Stuart

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Ronald Hutton discusses Oliver Cromwell’s early life and career, exploring the brilliance and cruelty of the future Lord Protector. (Image by Getty Images)

Oliver Cromwell’s remarkable rise to power . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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In the 16th century, Antwerp was a global centre of trade, talked about around the world. Michael Pye considers its rise and bloody fall. (Image from Getty Images)

Antwerp: city of innovation & intrigue . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Persian ambassador bows before Louis XIV in the Palace of Versailles

King of the world: how Louis XIV turned France into a global power

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James VI and I.

Was James VI and I murdered? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Jacqueline Riding discusses the life and work of the famed artist and satirist William Hogarth, and explores how his many engravings and portraits charted the morals and vices of the 18th century. (Image by Getty Images)

Hogarth: the chronicler of the 18th century . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Oliver Cromwell at the battle of Marston Moor. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The battle of Marston Moor: what happened?

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Ritchie Robertson responds to listener questions on the intellectual and philosophical movement that swept Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. (Image by Getty Images)

The Enlightenment: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of William III of Orange, found in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

How glorious was the Glorious Revolution?

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Rebecca Simon responds to your questions on the ‘golden age’ of piracy, when bands of buccaneers menaced the high seas, preying on merchant vessels.

The golden age of piracy: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Anne Hathaway, Hamnet and Judith: who were William Shakespeare’s family?

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Leo Hollis untangles the bizarre 18th-century court case surrounding Mary Davies: a wealthy heiress married in mysterious circumstances. (Image by Getty Images)

Madness, property and power: the strange case of Mary Davies . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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17th century engraving showing the execution by hanging of four witches. (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images)

Quiz Would you have been accused of witchcraft? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Young woman gets hair cut in to a bob

A brief history of changing hairstyles

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The Great Fire of London, 2-5 September 1666 (Photo by Alamy)

The Great Fire of London: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Triumphant Death chases Londoners from their city

How 17th-century London reacted to the Great Plague