Christmas 2019

Expert history articles from the Christmas 2019 issue of BBC History Magazine

The Persian ambassador bows before Louis XIV in the Palace of Versailles

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King of the world: how Louis XIV turned France into a global power. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Eleanor of Aquitaine depicted in a 12th-century prayer book

Medieval

The real Eleanor of Aquitaine: 5 myths about the medieval queen

A statue of the Roman emperor Augustus in Augsburg, Germany. (Image by Alamy)

Roman

The fall of Roman Britain: how life changed for Britons after the empire

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Ada Blackjack: how the 'female Robinson Crusoe' escaped death in the Arctic. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Depiction of the five senses (sight, sound, taste, smell and touch) by a late 18th/early 19th unknown artist. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)

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5 smells that made Georgian England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Louis XIV in 1701.

Stuart

From musketeers to Macron: 10 remarkable facts about the Sun King, Louis XIV

A voter in a British election in 1923.

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A new political climate? The UK's long tradition of winter elections. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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A medieval new England: the Anglo-Saxons’ eastern odyssey. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Einstein on the run

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Einstein on the run: when the brilliant scientist fled to England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Knole, a house on an epic scale that's now run by the National Trust.

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ExploreKnole: the grandest of family homes. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A c1880 Christmas card shows a frog committing murder

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Carrots, goblins and killer frogs: an unexpected history of Christmas. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Oskar Schindler, who prevented hundreds of Jews from being murdered in the Holocaust

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History heroSimon Reeve chooses Oskar Schindler (1908–74). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Few war leaders have been more profoundly steeped in history than Winston Churchill, who drew inspiration from his ancestor – and one of Britain's most celebrated generals – the Duke of Marlborough (left). (Images by Getty Images/Bridgeman

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Sending history into battle: the lessons that war leaders have tried to learn from the past. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.