Illustrated Medieval scene from the Romance of Lancelot

Medieval

Illustration by Glen McBeth

Did castle defenders pour boiling oil on their assailants during a medieval siege?

The LibraryHow King Henry I made and blew a fortune. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Richard III, dated 15th century. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Treachery at Bosworth: what really brought down Richard III. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Penshurst house

The LibraryHighlights of medieval Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An engraving showing the story of the Three Living and the Three Dead

Inside the medieval mind. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An introduction to the Black Death

The blue-robed Henry VII pictured performing a variety of tasks at the Tower of London following his accession to the throne, in a contemporary illustration. (Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Bosworth: the dawn of the Tudors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

c1400, English troops use siege towers to capture a French town during the Hundred Years' War between England and France. Original Artwork: An illumination from Froissart's Chronicles. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

7 facts about the Hundred Years’ War

A view of a calander showing the date, Friday the 13th. (Photo by William C. Shrout/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

10 historical superstitions we carry on today. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Detail from the Bayeux tapestry, which depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

10 medieval dates you need to know

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman conquest of England in 1066. (Photo by DEA/M. SEEMULLER via Getty Images)

The Bayeux Tapestry now and in the future. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A woodcut print depicting the stocks, a form of Elizabethan punishment. Dated 16th century. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

"Damn your blood": Swearing in early modern English

King William II is often overshadowed by his Norman father, William the Conqueror. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

7 forgotten monarchs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Why ‘Bad King John’ was actually good

Edward I in parliament with the Archbishop of Canterbury; King Alexander III of Scotland; the Welsh Prince Llywelyn ab Gruffydd and the Archbishop of York. From the Wriothesley MS, 1523, published in ‘The Island Race’, a 20th-century book written by Sir Winston Churchill covering the history of the British Isles from the pre-Roman times to the Victorian era. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Edward I: man of principle or grasping opportunist?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sunlight dapples a clearing in Sherwood Forest, which was an essential resource for peasants centuries before it became a tourist attraction (Photo by Alamy)

Where history happenedAncient forests. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Harold Godwinson’s two eldest sons fled to Ireland after the Battle of Hastings, where they lived as guests of the King of Leinster. (Photo by Duncan1890 via Getty Images)

Q&AWhat happened to Harold Godwinson’s children after the Battle of Hastings?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of black cat – unlucky for some? (Photo by Getty Images)

Q&AWhy are black cats unlucky?

A 14th-century Flemish illustration depicting the burying of plague victims in coffins in Tournai in 1349. (Photo by Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)

Black Death: “Oh father, why have you abandoned me?”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

My favourite place: Bruges, Belgium

The future Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace following their wedding, 20 November 1947. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Royal wedding traditions through history: etiquette, menus and the dress code. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV

When royals marry ‘commoners’: a brief history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

11 shocking moments in history

Old Wardour Castle

Britain’s 7 most amazing ruins

A contemporary pictorial depiction of the Great Plague.

The Black Death: the historians’ view. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Norman cavalry charge the enemy in this detail from the Bayeux Tapestry. Debate rages over the pros and cons of the tapestry leaving France for the first time in more than 900 years. (Photo by Photo 12/Getty Images)

Will the Bayeux Tapestry actually come to Britain?

The secret intimacies of Edward IV: multiple marriages and a same-sex affair?

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

The ‘Princes in the Tower’

The 5 greatest mysteries behind the Wars of the Roses. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Biddenden Maids Cake. (Public Domain)

Sisters of mercy: the Biddenden Maids. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.