Tudors Dynasty & Beyond

What would you choose: marry King John or Richard II? Follow Richard the Lionheart or Edward I into battle? Support Matilda or Stephen? Witness Bosworth or Hastings? And if you could solve one historical mystery, would you rather interview the people involved—or secretly watch the whole thing unfold?
This week on Off the Record, Amy and Rebecca are playing Would You Rather: Medieval Edition, and some of these choices are much harder than they sound.
From questionable royal husbands and medieval battlefields to the Anarchy, the Wars of the Roses, Cecily Neville’s household, and a day wandering the streets of medieval London, Amy and Rebecca debate where they’d go, whom they’d trust, and which moments in history they’d most like to witness firsthand.
Along the way, the conversation takes an unexpected turn into Rebecca’s research for her upcoming book on Thomas Seymour, including how historians piece together conflicting evidence, the frustrations of Tudor handwriting, and what happens when the surviving sources don’t quite tell the story historians have long assumed they do.
It’s medieval history with no script, plenty of opinions, and some surprisingly difficult choices.
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Co-Hosts: Rebecca Larson & Amy McElroy

Long before Katherine of Aragon sailed for England, she had already traveled across kingdoms, witnessed conquest, encountered new cultures, and experienced life at the heart of an itinerant royal court.
In this episode, Rebecca is joined by Dr. Emma to retrace Katherine’s formative journeys through Spain—from her birth in Alcalá de Henares to Granada, Barcelona, Medina del Campo, Laredo, and finally La Coruña, where she departed for England in 1501.
Together, they challenge the familiar image of Katherine as an isolated princess and reveal a very different childhood: one spent on the road as a “nomad princess,” surrounded by royal ceremony, political negotiation, and the practical administration of her parents’ expanding monarchy. Katherine witnessed the surrender of Granada, experienced the extraordinary surroundings of the Alhambra, and was present in Barcelona when Christopher Columbus returned with reports and objects from across the Atlantic.
The conversation also explores Katherine’s surprising connections to the Americas and considers how the architecture and decorative traditions she encountered in Spain may later have influenced Tudor England.
Before she became Henry VIII’s queen, Katherine of Aragon had already been shaped by a childhood of movement, spectacle, cultural exchange, and political power.
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--Co-Hosts: Rebecca Larson & Dr. Emma Cahill Marron

Queen Elizabeth I understood that clothing was never simply decorative—it was a powerful political tool. In this episode, Rebecca Larson speaks with Sylvia Barbara Soberton, author of Dressed to Impress: Queen Elizabeth I and the Art of Fashioning Power, about how Elizabeth used gowns, jewelry, color, and carefully constructed imagery to communicate legitimacy, authority, purity, and royal magnificence.
They explore Elizabeth’s evolving style, from the restrained clothing of her youth to the spectacular wardrobe of the Virgin Queen. Sylvia also challenges some of the most persistent myths surrounding Elizabeth I, including claims that she covered her face with toxic white lead makeup and wore a steel breastplate during her famous speech at Tilbury.
The conversation also examines Elizabeth’s relationships with Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Howard; the possible meaning of the Chequers Ring; Tudor sumptuary laws; the symbolism of the Rainbow Portrait; and what happened to Elizabeth’s enormous wardrobe after her death.
Discover how Elizabeth I fashioned not only her appearance but one of the most recognizable royal identities in history.
You can also find Sylvia on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/cw/SylviaBSo/posts
Find book on Amazon
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Host: Rebecca Larson
Guest: Sylvia Barbara Soberton

Rebecca and Amy explore the remarkable life of Reginald Pole—a Yorkist survivor who went from Henry VIII’s favored scholar to one of the king’s most outspoken opponents. They discuss Pole’s education in Oxford and Padua, his rejection of the royal supremacy, and the devastating consequences his resistance had for the family he left behind in England.
After years of exile, Pole returned under Mary I as her trusted confidant and the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury. His extraordinary story came to an end on November 17, 1558—just hours after Mary’s own death.
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Co-Hosts: Rebecca Larson & Amy McElroy

What does House of the Dragon have in common with some of the bloodiest succession struggles in medieval history?
Historian Matt Lewis joins Rebecca Larson to explore the real history woven into the world of Westeros—from Empress Matilda’s battle for the English throne during the Anarchy to the rivalries and shifting loyalties of the Wars of the Roses. They discuss female succession, disputed heirs, illegitimacy, sibling rivalry, propaganda, and the importance of controlling the capital.
They also examine dragons as symbols of royal authority, the uneasy relationship between church and state, and the devastating human cost when the quarrels of powerful families spill into the streets. Westeros may be fictional, but its politics are unmistakably medieval.
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Host: Rebecca Larson
Guest: Matthew Lewis