HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2024-05-31T08:01:04.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Roman holiday: when emperor Hadrian became a tourist of ancient Egypt
items: 9 places where British astronomy flourished
items: 10 things you need to know about the battle of Bosworth
items: The history of Tintagel Castle and the legend of King Arthur – plus 5 places to explore in Britain
items: Written in the stars: 7 celestial events that may have changed history
items: Travel to: Oberammergau, Germany
items: Stonehenge: a prehistoric tourist trap
items: A wealth of history: Laversham, Sulfolk
items: The destruction of Pompeii
items: The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

Roman holiday: when emperor Hadrian became a tourist of ancient Egypt
type: item
date: 2024-05-31T08:00:29.000Z
creator: Professor Mary Beard
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Where history happened
description: As is still the case today, the wonders and landmarks of ancient Egypt drew in the tourists in the Roman era. They would carve their names into statues of pharaohs and take cruises down the Nile. Prof Mary Beard describes what happened when a particular party of elite Roman holidaymakers – led by the emperor Hadrian – descended on Egypt’s tourist hotspots in AD 130...
encoded: Roman emperors and aristocrats were great tourists. They were as keen as we are on visiting the famous sights of the Mediterranean world, and they brought home souvenirs by the bucket-load. The best guide we have to the appearance of the lost statue of the goddess Athena inside the Parthenon at Athens, an extraordinary creation in gold and ivory, comes in the stone copies made for travellers and tourists. These range from pricey, high-quality replicas to the ancient equivalent of fridge magnets. The most sought-after destination was Egypt, and the most alluring method of transport there was, as now, a Nile cruise. Julius Caesar holidayed on the river with Cleopatra. Half a century or so later, in AD 19, we know that Prince Germanicus, nephew of the emperor Tiberius, visited the country and took a boat up the Nile south from Alexandria. Read more | In the footsteps of Germanicus - a Roman General’s journey to Egypt No tourist, however, visited Egypt in greater style – or, I suspect, with a larger retinue of support staff – than the emperor Hadrian in AD 130. And no imperial party left quite such a lasting mark of their visit. In fact, you can still see the poems commemorating this trip, written by one of the emperor’s aristocratic fellow-travellers – a woman by the name of Julia Balbilla (more on her later). They are carved into the leg of an ancient Egyptian statue, just outside modern Luxor (ancient Thebes). It might seem like a rather upmarket version of ‘Balbilla (and Hadrian) was here’. But these poems not only document a tourist experience; they shine a light onto one of those hidden women of the Roman world. Balbilla was not an ‘ordinary’ woman, but one of wealth, glamorous connections, and talent. All the same, she usually slips below the radar of modern historians. Hadrian's imperial inspection Hadrian’s Egyptian cruise was only one part of a much longer journey for the emperor and his entourage. He was the most travelled of all the Roman rulers – and sights…

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9 places where British astronomy flourished
type: item
date: 2022-05-16T14:45:53.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Georgian
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Where history happened
description: Dr Allan Chapman of Wadham College, Oxford looks at nine places linked to the 'grand amateurs' who exemplify Britain's fascination with the night skies
encoded: Considering our climate – seemingly perpetual cloud cover and driving rain – you may wonder how astronomy ever came to flourish in the British Isles. But it did – and spectacularly so. The study of the heavens had, of course, already reached a high level of sophistication in Babylonia and Greece long before it left any written traces in Britain. However, historians would love to ascertain what the builders of Stonehenge, Newgrange near Dublin, and the stone circles of Scotland knew, for the precise astronomical alignments of their monuments still fascinate us today. Written astronomy within these islands, however, goes back to around AD 700, with the Venerable Bede of Jarrow monastery and the ‘saints and scholars’ of early medieval Ireland. Contrary to the myth of the ‘Dark Age’, the monk-scholars of that time had a general familiarity with classical science. Indeed, they needed it to undertake the complex lunar and solar calculations that were necessary to fix the moveable feast of Easter. And by 1250, classical astronomy was being routinely taught in the then new Oxford and Cambridge universities, and in numerous monasteries. In fact, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales of c1381 are full of Greek astronomical knowledge. Read more | How has our understanding of space developed over the past 5,000 years? In the 16th century, Sir Thomas Digges and others were writing about Copernicus’s new idea of a sun-centred universe. Then, on 26 July 1609, Thomas Harriot made the first surviving drawing of the moon, using a telescope, beating Galileo’s more famous observations by four months (although Harriot never published). But it was in the 17th century that British astronomy scaled the heights. Sir Christopher Wren, Dr Robert Hooke and Bishop John Wilkins in Oxford were pioneer telescopic astronomers, and Wilkins, in the late 1640s, was seriously discussing the possibility of life on other worlds. He even designed a ‘flying chariot’ in which to ascend to the moon. Of course,…

