The Last Supper

Religion

William Dalrymple (Photo by David Hartley/Shutterstock)

“Like ancient Greece, India is one of the seedbeds of civilisation” | William Dalrymple on putting India back at the centre of global history.

The Venerable Bede: life of the week.

Telling the story of modern Jerusalem.

Satan & the sabbath: witchhunting in the Basque Country.

Statue of Zeus, king of the Greek gods

King of the gods and sex pest: the legend of Zeus and his thunderbolts

The Cathars: everything you wanted to know.

A Chinese tank nears the city of Lang Son in Vietnam, 1979 and (right) Chinese and Vietnamese ministers meet for talks, 1991. Rana Mitter highlights the role of diplomacy in bringing war between Vietnam and China to an end.

Historians debate: how do intractable conflicts come to an end?.

Norse god of war and All-father, Odin, next to Germanic princess Brunhild

General History

Fierce and furious: who are the most powerful gods of war throughout world history?

Helios driving a chariot

General History

Sun gods and goddesses16 solar deities from world history

A crusader army led by French king Louis IX clashes with Ayyubid forces at Mansurah in 1250. Two centuries of warfare across the Middle East “drew a torrent of often dangerous young men into the region”, writes Steve Tibble. (Photo by Getty Images)

Crusader criminals: why medieval knights went rogue in the Holy Land.

Priest's Hole, formerly a medieval sewer, beneath the kitchen in Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire.

A perilous game of hide and seekThe history of priest holes and hunters

Norse god Wotan surrounded by fire.

General History

Fire gods and goddesses: 14 fire deities from world history

A mob setting fire to Newgate Prison and freeing prisoners.

The Gordon RiotsHow an anti-Catholic petition escalated into the most destructive riots in London’s history

Plots and Rebellions, with Professor Tracy Borman.

Will the real Jesus please stand up?.

Lothar II vs Theutberga: a marriage scandal that shook the ninth century.

An image depicting St Valentine

Saint ValentineWho was the patron saint of love and lovers?

Video podcastMedieval popes: everything you wanted to know.

Mosaic of Neptune, Roman god of the sea carrying his trident and riding in a chariot pulled by horses with dolphin tails

General History

Water gods and sea goddesses: 17 water deities from world history

Medieval popes: everything you wanted to know.

Druids: everything you wanted to know.

The taking of Jerusalem by the Crusader

The First Crusade: your ultimate guide

A fifteenth century manuscript illustration showing the Knights Templar being burned in the presence of King Philip IV of France.

Templars on trial: why were the Knights accused of such heinous crimes?.

Israel and the Palestinians: a history of conflict in 8 key episodes

Why did medieval Europe become Christian?.

Ancient Egyptian religion: everything you wanted to know.

Joya Chatterji, emeritus professor in the history of modern south Asia at the University of Cambridge (Photo by Abhishek Bali)

Joya Chatterji on 20th-century south Asia“The nation is a very novel idea, and imposing it on millions of people is hard work”

Charles I in Parliament in 1642, where he made an abortive attempt to arrest five MPs, from a 19th-century painting by Charles West Cope (Photo by The Print Collector/Alamy Stock Photo)

8 reasons why the Civil War broke out.

Members of the Sealed Knot stage a re-enactment of the battle of Nantwich, fought during the Civil Wars in 1644 (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Crown v Parliament: your guide to the Civil War of the 17th century.

A joint British-Jewish patrol in Palestine during the 1936–39 Arab Revolt (Photo by Bridgeman Images)

How Britain stirred the cauldron of conflict in Palestine.