Photo of the Sutton Hoo Anglo Saxon helmet

Early medieval

A portrait of Alfred the Great, Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex

Medieval

The Vikings mutilated and maimed their defeated enemies. So why did Alfred the Great spare their leader?

Detail from the Bayeux Tapestry showing townspeople pointing towards Halley’s Comet, which appeared in the sky in 1066.

Medieval

The Bayeux Tapestry has returned to the UK – and this is how you can see it

A weathered scrapbook page displays an old black-and-white illustration of a crowned pope holding a staff, printed over faded calendar or newspaper text

Membership

Episode 4Did 300 years of history never happen at all?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Norse women loading and assisting in the maintenance of a Viking longship.

Viking

What were Viking women doing while their men were on violent raids?

Carved stone runestone showing a Viking longship with figures and decorative patterns.

Viking

Meet the mysterious leaders of the Vikings’ most fearsome army

Illustration of the last Anglo-Saxon king, Harold Godwinson, crowned and holding a sceptre and orb, with scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry in the background.

Medieval

One of medieval history’s biggest mysteries has just been solved – and it rewrites 1066

An illustration of the English King Aethelstan, in front of Viking silver.

Medieval

How England’s first king used an unexpected weapon to defeat the Vikings

A composite image showing the Queen Mother in front of the Bayeux Tapestry.

Medieval

Could the Queen Mother have secured the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum 45 years ago?

Membership

Æthelstan: the king who made England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex and future king of England, riding a horse with a hawk perched on his hand.

Norman

The Bayeux Tapestry is beautiful, but what was its purpose? New research might have the answer

A colourised portrait of English astronomer Edmond Halley, wearing a long curled wig and red robes. A bright comet streaks through a starry sky in the background.

Medieval

Has history’s most famous comet been misnamed for centuries? “The answer is clear,” say historians

A depiction of an ensign and drummer recalls the German Peasants’ War of 1525, when rural rebels rose against feudal oppression.

Medieval

In 1525, an army of revolting peasants seemed unstoppable – but a brutal end was on the horizon

This illustration depicts Viking ships arriving in Britain. Though produced centuries after the earliest raids, it reflects how the impact of Norse invasions remained vivid in medieval memory and manuscript culture.

Viking

Forget the longships: this is the overlooked story of how the Vikings dominated eastern Europe

Painting of Rurik and his brothers in helmets and chain mail, holding weapons beside a wooden longship with a carved animal-head prow.

Viking

Why does Putin think Ukraine should be Russian? It’s all to do with the Vikings

This 1877 painting by Oscar Wergeland depicts Norwegian settlers arriving in Iceland in 872. Fleeing the unification of Norway under Harald Fairhair, these early migrants laid the foundations of a unique Norse society on the island’s volcanic shores.

Medieval

Could you survive on the Vikings’ furthest frontier? Here’s the dark reality of Norse life on the edge

Membership

Edward the Confessor: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Juliet Stevenson as Emma of Normandy in BBC drama King and Conqueror (Photo via BBC)

Anglo-Saxon

Emma of Normandy: not just a two-time queen consort of England

Membership

Europe's last pagans. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This illustration from the Arnamagnæan Collection in Denmark depicts Eric the Red, the Norse explorer who founded the first Norse settlement in Greenland around AD 985.

Viking

A thousand years ago, the Vikings had a shock encounter with Native Americans that ended in disaster

Membership

The Merovingians: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration of Eadwig being dragged by Dunstan

Anglo-Saxon

A threesome with his wife and mother-in-law: the scandalous story of why one Anglo-Saxon king skipped his coronation

Battle at Fontenoy, AD 841

Medieval

Carolingians in crisis: the medieval civil war that shaped Europe. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

“The reverberations lasted for generations” | Matthew Gabriele and David M Perry on the civil war of Charlemagne's grandsons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of Vikings sailing on a longship across the Atlantic

General History

Who owns Greenland? Why the island's history is more complicated than you think

Membership

The Venerable Bede: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor in Rings of Power

Early medieval

How ancient history influenced Tolkien: did a forgotten legend inspire Rings of Power's Celebrimbor?

Membership

Video podcastBeowulf: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Late-medieval England course: week four quiz. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Membership

Welsh mythology: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of King Arthur's coronation, from the 13th-century Flores Historiarum

Medieval

Was King Arthur real? Discover the legend of the 'once and future king'

You're currently on page 1

Next Page