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10 things you need to know about the battle of Bosworth
type: item
date: 2020-08-22T02:30:00.000Z
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Plantagenet
subject: Tudor
subject: Family and parenting
subject: Medieval battles
subject: Where history happened
description: The battle of Bosworth, fought on 22 August 1485, was the last significant clash of the Wars of the Roses. The armies of Yorkist king Richard III were defeated by Henry Tudor (later Henry VII), which heralded the end of the Plantagenet dynasty and marked the birth of the Tudor age. Richard III was killed during the brutal battle. But how did Richard III die? Here, Chris Skidmore, author of Bosworth: The Birth of the Tudors, brings you 10 facts about one of the most famous battles in English history
encoded: For many, 22 August 1485 remains one of the key dates in British history. Yet what exactly took place in the early hours of the morning (the battle was over by noon) still remains tantalisingly elusive. So, what are the facts? Many myths surrounding Bosworth remain prevalent – stirred by the imaginings of Shakespeare, whose famous words, “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse”, placed in the mouth of the defeated Richard III, are occasionally still recounted as part of the narrative description. Despite decades of research into what exactly happened at Bosworth, and where exactly the battle was fought, it seems truth remains inconvenient when it comes to telling a good story. That shouldn't stop anyone knowing the basic facts of one of the most famous battles in English history, however. So for anyone interested in knowing as far as possible 'what happened', here are 10 key things to bear in mind… The battle of Bosworth wasn't actually fought at Bosworth It only became known as the battle of Bosworth from around 25 years after it was fought. Instead, contemporaries knew it as the battle of 'Redemore', meaning place of reeds. Other names for the battle included 'Brownheath' and 'Sandeford'. The site of where the conflict took place has now been located two miles from the battlefield centre, close to the villages of Dadlington and Stoke Golding. The landscape would have been a marshy plainland (later to be drained), across which ran a Roman road. Listen | Historian and politician Chris Skidmore offers his take on pivotal moments such as Richard’s seizing of the throne, his death at Bosworth and the disappearance of the princes in the tower It is hard to imagine the scale of battle Richard III's army, at around 15,000 men, was approximately three times the size of Henry Tudor's army at just 5,000 men. Meanwhile the Stanley brothers (Henry Tudor's step-father, Thomas Lord Stanley, and Sir William Stanley) had around 6,000 men between them. These numbers meant that th…

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The history of Tintagel Castle and the legend of King Arthur – plus 5 places to explore in Britain
type: item
date: 2020-07-22T09:03:20.000Z
creator: Spencer Mizen
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Castles
subject: Where history happened
description: Miles Russell and Spencer Mizen visit Tintagel Castle in Cornwall to explore its links with one of the world's great mythological figures...
encoded: King Arthur. Heroic British warlord who led the fight against marauding Anglo-Saxons, or a figment of a writer’s fertile imagination? It’s a question that’s been puzzling poets, chroniclers, historians and film-makers for more than 1,000 years. And nowhere does this question have more resonance than on a small, windswept, rain-battered headland projecting into the sea off north Cornwall: Tintagel. Numerous sites across north-west Europe – from Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset to the Forest of Paimpont in Brittany – have trumpeted their connections to King Arthur. Yet surely none are as intimately linked to the legendary warlord as Tintagel. King Arthur: 6 things you need to know about the warrior king and his legend That this is the case is almost exclusively down to the endeavours of one man: a Welsh cleric going by the name of Geoffrey of Monmouth. In the 1130s, Geoffrey set about writing a history of the kings who had ruled the Britons over the preceding 2,000 years. The resulting Historia Regum Britanniae is among the greatest pieces of medieval history writing – though not an entirely reliable one. It tells us, for example, that Britain was founded by the Trojans, and introduces us to King Lear. Yet, most significant of all, says Miles Russell, senior lecturer in prehistoric and Roman archaeology at Bournemouth University, is what it tells us about Arthur. “In his Historia Regum Britanniae Geoffrey gathered together a series of legends from western Britain to come up with a single narrative of the past,” says Miles. “So, in the case of Arthur, he related a tale that had been passed down by word of mouth through the generations. “In this story, Uther Pendragon is besotted with Igraine, beautiful wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. Uther is determined to have Igraine for himself and so, with the help of the wizard Merlin, assumes the image of Gorlois and tricks his way into Gorlois’ castle at Tintagel. And it is here, Geoffrey tells us, that Arthur is conceived.” The…

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Written in the stars: 7 celestial events that may have changed history
type: item
date: 2020-04-08T09:38:13.000Z
subject: General ancient history
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Climate
subject: Space
subject: Where history happened
description: If you were paying close attention to the skies last night, you may have observed what is known among stargazers as a 'pink supermoon'. Here, Guy de la Bédoyère describes seven celestial events that may have changed the course of history, from the comet that carried William the Conqueror to victory in 1066 to the eclipse that helped Lawrence of Arabia defeat the Ottomans...
encoded: Stargazers across Europe were able to witness the emergence of a pink supermoon last night, with many documenting the event in breathtaking images. The 2020 celestial event meant that the moon appeared up to 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than normal – depending on where you lived. It took place as many people live under lockdown due to the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. It's not the first time a celestial event has been observed during a historic time. And, as Guy de la Bédoyère reveals, past observations have even changed the course of history... Learn more about the 2020 pink moon from Science Focus and BBC Sky at Night Magazine: In pictures: The 2020 Super Pink Moon Observe the perigee ‘Supermoon’ A match made in heaven How a solar eclipse of 585 BC persuaded two belligerent kingdoms to make love not war For the first known example of a celestial event changing the course of history, we must head to the sixth century BC when King Cyaxares, ruler of an ancient Iranian people known as the Medes, allowed nomad Scythians to settle in his kingdom. In return for Cyaxares’ hospitality, the Scythians trained Median boys in archery. But then the relationship turned sour. One day Cyaxares hurled abuse at the Scythians for going out hunting and coming home with nothing. In revenge the Scythians killed one of their trainees, chopped him up, cooked him and fed the meat to Cyaxares, pretending it was one of their hunting kills. Before Cyaxares got wind of their ruse, the Scythians had fled to the court of King Alyattes of Lydia at Sardis (western Turkey). Unsurprisingly Cyaxares was enraged by the Scythians’ antics, but Alyattes refused to send his visitors back. War raged between Lydia and Media for the next six years, with neither side able to gain the upper hand. Finally, during one battle, so the Greek historian Herodotus tells us, “day was suddenly turned into night”. So horrified by this were the combatants, they gave up the fight and settled for peace…

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Travel to: Oberammergau, Germany
type: item
date: 2020-03-19T05:00:55.000Z
subject: Medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Where history happened
description: Ellie Cawthorne pays a visit to the village of Oberammergau where, once every decade, the locals stage a massive theatrical production, the result of a holy pledge made almost 400 years ago
encoded: If you happen to visit the small Bavarian town of Oberammergau in 2020, you will soon notice that the local men are unusually hirsute. Wandering through the streets, beards and long hair will be everywhere you look. But this town-wide grooming regime isn’t the result of any fashion trend – it’s all in the name of tradition, God and theatre. Once a decade, on Ash Wednesday, Oberammergauers stop shaving as part of the preparations for the town’s Passion Play, a theatrical tradition that has been an integral part of life here for almost 400 years. Ever since the play telling the story of Christ’s trial, death and resurrection was first performed in 1634, the production has grown beyond recognition. It now attracts audiences from across the globe. For the Passion Play’s latest incarnation this year, almost half a million people will descend on the town over the course of 104 performances stretching from May until October. And it’s not just the audiences that are huge, the cast is equally formidable. Of the town’s population of around 5,500 people, more than 2,300 locals appear on stage, or perform in the orchestra and choir. Every role, from Jesus and the apostles right down to each Roman footsoldier is filled by an Oberammergau resident. Anyone who has lived in the town for 20 years has the right to partake, and many come from families in which roles have been passed down from generation to generation. Perhaps as astounding as the scale of the spectacle itself is the fact that this mammoth undertaking originated from a holy pledge that Oberammergau’s people made in a desperate moment almost 400 years ago. Divine intervention Around 90km south of Munich, close to the Austrian border, Oberammergau sits at the edge of the Ettaler Forest, under the distinctive white peak of the Kofel mountain. Situated on a medieval trading route from Venice to Augsburg, the town was renowned for the exceptional skill of its wood carvers and painters. Today, wooden alpine cabins are painte…

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Stonehenge: a prehistoric tourist trap
type: item
date: 2019-12-08T10:13:10.000Z
subject: General prehistory
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stonehenge
subject: Where history happened
description: An 1875 photograph of a family dressed in finery enjoying a day out at Stonehenge may be the earliest such snap taken at the monument, English Heritage has announced. Wiltshire's world-famous stones have been attracting sightseers for thousands of years. Here, Mike Pitts tells the tourists' story
encoded: 2500 BC: Stonehenge is the talk of prehistoric Europe Visitors have always been part of Stonehenge, even the stones are foreigners: the small ones from Wales, the large ones probably from the Marlborough Downs, 20 miles to the north. Stonehenge was truly unique in Europe and so, at its height around 2500 BC, it must have been talked about across the continent. Evidence of houses in the area suggests that far more people lived near to the stones than we would normally expect. Drawing labour and representatives from different tribes or groups, Stonehenge must have played a part in alliances that reached across Britain, and perhaps even beyond. 10 facts about Stonehenge Prehistoric religion: a pagan riddle we will never solve Tests on a man buried nearby around 2300 BC have revealed that he grew up in central Europe, was rich, but had a bad knee and a limp. Other men buried in the area originated at least as far away as Wales. Could these have been among Stonehenge’s first tourists? 2500 BC–AD 1500: Did the Romans break up the stones? Stonehenge today is identical to the first accurate survey, drawn in 1740 by John Wood, architect of Georgian Bath. What Wood saw seems to have differed little from the sight that greeted the artists who first attempted a realistic view during the reign of Elizabeth I. Yet between 2500 BC and AD 1500, some 500 tonnes of rock were removed from the site. So where did all the missing stones go? We know they were there, for archaeological excavation and geophysics – and patches of dead grass in dry summers – have shown us where they stood. But who took them away? And why? Much of that stone is still there, in chips below the turf. It’s been suggested that people came to Stonehenge, perhaps as long ago as 2000 BC, to take stone to cure illnesses. Yet it seems unlikely that this can account for so much damage, and yet leave so many pieces. In pictures: Stonehenge tourism Where history happened: Britain’s prehistoric stone circles Another theory…

