Medieval

An engraving depicts a frost fair on the Thames

Frozen: Britain’s Little Ice Age

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Historian Sophie Ambler.

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

Turkish artillery of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. (Buyenlarge/Getty Images)

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

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Deer hunt, 15th century, workshop of the Bedford Breviary. (Photo by Getty Images)

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?

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Fresco by Memmo di Filippuccio, Palazzo Comunale, San Gimignano/Tuscany (Photo by Alamy)

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

The weather was a matter of great concern to everyone during the Middle Ages, as society was dependent on agriculture and poor harvests could lead to real hardship. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

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

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Eleanor of Aquitaine's tomb in Fontevraud Abbey, Loire, France (Photo by Alamy)

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

The Varangian Guard, as shown in the 12th-century Madrid Skylitzes. Around this time, the guard, which protected the Byzantine emperor, was apparently dominated by English warriors who had fled the Norman conquest. (Image by Bridgeman)

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