History Today

Peter Munz describes how the reign of Henry IV was marked by the famous struggle with the Papacy, wars with his German nobles and family tension with his sons.

Malaria was one of the scourges of the British Indian Empire. William Gardener writes how a remedy was at last provided by the introduction of a South-American tree.

Peter Munz finds that the eleventh-century Holy Roman Emperor was one of those rare rulers who took the ethics of their calling literally.

Antonia Fraser describes how no murder in the course of history has aroused more argument than the assassination of the Queen of Scots’ husband at Kirk o’Field on the night of February 9th, 1567.

One of the most extraordinary impostors ever to appear in Europe, writes James R. Knowlson, afterwards became the devout and dignified old gentleman whose friendship Samuel Johnson valued.

David Mitchell describes the life of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. In the history of the Methodist revolution an important part was played by this rich and enthusiastic lady, who devoted fifty years and much of her great fortune to the conversion of the upper classes.

A.L. Rowse introduces the legendary spirit whom generations of Cornish people heard roaring in the storm-winds. Jan Tregagle proves to have originated as an unscrupulous seventeenth-century steward.

Charles Carrington studies some of the men of state who held high office in succession, back to the sealing of the Charter at Runnymede in 1215.

Some three hundred years ago, when the English Civil War was brewing, a gifted Bohemian artist settled in London; Joseph Bradac writes that we owe much to his talents.

Under the far-sighted rule of the Five Good Emperors, writes Anthony Birley, the Roman world enjoyed a period of unexampled prosperity and peace.