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Spill the Mead

by Madi Gervais & CoHosts

Season 2026

Jane Seymour | Part 5: The Phoenix

On October 12, 1537, at around 2am. Jane Seymour gave birth to the son England had waited decades for. In the final chapter of our Jane Seymour series, we step inside the celebrations surrounding Edward’s birth and christening before everything begins to change. We explore Jane’s prolonged labor, childbed fever, and what she may have experienced in her final days. Because saying “Jane died in childbirth” does not begin to capture what she endured... she deserves more. And we will try our best to understand her story fully, even when it gets hard. We then follow Jane beyond death, through the long road to her final resting place, what she left behind, and one last look back at the incredible journey we’ve taken with her. This is The Phoenix. Thank you for listening to our Jane Seymour Deep Dive Series. Please leave a 5-star review, and tell a friend! AD‑FREE LISTENING on Patreon + tons of extra content! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead Merch: https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram & Facebook: @spillthemeadpodcast Credits Host & Producer: Madi Gervais Featuring rotating cohosts from the Spill the Mead team © 2026 Spill the Mead LLC. All rights reserved.

Jane Seymour | Part 4: The Chamber

In this record-breaking episode, we begin with a deep dive into Tudor medicine, conception, pregnancy, and the complicated ways sixteenth-century people understood the female body. Then we return to Jane herself following the timeline of her life during her last days outside the chamber walls. We reconstruct the world of Tudor confinement: its protocols, preparations, rituals, rooms, rules, and the women who inhabited them. We meet the midwives and examine the knowledge and experience they brought into a space from which men were largely excluded... until now. And finally, after months of waiting, Jane Seymour crosses the threshold, and enters the chamber, and we are going with her. And now we wait. Welcome to The Chamber. AD‑FREE LISTENING on Patreon + tons of extra content! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead Merch: https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram & Facebook: @spillthemeadpodcast Credits Host & Producer: Madi Gervais Featuring rotating cohosts from the Spill the Mead team © 2026 Spill the Mead LLC. All rights reserved.

Jane Seymour | Part 3b: The Pacificator

In Part B of the Pacificator, Mary is alive, but still absent from court. It feels like the moment to pay her a visit, so we open this episode with Jane and Henry doing exactly that. Jane (and the rest of us) hold our breath to see whether Henry will finally invite her back. What if we told you that none of what has happened so far has been considered by historians the greatest political crisis of Henry’s reign? Not Catherine. Not Anne. Not Mary. But the events of this episode. Buckle up for the conclusion of Part 3. It is intense. It is stressful. It is uncertain. It is Jane’s reign. AD‑FREE LISTENING on Patreon + tons of extra content! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead Merch: https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram & Facebook: @spillthemeadpodcast Credits Host & Producer: Madi Gervais Featuring rotating cohosts from the Spill the Mead team © 2026 Spill the Mead LLC. All rights reserved.

Jane Seymour | Part 3a: The Pacificator

Anne Boleyn is dead. Jane Seymour is queen. And everyone expects England's problems to disappear. Whoops. As plans for Jane's coronation move forward, Henry VIII grows increasingly unpredictable, his health deteriorates, and the future of the Tudor dynasty remains uncertain. Meanwhile, Jane is tasked with an impossible mission: helping to reconcile Princess Mary with the father who declared her illegitimate. With imperial ambassadors watching, political factions maneuvering, and whispers that Mary's very life may be in danger, Jane finds herself carrying the burden of a peace that is fragile beyond all belief. In Part A of The Pacificator, we explore the chaos, uncertainty, and high-stakes politics of Jane Seymour's first months as queen—and the fragile reconciliation that would define her legacy. AD‑FREE LISTENING on Patreon + tons of extra content! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead Merch: https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram & Facebook: @spillthemeadpodcast Credits Host & Producer: Madi Gervais Featuring rotating cohosts from the Spill the Mead team © 2026 Spill the Mead LLC. All rights reserved.

Jane Seymour | Part 2: The Scheme

Was Jane Seymour trapped? Was she used? Or was she playing the game all along? In Part Two of our Jane Seymour series, we follow Jane from Anne Boleyn's household to the threshold of queenship. Along the way, we explore the role of Elizabeth Seymour, trace the royal progress of 1535, examine Henry VIII's life-changing injury, and uncover what Jane's place at court may have really looked like. Then we turn to the question at the heart of the episode: the scheme. Was Jane a pawn in someone else's game, a woman caught in impossible circumstances, or an active participant in one of the most dramatic shifts in Tudor history? As Anne Boleyn's world begins to collapse, Jane Seymour's rise is only just beginning. AD‑FREE LISTENING on Patreon + tons of extra content! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead Merch: https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram & Facebook: @spillthemeadpodcast Credits Host & Producer: Madi Gervais Featuring rotating cohosts from the Spill the Mead team © 2026 Spill the Mead LLC. All rights reserved.

