Renaissance

Wartime evacuees wash their hands

“The very sight of her hands did almost turn my stomach”: a brief history of hand-washing

A statue of Leonardo da Vinci

8 milestones in Leonardo da Vinci’s rise to success

The leaning tower of Pisa

Q&A Why does the Tower of Pisa lean to one side?

Lucrezia Borgia with her father Pope Alexander VI

Lucrezia Borgia: is her bad reputation deserved?

A memorial tomb to King Æthelstan, the first Saxon king of all England, in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire. (Photo by Geography Photos/UIG via Getty Images)

A brief history of England

ever before,” says Margaret MacMillan. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Interview: Margaret MacMillan

The Sultanahmet district in Istanbul, Turkey, which is classified as World Heritage by UNESCO. (Photo by DOZIER Marc via Getty Images)

General ancient history

A new civilisation rises

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The Medici

Verona skyline with river Adige, bridges, Santa Anastasia Church and Torre dei Lamberti or Lamberti Tower at dawn view from Castel San Pietro, Italy. (Getty Images)

My favourite place: Verona, Italy

Giuseppe Garibaldi in Naples, Italy, 1861. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

God, gangs and Garibaldi

From left to right: Queen Isabella of Castile; French regent Anne de Beaujeu; and Catherine of Aragon. (Photos by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/DeAgostini/Imagno/Getty Images)

Game of Queens: when women ruled Renaissance Europe

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First World War

Verdun and the Renaissance

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In pictures: the luxury estate designed by Leonardo Da Vinci and owned by Napoleon’s sister

Ruth Goodman.

Ruth Goodman

Textiles. Shoes/pumps. Silk taffeta, bound with ribbon; floss silk embroidery in French knots, long and short, satin and split stitches; tied with ribbon. Ground covered by a pattern of trailing and scrolling stems with leaves and flowers, carnation, rose, etc., so arranged that there is a carnation on each toe and a rose on each heel with a five petalled blue flower above it. The left shoe has a rose, the right a carnation at each side of the seam. Silk, length, whole, 7 in, height, back, 5.25 in, height, heel, 3 in, circa 1700-circa 1749. English.

In pictures: Treasured Possessions from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment