Who Was the Real Henry III?
What makes someone a king? More importantly, what unmakes a king? Henry II’s experiment in co-kingship saw one Henry III fall and another rise.
History Matters
Thoughts, opinions and commentary on all things historical.
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Hopes, Fears, and Early Modern Astrology
The concerns of daily life prompted early modern people to seek reassurance in fate, stars, and astrologers.
The Rebecca Riots: Why Did Wales Rise Up?
Rebecca’s radical rural protests consumed South Wales in the 19th century. Who – or what – was she?
![‘Hail! Thou Production most uncommon. Woman half man and man half Woman!’, frontispiece to An Epistle from Mademoiselle D’Eon to the Right Honorable L[or]d M[ansfiel]d, 1778.](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_list/public/2024-12/deon_libel_history_today_0.jpeg?itok=0Q1FQcZr)
The Libellous Letters of the Chevalier d’Eon
Chevaliere d’Eon or Chevalier d’Eon? An 18th-century legal dispute between two French spies unravelled into a public battle about identity.
Absinthe: From Green Fairy to Moral Panic
The remarkable fall of absinthe: from 19th-century ‘Green Fairy’ to scourge of society.
Sarah Mae Flemming and the Forgotten Women of Civil Rights
Who were the women who fought the decisive battle against racial segregation in the American South?
China’s Communist Comic Books
How did the People’s Republic of China cope with a literary canon filled with un-communist ideas? Comics called lianhuanhua were the answer, at least for a while.
Who was Thorkell the Tall?
A viking mercenary who fought on three sides, who was Thorkell the Tall?
The Death of Clive of India
Robert Clive’s death has long been attributed to suicide. What is the evidence?
Brushing for Britain
The First World War revealed the bad state of Britain’s teeth. Intervention was required to keep the nation biting fit.