Photo of the Sutton Hoo Anglo Saxon helmet

Early medieval

St Columba. This Irish patron saint's influence on the Christian church was, and still is, felt much further afield

Medieval miracle worker: how St Columba transformed Christianity in Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Early Medieval Britain: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 12th-century Celtic round tower at Clonmacnoise, County Offaly

“The power of the Irish over the Britons is great”: Fergal Keane on Britain's Irish roots. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King John hunting on horseback, 14th century. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Was King John murdered?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Newark Castle flanked by the river Trent. To say that King John's death here in 1216 was little-lamented is something of an understatement. "With John's foul deeds all England is stinking, as does hell, to which he is now sinking," wrote the chronicler Matthew Paris. (Getty Images)

King John and the French invasion. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Byzantine empire: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bizarre books and macabre manuscripts. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting the deposition of the body of Edward the Confessor in the tomb at Westminster in 1066. (

Was the early medieval period a "golden age" for the elderly?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King Arthur and a hand holding the sword Excalibur.

The legends of King Arthur: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting King Arthur fighting the Saxons, from the Rochefoucauld Grail. The absence of a clear and present origin for King Arthur has created a ‘void’ which many are keen to fill, says Miles Russell. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The real King Arthur: why are we so obsessed with trying to solve the mystery?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Q&AWho was St Swithin?

Hamo Thornycroft's 1901 statue of King Alfred the Great in Winchester. (Photo by RDImages/Epics/Getty Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #12: secrets of the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Stained glass window of King Alfred the Great

Exclusive podcastThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Emma and her sons, miniature in 'Encomium Emmae reginae', mid 11th century, British Library (Photo by Getty Images)

Are women at the heart of the action in the Norman Conquest?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Newgrange Passage Tombs, Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland. (Photo by Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #9: Do early medieval Irish texts shed light on prehistoric incest?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ruined monastery walls of Lindisfarne priory on Holy Island, on 27th June 2019, on Lindisfarne Island, Northumberland, England. The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded by Irish monk Saint Aidan, and the priory was founded before the end of 634 and Aidan remained there until his death in 651. The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, also known simply as Holy Island, is an island off the northeast coast of England. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important centre of Celtic and Anglo-saxon Christianity. After the Viking invasions and the Norman conquest of England, a priory was re-established. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #8: Did medieval people care about the time? And did they get bored?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This is the famous Rhynie Man carved stone, thought to be Pictish in date. (Photo by © Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service: www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #4: back to Braveheart, Viking river boats, Picts, and the Crusades. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Pictish stone carving featuring a salmon

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #3: the salmon of knowledge, rolling Roman mosaics, eels, and Crusades. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Image of a medieval skull showing arrow injury

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #2: arrows in the eye, The Last Kingdom, Viking dogs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Old Norse: Page from the manuscript Codex Regius, which was written in Iceland and contains the poems of elder Edda. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

BlogMedieval matters #1: The Last Kingdom, Robin Hood and how to learn Old Norse in lockdown. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The figure Mulan on a silk print, c19th century

General ancient history

Mulan: the history of the Chinese legend behind the film

The Crown of Thorns allegedly worn by Christ during the Passion. It was one of the prized possessions in Notre-Dame Cathedral until April 2019 – when it was rescued by the inferno that gutted the building. (Photo by: Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Father, son and holy goat? The dark side of medieval relics. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A British military post in a street in Dublin during the Easter Uprising, 1916. (Photo by ullstein picture via Getty Images)

The history of Ireland: 11 milestone moments

Why ‘Bad King John’ was actually good

Sunlight dapples a clearing in Sherwood Forest, which was an essential resource for peasants centuries before it became a tourist attraction (Photo by Alamy)

Where history happenedAncient forests. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Historian Simon Schama.

Books interview: Simon Schama. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Knights of the Round (Miniature from La Quête du Saint Graal et la Mort d'Arthus), c1220. Found in the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

King Arthur: the big questions. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting King John signing Magna Carta in 1215. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 Magna Carta myths explained. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The real King John and the BBC in World War Two. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Victorian front cover of Lindisfarne Gospels.

The Lindisfarne Gospels