Europe

A portrait of Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. Henry and Catherine's marriage was a happy one, until their failure to produce a male heir began to cast a long shadow. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s greatest queen

Marisa Linton on the French Revolution.

The French Revolution: Everything you need to know

AUSTRIA - CIRCA 1778: Marie Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of France, Daughter of Maria Theresia. Canvas by Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Le Brun. (Photo by Imagno/Getty Images) [Marie Antoinette, Erzherzogin von Oesterreich, Koenigin von Frankreich (1755-1793), Tochter von Maria Theresia Joseph, 1778. Gemaelde von Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Le Brun]

Marie Antoinette: the last queen of France

Cleopatra's face on a coin

The face of Cleopatra: was she really so beautiful?

The British royal family at the Queen's annual birthday parade 2019

A brief guide to the British royal family, by The Crown’s historian Robert Lacey

Edward the Confessor seated at a banquet

Edward the Confessor: England’s holy hardman

A painting of 1616 depicts the Moriscos boarding ships to sail from the port of Valencia

The 17th-century expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain: what happened?

The real Mary Boleyn remains an elusive Tudor personality, flitting in and out of the sources, says historian Lauren Mackay. (Image by Alamy)

Your guide to Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn

ever before,” says Margaret MacMillan. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

“We’ve come to think that peace is normal, but that’s not the reality”: Margaret MacMillan on humanity’s compulsion to go to war

The month of November, gathering acorns and hare hunting. (Photo by Getty Images)

Everything you ever wanted to know about medieval daily life, but were afraid to ask

Actor Stephanie Levi-John as Lina in 'The Spanish Princess'

Catalina: the real history of The Spanish Princess favourite

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

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

The storming of Beziers

Medieval turning points

Mussolini salutes in front of the statue of the Roman emperor Nerva, in the 1930s

How Italian dictator Benito Mussolini became the first face of fascism