4.26 Pascalina Lehnert (2) The powerful virgin
/Pascalina helps propel Pius XII to the papacy, becoming his right-hand woman and the most powerful woman in Vatican history.
4.25 Pascalina Lehnert (1) Dealing with devils
/Pascalina would come a long way from her family farm in Bavaria, becoming the right-hand woman to a man who would become Pope just as Europe slipped towards war.
4.24 Christina of Sweden (4) The uninvited pest
/Scandal was never far from Christina but she is about to get embroiled in her most serious one to date.
Pontifacts: Women and Female Power in the Vatican with The Other Half Podcast
SUPPLEMENTAL: Elizabeth to Elizabeth, British Royal Funerals since 1603
/On Monday 19 September, Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest in Windsor after a state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Royal funerals have gone back hundreds of years, with the first one in the Anglican tradition occurring in 1603. What did those funerals look like, and how will they compare to the one we will watch tomorrow?
4.23 Christina of Sweden (3) Queen of the Flying Squadron
/Christina arrives in Rome and makes her mark on a very different court from the one in her homeland.
4.22 Christina of Sweden (2) The road to Rome
/One of the greatest conscious uncouplings in European royal history as Queen Christina does two unthinkable acts: give up both her throne and her faith.
4.21 Christina of Sweden (1) Athena of the North
/Christina, Queen of Sweden, is arguably the most fascinating female monarch in Early Modern history. One of learning and science, independence and free thinking. She is Scandinavia’s Elizabeth I in many ways, but their legacy is very different.
4.20 Olimpia Maidalchini (2) Innocent's dominatrix
/Corruption, family drama, betrayal. The pontificate of Innocent X would certainly not be a dull one with Olimpia Maidalchini at the helm.
4.19 Olimpia Maidalchini (1) Electing a female pope
/Olimpia was very different to her Renaissance forebears, but whose partnership with her brother-in-law would see her become the true power behind the throne of St Peter.
4.18 Felice della Rovere (2) The Temporal Mother of Bracciano
/You might expect Felice della Rovere’s place in history to more or less end with the death of her father - but in fact, she was just getting started.
4.17 Felice della Rovere (1) Aboard the matrimonial carousel
/Fortune played very little role in Felice's impact on history - few women achieved more in the Italian Renaissance than she.
4.16 Lucrezia Borgia (3) A pearl in this world
/Lucrezia emerges from her self-imposed isolation, starts a family and meets the next great love of her life - and I don’t mean her husband.
4.15 Lucrezia Borgia (2) Chestnuts and mares
/Lucrezia is pulled out of mourning to get married for the third, and final, time - but not before getting embroiled in scandal.
4.14 Lucrezia Borgia (1) The loose end
/History has many great femme fatales - but the very byword for femme fatale, the archetype for centuries, is Lucrezia Borgia.
4.13 Caterina Sforza (3) A daughter of iniquity
/Caterina takes on her most powerful yet - the Borgias
4.12 Caterina Sforza (2) The Tigress of Forli
/With her husband indisposed after an illness and treasury empty, Caterina would need to work hard to prove herself once more as the regent of Imola and Forli.
4.11 Caterina Sforza (1) Veni, vidi, da Vinci
/Caterina Sforza was married young to a scheming relative of the Pope. She would find quickly that to survive, she would need to take matters into her own hands.
4.10 Catherine of Siena (2) Setting the world on fire
/Catherine's fame and influence grow, leading her to the papal court itself in Avignon and the heat of the ruptures that would lead to the Great Schism.
4.09 Catherine of Siena (1) Speaking truth to power
/Introducing the writer, church doctor and eventual saint, Catherine of Siena.
CHAT: Hallie Rubenold on the victims of Jack the Ripper
/I speak to historian and author Hallie Rubenhold about the victims of Jack the Ripper, why they have been forgotten and the importance of social history.
Buy The Five The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper