Animals

A scene from the Smithfield Decretals depicting a rabbit beheading a man. Rabbits seem to have a strange place in medieval imagery – and are depicted as having strangely violent tendencies.

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #5: chivalry, medieval killer rabbits and prisoners of war in the 15th century

Medieval prisoners

What was it like to be a Prisoner of War during the Hundred Years’ War?

HistoryExtra’s top 15 most listened to podcast episodes

An illumination depicts medieval women embroidering

Medieval misconceptions: 12 myths about life in the Middle Ages – busted

Frances Griffiths poses with the fairies

Fairies, rabbit births and an ‘ancient’ tiara: what are the greatest historical hoaxes?

The 18th-century rabbit breeding hoax (Photo by Getty Images)

The woman who gave birth to rabbits

Cynocephali – Dog-headed men (Photo by Getty)

Basilisks, manticores and more: medieval fantastic beasts (and where to find them)

Simon the cat

10 top cats in history

A photo which was believed to be of the Loch Ness Monster

The quest for the Loch Ness Monster

Bottles of snake oil

Q&A Did salesmen really sell snake oil?

A lithographic Victorian trade card promoting the Forepaugh circus' new white elephant, Buffalo, New York, circa 1880. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)

Q&A Why do we say ‘white elephant’?

The ‘Surgeon’s Photo’, taken in 1934, which claimed to depict the Loch Ness Monster. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

5 facts about the Loch Ness Monster

Illustration by Glen McBeth.

Q&A When did the leopards on the royal arms of England become the lions depicted today?

Vintage postcard showing Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth with Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and a pet corgi. (Photo by the History Press)

8 of the best dogs in history

Members of the Home Guard train racing pigeons as messengers in Blackburn, July 1940. Soon, carrier birds like this would be supplying vital intelligence on German arms factories and troop movements in occupied Europe. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Second World War

The pigeons’ war on Hitler