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Norse women loading and assisting in the maintenance of a Viking longship.

What were Viking women doing while their men were on violent raids?

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History crossword17 April. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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

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What happens when popes and politics collide?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Relief sculpture showing a Roman triumphal procession with figures, horses, and a chariot carrying a central leader.

2,000 years ago, ancient Roman forces annihilated Jerusalem. Was its destruction inevitable?

Mary Beard on why the classics still matter. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Subscriber offerChalke History Festival – 10% off entrance tickets. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A collage of six images shows Queen Elizabeth II in military uniform, in later life wearing a light outfit and hat, in coronation regalia beside Prince Philip, speaking at a BBC microphone, on her wedding day, and as a young woman hugging a dog.

Long to reign over us: how did Queen Elizabeth II survive seven decades of dizzying change?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 1What should we do with the Nazis? The road to the Nuremberg Trials. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A colour photograph shows Queen Elizabeth II wearing a bright blue coat and matching hat while operating a touchscreen display at the Science Museum. A large screen behind her shows the same moment from a different angle, and wooden architectural structures fill the background. The scene captures her engagement with science and technology during a public visit.

How did the world change during Queen Elizabeth II's reign?

Elizabeth II: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

shows ballet dancers on stage, with a male dancer supporting a ballerina in a white tutu as she extends one leg; in her dress, the Kremlin can be seen

In times of crisis, the Soviet Union turned to something unexpected to calm the masses

General History

HistoryExtra AcademyRoyal women, with Professor Kate Williams

Episode 63 royal women who changed the world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 5Queen Victoria: a symbol of empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 4Mary I: England’s most misunderstood queen?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 3Marie Antoinette: the French queen who became the target of a revolution. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 2Cleopatra’s rise and fall. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Episode 1Elizabeth II: the queen who redefined an era. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detailed painting depicts a ruler seated on a golden throne beneath a decorated canopy, surrounded by attendants and courtiers in elaborate garments and turbans. Musicians sit in the foreground, and greenery fills the background.

Power, pomp and the Peacock Throne: the Mughal empire at 500. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Retracing Eleanor of Castile's final journey. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A top-down view shows a cheese pizza topped with sliced olives, peppers, and onions, with one slice cut and pulled slightly away from the rest

Episode 2Pizza. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Elizabeth II sits on a garden bench with her young children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne, holding them close as they look in different directions among colourful flowers.

What was Queen Elizabeth II like as a mother?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A young Queen Elizabeth II, then Princess Elizabeth, smiles in a black-and-white portrait, wearing a riding hat and tailored jacket against a plain sky.

The young Elizabeth II: life before she was Queen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Elizabeth II, wearing a lilac polka-dot dress, matching hat with decorative trim, white gloves and a pearl necklace, smiles and chats with a young participant in a yellow shirt at a children’s rally in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

In pictures: Queen Elizabeth II on tour. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A Renaissance-style painting showing a woman in red and blue clothing with a patterned gold head covering nursing a curly‑haired child against a geometric patterned background

Medieval family planning: meet the strong-willed women who redefined motherhood in the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detailed marble relief shows several robed figures standing in a tight group around a cylindrical structure. Each figure has carefully carved drapery and expressive faces, with some holding scrolls or objects that suggest scholarly or religious roles.

Friends, Romans, citizens: why Rome opened its doors to people across the empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Composite image of two early medieval helmets: the ornate Sutton Hoo helmet on the left and a simpler Viking helmet on the right.

The Anglo-Saxons were terrified of Vikings. But were they really so different?

Episode 3How Alfred the Great saved the Anglo-Saxons from the Vikings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Three prehistoric objects showing engraved markings, including a carved bone, a small decorated plaque, and a stone figure with incised lines.

40,000 years ago, our ancestors left these strange symbols behind. What do they really mean?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.