Dispatches from behind the scenes of the history I write
| Platform |  | Pricing | Freemium | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 71 | Founded | a year ago | Last Issue | 7 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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helencastor.substack.comLatest Issues
Building Notre-Dame #4
6 January 2026. Dan Jones is the only person in the world who would send me a present for Richard II’s 659th birthday. What a friend. What a present.
It’s too good not to share.
The H Files by Helen Castor is a reader-supported publicatio...
The Art of the Deal
Richard II enters the Hundred Years War
Historians have to listen hard to their sources. Often, that means searching for nuance and subtext. Always, it means understanding context. Sometimes, it means hearing what’s actually been said.
Digging up kings (and queens) #6
Katherine Parr at Sudeley Castle
Now I come to think of it, the case of Katherine Parr should have been the first of this whole project, because she’s where it all started.
How to read the Paston Letters #12
'Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?'
Welcome to our read-along of the Paston Letters, the correspondence of a fifteenth-century gentry family who lived through the Wars of the Roses, one letter at a time.
Beginnings (update)
Back in August, I wrote – under the subtitle ‘How do you start a project like Elizabeth?’ – about the intimidating view from base camp at the foot of the mountain that is ‘Elizabeth I as biographical subject’.
I took the first two sentenc...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Historian, writer, broadcaster: Blood & Roses, She-Wolves, Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, The Eagle and the Hart
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