Period

Catherine Hanley talks to Ellie Cawthorne about Matilda, the legitimate daughter of Henry I. (Photographed for BBC History Magazine by Jeni Nott).

Catherine Hanley on Matilda: "Honestly, if I were her, I'd have wanted to put my fist through a wall". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

British Artist Ivon Hitchens. (Image by Bridgeman)

My history hero: Chris Packham chooses Ivon Hitchens. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

As a child king, Henry VI – shown in a c16th-century portrait – learned the lessons of kingship from books. Unfortunately, those books didn't extol the merits of ruthlessness and practising realpolitik. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

How Henry VI's love of peace cost him the throne – and his life. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rogues' gallery: Images of criminals incarcerated in prisons including Wormwood Scrubs and Newcastle City Gaol, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their crimes included stealing clothes, money, boots, and leather. Recent research into Victorian mugshot books – and increasing digital access to court and prison records – offers a different picture of Victorian criminality to the one painted by writers such as Charles Dickens, argues Heather Shore. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Dark secrets of the Victorian Underworld: did hardened criminals stalk Britain's cities?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The regions of Britain in 1635, before the 1707 Acts of Union that united England and Scotland. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

“The anglocentric view we have of British history is unsustainable,” says Misha Glenny. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Married architects Alison and Peter Smithson at work, October 1961. The pair were architect members of the Independent Group and had an impact on the British urban scene via what became known as ‘New Brutalism’. (Photo by Davies/Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Who were the original Independent Group?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Roman mosaic of a dog, bearing the legend 'Cave Canem' underneath, from Pompeii, from Naples National Museum's collection, 1st century. (Photo by CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images)

6 things you (probably) didn’t know about animals in ancient Rome

10 famous people in history and their bizarre pets

Queen Victoria’s pets and animals. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Julian Baggini and Justin Champion. (Photo by Fran Monks)

A global history of philosophy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Fidel Castro addresses delegates of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, September 1960. (Photo by Tommy Weber/AFP/Getty Images)

How should history remember Fidel Castro?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A man helps his partner to dress by lacing her corset. (Photo by Frank Martin)

Love in Georgian times. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle. (Image Credit: BBC/Douglas Road Productions/Carlton Dixon)

“A platform to ask ‘was it really like that?’”: Sir Lenny Henry on new Windrush drama

Cesare Lombroso, described as the 'father of criminology'. (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

The ‘born criminal’? Lombroso and the origins of modern criminology

Why Churchill’s reputation is still on the line. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Michael Wood on Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. (Illustration by Femke de Jong for BBC History Magazine)

Michael WoodOn Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Richard J Evans. (Photo by Fran Monks)

Eric Hobsbawm: history and politics. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of motors and cycles in Kensington High Street, opposite Holland House, London, from the Illustrated London News, 1903. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Lonely hearts and holiday flings: a brief history of dating. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The former Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, for whom Edward gave up the throne in 1936, sparking a crisis that rocked the British monarchy. The couple are pictured here in 1939. (Photo by Keystone-France\Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

The 7 most romantic moments in history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A painting of America’s founding fathers inside the National Archives in Washington DC. (Photo by Visions of America/UIG via Getty Images)

A history of United States government shutdowns. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Italian-French poet and campaigner for women's rights, Christine de Pizan (1364–c1430). (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Not so silent: the unquiet women of history

The downfall of Mary, Queen of Scots. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

In 1877, a major rebellion in Kyushu concentrated the opposition of conservative elements to the westernization of Japan. (Photo by Asian Art/Getty Images)

The story of modern Japan. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Code-breaking personnel at Bletchley Park, 1943. (Photo by Bletchley Park Trust/SSPL/Getty Images)

The evolution of British code-breaking. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker with Tony Foulds, 82, who for nearly 75 years has tended the memorial of 10 US airmen who were killed when their B-17 crashed in Endcliffe Park in Sheffield in February 1944. Tony witnessed the crash as an eight-year-old boy. (Photo courtesy of Dan Walker)

Second World War

“We got Tony a fly-past”: how BBC’s Dan Walker organised tribute to WW2 plane crash heroes in Sheffield

Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850) was a British statesman who twice served as Conservative prime minister, between 1834–35 and 1841–46. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

5 facts about Sir Robert Peel. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A British military post in a street in Dublin during the Easter Uprising, 1916. (Photo by ullstein picture via Getty Images)

The history of Ireland: 11 milestone moments

John Simpson. (Photo by Chris Williamson)

War and music. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The tomb of King Richard III, who was reinterred at Leicester cathedral of Saint Martin following the discovery of his body in 2012. (Photo by Getty Images)

A ‘car park king’ timeline: the discovery of Richard III

Russian troops hoist the red banner of the Soviet Army after Stalingrad

Stalingrad: the crushing of the Reich. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.