The Last Supper

Religion

Taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, Painting by Emile Signol (1804–1892), (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters 11: Did women fight in the crusades? And why did people follow a goose to the Holy Land?.

Women and the crusades.

Illustration from Dante's ‘Inferno', depicting thieves tormented in hell by serpents.

General ancient history

A brief history of the afterlife

Thomas Becket murder

7 controversial saints in history

Two girls are tried for witchcraft in a courtroom scene

What were the Salem Witch Trials?

The history of the Bible.

Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms, 1521. This was an assembly of the Holy Roman Empire called by King Charles V in Heylshof Garden, Worms, to address Martin Luther and the effects of the Protestant Reformation. (Photo by The Print Collector via Getty Images)

What was the Reformation?

History Traveller, part 2: St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow.

The crusades: everything you wanted to know.

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague

The 1618 Defenestration of Prague explained

The English Reformation: everything you wanted to know.

Painting of an auto-da-fé

Your guide to...the Spanish Inquisition

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 nutshellThe 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 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 Landing of St Augustine in Kent', AD 597

General ancient history

Q&AWhen did Christianity first arrive in Britain?

The Church of St Martin of Tours in Canterbury

Q&AWhat is the oldest church in England?

Our composite image shows Henry II framed by an Arabic arch. Henry claimed he "would sooner accept the errors of Nur-al-Din" than suffer Thomas Becket remaining as archbishop. (Image by Bridgeman/Getty Images)

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.

A 19th-century depiction of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Who was Maharaja Ranjit Singh?

Once he gained control of the entire Roman Empire, Constantine set about an ambitious programme of reform. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Constantine the Great: the emperor who created Europe

Black rights activist Malcolm X

Malcolm X: Activism, assassination and how he predicted his own death

The Battle of Lepanto between Holy League soldiers and Ottoman troops

The battle of Lepanto: when Ottoman forces clashed with Christians

Portrait of Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach, 1543. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Europe's holy war: how the Reformation convulsed a continent

Pope Francis celebrates a priesthood ordination and mass in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP via Getty Images)

General History

Sex and the (Vatican) City: a brief history of clerical celibacy

Puritans and the Mayflower.