Illustrated Medieval scene from the Romance of Lancelot

Medieval

This illustration depicts Viking ships arriving in Britain. Though produced centuries after the earliest raids, it reflects how the impact of Norse invasions remained vivid in medieval memory and manuscript culture.

Forget the longships: this is the overlooked story of how the Vikings dominated eastern Europe

This 16th-century portrait depicts Vlad III, known as Vlad the Impaler (1431–1476), a Wallachian prince infamous for his brutal rule and defence against the Ottoman Empire.

Vlad the Impaler was medieval Europe's bloodiest warlord, but is the scale of his murder just a myth?

The German Peasants' War: a summer of fire and blood

A painting depicting Rurik and his brothers arriving in Staraya Ladoga, a scene based on the legend of the Varangian invitation, in which Norse leaders were asked to bring order to the Slavic lands. Rurik’s arrival marked the legendary founding of the first ruling dynasty of Rus’, a key moment in the early history of Eastern Europe.

Why does Putin think Ukraine should be Russian? It’s all to do with the Vikings

An illustration of Matilda of Flanders, queen consort of William the Conqueror. As queen after the Norman Conquest, Matilda played a key political role.

The conqueror’s queen: meet the real Matilda of Flanders

An illustration shows five women in colourful headscarves sewing a large piece of cloth with soldiers and horses on it

Michael Wood on women's contributions to the Bayeux Tapestry

El Cid: life of the week

How did the Vikings shape Russia and Ukraine?

This 19th-century facsimile shows the Duke of Salisbury, John Montacute, arriving at Conwy Castle from Ireland — a scene from Le Prinse et mort du Roy Richart. Just a year later, in 1400, Owain Glyndŵr would launch his rebellion, with castles like Conwy becoming key flashpoints in the Welsh fight against English rule.

It’s one of the most famous revolts in medieval history – but has the Glyndŵr rebellion been misnamed?

William the Conqueror: life of the week

Illustration of Emma of Normandy and two of her children

King and Conqueror’s most gruesome death should never have happened and would be “totally out of character”

This 13th-century illustration from the Chronique d’Outremer shows the departure of the Templars. While rooted in the eastern Crusades, such imagery also echoed in the Northern Crusades, where the Teutonic Knights led campaigns to Christianise the pagan Baltic. expanding the crusading ideal far beyond Jerusalem.

The clever medieval trick that destroyed the last stand of stubborn paganism in Europe

This 1877 painting by Oscar Wergeland depicts Norwegian settlers arriving in Iceland in 872. Fleeing the unification of Norway under Harald Fairhair, these early migrants laid the foundations of a unique Norse society on the island’s volcanic shores.

Could you survive on the Vikings’ furthest frontier? Here’s the dark reality of Norse life on the edge

A drawing of a king holding a crown on his head, against a black and white image of a church

Far away from England, the mystery of Harold Godwinson's lost crown might have just been solved

This illustrated map traces the route of Venetian merchant Marco Polo along the Silk Road to China in the 13th century. His travels opened up new vistas of Asia to Europe and became one of the most influential accounts of the medieval world.

Step onto the medieval Silk Road and you'll witness its intense wonders – and its hidden horror

What if Harold died at Stamford Bridge, not Hastings?

A woman in a grey cloak holds a swaddled infant to her shoulder

Edith the Fair: the life of Harold Godwinson’s first wife

Luther Ford as Tostig Godwinson in BBC drama King and Conqueror

How Tostig Godwinson’s brotherly betrayal hastened the fall of the Anglo-Saxons

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as William the Conqueror in BBC Norman Conquest drama King and Conqueror

How historically accurate is King and Conqueror? Here’s the real history that should have happened

This posthumous portrait of William I, known as the Conqueror, was painted c.1590–1610 and is held by the National Portrait Gallery, London. Though created centuries after his death, it reflects early modern interest in the legacy of England’s first Norman monarch. (Photo by Getty Images)

Meet the real William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy who reshaped England

Illustrations of Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror

How well did Harold Godwinson and William the Conqueror know each other prior to the battle of Hastings?

A collage of four images, depicting four different kings against a blue background

1066: who was the rightful king?

Shakespeare didn't do the Norman Conquest, but the Bayeux Tapestry did, so where does that leave the BBC's King and Conqueror?

An illustration of a woman in a gold and red dress walking on a tightrope while balancing a pair of scales on her head. The scales hold an angel on one side and a devil on the other. Behind her on the tightrope, there is a cat. Below her, there is a town and a factory, with some houses submerged in water

Michael Wood on lessons on good government from medieval Siena

A close up image of the eye of a black horse

Medieval warhorses: 5 moments horsepower changed the course of history

Europe's last pagans

This illustration from the Codex Manesse (c.1300) shows Konrad von Altstetten, a Swiss ministerial, reclining with his beloved after a hunt. The lavish manuscript, compiled in Heidelberg, preserves the courtly poetry and romantic ideals of the German medieval nobility. (Photo by Getty Images)

Wandering womanisers? These charismatic bards took the medieval world (and its women) by storm

This scene depicts Clovis I, founder of the Merovingian dynasty, executing a soldier who defied him over the famed Vase of Soissons around AD 480. The story, preserved by Gregory of Tours, became a legendary example of royal authority and vengeance in early medieval France.

This dynasty of medieval kings had a secret weapon – and you probably have it too

This illustration from the Arnamagnæan Collection in Denmark depicts Eric the Red, the Norse explorer who founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland around AD 985.

A thousand years ago, the Vikings had a shock encounter with Native Americans that ended in disaster

This 19th-century chromolithograph depicts flagellants in Tournai in 1349, publicly scourging themselves in response to the Black Death. Known as the Brothers of the Cross, such groups believed self-punishment could help cleanse society of divine wrath.

It felt like the end of the world, but this medieval ‘apocalypse’ left a legacy no one saw coming