Religion

Cloisters at Fountains Abbey, North Yorkshire (Photo by Dreamstime)

Everything you ever wanted to know about the English Reformation, but were afraid to ask

Henry III during the Second Barons' War

Simon de Montfort and the barons’ crusade: why rebel lords waged holy war against Henry III

Picture of the Battle of Beziers

In a nutshell The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade

A monk and his mistress

Monks behaving badly

An illumination depicts medieval women embroidering

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

The Warsaw Ghetto, Poland, where hundreds of thousands of Jews were forced to live before they were sent to concentration camps as part of Adolf Hitler’s ‘final solution’. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

Second World War

The Jews who fought back: the story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Julian of Norwich holds her famous book in a sculpture at the doors of Norwich Cathedral. (Photo by Creative Commons Wiki)

Julian of Norwich: Janina Ramirez hails ‘the female Chaucer’

Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene: why do people want to believe she was a sinner and prostitute?

The Resurrection of Jesus

Easter eggs, Jesus Christ and the Easter bunny: the history and origins of Easter

'The Landing of St Augustine in Kent', AD 597

General ancient history

Q&A When did Christianity first arrive in Britain?

The Church of St Martin of Tours in Canterbury

Q&A What is the oldest church in England?

An open Bible on an altar

General ancient history

A history of the Bible: who wrote it and when?

Our composite image shows Henry II framed by an Arabic arch. Henry claimed he

King Henry II: the Muslim monarch of medieval England?

The congregation in Westminster Cathedral, London, during National Prayer Day, 7 September 1941. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Praying for Britain: the history of national days of prayer

'The Last Supper', 1803. A copy of the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s. Some think the superstition about Friday 13th being unlucky is related to the Last Supper, when 13 people were present at the meal before Jesus's crucifixion on Good Friday. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Q&A Why is Friday 13th considered unlucky?