Stuart

c1656: A plague doctor in protective clothing. The beak mask held spices thought to purify air, while the wand was used to avoid touching patients. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Q&A Why did 17th-century plague doctors wear peculiar beaked masks?

Portrait of Queen Anne

Queen Anne’s reputation: why isn’t she more fondly remembered?

Photo of the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles: Sun King Louis XIV’s ultimate power play

A portrait of Charles I. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Has history been unfair to Charles I?

Vivid experiences: a self-portrait of Artemisia Gentileschi, the Italian Baroque artist whose brilliant renderings of biblical and classical scenes earned her commissions from some of the most powerful figures in 17th century Europe. (Photo by Araldo de Luca/Corbis via Getty Images)

Artemisia: how pain powered the great 17th-century artist

Elizabeth II and Prince Philip with their third son, Prince Edward, on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A brief history of royal mothers and childbirth

Illustration by Owen Davey

A brief history of human filth: how did people try to keep clean in the past?

Pancake day celebrations

The history of Shrove Tuesday

James Hamilton's 1880s painting 'The Massacre of Glencoe'.

Hell at Glencoe: what led to the massacre in the Scottish Highlands?

GettyImages-187574416-2-2edce12

A history of Valentine’s Day celebrations – from fertility festivals to the first cards

Henrietta Boyle

Fashion history: dressing to impress in the 17th century

William of Orange landing at Torbay, 1688

In a nutshell: the Glorious Revolution

Thomas Blood stealing the Crown Jewels

The day Thomas Blood stole the Crown Jewels

Historian Stephen Tomkins (Photo by Fran Monks)

Puritans and the Mayflower

Queen Victoria with Prince Albert and their children in 1846. After a painting by F Winterhalter. Victoria’s husband, Albert, “carved out for the crown a moral kind of authority as the nation’s first and model family,” says Sarah Gristwood. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Retaining the royals: why has the British monarchy survived – and thrived?