Illustration of strange creatures

Weird and wonderful history

A miller and a donkey

9 things you could do with a medieval ass

Ten things to do with a medieval donkey. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edward Jenner

Q&AWhen did medical practitioners start to be called ‘doctor’?

This 15th-century painting from a manuscript shows men fishing in a river. In medieval England, eels were both meals and de facto currency. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Fishing for gold: how eels powered the medieval economy

'Merry Christmas' Victorian illustration of Santa Claus holding toys and blowing on a trumpet, chromolithograph, 1915. (Illustration by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

Father Christmas and Santa Claus: a brief history of two Christmas champions

Zwarte Piet: the history behind the Christmas controversy

The ‘lost’ city of Atlantis. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British mystery writer Agatha Christie, c1926.

The mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie

Henry VI of England. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images)

Henry VI may have had a "sex coach" - plus 4 more curious facts about his life

Boys playing conkers in 1926. Horse chestnuts played an unlikely role in the war effort just a few years earlier. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Did conkers help win the First World War?

Roman toilet

Tales of the toilet: a historical A–Z

Statue of King Alfred the Great in leafy Trinity Church Square, Southwark. It is thought to be the oldest statue in London.

Q&AWhat’s the oldest statue in London?

Buckingham Palace intruder Michael Fagan

Buckingham Palace intruder Michael Fagan: what happened and why did he break in?

President Nixon making final TV address

The 5 most notorious presidents in US history

Glamis Castle is said to be the most-haunted castle in Scotland. (Photo by mpalis via Getty Images)

A royal ghost tour: 5 haunted sites around Britain

An illustration of a group of supposed witches

A very brief history of witches by Suzannah Lipscomb

An empty knight's armor sitting on a chest.

Q&AHow did knights in armour go to the toilet?

Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, observed by Queen Catherine (of Aragon), who is stood in the doorway. Anne has been playing the lute for the king, watched by a gathering of courtiers. Cardinal Wolsey, right of centre, looks on. Painting by Marcus Stone, 1870. Private collection. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Grooms of the stoolWho were the men who changed Henry VIII’s underpants?

Naming of St John the Baptist, c12th century. From a wall painting in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Medieval baby names: what were people called in the Middle Ages?

Halloween postcard

10 things you didn’t know about the history (and mystery) of Halloween

The battle of Dover, 24 August 1217, (image c1880). (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Eustace the Monk: one of medieval Europe's unholiest holy men

Author Kate Summerscale (Photo by Fran Monks)

A 1930s ghost hunt. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A watermill, with fish nets and eel traps visible beneath the waters of the mill leat Luttrell Psalter. England, c 1325-1335. (Photo by Alamy)

Medieval eels and Englishness. 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

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

How did England react to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1751? (Illustration for BBC History Magazine)

Q&ADid the introduction of the Gregorian calendar spark riots?

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor playing Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII in the 1963 film, Cleopatra. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

7 of the most memorable couples in history

The 1851 Great Exhibition’s west wing

The 1851 Great Exhibition: inside the Victorian spectacle

Illustration for BBC History Magazine.

How potatoes conquered the world

As seen in this early 19th-century depiction of an initiation, Masons have long used secrecy to "create a sense of awe and specialness around their rituals". (Image by Alamy)

A history of Freemasonry: from Enlightenment ideals to satanic conspiracy stories