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The Great Fire of London, 2-5 September 1666 (Photo by Alamy)

The Great Fire of London: everything you wanted to know

Triumphant Death chases Londoners from their city

How 17th-century London reacted to the Great Plague

A union flag flown on HMS Queen Charlotte at the battle known as the Glorious First of June, 1794

Q&AWhen was the Union Jack or Union flag created?

The Thirty Years’ War: everything you wanted to know

Nell Gwyn was a mistress of King Charles II

Nell GywnThe orange girl who became a king's mistress in Restoration England

A c1638 oil painting of Katherine Howard, Lady Aubigny

History heroJulia Donaldson chooses Katherine Howard, Lady Aubigny (d1650)

17th-century London: a city shaped by catastrophe

Why Charles I had to die

A portrait of Samuel Pepys, English writer and diarist. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Samuel Pepys

Bonnie Prince Charlie: hero or coward?

An East India Company official riding on an elephant

The East India Company: how a trading corporation became an imperial ruler

The history of Christmas: everything you wanted to know

The Glorious Revolution: everything you wanted to know

'Merry Christmas' Victorian illustration of Santa Claus holding toys and blowing on a trumpet, chromolithograph, 1915. (Illustration by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

Father Christmas and Santa Claus: a brief history of two Christmas champions

David Olusoga“Desks went from a niche furniture item to the work station of millions”

The arrest of Guy Fawkes. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Alternate history: what if… the gunpowder plot had succeeded?

A portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I

Walter Ralegh: “The rankest traitor in all England?”

An illustration of a group of supposed witches

A very brief history of witches by Suzannah Lipscomb

A painting of 1616 depicts the Moriscos boarding ships to sail from the port of Valencia

The 17th-century expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain: what happened?

A photograph of the Tower of London, from the river

Anne Boleyn, Beefeaters, Guy Fawkes and the princes: a brief history of the Tower of London

The ‘Pilgrims’ stride onto American soil in 1620 after crossing the Atlantic on the Mayflower, as shown in a 20th-century painting. The colony that they established was – initially, at least – a genuinely enlightened place, writes James Evans. (Photo by Harold M. Lambert/Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Myth of the Mayflower: the voyage that made America?

Vivid experiences: a self-portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi, the Italian Baroque artist whose brilliant renderings of biblical and classical scenes earned her commissions from some of the most powerful figures in 17th century Europe. (Photo by Araldo de Luca/Corbis via Getty Images)

Artemisia Gentileschi: how pain powered the great 17th-century artist

The Mayflower

An official of the British East India Company riding on an elephant with an escort of foot soldiers and mounted Indian retainers, India, end of 18th century (Photo by Getty Images)

The East India Company: everything you wanted to know

Pilgrim Fathers boarding the Mayflower

5 facts about the Mayflower

The Pilgrim fathers arrive at Plymouth, Massachusetts on board the Mayflower. (Photo by Harold M. Lambert/Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

"They decided that God must be leading them to North America": the Puritans journey to the Mayflower

The pilgrim fathers

Your guide to the Pilgrim Fathers, plus 6 interesting facts

Sunbathers on Blackpool beach in 1954. (Credit: John Chillingworth/Getty Images)

Caravans, spa towns and seaside resorts: a brief history of British holidays

A portrait of Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland.

Your guide to Queen Anne, the last of the Stuart monarchs

York Minster's rose window features 16th-century Tudor Roses white on red (left) and Lancastrian Roses, red

A brief history of the English rose