The Last Supper

Religion

Illustration by Joey Guidone

The big question: has terrorism ever achieved its aims?

Selim I

The extraordinary life of Sultan Selim I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

The pilgrim fathers

Your guide to the Pilgrim Fathers, plus 6 interesting facts

Painting of Martin Luther translating the New Testament into German vernacular in 1521 (Photo by Fine Art Photographic Library/Corbis via Getty Images)

Your guide to Martin Luther, the theologian who launched the Reformation

A replica of Jesus' tomb. (Photo by Alamy)

History’s greatest mysteriesThe fate of Jesus's body. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The capture of Jerusalem in 1099

How the First Crusade captured Jerusalem in 1099

Q&AWho was St Swithin?

Stained glass window of King Alfred the Great

Exclusive podcastThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Painting by Emile Signol (1804–1892), (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters 11: Did women fight in the crusades? And why did people follow a goose to the Holy Land?

Women and the crusades. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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?

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?

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

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

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 nutshellThe Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade

A monk and his mistress

Monks behaving badly

An illumination depicts medieval women embroidering

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

The Jews who fought back: the story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Julian of Norwich holds her famous book in a sculpture at the doors of Norwich Cathedral. (Photo by Creative Commons Wiki)

Julian of Norwich: Janina Ramirez hails 'the female Chaucer'

Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene

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