Subject to Change

This episode is about what happened when Henry VIII died in 1547 and left the crown to his nine-year-old son, Edward VI.
Everyone knows Henry broke with Rome so he could swap Catherine of Aragon for Anne Boleyn. Fewer people know what he thought he was doing to the religion of England. Mostly, he thought he wasn't doing much at all. Catholicism without the Pope, business as usual. If you ignore the land grab that was the dissolution of the monasteries.
Henry had set up a nicely balanced council to run things for his son. The balance barely survived the funeral, after which the king's uncle Edward Seymour made himself Lord Protector. Then the Protector's brother Thomas decided the best way to advance himself was by bribing the boy king with pocket money, marrying Henry's widow and groping (quite literally) his way towards treason via the Princess Elizabeth's bedroom. Once he turned his hand to minting his own coins he was executed.
Meanwhile the religion of England was being turned upside down. Edward, far from being a passive child, was a precocious little zealot (the 'godly imp', as one admirer put it). Out went purgatory, the statues, the holy water and, biggest of all, the Latin Mass, replaced by a prayer book in good plain English. Not everyone was on board. A Devon parish sat through the new service and then told the priest to go back and do it again properly, in Latin this time. Within weeks the south west was in open rebellion while Norfolk had risen over enclosures. So the government brought in German and Italian mercenaries to, er, smooth things over. The Protector got the blame, largely for having tried to address the complaints rather than just killing everyone. He was understandably overthrown in a coup and went to the block in 1552.
Peter Marshall is a terrific guest. His history of the English Reformation, Heretics and Believers, won the Wolfson Prize and I can't recommend it highly enough.
By the end of this episode Protestant England looks unstoppable. Only one small problem. Edward has developed a cough. But this is only part one. Part two is Mary, and she thinks it is entirely stoppable.

In part 2 of the story the hero finally arrives. Coxinga. Loyal subject of the Ming emperor or disobedient child? 

Coxinga is the son of Nicholas Iquan who made the journey from outlaw trader/pirate to Ming admiral. Iquan must have bitterly regretted his decision to give Coxinga the education of a Confucian scholar. While the rest of the family weighs how to deal with the invading Manchus in a thoroughly pragmatic manner, the high minded Coxinga is having none of it.
This episode tells the story of Coxinga's fight against the Manchu, against the Dutch and against his own father.

Jonathan Clements is back to talk about Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty, a tale so convoluted that its hero only gets born at the end of episode one! What happened in 17th century China for the Manchu invaders to just roll on in and take over? Includes thoughts on the benefits of spattering yourself in mud and risking tetanus, Manchu purges likened to "playing whack-a-mole with human beings", why Chinese people are scared of Slough, and the rebellious nature of haircuts.

Armand D'Angour (Professor of Classics at Oxford University and Fellow of Jesus College) gives his take on Chrisopher Nolan's Odyssey and (more to the point) talks about the poem and the poet. Along the way we talk about Emily Wilson's blistering review (which is where the title of this episode comes from). And Armand gives some readings from the poem including this gem of a translation by Alexander Pope (lightly reworked by Armand):

Abandoned in neglect poor Argos lay,  
unhoused, uncared for, on the public way; 
and where the heaps of rank manure were spread  
a-swarm with fleas, he made his filthy bed.   
As they conversing to the city drew,
the faithful dog his ancient master knew:  
and recognising well his voice and tread,  
pricked up his ears and raised his heavy head.  
Seeing Odysseus, him he strove to meet,
and tried in vain to crawl and lick his feet;  
but strength alone he had to wag his tail 
to greet his master, though to no avail. 
Deep pity touched Odysseus to his soul, 
and down his cheek a tear unbidden stole;  
but unperceived he turned his head, and dried  
the falling drop, while silently he cried.  
"What sorry beast in this abandoned state,” 
he asks, “lies helpless at Odysseus’ gate?  
His bulk and beauty speak no vulgar praise.  
I warrant such a hound saw better days.”
To him the older man his head inclined 
and said: “He served one of a noble kind – 
now long since perished on a distant shore – 
who will, alas, behold him nevermore.
You should have seen dear Argos bold and young,  
swift as a stag, and as a lion strong!  
Now time has sapped him, with his master lost 
and many years on stormy oceans tossed."
So said Eumaeus, and strode on ahead;  
and faithful Argos dropped his tired head. 
Though twenty long and dismal years had passed,  
he’d lived to see his lord again at last. 
Now night descends upon his weary eyes: 
he wags his feeble tail for joy, and dies.

At the start of WW2 the U-Boat threat gave the British sleepless nights. But even during the Happy Time (of which there were two) when ships were being sunk at a terrific rate the German effort was too little, too late. And then the war in the Atlantic turned against them and their casualties soared and successes became rarer.

Roger Moorhouse has written a terrific book discussing all this (and much more), 'Wolfpack: Inside Hitler's U-Boat War' where he looks the campaign from the German point of view, using diaries, letters and other records from the time.

We got through a lot in this  episode. Amongst the horrible waste of it all there were some grimly amusing moments, not least the sinking of a U-Boat thanks to a malfunctioning toilet. 

Very interesting to me was how the U-Boat men generally tried to fight an 'honourable' war. That was very different to what I had understood to be the case and certainly very different to how the war was conducted on other fronts.

And above all the stink. The terrible, terrible U-Boat stink.