Religion

Illustration from Dante's ‘Inferno', depicting thieves tormented in hell by serpents.

General ancient history

A brief history of the afterlife

Thomas Becket murder

7 controversial saints in history

Two girls are tried for witchcraft in a courtroom scene

What were the Salem Witch Trials?

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Original Gutenberg Bible, Beinecke Library, Yale Univeristy. (Photo by Alamy)

The history of the Bible . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms, 1521. This was an assembly of the Holy Roman Empire called by King Charles V in Heylshof Garden, Worms, to address Martin Luther and the effects of the Protestant Reformation. (Photo by The Print Collector via Getty Images)

What was the Reformation?

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History Traveller final 1024x768

History Traveller, part 2: St Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A spiritual swastika on a lotus background.

Second World War

Why did Hitler choose the swastika, and how did a Sanskrit symbol become a Nazi emblem?

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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First Crusade, Siege of Antioch, c1097,14th-century illustration (Photo by Getty Images)

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

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague explained

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Cloisters at Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire (Photo by Dreamstime)

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

Painting of an auto-da-fé

Your guide to... the Spanish Inquisition

Henry III during the Second Barons' War

Simon de Montfort and the barons’ crusade: why rebel lords waged holy war against Henry III

Picture of the Battle of Beziers

In a nutshell The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade

A monk and his mistress

Monks behaving badly