Religion

A depiction of King Æthelred II holding a sword

The St Brice’s Day Massacre: what really happened?

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Salem: Investigating the Witch Trials HistoryExtra podcast series title card

Salem witch trials Episode 9: conclusion . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Salem witch trials Episode 8: Willful, weak-minded women? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Salem witch trials Episode 7: Quarrelsome neighbours & family tensions . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Salem witch trials Episode 6: Chaos in the courtroom . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Salem witch trials Episode 5: Satanic sabbaths and supernatural sins . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A scene from the Salem witch trials, depicted in a 19th-century lithograph. How two girls’ accusations of witchcraft escalated into one of the darkest episodes in early American history has long puzzled historians. (Image by Alamy)

When the devil stalked Salem: the story of the Salem witch trials

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Salem witch trials Episode 4: The pervasive power of puritanism . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Salem witch trials Episode 3: A ‘new Jerusalem’ on the edge of a wilderness . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Salem witch trials Episode 2: How events spiralled out of control . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Salem witch trials Episode 1: introduction . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tourists at Stonehenge. We have no better idea today than 200 years ago what the people who erected these sarsens truly believed. (Getty Images)

Prehistoric religion: a pagan riddle we will never solve?

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Dr Benjamin Pohl explores the role of monks and abbots in the Middle Ages, and asks: why did they write histories?

Why did medieval monks write histories? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A stone bust of the Greek god Dionysius

The gods and their whims: your guide to ancient Greek religion

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Neil Faulkner reveals how the Anglo-Arab Wars of 1870-1920 helped give rise to the first modern jihad

Jihad and the British empire . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.