Historical people

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

The entry of Prince Charles Edward, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie', into Edinburgh in Scotland in 1745. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Forty-five rebellion: why did it fail?

Tomb of Cyrus the Great, Shiraz, Iran

From conqueror to youth icon: who was Cyrus the Great?

Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene: why do people want to believe she was a sinner and prostitute?

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. (Photo by Getty Images)

Yuri Gagarin: 8 things you (probably) didn’t know about the first man in space

Our composite image shows Henry II framed by an Arabic arch. Henry claimed he

King Henry II: the Muslim monarch of medieval England?