History Today

'Bread and circuses' - the control and availability of grain was the key to political power and social stability in the ancient world.

An embryo patron of the English Renaissance and a lost Protestant hero? Roy Strong examines aspirations and might-have-beens in a major new study of Charles I's elder brother.

'Not as a conqueror but as a legitimate heir' – Henry's grand gamble to unite the crowns of England and France recognised the realities of national sentiment on both sides of the Channel.

Mike Curtis takes a look at historical Hampshire.

Robert Thorne takes a look at the reconstruction of the New Tyne Theatre after a recent fire.

Peter Hennessy and Anthony Seldon raise questions about systematic interviewing and lack of preservation of historical evidence.

What was it really like to live in an English village at the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign? To what extent was it a close-knit community? How deeply was it divided by wealth and religious belief? Was the village even an important part of the identity of its members? Susan Amussen addresses these questions in one village in East Anglia.

Robin Studd shows how Henry III's acceptance after 1259 of vassal status for England's one remaining continental territory of Gascony gave enormous scope for interference by the French crown.

A damned inheritance, hopelessly over-extended and out-resourced by the kings of France? Or an effective empire thrown away by incompetence and harshness? John Gillingham weighs the blame for John's loss of the Angevin dominions.