Illustrated Medieval scene from the Romance of Lancelot

Medieval

Benin Bronzes at the British Museum In London

What are the Benin Bronzes and why are they important? Explore the significance of the controversial treasures

A plaque which decorated the palace of the Benin Obas, The Obas butchers sacrificing a cow, the most prestigious animal sacrifice

Benin: a kingdom cast in bronze, brought to ruin by Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Early Medieval Britain: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An architectural grotesque of a woman displaying her vulva

How naughty was the past? The hidden depths of the medieval church

Portrait of Saladin (1560) by Cristofano Dell Altissimo.

Why does Saladin have such an enduring reputation?

The Green Knight shows his severed – and still talking – head to King Arthur in this illustration of the beginning of the 14th century legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

“A eulogy to the cult of chivalry”: what can Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tell us about Edward III and the Hundred Years’ War?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Representations of digits from the ninth century, 11th century and the present day

Digital revolution: the evolution of Hindu-Arabic numerals

LectureNiall Ferguson on the politics of catastrophe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dev Patel stars as Sir Gawain in The Green Knight an adaptation of the Arthurian romance Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

The Green Knight on screen: what can we expect from the retelling of an Arthurian epic?

Everything you wanted to know about the church in medieval England – Nicholas Orme podcast

The church in medieval England: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bronwen Everill discusses the Benin Bronzes

The battle over the Benin Bronzes. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval romances were sometimes considered subversive material. This scene from the Roman de la Rose, written in the 13th century, depict two lovers. In later centuries, it was said romances “inflamed beastly and filthy desire”

The Mills & Boon of the Middle Ages? Unpicking the mysteries of medieval romances. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Kissing the Blarney Stone: a women hangs over the precipice with the aid of a friend as she attempts the feat at Blarney Castle in 1935

What is the Blarney Stone, where did it come from and why do people kiss it?

The decapitation machine now known as the guillotine was not a French invention and wasn't invented by Joseph Guillotin. (Image by Getty Images)

Q&ADid the French invent the guillotine?

An illustration of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII.

Did the Tudors invent the Wars of the Roses?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Cnut's invasion of England: setting the scene for the Norman conquest. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Post pandemic: how the years after the Black Death briefly became a ‘golden age’ for medieval women. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

American billionaire Howard Hughes (shown here in a car in 1947) went from a visionary filmmaker to a germ-obsessed recluse, dying in 1976. (Photo by Getty Images)

“His flesh had rotted, and his bed was full of worms”: 5 of history's most eccentric hermits. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edward II during the coronation ceremony with Queen Isabella in Westminster Abbey.

QuizHow much do you know about medieval kings and queens?

A portrait of Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England, by Michiel Sittow. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Medieval monarchy timeline: from the Norman Conquest to the Tudors

Eleanor of Woodstock, eldest daughter of Edward II, whom you can read more about in the April 2019 issue of BBC History Magazine. Medieval princesses had more agency than we might think says historian Kelcey Wilson-Lee. (Image by Alamy)

7 things you didn’t know a medieval princess could do

Anne Neville was queen consort of Richard III, the last Yorkist king of England

Anne Neville: wife of Richard III, daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker, and a modern enigma

5 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Plantagenets

Eleanor of Aquitaine depicted in a 12th-century prayer book

The real Eleanor of Aquitaine: 5 myths about the medieval queen

Pregnant woman before giving birth in the 13th century

16 things you (probably) didn't know about the rituals behind royal births, from the medieval era to the present day

Richard I on a Chertsey tile

Does Richard I deserve his reputation as a martial genius?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How to be a medieval queen: the realities of being a royal woman in the Middle Ages

A 20th-century fresco 'Plucking the Red and White Roses in the Old Temple Gardens' by Henry Payne. It depicts a scene by Shakespeare, showing Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset being challenged by Richard, 3rd Duke of York to choose between the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. (Photo by Artefact / Alamy Stock Photo)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about the houses of Lancaster and York. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Brothers in arms Louis IX on his way to the Seventh Crusade, 1248. The French king kept his three brothers onside – preventing any potential family infighting – by providing them with huge lordships. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

How to run a medieval dynasty: survival secrets of ruling royal families. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edward I. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Reassessing Edward I: battle-hungry aggressor or dutiful conqueror?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.