Explainer

Depiction of a musician and dancing fool in Paris, 14th century

What was life like for a court jester?

A axe stuck in a piece of wood

General Early Modern

Q&AWhy do we say 'bury the hatchet'?

Hume Castle

Q&AWho was the original king of the castle and who was the dirty rascal?

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace: a visionary of computing

Mário Soares of the Socialist Party basks in public adulation after becoming prime minister in the election of 1976. (Photo by Getty Images)

Your guide to the Carnation Revolution

The Green Knight shows his severed – and still talking – head to King Arthur in this illustration of the beginning of the 14th century legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: what’s the story?

A depiction of a Spartan mother saying goodbye to her son, she is seated as he leaves

Women in ancient Greece: what were their lives like?

A modern illustration shows prisoners of war being sold into slavery

Slavery in ancient Greece: what was life like for enslaved people?

An ancient Greek vase depicting sexual intercourse

A brief history of sex and sexuality in Ancient Greece

Q&ADid the Scottish mass-murdering cannibal Sawney Bean actually exist?

A Peep at St. Peter or The Poet in a Pickle

Q&AWhy do we say 'Peeping Tom'?

Photo of a man on a penny-farthing

Q&AHow dangerous was the penny-farthing?

Illustration of German Dominican preacher Johann Tetzel selling indulgences inside a church

Q&AWhat are indulgences, how were they abused in medieval times, and what do they have to do with the Reformation?

Prince Charles with his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten at Windsor

Why was Lord Mountbatten, Prince Charles’s great-uncle, assassinated?

Bust of Lorenzo de' Medici

Lorenzo the MagnificentThe astounding life of the ‘delightful tyrant’ of Renaissance Florence

Thomas Crapper started a plumbing business in Chelsea in 1861 and pioneered some of the most revolutionary designs of sanitary engineering in the 19th century – but he didn't 'invent' the toilet

The legend of Thomas Crapper, the man who didn't invent the toilet

The British Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the day of George VI's coronation

Britain’s May Queen: your guide to Queen Mary of Teck

A portrait of Katherine Parr in a jewelled head dress and finery

Q&AWhat happened to Katherine Parr’s daughter, Mary Seymour, after her mother’s death?

Chernobyl nuclear power plant a few weeks after the disaster

What was the Chernobyl Disaster?

Photo of a crocodile

Q&AWhy do we say 'crocodile tears'?

Napoleon portrait by Jacques-Louis David shows is perhaps the most famous painting of the French emperor with one hand tucked out of sight

Why do Napoleon’s portraits often show him with one hand inside his shirt? The story of the French emperor’s missing hand…

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain waves to the crowd at Heston Airport and declaims "Peace in our Time" after returning from signing the Munich Agreement. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Second World War

Did appeasement cause the Second World War?

The decapitation machine now known as the guillotine was not a French invention and wasn't invented by Joseph Guillotin. (Image by Getty Images)

Q&ADid the French invent the guillotine?

Anne Neville was queen consort of Richard III, the last Yorkist king of England

Anne Neville: wife of Richard III, daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker, and a modern enigma

French cuirassiers charging a British infantry square at the battle of Waterloo, 1815 (1906). From Cassell's Illustrated History of England, Vol. V. (Cassell and Company Limited, London, Paris, New York, Melbourne). Artist P Jazet. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

How the French won the battle of Waterloo (or think they did)

Colour portrait of Jane Austen (1775–1817) drawn by her sister Cassandra. Dated 1810. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Jane Austen: a guide to her life, books and death – plus 8 fascinating facts

A portrait of Jane Seymour, queen of England from 1536 to 1537 as the third wife of Henry VIII. Jane is remembered for being the only wife to provide Henry with a son and male heir (the future Edward VI). Jane died on 24 October 1537, most likely from puerperal, or childbed, fever. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Jane Seymour: the queen Henry VIII loved most?

Cat got your tongue? It certainly seems to be the case with this surprised tabby

Why do we say 'cat got your tongue'?

Henry I proclaims Matilda as his heir

Your guide to the Anarchy, the bloody battle between Stephen and Matilda

Anne Boleyn, who was executed by beheading on 19 May 1536 after being found guilty of high treason, was said to have had "much joy and pleasure in death". (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The final days of Anne Boleyn: why did she die?