Medieval

Portrait of Saladin (1560) by Cristofano Dell Altissimo.

Why does Saladin have such an enduring reputation?

The Green Knight shows his severed – and still talking – head to King Arthur in this illustration of the beginning of the 14th century legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

“A eulogy to the cult of chivalry”: what can Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tell us about Edward III and the Hundred Years’ War?

Representations of digits from the ninth century, 11th century and the present day

Digital revolution: the evolution of Hindu-Arabic numerals

Dev Patel stars as Sir Gawain in The Green Knight an adaptation of the Arthurian romance Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

The Green Knight on screen: what can we expect from the retelling of an Arthurian epic?

Photo of a crocodile

Q&A Why do we say 'crocodile tears'?

Everything you wanted to know about the church in medieval England – Nicholas Orme podcast

The church in medieval England: everything you wanted to know

Bronwen Everill discusses the Benin Bronzes

The battle over the Benin Bronzes

Medieval romances were sometimes considered subversive material. This scene from the Roman de la Rose, written in the 13th century, depict two lovers. In later centuries, it was said romances “inflamed beastly and filthy desire”

The Mills & Boon of the Middle Ages? Unpicking the mysteries of medieval romances

Kissing the Blarney Stone: a women hangs over the precipice with the aid of a friend as she attempts the feat at Blarney Castle in 1935

What is the Blarney Stone, where did it come from and why do people kiss it?

The decapitation machine now known as the guillotine was not a French invention and wasn't invented by Joseph Guillotin. (Image by Getty Images)

Q&A Did the French invent the guillotine?

An illustration of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII.

Did the Tudors invent the Wars of the Roses?

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Cnut’s invasion of England: setting the scene for the Norman conquest

A fresco depicting St Nicholas receiving the sick. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Post pandemic: how the years after the Black Death briefly became a ‘golden age’ for medieval women

American billionaire Howard Hughes (shown here in a car in 1947) went from a visionary filmmaker to a germ-obsessed recluse, dying in 1976. (Photo by Getty Images)

“His flesh had rotted, and his bed was full of worms”: 5 of history’s most eccentric hermits

The Three Lions crest. A trio of lions has appeared on the arms of every English (and British) monarch since the late 12th century, and has been flown as a battle standard on English soil and abroad. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Offside/Getty Images)

Q&A Why are there three lions on the shirts of the English football team?