Medieval
Read everything you need to know about the medieval period – aka the Middle Ages – the period in European history between the fall of the Roman Empire in the west (5th century) to the Renaissance period in around the 15th century. It was one of the most turbulent and transformative periods in history, popularised by the Black Death, Magna Carta and the Hundred Years’ War
10 medieval dates you need to know
Black Death facts: your guide to "the worst catastrophe in recorded history"
10 things you (probably) didn't know about the Middle Ages
Reassessing William the Conqueror. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Lincoln: the battle that gave birth to medieval England. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Medieval English law in the time of Magna Carta. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
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The Black Death
The Black Death of October 1347 to c1352 is one of the worst catastrophes in recorded history – a deadly plague that ravaged communities across Europe. Over three or four years, as many as 50 million people died in Europe. The Black Death arrived in western Europe in 1347 and in England in 1348
Black Death facts: your guide to "the worst catastrophe in recorded history"
MedievalvideoAn introduction to the Black Death
Black Death: “Oh father, why have you abandoned me?”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
From magic spells to dirty graffiti: 16 surprising facts about sex in the classical world. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Medieval life
What was daily life like in the medieval period – how did people live and die? What did they eat, what was the social hierarchy, what dangers did they face?
Plague, famine and sudden death: 10 dangers of the medieval period
Kill or cure? 10 medieval medical practices and their effectiveness
MembershipaudioMedieval bodies. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Call the medieval sex doctor: how 7 problems might have been treated in the Middle Ages. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
What time of the day did medieval people eat?
The Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry tells one of the most famous stories in British history – that of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, particularly the battle of Hastings, which took place on 14 October 1066
The Bayeux Tapestry: what is it, why was it made and what story does it tell?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The Bayeux Tapestry with knobs on: what do the tapestry's 93 penises tell us?
Why the Nazis fell in love with the Bayeux Tapestry. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Will the Bayeux Tapestry actually come to Britain?
The Bayeux Tapestry now and in the future. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Why is Harold Godwinson a hero of the Bayeux Tapestry?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Read more on the Bayeux Tapestry
Magna Carta
On 15 June 1215, King John signed Magna Carta, a document that safeguarded the basic freedoms, rights and privileges of the clergy and the nobles and placed limits on the power of the crown. Above all it asserted a fundamental principle: that the king was subject to the law
6 facts about Magna Carta
What did Magna Carta mean to the English in 1215?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Is 15 June 1215 the true date of Magna Carta? Two historians debate. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
6 Magna Carta myths explained. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Medieval battles
From the Norman Conquest and the battle of Hastings to the Crusades; the Hundred Years’ War; the Wars of the Roses and the battle of Bosworth, the Middle Ages were plagued by bloody battles and violent sieges…
9 medieval battles more significant than Agincourt. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The 5 greatest mysteries behind the Wars of the Roses. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Agincourt: what really happened. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
17 unmissable battles podcasts
10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Henry V and the battle of Agincourt
The battle of Sandwich: England’s medieval Trafalgar. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The battle of Barnet, 1471: the Wars of the Roses clash that killed the Kingmaker. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Traders and crusaders. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioGulag doctors: saving lives in Stalin's prison camps. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The battle of Hastings
The battle of Hastings, in which the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II attempted to defend his realm from the Norman invasion forces of William, Duke of Normandy (later known as William the Conqueror), took place on 14 October 1066. The battle, won by William, marked the beginning of the Norman conquest of 1066
Q&A: If the battle of Hastings had never taken place, would British history have been any different?
Hastings, Stamford Bridge and Gate Fulford: three battles that lost England
8 of Britain’s best battlefields. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
This medieval king ruled a vast empire and inspired the pope. He also didn't exist
More on the battle of Hastings
The battle of Agincourt
The battle of Agincourt – Henry V’s major victory over the French on 25 October 1415 – was fought during the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453), a series of conflicts between England and France over succession to the French throne that lasted 116 years
Agincourt: medieval England's finest hour?
