Drawing of Christopher Columbus

General Early Modern

The dark side of Samuel Pepys

Breaking news! How stories spread in early modern Europe

The Mughal empire: everything you wanted to know

The tangled legacies of two Americas

The 300-year battle over free speech

King vs parliament: the moment that sparked civil war

An eye looking through a dark keyhole.

Are your neighbours spying on you? In the 17th century they had the power to destroy your life

Taking sides: how the Civil War turned friends into enemies

A Japanese painting on silk, in a traditional Japanese style, of a Samurai warrior riding a horse.

General Early Modern

The 47 Rōnin: the true story behind the famous Japanese tale of revenge

Women killers of the early modern era

Women's hidden role in religious reformation

Cheese-rolling, horse skulls & morris dancers: Britain's strange folk customs

An illustration of the future King Edward VI of England with his whipping boy (Photo by Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo)

“Literally whipped”: the boys who took the beatings meant for royal bottoms

Maria Theresa

General Early Modern

The incredible Habsburg empress you’ve never heard of: who was Maria Theresa?

Satan & the sabbath: witchhunting in the Basque Country

A vessel at sea comes across the mythical ghost ship The Flying Dutchman

General History

Seven of history's most disturbing ghost ship stories that will haunt your dreams

HistoryExtra AcademyWitchcraft, with Marion Gibson

Week four – Witches in popular culture

Week threeWitch trials

Week twoDemonology

Week oneWhat is a witch?

A 17th-century scandal & a writer's secret life

A Painting of The Grand Canal in Venice

General Early Modern

Q&AThe Grand Tour: a rite of passage for Europe’s elite

A surprising history of sex between men

Video podcastAztec myths

Tituba of Salem, in a 19th-century illustration (Photo by The Granger Collection/Alamy)

General Early Modern

5 things you (probably) didn’t know about the history of witchcraft

Death by nostalgia: the curious history of a dangerous emotion

HistoryExtra Academy witchcraft quiz – week three

Witch trials, with Professor Marion Gibson

An 1866 painting imagines a suspected ‘witch’ being led away from a braying mob during the 17th century (Photo by WAVE: The Museums, Galleries and Archives of Wolverhampton/Getty Images)

Rough injustice: what really happened at a witch trial?