curtain of the 1920s this time. The life and times of the flappers,
0:14.1	police women, radio, the movies, jazz, the British sense of humour,
0:20.3	censorship and the secrets and lies, the financial crash. This is another installment of Stephen Fry that listeners love.
0:27.7	There are some brilliant stories in here, all told in a very Stephen Fry type away. You're going to love it. Listen now.
0:33.5	Subscription required. See audible.co.uk for terms.
0:38.6	Hi, buddy. Welcome to Dan Snow's history. In 1649, King Charles I had been executed.
0:44.6	Something like a quarter of a million people in Britain and Ireland were dead, perhaps more. Per capita,
0:50.2	that's thought to be a bigger death toll than the first or the second world wars.
0:55.4	Hundreds of villages, houses, towns, cities were shattered and broken.
1:02.0	And the constitution was pretty comprehensively smashed up as well.
1:06.5	What happened next was a turbulent decade as people tried to work out how they would live,
1:12.2	politically, culturally, religiously and commercially. I've got Anna Kay on the podcast. She's been on
1:18.1	on the first row at a lovely biography of the Duke of Monmouth, Charles II illegitimate son who fought his uncle James II for the crown in 1685.
1:28.3	It's a great story and she's brought her typical flair to this subject as well.
1:32.6	If you wish to listen to straight politics, the people are going back and some of our most successful podcasts.
1:38.3	They're actually with Paul Lay, the former editor of History Today magazine. He wrote a beautiful account of these 10 years.
1:44.3	It's really getting into the politics crumbwell and the jostling for power and the jostling for legitimacy in this decade, the 1650s.
1:52.0	Anna and I don't talk too much about that. It said we look at what life was like for normal people in Britain, Ireland, in this period.
1:58.2	We look at a range of characters in a range of fields.
2:02.2	If you want to go back and listen to podcasts like the excellent Paul Lay's on the 1650s, please go to History Hit TV.
2:08.3	It's our Netflix history. It's our digital history channel.
	...

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