England

Francis Drake’s exploits in the New World made him perfect material for the English gutter press and a figurehead for rising Hispanophobia.

Along with Robin Hood, the romantic highwayman is one of the great myths of English outlawry. But the model for this most gallant of rogues was a Frenchman name Claude Duval, who carried out audacious robberies with a touch of Parisian flair.

The small city of Hereford became one of England’s most important pilgrim sites due to the many miracles attributed to a local saint.

The world does not influence Britain’s native culture, the world is its culture, as anyone with a grasp of the country’s history will understand, argues Suzannah Lipscomb.

The often overlooked importance of maritime affairs on the course of the Civil Wars.

A look at John Ogilby's Britannia road atlas.

It was during the Tudor age that the first British antiquarians emerged, detailing the nation’s history and geography – or so the traditional story goes. But, as Nicholas Orme explains, William Worcester had laid the groundwork for their advances and anticipated their interests a century before.

Unpicking a tangle of history, myth and misunderstanding reveals why, for so long, we believed King Harold was shot through the eye at the Battle of Hastings.

The discovery in Victorian London of the remains of ancient animals – and a fascination with their modern descendants – helped to transform people’s ideas of the deep past, as Chris Manias reveals.

In the 18th century, when women in scholarship were not encouraged and medieval languages were little-studied even by men, Elizabeth Elstob become a pioneer in Anglo-Saxon studies, her work even finding its way into the hands of Thomas Jefferson.