Medieval

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&A Did the French invent the guillotine?

An illustration of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII.

Did the Tudors invent the Wars of the Roses?

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Cnut’s invasion of England: setting the scene for the Norman conquest

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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

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

Quiz How 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

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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?

Marriage of French king Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

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