Illustrated Medieval scene from the Romance of Lancelot

Medieval

The effects of the disease known as the Black Death

Black Death quarantine: how did we try to contain the most deadly disease in history?

Henry V. (© Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library / Alamy)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Henry V and the battle of Agincourt

Scotland's cry for liberty: the Declaration of Arbroath. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jesus appears before Pontius Pilate in a crowd scene from Oberammergau's 2010 Passion Play. The Bavarian town stages the mammoth production once every ten years, with a cast made up entirely of local residents. (Photo by Brigitte Maria Mayer Passionsspiele Oberammergau 2020)

Travel to: Oberammergau, Germany. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

News in the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Royal women podcast episodes

The congregation in Westminster Cathedral, London, during National Prayer Day, 7 September 1941. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Praying for Britain: the history of national days of prayer. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A short history of quarantine. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General ancient history

When was toilet paper invented and what did people use before?

Christine de Pizan. (Photo by Getty Images)

Doctors, playwrights and feminists: meet 6 trailblazing medieval women

Wartime evacuees wash their hands

“The very sight of her hands did almost turn my stomach”: a brief history of hand-washing. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Edward IV, the first Yorkist king of England. From the National Portrait Gallery. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Edward IV: champion of the Wars of the Roses

The (not so) stinky Middle Ages: why medieval people were cleaner than we think

c1960s photo showing a man places an engagement ring on a woman's finger.

A brief history of proposing marriage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval medicine. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A medieval monk praying in front of a table of apothacary's herbs

Beating the Black Death: did medieval medicine help people to survive?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A postcard showing for women hunting for a man with guns and dogs.

Why do women propose in a leap year?

Bottle of 'love potion'

General ancient history

Spanish fly, holy bread and mashed worms: history's weirdest aphrodisiacs and love potions

A bust of Charlemagne

Charlemagne: creating the myth. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The execution of Charles I in 1649.

To kill a king: 350 years of regicide. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of the barons compelling King John to ratify Magna Carta, 1215. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 facts about Magna Carta

An engraving depicts a frost fair on the Thames

Frozen: Britain's Little Ice Age

Simon de Montfort’s medieval revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

6 lesser-known facts about the Ottoman Empire

Illustation of a pope

How long do popes reign? All you need to know about popes and the papacy

Richard III, Edward IV and George, Duke of Clarence

Blood brothers: Richard III's battle with his siblings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Medieval myths. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Victoria with Prince Albert and their children in 1846. After a painting by F Winterhalter. Victoria’s husband, Albert, “carved out for the crown a moral kind of authority as the nation’s first and model family,” says Sarah Gristwood. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Retaining the royals: why has the British monarchy survived – and thrived?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Pope John XVII

Has there ever been a married Pope?

The filthy Middle Ages?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.