Jane Seymour | Part 1: The Country

Before the court, there was the country. Episode 1/5 begins at Wolfhall, where ongoing archaeological excavations are still uncovering the world that Jane would have known. We talk about the fascinating (and not to be dramatic - but groundbreaking) finds they have uncovered as we attempt to understand the elusive Jane Seymour. Meanwhile at court, Catherine of Aragon’s marriage begins to fracture under the growing influence of Anne Boleyn. Jane will eventually arrive to a household increasingly defined by tension, uncertainty, and divided loyalties. Themes that would prove to be ongoing in her life. We will watch through Jane's eyes as Catherine’s household collapses around her, ultimately ending Jane's brief court career. Before she knows it, she will find herself back in the country once more, just waiting for her life to begin. AD‑FREE LISTENING on Patreon + tons of extra content! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead Merch: https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram & Facebook: @spillthemeadpodcast Credits Host & Producer: Madi Gervais Featuring rotating cohosts from the Spill the Mead team © 2026 Spill the Mead LLC. All rights reserved.

Past Meets Pigskin | Drafting Historical Figures into the NFL

Ok, yes, it's a football episode BUT DISCLAIMER: you do NOT have to be familiar with or like football for this episode! As long as you like a WIDE range of historical figures, people fighting for their lives to make a case over an imaginary scenario, and Nicholas Cage... you're in the right place. Madi & Chris choose their historical dream team with potential "legends of the line" like Julius Caesar, Elizabeth I, Genghis Khan, and an absolute legendary woman with a cooking pot on her head (cheers to you if you know based off of just that!) Buckle up, the Historical 2026 Draft is NOW OPEN! AD FREE LISTENING on Patreon as well as tons of extra content! https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead You can purchase Spill the Mead merchandise here https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram, and Facebook @spillthemeadpodcast Find Madi @myladygervais on Instagram Find Chris @chrisrileyhistory on Instagram Music is composed by Nicholas Leigh nicholasleighmusic.com

The Holy Hell Raiser | Rasputin

"Ra-Ra-Rasputin, love of the of the Russian Queen!" Except he probably wasn't. In this episode, we really get to know Rasputin. From what he preached, to his alleged healing abilities, to a trip to his apartment for tea... we give you the nitty gritty of all of the gossip surrounding the man who helped bring an end to the House of Romanov. We also look at an alternate theory to what happened on the night of this murder. The book used for this Episode is called "Rasputin, The Last Word" by Edvard Radzinsky AD FREE LISTENING on Patreon as well as tons of extra content! https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead You can purchase Spill the Mead merchandise here https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram, and Facebook @spillthemeadpodcast Find Madi @myladygervais on Instagram Find Gabby @so_dym_gabulous on Instagram Music is composed by Nicholas Leigh nicholasleighmusic.com

Movies & Mead | The VVitch

Welcome to our brand-new segment: Movies & Mead In this series, Madi & Gabby watch a listener-chosen historical film and break down the real historical context, the key players, the cast, the gossip, and of course all the behind-the-scenes drama. We wrap it up by handing out our very official AcadeMEAD awards and rating the movie. For our first episode, we’re diving into The VVitch — a spooky tale set in 1630s New England. We hope you also like to live deliciously HoneyBees, because we give this one 5/5! AD FREE LISTENING on Patreon as well as tons of extra content! https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead You can purchase Spill the Mead merchandise here https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram, and Facebook @spillthemeadpodcast Find Madi @myladygervais on Instagram Find Gabby @so_dym_gabulous on Instagram Music is composed by Nicholas Leigh nicholasleighmusic.com

Brontë Book Club | The Bronte Siblings

Imagine growing up surrounded by the harsh beauty of wild moorlands. A gothic, windswept, haunting landscape right outside - and a few steps from your front door is a church graveyard that you watch slowly fill up with members of your own family. Welcome to growing up Bronte! Let Coco take you on a journey through the Bronte childhood experience, where hardship and loss were in no short supply and fierce sibling bonds formed through imagination and a love for literature. Coco and Madi chat about formative experiences that translate right into the books these women wrote, and discuss the part that the moors play in the books - almost a character themselves. Follow that up with a summary of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Yes Honeybees - spoiler alerts for both, but we think you’ll agree the spoilers are so worth it. AD FREE LISTENING on Patreon as well as tons of extra content! https://www.patreon.com/c/spillthemead You can purchase Spill the Mead merchandise here https://linkpop.com/spillthemeadpodcast/ Find us on Instagram, and Facebook @spillthemeadpodcast Find Madi @myladygervais on Instagram Find Betsy @betsy.hegge on Instagram Find Coco @spill_it_coco on Instagram Find Gabby @so_dym_gabulous on Instagram Find Chris @chrisrileyhistory on Instagram Find Taylor @tjonesarmoredamma on Instagram Music is composed by Nicholas Leigh nicholasleighmusic.com

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