SEASON 1

EPISODE 1: THE LADY

A scholar, a fighter, a passionate lover, and a cunning political manipulator. The very model of a medieval ruler. But this medieval ruler was not a man. This power player was a woman. And England was her chessboard.

EPISODE 2: GRAVEDIGGERS

They sought her blood. They readied the rope. They dug her grave. What would remain as cold death beckoned her to churchyards filled with stones and bones?

EPISODE 3: PUT AWAY THE PLAYTHINGS

For a half century she bent history to her will. Everything that turned touched her. And she turned everything she touched. But first, she had to put away her playthings.

EPISODE 4: CRAZY BREAD

What was crazy bread and why was it eaten by peasants to stave off hunger and give them a summer of love? Welcome to Y1K and the world of young Emma of Normandy.

EPISODE 5: UNREADY

Emma of Normandy prepares to sail across a narrow sea to wed a famous king. But is she ready to wed a king unready to fight, unready to rule, unready to save his kingdom?

EPISODE 6: KINGMAKER

A figure arose from the shadows. A crafty survivor who became more powerful than kings for he was a maker of kings. No one stood in his way. Not even the Queen of England.

EPISODE 7: PUT IT IN THE BANK

Bonnie and Clyde, Jesse James, John Dillinger. They robbed banks. But it was the most accomplished robbers in history who showed them where the banks were.

EPISODE 8: BLOOD EAGLE

From the fury of the Northmen, oh Lord, deliver us! A prayer not for deliverance from a bunch of long-haired tourists who roughed up the neighbors. But a merciless scourge who executed the Blood Eagle.

EPISODE 9: GO BERSERK!

A 1000 years ago a treasure was buried. Not of gold. A chess set. A Viking chess set. How do we know? Berserkers. Vikings who’d go berserk and kill and kill ‘til there was no one left to kill. Who said chess was just a game?

EPISODE 10: OTHERWORLD

Lord, what fools these mortals be! Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream transports us to the Otherworld. For Emma of Normandy fairies and elves were never far below the surface. There are countless stories of their origins. This is one.

EPISODE 11: THERE BE DRAGONS!

One creature is instantly recognized the world over. Remarkably similar in all cultures. To Queen Emma, these creatures were not mythical. They were real. But they don’t exist, do they? So why are they everywhere?

EPISODE 12: MASSACRE

Oxford. Key hub at the crossroads of Roman roads. And the flashpoint of the Viking conquest of England. The Saxon king orders a massacre of all Danes, his queen’s kith and kin. As England sinks beneath the Viking yoke, she asks, is this why she came?

EPISODE 13: AN INTERVIEW WITH BRITISH HISTORIAN DR. DANIEL GERRARD

Dr. Daniel Gerrard is a British historian of the High Middle Ages and the author of three books. Professor Gerrard teaches medieval history at Regents Park College, Oxford University and specializes in the biography of Emma of Normandy, the first biography of an English queen, the Encomium Emmae Reginae.

This interview focuses on the early days of Emma of Normandy in England and the trauma she experienced just months after her arrival as young bride and queen, the St. Brice’s Day Massacre. Flashpoint for the Viking conquest of England.

EPISODE 14: CHRISTMASTIDE

Queen Emma wishes everyone NOEL! The holiday greeting she likely would’ve given. As a French import herself, NOEL originated in France but became a favored traditional greeting in the medieval era. Let’s join Emma for Christmastide. A joyous time, a joyous greeting, a joyous wish to all!

The Stones and Bones podcast is based on an historical novel. The vast majority of the content is fact-based. Where the historical record is vague, creative license has been applied to provide thoughtful and thorough content to supplement the story.

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