History Today

Few works of art are as closely linked to history as the gold salt cellar commissioned by Francis I of France in 1541 from the Florentine goldsmith and sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini. Its theft three years ago from an Austrian art gallery is a major loss to world heritage as Robert Knecht explains.

Archaeologists in Italy are uncovering fascinating evidence about the origins of Italy’s medieval hilltop villages to create a new and compelling picture of the circumstances that brought them into being, says Richard Hodges.

David Culbert looks at the development of radio news commentary in the United States in the late 1930s and the political climate that shaped it.

The US army’s mass murder of unarmed civilians at My Lai became a watershed in public perceptions of the Vietnam War.

Jacob Middleton investigates the eccentric set of prejudices against shaving that led Victorian men to adorn their chins with a lush growth of facial hair.

Henry VIII may be our most famous monarch, a man who still bestrides English history as mightily as he dominated his kingdom nearly 500 years ago – but how well do we really understand him? 

Long before the appearance of green, brown and black bins on our doorsteps we recycled our household rubbish. Tim Cooper investigates the history of waste recovery.

The Theosophists Helena Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins and others went to India at the end of the 19th century to search for God and universal brotherhood in the Hindu tradition. They also ended up supporting women’s rights against contemporary Hindu practices. Mark Bevir explores the tensions between their fascination with traditional culture and the reforming zeal of their proto-feminism.

Alex Sanmark tells the strange tale of the ill-fated marriage of Philip Augustus of France and his Danish princess at the end of the twelfth century.