Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more Transcript Welcome back! Last week, we saw the second Spanish attack on Providence Island, and the final reorganization of the venture into a potentially successful enterprise. It was the colony’s last hope. They adopted vital reforms, sold most of their slaves, and removed colony’s most belligerent citizens, and a Read more about Providence Island 9: End of an era[…]
Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more Transcript Welcome back, last episode, we discussed the final descent of the Providence Island project into irrecoverable failure, and this week, we’ll discuss the last couple years of the colony’s existence. I’d intended to finish this in just one episode, but there’s just so much that happens that I Read more about Providence Island 8: The second Spanish attack[…]
Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more Transcript Welcome back! Last week, we saw the fulfillment of hopes and dreams for Providence Island as a privateering base. Company members were preparing to relocate to the colony, they reduced civilian rents and increased their liberties, and things should have been better than ever. But, the focus on Read more about Providence Island 7: Descent into chaos[…]
Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more Transcript Welcome back! Last episode, we saw our company earn the right to privateer in the Caribbean, reinvigorating the colony with hopes of plunder, and fulfilling the Elizabethan dream. Privateering, they thought, could help them recruit new settlers, pay their debts, and protect Protestantism from the Spanish menace. This Read more about Providence Island 6: Dreams Fulfilled[…]
Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more The return of privateering In 1635, there were still people who dreamed of reviving the Elizabethan legacy. There’s a lot of good to be said about the Stuarts – they were less oppressive, less violent, more easygoing than their Tudor predecessors, but to many 17th Century Englishmen, there was Read more about Providence Island 5: the last Elizabethan colony[…]
Listen on: iTunesSubscribe on Android, Stitcher and more First things first, Happy New Year! Last episode, we discussed the economic failures of 1632-33. Too little agricultural knowledge, too many orders from England, too little support, too few laborers, and too poor a government meant that nothing of value was produced in the fledgling colony. Resentment festered, Read more about Providence Island 4: Differing Puritan visions[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more The historical record is sparse in the years leading up to the English Civil War in Maryland. But, there are a few themes which emerge in what we do know: Catholics vs. Puritans A Catholic named William Lewis found two Puritans (one an indentured servant he managed) Read more about Maryland 6: To the edge of war[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more And, America’s first Bill of Rights As Maryland colonists tried to establish the laws which would govern the colony, one of the biggest divisions was the issue of Church and state. The Jesuits wanted to see a very traditional interpretation of Church privilege, whereas some of the colonists Read more about Maryland 5: Church and state[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more Struggle for the Chesapeake After a series of violent confrontations between Claiborne’s Kent Islanders and Calvert’s Marylanders, the courts of England take up the case of Baltimore’s patent vs. Claiborne’s trading rights. Virginia governor Harvey is also deposed and sent to England. Ultimately, Clobbery and Company sends George Read more about Maryland 4: The fight for Kent Island[…]
Listen on: iTunes Subscribe on Android Stitcher and more Catholicism and conflict in the Chesapeake In many ways, the establishment of Maryland was remarkably smooth. The settlers had been sent with enough supplies to get through the first growing season, and they established great relations with the local tribes. They prioritized growing corn, then building the town, Read more about Maryland 3: The first year[…]