How to Get Cancelled as a Medieval Mistress

How to Get Cancelled as a Medieval Mistress

From Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society by History Hit

May 15, 2026 · 54 min · Episode 425

About this episode

The episode explores the life of Alice Perrers, a mistress of King Edward III, and the circumstances that led to her downfall.

What do you have to do wrong to be specifically named in a law? In the 14th Century, one of the mistresses of King Edward III found out. So who was Alice Perrers? Kate is joined by the one and only Eleanor Janega to find out how Alice rose to power, and what brought her down? Eleanor is one of the hosts of our sister podcast, Gone Medieval, and the author of 'The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society'. This episode was edited by Hannah Feodorov. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Freddy Chick. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe .   You can take part in our listener survey here . All music from Epidemic Sounds. Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Kate

Guest: Eleanor Janega

Topics covered

  • medieval history
  • royalty
  • women's roles
  • power dynamics
  • scandal

Keywords

  • medieval mistress
  • Alice Perrers
  • King Edward III
  • 14th Century
  • women in history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: History Hit

Books & works: The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women's Roles in Society

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