Location

London in the 16th century map, illustration by Theresa Grieben

Trade, religion and diversity: how Tudor London became a global city

Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, born the son of a humble yak farmer, pictured around the time of his Everest triumph of 1953 (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Tenzing Norgay The Sherpa who first conquered the world's highest mountain

A photograph of Tenzing Norgay (left) and Edmund Hillary, sharing a smile in 1953, shortly after scaling Everest.

Everest The story of the race to the top of the world

Bishops tumble, with “popish” paraphernalia falling from their pockets, in a woodcut from a 1641 Puritan pamphlet titled 'A Decade of Grievances' (Photo by Bridgeman Images)

How people power fuelled England’s century of chaos

Replicas of necklaces belonging to Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife (Photo by Angela-Treasures For A Queen - Etsy)

Queens of bling: the importance of jewellery to Henry VIII’s six wives

Illustration by Laurie Avon

Medieval warfare: five deceptive ways to win a battle

A woman teaches a child to read in a 15th century depiction. The medieval period saw women challenge the male stranglehold on intellectual life, says Ian Mortimer (Photo by Marcello Fedeli / Electa / Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

What does medieval mean? Why the Middle Ages was actually an age of transformation

Did Israelite slaves build the pyramids, as shown in this copper engraving of 1630? Historians have shown that slave labour of this kind did not really exist in Egypt (Photo by akg-images)

General History

Fact checking history: why dates, terminology and clarity matter

An engraving of the pirate Henry Avery with his ship in a notorious raid that almost pushed England and India to war (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

General Early Modern

Hell on high water: the rise and fall of the golden age of piracy

A woodcut from Frances Rose-Troup’s book about the Prayer Book Rebellion, in which some 4,000 people from Devon and Cornwall died (Photo by Collection PJ / Alamy Stock Photo)

The Prayer Book Rebellion: Mark Stoyle on how the 1549 rising almost changed Tudor history

A clown, c1970s. The next decade, there would be a panic over

General History

Clowns, agoraphobia and kayaks: a history of fear and loathing

Wife of Bath

The Wife of Bath: how Chaucer’s character gives a voice to medieval women

A 1577 portrait of Arbella Stuart, great- great-granddaughter of Henry VII, as a toddler clutching a doll

What were the games and pastimes enjoyed by Tudor children?

Genghis Khan’s tent, as shown in a 14th-century Persian miniature. The Mongols’ conquests transformed the way the people of Eurasia did trade, shared knowledge, paid taxes and fought wars (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

What was life like under the Mongol empire?

Julius Caesar meets Cleopatra in this 18th-century painting

Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony: how the last pharaoh’s love affairs shaped Ancient Egypt’s fate