Illustrated Medieval scene from the Romance of Lancelot

Medieval

Wartime evacuees wash their hands

“The very sight of her hands did almost turn my stomach”: a brief history of hand-washing

A portrait of Edward IV, the first Yorkist king of England. From the National Portrait Gallery. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Edward IV: champion of the Wars of the Roses

The (not so) stinky Middle Ages: why medieval people were cleaner than we think

c1960s photo showing a man places an engagement ring on a woman's finger.

A brief history of proposing marriage

Medieval medicine. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A medieval monk praying in front of a table of apothacary's herbs

Beating the Black Death: did medieval medicine help people to survive?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A postcard showing for women hunting for a man with guns and dogs.

Why do women propose in a leap year?

Bottle of 'love potion'

General ancient history

Spanish fly, holy bread and mashed worms: history's weirdest aphrodisiacs and love potions

A bust of Charlemagne

Charlemagne: creating the myth

The execution of Charles I in 1649.

To kill a king: 350 years of regicide

An illustration of the barons compelling King John to ratify Magna Carta, 1215. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 facts about Magna Carta

An engraving depicts a frost fair on the Thames

Frozen: Britain's Little Ice Age

Simon de Montfort’s medieval revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

6 lesser-known facts about the Ottoman Empire

Illustation of a pope

Holy smoke, antipopes and power struggles: a guide to popes and the papacy

Richard III, Edward IV and George, Duke of Clarence

Blood brothers: Richard III's battle with his siblings

Medieval myths. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria with Prince Albert and their children in 1846. After a painting by F Winterhalter. Victoria’s husband, Albert, “carved out for the crown a moral kind of authority as the nation’s first and model family,” says Sarah Gristwood. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Retaining the royals: why has the British monarchy survived – and thrived?

Pope John XVII

Has there ever been a married Pope?

The filthy Middle Ages?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

William the Conqueror (1027–87), king of England from 1066 when he beat Harold II at the battle of Hastings. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

9 surprising facts about William the Conqueror and the Norman conquest

Jumping beans, throwing shoes and weather forecasting: medieval ways to look ahead to the New Year

Westminster Abbey, London

A brief history of Westminster Abbey

Eleanor of Aquitaine: myth and reality. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A medieval new England: the Anglo-Saxons’ eastern odyssey

A c1880 Christmas card shows a frog committing murder

Carrots, goblins and killer frogs: an unexpected history of Christmas

A portrait of Isabella I of Castile. (Photo by PHAS/UIG via Getty Images)

Isabella I of Castile: Europe’s greatest queen?

The newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II

Why has the British monarchy survived?

Is the world still living in the shadow of the crusades?

The King: Henry V on film. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.