Wicked Women: The Podcast

Perhaps best known as the long-standing Royal Mistress for King Louis XV of France, Madame de Pompadour has become synonymous with a debauched period of French history. Known for her astounding beauty, wit, and charm, much of Madame de Pompadour's legacy is wrapped up in her supposed frivolity and manipulation. But who was the woman behind that glittering mask? Prof. Jones discusses a woman who deserves far more credit for her brilliant politicking and unique relationship with a womanizing king.

Featured Guest: Prof. Collin Jones, a scholar of cultural and social history in 18th century France.

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Fashion History is an integral part of our understanding of the past. It provides a visual marker of societal changes over time. It is also an accessible avenue into the study of history. We all wake up in the morning and put on clothes. We have plans, thoughts, and intentions behind what we choose and what we scorn. This can be a thread that connects us to other people throughout thousands of years of history. In particular it also provides a unique look into women’s history. Many women throughout the past have used clothes and accessories as a representation of political opinions or loyalties, social status, self-expression, and a way to blaze an influential trail in fashion trends. 

In today’s special episode, I will be discussing the significance of fashion history in women’s history with Belle, the creator of Silhouettes: A Fashion History Podcast.

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“I marvel that Aspasia, who is only a woman, should be able to compose such a speech; she must be a rare one.” –Menexenus by Plato 

The ancient Greeks loom large in history. Responsible for architectural wonders, cultural institutions, and historic figures However, there is one woman who loomed large on the Greek political and philosophical stage who has been relegated to the shadows of history, Aspasia. A highly educated woman who married the powerful politician, Pericles, became a mentor and teacher to Socrates, and faced ridicule from society and her husband’s political opponents. She was compared to Helen of Troy and blamed for everything from famine, to war, to her husband’s political decisions. After her death, her legacy forked between an uppity concubine and a gifted scholar but in recent generations she has been all but forgotten. 

Featured Guest: Prof. Yvonne Korshak, a historian with a focus on ancient Greece and author of the novel Pericles and Aspasia

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When people think about wicked women, Anne Boleyn is usually one of the first names to come to mind. It seems that every generation has its own version of Anne: Slutty Anne, Religious reformer Anne, Innocent Anne, Manipulative Anne, Sexy Anne, Evil Anne, Educated Anne, Feminist Anne, the list goes on. Thousands of people flock annually to locations Anne once walked (Hampton Court, Hever Castle, The Tower of London) and documentaries, films, and tv series come out regularly devoted to her story. Henry VIII may have tried to eradicate Anne’s memory after her downfall but that only seemed to fan the flames of public fascination with this historical “other woman”. While Henry dreamed of possessing her in the flesh, subsequent generations have become determined to possess her memory. 

Featured Guests: Natalie Grueninger, the creator of the podcast Talking Tudors, and a lifelong Anne Boleyn fan and Adrienne Dillard, a historian who focuses on overlooked women’s stories and the author of The Raven’s Widow, focusing on Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford. 

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Behind every powerful King has stood a Queen. And some women have filled the role of both King and Queen in their own right. Some quiet, others fiery, some powerful, others left powerless, some revered, others forgotten. What creates the legacy of one Queen but erases another? Listen to this episode as I discuss that question and more with the brilliant historian Dr. Valerie Schutte.

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Polly Adler was one of the most well-known Madams in NYC during the 1920s; a ruckus era of speakeasies, brothels, the mob, and sexual expression. Polly rose from a shtetl in the Russian Pale of Settlement to become “The Queen Madam”. Not only was she known to supply girls to wealthy men, but her nightclubs that dotted the city were a favorite haunt for some of the most famous names of 1920s New York. Polly Adler’s profession was not a new one by the 1920s. Brothels, which provide the services of sex workers, have been woven within the fabric of civilization since its inception. The first record of the trade was temple-brothels operating in the region of Canaan in 2400 BCE. For many cities throughout history, an area is dedicated to the sex trade, often known as the Red Light District. It was considered a necessary, albeit shameful, element of any urban society. Polly and her profession are glorified or villainized depending on what you read. She can be depicted as a brilliant businesswoman and an open-minded feminist or as a high-end pimp and a woman betraying her own sex by seducing some of its most vulnerable into the sex trade. In the end, the true Polly Adler might be somewhere in between.