The battle of Agincourt and the Spanish communists. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Michael Wood on... the battle of Agincourt. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe Last Kingdom and Agincourt. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
More on the battle of Agincourt
The battle of Bosworth
The battle of Bosworth, which took place on 22 August 1485, was the last significant clash of the Wars of the Roses. The armies of Yorkist king Richard III were defeated by Henry Tudor (later Henry VII), which heralded the end of the Plantagenet dynasty and marked the birth of the Tudor age. Richard III was killed during the brutal battle
10 things you need to know about the battle of Bosworth
Treachery at Bosworth: what really brought down Richard III. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioWhere the Bosworth battle really happened and a detailed look at rationing. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Bosworth: the dawn of the Tudors. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
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The Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were the civil wars fought in England and Wales between the Yorkist and Lancastrian dynasties between 1455 and 1485. The Wars of the Roses ended with the battle of Bosworth in 1485, when Henry Tudor (the future Henry VII, the first Tudor king) defeated and killed Richard III
The Wars of the Roses: the 15th-century clash of kings that heralded the dawn of the Tudor dynasty
A brief history of the English rose
MembershipaudioFresh views on the Wars of the Roses. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Edward IV: champion of the Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses: York v Beaufort?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The power behind the throne: women in the Wars of the Roses. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The crusades
Beginning in the late 11th century, the crusades were a series of military expeditions mounted by western European Christians in a bid to conquer the Holy Land. The first was called in November 1095 by Pope Urban II and while there is some disagreement among historians as to which campaigns to consider ‘crusades’, it is undeniable that the movement had a profound impact on eastern and western cultures and societies
5 things you (probably) didn't know about the Crusades
MembershipaudioThe long history of the Crusades. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
A big day in history: The day Pope Urban II exhorted Christians to go on crusade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioCrusade logistics and the battle over the slave trade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The Knights Templar
A military order of warrior monks who won glory on the battlefields of the Holy Land in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Knights Templar have become the stuff of legend…
The rise and fall of the Knights Templar. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe Knights Templar. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
The Templars on trial: a very muted inquisition. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Dan Jones on the Templars and ‘Knightfall’. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Medieval kings and queens
From William the Conqueror, the first Norman king of England, to Henry Tudor, who took the English throne after defeating and killing Richard III at the battle of Bosworth in 1485, the medieval period is full of fascinating kings and queens…
8 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Woodvilles. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
7 medieval kings of England you should know about
Daily Quiz18 October. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Isabella I of Castile: Europe’s greatest queen?
Matilda of Boulogne: Norman England’s warrior queen
Edward I: man of principle or grasping opportunist?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
In profile: King Edward II
21 August
More medieval kings and queens
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William the Conqueror
The first Norman king of England, William the Conqueror (previously William, Duke of Normandy) defeated the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II at the battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066 – a triumph famously recorded in the Bayeux Tapestry
9 surprising facts about William the Conqueror and the Norman conquest
William the Conqueror: hero or villain?
Matilda: William the Conqueror’s queen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Castles of the Conqueror
Queen Matilda. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe LibraryThe private lives of the British and the cruelty of Henry V. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe LibraryThomas Becket and 16th-century swimming. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe plague, Sir Walter Ralegh and Jerusalem. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Richard III
Richard III (1452-85) was the last Yorkist king of England, whose death at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 signified the end of the Wars of the Roses and marked the start of the Tudor age. His remains were discovered beneath a Leicester car park in 2012
Richard III: your guide to the last Yorkist king of England
A ‘car park king’ timeline: the discovery of Richard III
The rise of Henry VII: how a life of cheating death prepared him for the throne as the first Tudor king. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Philippa Langley on the Princes in the Tower: “It was clear we had to consider the possibility that they survived”. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe Princes in the Tower: has the mystery been solved?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipvideoVideo podcastThe Princes in the Tower: has the mystery been solved?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Have we completely misinterpreted Shakespeare’s Richard III?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Richard III: A hostage to fortune. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
Like father, like son: Richard Plantagenet and Richard III
King John
King John (c1167–1216) was king of England from 1199 until his death in October 1216 and is most famous for signing Magna Carta in 1215. Famously nicknamed ‘Bad King John’, he is said to have been cruel and tyrannical
Was King John really that bad? Yes!
King John and the French invasion of England
Why ‘Bad King John’ was actually good
Was King John murdered?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
King Arthur
King Arthur, the “once and future king”, is one of the most enduring figures of British myth and legend. Most commonly known as a fifth-century warrior who supposedly led the fight against Saxon invaders, King Arthur is a composite of layers of different legends, written by different authors at different times
Was King Arthur real? Discover the legend of the 'once and future king'
The real King Arthur: why are we so obsessed with trying to solve the mystery?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
MembershipaudioThe search for King Arthur. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.
