Though rare, female gladiators did appear in the Roman arena, challenging ancient Rome’s expectations and revealing how ...

What did everyday life look like for the millions of ordinary people living in Tudor England? Historian Ruth Goodman found ...

David Musgrove reports on new research that casts light on the appearance of the comet in the 11th century, and its depiction in the Bayeux Tapestry ...

Archaeology reveals that a millennium ago, North America was home to thriving urban centres as large and sophisticated as ...

The people of ancient Rome didn’t have access to modern science, but they still developed complex – and incredibly intuitive ...

For centuries, the Habsburgs were one of the most prominent royal dynasties in Europe. They ruled as kings of Germany, from the 13th century, and as archdukes of Austria from the mid-14th century.

Iran enjoys one of the richest historical lineages of any modern state stretching back several thousand years. This history can be broadly divided into three epochs: the pre-Islamic ancient period ...

Cosimo de' Medici (later known as Cosimo the Elder) was, according to Pope Pius II, “king in all but name” of Florence. This was not entirely a compliment: like Pius's home city of Siena (a Tuscan ...

There was no single, organised and institutional religion of the Vikings. As they did not comprise a distinct social entity to begin with, it stands to reason they would not have a distinct set of ...

In 1603, when James VI succeeded Elizabeth I to become James I of England, his court was packed with Scottish courtiers, and “this was particularly noticeable in the bedchamber”, explains Joe Ellis of ...

In 1066, as everybody knows, the Normans invaded England. That most engaging of all medieval sources, the Bayeux Tapestry, shows them landing their horses at Pevensey in Sussex and racing to occupy ...