Historical people

John Profumo in October 1962

Sex, lies and spies: the real history of the Profumo Affair

A researcher examines the medieval Voynich Manuscript with a magnifying glass

The Voynich Manuscript: who wrote the mystery medieval codex and what is it trying to tell us?

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English author, poet and philosopher Geoffrey Chaucer, c 1343, Bodleian Library (Photo by Getty Images)

The cosmopolitan Chaucer . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

c1190 A scene from the Third Crusade depicting the surrender of Acre to the armies of King Richard I of England and Philippe Auguste of France. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

What were the crusades? Your top questions answered

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Equestrian portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer from the Ellesmere manuscript of his Canterbury Tales (14th century).

Cosmopolitan Chaucer: the 14th-century poet’s inventive, international life . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval punishments, Toulouse, 14th century. (Photo by Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

How bloody was medieval life?

An illumination depicts medieval women embroidering

Medieval misconceptions: 12 myths about life in the Middle Ages – busted

Queen Victoria on an ivory throne

Top 11 monarchs in British history

Lieutenant Colonel Percy Fawcett

Percy Fawcett and the search for the ‘Lost City Of Z’

Spartacus is now associated with political upheaval, as in the 1919 Spartacist uprising.

Who were the gladiators of ancient Rome? Plus Spartacus, Crixus and 8 more fighters you should know

Silver penny of Cnut

Ivar the Boneless, Ragnvald of Ed and 6 more Vikings you should know about

Illustration by Luke Waller for BBC History Magazine.

Æthelwold: Alfred the Great’s rebel nephew

Edward the Confessor

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Anglo-Saxons

An early 14th-century portrait of 10th-century leader Edward the Elder

Who was Edward the Elder? A brief guide to the Anglo-Saxon king

The renowned poet Lord Byron has gone down in history for being “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. But his ancestors were hardly paragons of virtue. (Image by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Adultery, elopement and incest: the scandalous sex lives of the 18th-century Byrons