Guest Speaker: Debby Applegate, a historian and the author of Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler Icon of the Jazz Age.

Voice of Polly: Sally Bieterman

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Planned Parenthood divided and continues to divide American society to this day. But this organization that has become synonymous in the U.S. with birth control and abortion did not begin as an American company but as a global enterprise headed by strong and outspoken women. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (founded in 1953) was the first of its kind and by the 1960’s it was chaired by one of Europe’s leading Women’s Activists, Elise Ottesen-Jensen. But to understand this climactic achievement in Elise’s life, we have to go back to the beginning. 

Featured Guest: Helen Erwin, an author whose book Sour Milk in Sheeps Wool focuses on Elise’s era of activism.

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She was known as the “wickedest woman in New York” during her lifetime. A physician adored by her patients but despised by the moralizing populace sweeping mid-19th century America. She defied all social conventions of her era, she rose from an immigrant widowed single mother living on the lower east side to a self-made millionaire outbidding the Catholic Diocese of New York for an empty lot on fifth avenue. She not only provided abortions and birth control to women throughout the country but blatantly advertised her services in New York newspapers. She would have been celebrated for her American spirit if she had been a man. Unapologetically ambitious, a ruthless and savvy business owner, and a resilient survivor. But Madame Restell was not a man, and in addition, she provided services such as abortion and birth control that still divide American society to this day. Instead of going down in the annals of American history alongside men like John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and JP Morgan, the name Madame Restell has become synonymous with villainy, greed, murder, and corruption. 

Featured Guests: Critically acclaimed novelist Kate Manning who is the author of My Notorious Life, a fictional interpretation of Madame Restell’s life and world, and Jennifer Wright, an author and journalist who recently published the highly successful book Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist.

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The mistresses of the French kings are some of the most iconic and recognizable. Madame de Pompadour, Agnès Sorel, Madame de Montespan, Madame de Maintenon, Diane de Poitiers. These are just a few of the hundreds of women who came to dominate the French court. In many cases they all shared a similar background; daughters of minor nobility who knew the ways of a royal court and played their parts accordingly. However, in the waning years of the French monarchy, one woman scandalized the French court by coming not from the nobility but from the working class. Jeanne Bécu, later known as Madame du Barry was a self-made woman who achieved wealth and infamy by supposedly rising from a brothel to King Louis XV’s bed. Depicted both during her lifetime and after as a vulgar, social climbing courtesan, Madame du Barry has rarely gotten a fair depiction. However, when truly analyzed, what she was able to achieve by the age of 25 is nothing less than astonishing. 

Featured Guest: Dr. Christine Adams, a historian, and author that focuses mainly on French family and gender history. Christine is the co-author of the book The Creation of the French Royal Mistress: From Agnès Sorel to Madame DuBarry.

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It’s the woman everyone loves to hate. The home wrecker, the social climber, the spendthrift, the whore. Mistresses have divided our society (and marriages) for centuries. But the Royal Mistress was a role in and of itself. In the early modern period it was a title as sought after as Duke or Comte. But it also provided a uniquely powerful role for a woman in a royal court, granting them political influence often seen as only belonging to the world of men. 

Today’s episode is going to be a little different than what I usually do. I am going to be uploading the entire interview that I conducted with historian, Dr. Eleanor Janega. In addition, I am not going to be talking about only a single woman but about a role they have occupied for centuries. Eleanor is a leading expert on the conceptualization of sex and sexuality throughout the medieval and early modern period. We will be discussing the historical role of the royal mistress, misconceptions, and some of the most iconic women to have received the title. 

