Period

Sir Walter Ralegh (c1554–1618, shown here in a painting attributed to William Segar) is often remembered as a favourite of Elizabeth I and an adventurer, yet he was also one of the most influential political philosophers of his era. (Photo by Alamy)

Walter Ralegh: the traitor who inspired Cromwell. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Circus performer Otto Witte, who in 1912 successfully pretended to be the new king of Albania. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

14 weird things that have happened in November through history

Helen Duncan, a 20th-century medium and spiritualist, allegedly summoned spirits draped in ‘ectoplasm’ – organic matter emitted from her body. In the 1930s she was denounced as a fraud, and in 1944 prosecuted under the 1735 Witchcra Act, which forbade conjuring spirits. (Photo courtesy of Ashmolean Museum/University of London)

Conjuring up the dead: Helen Duncan and her ectoplasm spirits. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The remarkable Codex Amiatinus, a "giant of a book", and part of a new exhibition at the British Library. (Photo by Sam Lane Photography/British Library)

Watch: Highlights from the British Library's new Anglo-Saxon exhibition

18th August 1819: 'The Massacre of Peterloo or Britons Strike Home', by George Cruikshank (Photo by Spencer Arnold/Getty Images)

The Peterloo Massacre. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A depiction of a witch on a broomstick. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

QuizHow much do you know about the history of Halloween?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

JFK prepares to sign the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union. (Picture by Corbis/Getty Images)

Nuclear nightmare: the Cuban missile crisis. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Jewelled terminal of aestel, The Alfred Jewel. (Photo by Alamy)

Anglo-Saxon treasures. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ‘Pit Brow Lasses’ of 19th-century coal mines. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Thomas Cromwell (Illustrated by Sarah Young)

Thomas Cromwell reconsidered. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The remarkable Codex Amiatinus, a "brute of a book", and part of a new exhibition at the British Library. (c) Sam Lane Photography/British Library)

"An absolute gem": Anglo-Saxons at the British Library. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sir Winston Churchill leaves his London home for Chartwell, Kent. (Photo by PA-Images)

A new life of Churchill. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting the Heiji Insurrection of c1159 - one of the first samurai battles. (Photo by Alamy)

A brief history of samurai warfare

York History Weekend: Last-minute tickets and venue information

The miller Samuel Wood, whose arm and scapula were torn off when entangled in a rope attached to a moving mill machinery in 1737. (Photo by Alamy)

7 bizarre cases in the history of medicine. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Director Peter Jackson in 2015 in Beijing, China (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Peter Jackson on the First World War. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Henry VIII with Prince Edward, his son by his third wife, Jane Seymour. If the future Henry IX had survived, there may have been no cause for Henry to annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn in 1533, says Amy Licence. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

6 royal births that changed the world (or could have). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Diana, Princess Of Wales, Prince William And Prince Harry visit Thorpe Park amusement park. (Photo by Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)

How to raise a royal... with Tracy Borman. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detail from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting the death of Harold Godwinson at the battle of Hastings, 1066. Victory at Hastings did not make Duke William of Normandy king of England – at least, not immediately. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Q&AWhat happened after the Battle of Hastings?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Ghent Altarpiece. (Image by Getty Images)

Who were the real monuments men of the Second World War?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Wreck of Fishing boat, Iceland. (Photo by Dreamstime)

Adventures in Iceland. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Romanovs, 1913: Nicholas II with his wife and children. (Photo by Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

QuizThe Romanovs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

William the Conqueror and his escorts on horseback, detail from the Bayeux Tapestry. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images)

Did William the Conqueror ever go to Hastings?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

8 unconventional royal wedding dresses in history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Treaty Of Paris, 1783, by Benjamin West (Photo by Granger/REX/Shutterstock)

Brexit and American independence. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Philippe Sands tells the story behind his new BBC podcast and Radio 4 series, Intrigue: The Ratline. (Photo by Jillian Edelstein/Camera Press)

The Nazi on the run. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A vintage colour lithograph depicting King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth. The battle of Bosworth (or Bosworth Field) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the Houses of Lancaster and York. (Photo by Getty Images)

The battle for Bosworth field: Historians react to decision to build on battlefield where Richard III died. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 19th-century depiction of HMS Erebus in the ice, by François Etienne Musin. What exactly happened to the ship and its crew remains a mystery. (Picture by Alamy)

Michael Palin on HMS Erebus and the doomed Franklin Expedition of 1845. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

In c1500, the young Thomas Cromwell travelled from his humble Putney home to the great cities of Italy, as shown in our illustration. The connections he established on the Italian peninsula would prove key to his meteoric rise to power back in England. (Illustration by Sarah Young for BBC History Magazine)

Thomas Cromwell: the best Italian in all England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Otto von Wächter, who went on the run after the Second World War.

Otto von Wächter: On the trail of the Nazi who disappeared. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.