The Last Supper

Religion

A composite image of Joseph Stalin (left) and Adolf Hitler

Second World War

Hitler and Stalin’s utopian dreams

Félix Kir in 1947, when he was the mayor of Dijon

Second World War

History heroSimon Farnaby chooses Félix Kir (1876–1968)

Thomas Becket: from murder to martyrdom. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Monument to Prince Vladimir the Great in Moscow

Q&AWho were the Kievan Rus and what do they have to do with the Vikings?

Vahalla is depicted as a round-topped building in this funerary stone from 8th-century Sweden

Valhalla: fighting and feasting in the Viking warrior afterlife

A helmet from a chieftain's grave in 10th-century Norway. (Images by Getty)

Inside the Viking mind: the view of the Vikings' world from 5 perspectives. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Rushton Triangular Lodge was ostensibly a warrener's lodge but the biblical references that adorn its three exterior walls tell a different story. (Photo English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

History explorer: Catholic resistance to Elizabeth I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Huguenots vs France: who were the Huguenots and what did they believe?

How did the Reformation impact Jews?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration showing Roman Saturnalia banquet. (Photo by Alamy)

Saturnalia: the origins of the debauched Roman 'Christmas'

Thomas Cromwell, Tudor statesman and 'alter rex'.

Your guide to Cardinal Wolsey, Tudor statesman and prince of the church

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin vs God: did the 'Origin of Species' cause a clash between church and science?

Oswald, the many-headed medieval saint. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Thomas More: saint or sinner?

A painting of 1616 depicts the Moriscos boarding ships to sail from the port of Valencia

The 17th-century expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain: what happened?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The battle of Dover, 24 August 1217, (image c1880). (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

Eustace the Monk: one of medieval Europe's unholiest holy men. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

In 802 Charlemagne took delivery of an elephant, sent to him by Harun al-Rashid, the caliph in Baghdad. Here, a manuscript illumination from a late 12th century English Latin bestiary. (Image by Alamy)

8 turning points in medieval European history. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The storming of Beziers

Medieval turning points. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Q&A: Why and how did the Aztecs practise human sacrifice?

Empire builder Maharajah Ranjit Singh sits astride a horse as an attendant holds a parasol over him. Singh is historically credited with growing his ancestral warrior-clan, the Sukerchakia misl, into a grand imperial dynasty. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

A Sikh tragedy: the Indian kingdom that fell foul of the British empire

The African who transformed Anglo-Saxon England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A reconstruction of an extract from the Book of the Dead depicting an embalming scene. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library via Getty Images)

Guidebook to the Ancient Egyptian afterlife

The Mayflower. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A sign of the devil or a miracle cure? How people felt about spiders in the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration by Joey Guidone

The big question: has terrorism ever achieved its aims?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Selim I

The extraordinary life of Sultan Selim I. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Pilgrim fathers arrive at Plymouth, Massachusetts on board the Mayflower. (Photo by Harold M. Lambert/Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

"They decided that God must be leading them to North America": the Puritans journey to the Mayflower. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The pilgrim fathers

Your guide to the Pilgrim Fathers, plus 6 interesting facts

Painting of Martin Luther translating the New Testament into German vernacular in 1521 (Photo by Fine Art Photographic Library/Corbis via Getty Images)

Your guide to Martin Luther, the theologian who launched the Reformation

A replica of Jesus' tomb. (Photo by Alamy)

History’s greatest mysteriesThe fate of Jesus's body. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.