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Traitorous, wanton, frivolous, obese, foreign, deceitful. These are all terms used to describe Isabeau of Bavaria, a woman at the center of one of the most turbulent eras in French history. She shared the world stage with names like Joan of Arc, Henry V, and Charles VII but her name would not be revered and lionized by later generations. Instead, she would be cast as the ultimate villain in the tale of the struggle for France. She would be blamed for inflaming animosity and divisions within the French Court and driving her husband, King Charles VI, to madness. The information we have about Isabeau is often from years after her lifetime and none cite contemporary sources; leading us to question the validity of her legacy within the popular imagination. In the end, Isabeau’s life provides an opportunity for a much more nuanced legacy. 

Featured Guest: Dr. Tracy Adams, a medieval historian who focuses on French and English literature alongside feminist theory. She is the author of numerous books, most importantly for this podcast, her seminal work The Life and Afterlife of Isabeau of Bavaria.

Special thanks to Kieren Peatling for the new theme music!

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On a hot humid Parisian July day, the aristocratic Marie, Marquise de Brinvilliers was carted out to the scaffold before a seething crowd. Marie was accused of poisoning over 50 people, including her own father and brothers. The massive crowd on July 17, 1676, had come to witness a common entertainment, an execution. Marie de Brinvilliers has run the gambit of public opinion, from femme fatale to hapless victim to hysterical woman to feminist icon. There may be partial truth in all these, but the real Marie never got to tell her own story, the legacy we have today has come to us through a tortured confession and journalistic flair. 

Featured Guest: Prof. Benedetta Duramy, a professor of law at California’s Golden Gate University and a participating scholar in the book Women Criminals: An Encyclopedia of People and Issues.

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Elizaveta (Elizabeth) Petrovna was the daughter of Peter the Great and his history-making wife Catherine I, believed to have risen from being a serf to becoming Empress in her own right. Elizabeth was not raised to be ruler, there were plenty of distant male relatives to take on the mantle of Tsar, but as we’ll discuss later in this episode, Elizabeth clawed through heartbreak, tragedy, and abuse to eventually be crowned Empress of Russia. However, her reign, much like the other 16th-century empresses, has been marred by scandal. The glorious and long reign of Catherine the Great has overshadowed that of Elizabeth. In addition, Catherine made sure to steer the narrative of her relationship with Elizabeth, often painting the empress as a heartless and cold manipulator, but she was far more capable and accomplished than she is often given credit for.

Featured Guest: Author Ellen Alpsten is best known for her two novels on Elizabeth and her mother Catherine I titled Tsarina and The Tsarina’s Daughter. 

Note: Keep an eye on this page for some exciting announcements in February! 

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English writer, John Evelyn, called her “the curse of the nation,” while politician Sir John Reresby called her “the finest woman of her age”. By all accounts, Barbara Palmer was a stunning beauty with dark hair, blue eyes, and a charismatic personality. She rose to fame as one of the numerous royal mistresses of King Charles II. Throughout her life and subsequent legacy, Barbara has elicited both revulsion and admiration. She was a woman born into an aristocratic but impoverished family who managed to climb to one of the most powerful positions at England’s Restoration Court. Her legacy is complicated by the scandalous role she played as royal mistress, but her wit and familial loyalty insured that her relatives and children reaped the benefit of her role for generations.

Guest: Best-selling author and historian, Dr. Linda Porter

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Shakespeare called her the “She-wolf of France” and “A hateful withered hag.” Philippa Gregory described her as “The Bad Queen.” Contemporary chronicles described her as “poor and alone” and as a “great perversion.” Margaret of Anjou has gone down in history as one of the many villains of the War of the Roses. Her story emulates the concept that history is written by the victors, for the truth is, Margaret and her cause lost spectacularly and brutally. Margaret refused to conform to contemporary expectations of womanhood and queenship throughout her life and paid the price with her legacy. 

