History Today

At the end of the tenth century, writes E.R. Chamberlin, a gifted French Pope aided the bold designs of an ambitious German Emperor.

Lionel Kochan traces the development of chess, from its origins to the end of the fifteenth century.

Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, writes J.H. Shennan, Russian merchants and explorers settled the eastern lands between the Urals and the Pacific.

Michael Grant describes how the Greeks borrowed from other civilizations, and how they transformed their borrowing.

Fenelon’s devout and earnest pupil had the makings of a great king. But for his early death, writes Geoffrey Treasure, he might have changed the history of France and Europe.

J.I. Whalley describes the development of handwriting in the early modern period.

C.G. Cruickshank describes bows and fire-arms in the early sixteenth century.

Philip Ziegler describes how the devastating Plague reached South-west England in the summer of 1348.

Stuart Andrews describes how the founder of Methodism shared the encyclopaedic concern with science that characterizes the eighteenth century.

A. Lentin profiles the lively, meddlesome friend of Catherine the Great, who returned to Russia from her western travels in the year 1782.