Illustrated Medieval scene from the Romance of Lancelot

Medieval

The Knights Templar depicted on an antique map of Jerusalem. (Alamy)

The rise and fall of the Knights Templar

Historian, presenter and author Dan Jones. (David Levenson/Getty Images)

Dan Jones on the Templars and ‘Knightfall’

A portrait of Richard III. Was the last Yorkist king a usurper? Historian John Ashdown-Hill explains why this is a myth. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Did fear drive Richard III to the throne?

What did Magna Carta mean to the English in 1215?

9 eccentric monarchs through history

Richard II sails down the Thames to Greenwich to meet the rebels. (Photo by Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo)

Why did the peasants really revolt?

John Hardyng: Henry V’s secret agent

Books interview with AC Grayling: “A great philosophical mind is one that belongs to a childish heart – always curious, always open”

The life of Saladin

A portrait of Elizabeth Woodville, queen of Edward IV. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

8 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Woodvilles

A painting depicts a 14th-century sea battle

Medieval inspiration: what the fantasy genre owes to the 14th century

Panorama of Machu Picchu

The last days of the Incas

Lucrezia Borgia with her father Pope Alexander VI

Lucrezia Borgia: is her bad reputation deserved?

The first state visit by American President George W Bush in 2003 was highly controversial, attracting protesters opposed to the involvement of the United States and Britain in the Iraq War. Here the president is pictured with the Queen in 2008. (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

From pageantry to controversy: a brief history of state visits

A 19th-century painted glass rolling pin and wooden pastry jigger. (Photo ©Emma Kay)

Biscuit tins and pastry jiggers: the history of 6 baking tools

Men enjoying a drink and a chat in a coffee house, 1674. Coffee houses became known as ‘schools of the wise’, where people would gossip, argue and discuss the breaking news of the day. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A drink for the devil: 8 facts about the history of coffee

Peasants in the Middle Ages at a cattle market. Cows appear to have been difficult to manage in the medieval period, and caused several deaths. (Photo by INTERFOTO /Alamy)

5 strange causes of death in the medieval period

A Spanish publisher works on cloning the illustrated codex hand-written manuscript Voynich. (Photo by CESAR MANSO/AFP/Getty Images)

How the Voynich manuscript hit the headlines

Marc Morris at BBC History Magazine's 2017 History Weekend (Photo by Steve Sayers)

Secrets of Britain’s castles

King Edward IV, who used the surname Plantagenet. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Q&AWhen did British kings and queens start using surnames?

The Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the second half of the 12th century. This military intervention had the backing of King Henry II of England and was authorised by Pope Adrian IV. Here you can see Henry II landing at Waterford in 1171. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland: 850 years on

Portrait of theologian and Bible translator John Wycliffe (c1330–84). (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

The murderous history of Bible translations

Edward the Confessor depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry.

Q&AWhat did Edward ‘confess’?

Notre Dame of Paris at first light (Photo by Captblack76-Dreamstime.com)

Notre-Dame

Melvyn Bragg speaks to the History Extra podcast about the 12th-century love story of Heloise and Abelard. (Photo by Awakening/Getty Images)

Melvyn Bragg on Heloise and Abelard

On the latest History Extra podcast, Christopher Somerville discusses his experiences of visiting some of Britain’s historic cathedrals, including Wells Cathedral, pictured. (Photo by Roger Utting | Dreamstime.com)

Exploring Britain’s cathedrals

Portrait of Edward IV, the first Yorkist King of England.

Edward IV: facts about his life, death and reign

Professor Nicholas Vincent discusses the life and reign of King John. (Photograph by Mr Christopher Guy, Worcester Cathedral Archaeologist, reproduced by permission of the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral)

King John: medieval monster

Rethinking the crusades

In only two years, Hernán Cortés brought about the downfall of an efficient military civilisation through a combination of diplomacy, warfare, tactics, luck and sheer force of personality, writes Caroline Dodds. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Cortés and Montezuma: the conquering of Tenochtitlan