In AD 61, Pedanius Secundus, prefect of Rome, was murdered by one of his slaves. One story had it that the killer had been denied his freedom after agreeing the price of his liberty with Pedanius. An alternative version of events claimed that he had

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts one of the best-known episodes in English history: the Norman Conquest of 1066. The cavalry of William, Duke of Normandy, ride into battle at Hastings against the army of King Harold Godwinson, bodies littering the ground.

ELEANOR BARNETT shares her instructions for making sweet biscuits that were originally baked by 16th-century gentlewomen Jumbles, jemelloe, iombles, jambals: these easy-to-make biscuits are a staple of every Tudor recipe book. The name likely comes f

Although people who identify as witches or Wiccans today follow a pagan religion, accused medieval and early modern witches were often fervent churchgoers. They lived in a European world in which Christianity saturated daily life. Many accused people

Alfred Russel Wallace was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist. Besides independently conceiving the idea of evolution through natural selection at around the same time as Charles Darwin, he explored the Amazon riv

Theater am Kärntnertor, Vienna, Austrian empire 7 MAY 1824 When Ludwig van Beethoven completed his Ninth Symphony in the early months of 1824, he gave voice to humanity's desire to make order out of chaos, to overcome division, and to create joy thro

1 African kingdom conquered by warriorqueen Njinga in the 17th century (7) 5 Term, meaning ‘son of a king’, used to describe a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central and northern India that first emerged in the sixth and seventh c

In the summer of 1924, Scientific American's ‘Special Correspondent in Great Britain’ warned his readers that, “the size and scope of the British Empire Exhibition, like the British empire itself, is almost too big to be grasped”. Within a vast area

I love a good conspiracy theory, and enjoyed the way Rob Attar explored the reasons they are so prevalent (March). I think it's human nature to want closure – and if we can't have that, we would rather be part of the secret societies that cause the g

Ritualised orgies! Horrible tortures! Jesus selling his twin brother into slavery! A resurrected cockerel in the sky! The Virgin Mary burning a woman's hand off with her vagina! If this is your idea of fun, you're in for a treat. Catherine Nixey's se

In the heart of the Old Town stands the Royal Castle. The first wooden tower on this site was built in the 14th century by the dukes of Masovia, then developed into a royal residence after Warsaw was incorporated into the kingdom of Poland. In the la

Battle-weary medieval kings, eminent Victorian architects and some of Britain's greatest artistic treasures have all passed below Muncaster Castle's imposing walls during its long and distinguished lifetime. Built from distinctive red stone, and boas

A new tradition is set at the Anglo-Saxon's coronation On Whit Sunday, AD 973, the ancient spa city of Bath became the setting for one of the most important events of the late Anglo-Saxon period. Accompanied by his consort, Ælfthryth, Edgar (sometime

DIARY EXPLORE TRAVEL Muncaster Castle, Cumbria Warsaw, Poland In 1534, Michelangelo bade farewell to his home in Florence and set off in the direction of Rome. Over the next three decades, the ancient city would bear witness to the Renaissance artist

Albert, Prince of Wales – who ruled as King Edward VII between 1901 and 1910 – was famous for his appetite: for food, as well as love-making. So, to help him better entertain the famous courtesans of Le Chabanais brothel in Paris, the king-to-be comm

When Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, he and his European crew were barely aware of the existence of half the world. Yet by 1565 the so-called ‘Manila Galleon’ trade route established by the Spanish between Acapulco and Manila finally connect

is chief creative officer of Lion Television, the production company that makes Horrible Histories, and was a key figure in bringing it to TV screens has been the show's head writer since its inception in 2009 has starred in and written for Horrible

On the 80th anniversary of the Normandy campaign, Saul David and Nick Hewitt offer new perspectives on this pivotal episode of the Second World War Mary Beard explains how the people of Rome enjoyed visiting the ancient wonders that surrounded them L