England

We eavesdrop on Ian Dawson as he interrogates the sources and wonders whether the first Tudor was really so mysterious.

Graham Seel reassesses the career of Oliver Cromwell's predecessor as Parliamentary Commander in the 1640s, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and argues that he has been harshly judged by English Civil War historians.

Penelope Corfield delights in the traditions and splendours of the Apothecaries Hall in the capital.

Liz Sagues looks at how the Museum of London are revamping their current exhibitions.

The way in which the church commemoration of King Charles I's 1649 execution became a potent instrument in the political war of words after the Restoration is examined, and the history of the king's execution and the clergy's promotion of the event are discussed.

When did England become England? Was Alfred really the great ruler of all the English - or was it just a question of clever Wessex PR? Patrick Wormald investigates the myths and realities of unification in Anglo-Saxon England.

Richard Cavendish and the leitmotiv of lost innocence at Elgar's birthplace and museum near Worcester.

Helen Davidson on how mining history is in jeopardy.

Has our image of Henry VIII's elder daughter as 'Bloody Mary', burning Protestants and unhappily married to Philip of Spain, clouded our assessment of how close she came to restoring the old religion? 

Glenn Richardson profiles the French king's relationship with Henry VIII and the cultural PR and diplomacy that went with it.