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She witnessed some of the most monumental events of Henry VIII’s reign. She was a lady-in-waiting to five of his six queens. The sister-in-law to one, and a cousin-in-law to another. She callously brought about the downfall of her husband and sister-in-law and led a young girl farther into sin and to the block. Or so the legend goes. When Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford laid her head upon the block on the cold February morning, the real woman died and a myth of the “Infamous Lady Rochford '' was born.

Featured Guests: Claire Ridgeway, a historian, best-selling author, and founder of the website The Anne Boleyn Files, and Adam Pennington, the creator of the widely popular blog and instagram page The Tudor Chest.

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Empress Wu Zetian is the only woman in Chinese history to rule in her own name, but, similarly to Empress Theodora, her story is steeped in rumors, political agendas, and missing documents. There is no way for people today to truly know the truth of her story or the accuracy of her legacy. The legend paints her as a murderous, vindictive, power-hungry vixen. In recent years some historians have called for her to be recognized as a proto-feminist. A woman who “broke the glass ceiling” and rose higher than any female before or after her in Imperial China. Empress Wu was a woman far ahead of her time, but her legacy has been blighted and silenced over the centuries.

Featured Guests: Jonathan Clements, a historian, professor, and TV presenter who specializes in the history of East Asia, and Mike Dash, a New York Times bestselling author and historian.

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It is the ultimate Cinderella story. A dashing Emperor falls in love with an actress and changes the law to make her his bride. Empress Theodora was born into a life on the stage and in sex work, but after her marriage to Emperor Justinian, she became the most powerful woman in the Byzantine Empire. But her name has been sullied by the salacious publication The Secret History by Prokopios in which she is depicted as the ultimate Wicked Woman.

Featured Guests: Dr. Leslie Brubaker, an expert in Byzantine illuminated manuscripts, and award-winning author Stella Duffy who has written two novels about Theodora, Theodora and The Purple Shroud.

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Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, was Queen Consort for only 16 months before she was executed for treason. While Henry VIII's other wives (particularly Anne Boleyn) have been constantly reinvented, Katherine has remained stereotyped as the frivolous hyper-sexualized "good-time girl" (as David Starkey phrased it). In truth, she was a far more sympathetic and interesting young woman, thrust into one of the most dangerous spotlights imaginable, the court of Henry VIII. 

Featured Guests: Gareth Russell, the author of the critically acclaimed book on Katherine Howard, Young and Damned and Fair, and Dr. Nikki Clark, a senior lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Chichester who has researched the women in the Howard family extensively.

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Step back into the world of glittering palaces, violent revolutions, mystical healers, and one woman’s struggle to survive it all. In today’s episode, I will be discussing the life and legacy of Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna Romanov, the last Tsaritsa of Russia. Tsaritsa Alexandra’s legacy is a complicated one. The contempt and hatred felt for her during her lifetime and expanded upon during the communist regime in Russia have created an image of an overbearing, fanatical, evil woman hell-bent on Russia’s destruction. Her strong will and natural reserve have helped to create a version of Alexandra as haughty and cold. She was altogether a more complex woman. 

Featured Guests: Helen Rappaport, an international best-selling author and historian on the life of the last Romanov Imperial Family, and James Boulton, the creator of the popular podcast series The Queens of England and The Other Half.

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Queen Mary I, more commonly known as Bloody Mary, is perhaps best known for the burning of Protestants. However, she was an altogether more complex and complicated woman. In addition to being the first crowned Queen Regnant in English history, Mary's life was a constant mix of the greatest triumphs and the most heartbreaking lows. Listen to this episode to learn more about this fascinating queen. 

Featured Guests:  Melita Thomas, the author of the book The King’s Pearl which analyzes Mary’s tumultuous relationship with her father Henry VIII, and Johanna Strong, a current PhD student focusing on rehabilitating Mary in the public eye.

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