Sex and love

Dying well; tears and sorrow on the death of a youth. Treasury of Wisdom, 15th century. (© The Art Archive/Alamy)

Heavenly dew: crying in the Middle Ages

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Love, health and the weather: 9 things medieval Londoners worried about

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Jane Austen

My history hero Jane Austen (1775–1817) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Mary I’s phantom pregnancy

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The Victorians’ surprisingly liberal attitude towards gay men

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Food from the past and the history of illegitimacy . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Second World War

Second World War heroes ‘had most sex appeal’

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Mistresses through history: the term wasn’t always about secret sex

A Valentine's card showing a devil spearing an old lady on a pitchfork.

In pictures Victorian Valentine's Cards

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Love and marriage in Tudor England

From loincloths to corsets: a brief history of underwear with Horrible Histories’ Greg Jenner

A statue of Aphrodite

Christianity’s rocky relationship with sex

Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger. (GL Archive/Alamy)

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn: Suzannah Lipscomb dispels myths about the lovers who changed history

A portrait of Richard III.

Inside the mind of Richard III

Portrait of Henry VIII

Q&A Which of Henry VIII’s wives was his best match?