Period

Socialite, countess, WW2 spy: Aline Griffith. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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.

Fred Perry in action in the Wimbledon final in 1936. (Photo by Getty Images)

Fred Perry: the icon and the outcast. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A drag queen applies lipstick in this 1959 photograph

Q&AWho was the first person to call themselves a ‘drag queen’?

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.

Murder: a legal history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

HMT Empire Windrush arrives at Tilbury Docks

Bound for Britain: your guide to the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush

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.

The untold story of India’s WW2 prisoners of war. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Matilda (circa 1031-1083) was Queen Consort of William the Conqueror. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

Norman women: the power behind the thrones. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The merits of meritocracy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Coronation of King Edward III. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

7 medieval kings of England you should know about

Margaret of Anjou married Henry VI of England in 1445

Margaret of Anjou: a brief guide to the 'She-Wolf of France'

Fridtjof Nansen: Explorer, scientist, writer, humanitarian

The first great polar expedition: Fridtjof Nansen’s 1888 traverse of the Greenland Ice Sheet. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Elizabeth Woodville with her husband, Edward IV. According to one medieval document, their marriage only came about “by Sorcerie and Wichecrafte, committed by the said Elizabeth, and her Moder Jaquett Duchess of Bedford”. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Medieval royal witches: from Elizabeth Woodville to Queen Joan of Navarre

The Enlightenment: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

African Europeans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of athletes in the torch race, ancient Olympics

What were the ancient Olympics like? Take a visit to the Games of 436 BC

Women secret agents in Nazi-occupied France. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

French cuirassiers charging a British infantry square at the battle of Waterloo, 1815 (1906). From Cassell's Illustrated History of England, Vol. V. (Cassell and Company Limited, London, Paris, New York, Melbourne). Artist P Jazet. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

How the French won the battle of Waterloo (or think they did)

A photograph of President John Quincy Adams

Q&AWhat’s the oldest photo of a US president?

Colour portrait of Jane Austen (1775–1817) drawn by her sister Cassandra. Dated 1810. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Jane Austen: a guide to her life, books and death – plus 8 fascinating facts

A man digs a grave in Sarajevo for victims of the war in Bosnia, 1992

Yugoslavia: why shared Slavic identity couldn’t save an idealised nation from fracture and bloodshed. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

"Make love not midnight snacks": a social history of slimming clubs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Boat diplomacy: Froissart's 'Chronicles' show Richard II acceding to many of the rebels' demands at Mile End, 14 June 1381. The speed with which the rebels flooded London wrong-footed the king's advisors. (Photo by Alamy)

Revealed: the true identity of the rebels of the Peasants' Revolt. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Censorship, contradiction & controversy: a decade in the life of DH Lawrence. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The battle of Stoke Field – German mercenary Martin Schwarz made a famous last stand in the thick of the fighting even as other elements of the rebel army turned and fled

The battle of Stoke Field, 1487 – the real last battle of the Wars of the Roses

Who was Britain’s greatest prime minister? Episode 9: Secrets of being a successful leader. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.