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A wealth of history: Laversham, Sulfolk
type: item
date: 2019-10-06T06:00:10.000Z
subject: Period
subject: Tudor
subject: Where history happened
description: Built on the fortunes of England’s mercantile elite, the Suffolk village of Lavenham is home to an abundance of architectural treasures. Julian Humphrys journeys to the heart of the East Anglian countryside to learn more about this rural idyll
encoded: Built on the fortunes of England’s mercantile elite, the Suffolk village of Lavenham is home to an abundance of architectural treasures. Julian Humphrys journeys to the heart of the East Anglian countryside to learn more about this rural idyll Today Lavenham seems like a typical Suffolk rural village. Five hundred years ago, however, it was anything but typical. At that time, it was one of England’s foremost industrial centres, famous for the production of high-quality broadcloth. Indeed, in 1524 Lavenham was the 14th richest town in the kingdom, paying more tax than cities like Lincoln or York. The late 15th and early 16th centuries saw a building boom in Lavenham as its rich clothiers, the multi-millionaire businessmen of their day, spent a fortune on lavish timber-framed houses in which to live and halls in which their guilds could meet. But, based as it was on one single industry, Lavenham’s wealth rested on fragile foundations. When in the 1530s the cloth industry was hit by a recession, Lavenham had no alternative economic activity to fall back on. Within a generation the town had declined from thriving as a hub of industry to stagnating as an economic backwater. This is the reason why so many wonderful medieval timber-framed buildings still survive in Lavenham today – nobody had the money to replace them with anything else. Painting wooden beams to create a black and white pattern on such buildings was never a local tradition in Lavenham. At Lavenham beams were either left to season to a silvery grey colour, given a coat of limewash to weatherproof them and deter insects, or plastered over completely. Many of Lavenham’s walls are painted white but a substantial number are brightly coloured, with russets, pinks and ochres being popular choices. Plasterwork is often decorated by pargetting – patterns or images scratched or moulded while the plaster was still wet. Many buildings are jettied, with upper storeys jutting out above the storeys below them. Some say t…

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The destruction of Pompeii
type: item
date: 2019-09-23T14:41:55.000Z
subject: General ancient history
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Where history happened
description: Daisy Dunn revisits the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and considers the history that was preserved at Pompeii and Herculaneum
encoded: Historian and author Daisy Dunn revisits the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius and considers the Roman history that was preserved at Pompeii and Herculaneum.

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The Holy Island of Lindisfarne
type: item
date: 2019-07-11T06:00:24.000Z
subject: Anglo-Saxon
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Viking
subject: Lindisfarne
subject: The Last Kingdom
subject: Where history happened
description: Off the Northumberland coast rises a lonely islet which over the years has played host to religious renunciates, Viking raids and the birth of priceless artistic treasures. Julian Humphrys makes the pilgrimage
encoded: Getting on to Holy Island feels like an adventure. Unless you’re planning to arrive by boat, you can either walk or drive across a long causeway or tramp across the sands, following a line of wooden poles – a route taken by countless visitors and pilgrims over the centuries. Whichever you choose, check the tide tables to see when it’s safe to cross. Both routes are completely submerged at high tide, when the water rushes in at an alarming rate. Although the village can become quite crowded with visitors, the rest of the island still retains the sense of isolation that led St Aidan to establish a monastery here in AD 635 after being invited to Northumbria by King Oswald to convert his subjects to Christianity. His successor, St Cuthbert, served first as prior and later as bishop on Holy Island, but also spent years as a hermit on the nearby Farne Islands, dying there in AD 687. For most of the eighth century, the monastery thrived as a centre of culture, producing among other treasures the sumptuously illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels; a digitised version can be seen in the island’s heritage centre. But all this would change in AD 793, when the Vikings launched the first in a series of destructive raids on the monastery. By AD 875, the monks had had enough. They moved away, taking Cuthbert’s body with them, and eventually settled in Durham. Even so, the links with Lindisfarne were too strong to forget, and in 1120 monks from Durham Cathedral were sent to build a new priory on the island – complete with a shrine to St Cuthbert. Although that priory is now largely ruined, the Romanesque west entrance of its church is an impressive sight, while the survival of the ‘rainbow arch’, a single vault beneath the long-vanished tower, seems miraculous. Note the battlements and crossbow loops – a reminder that living so near to the Scottish border in the Middle Ages had its risks. The high ground overlooking the priory is known as the Heugh. Recent archaeological investigations ha…

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