The Last Supper

Religion

In 802 Charlemagne took delivery of an elephant, sent to him by Harun al-Rashid, the caliph in Baghdad. Here, a manuscript illumination from a late 12th century English Latin bestiary. (Image by Alamy)

8 turning points in medieval European history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The storming of Beziers

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

Q&A: Why and how did the Aztecs practise human sacrifice?

Empire builder Maharajah Ranjit Singh sits astride a horse as an attendant holds a parasol over him. Singh is historically credited with growing his ancestral warrior-clan, the Sukerchakia misl, into a grand imperial dynasty. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

A Sikh tragedy: the Indian kingdom that fell foul of the British empire

The African who transformed Anglo-Saxon England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A reconstruction of an extract from the Book of the Dead depicting an embalming scene. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library via Getty Images)

Guidebook to the Ancient Egyptian afterlife

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

A sign of the devil or a miracle cure? How people felt about spiders in the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration by Joey Guidone

The big question: has terrorism ever achieved its aims?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

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

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.

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