The Valiant Losers of the 11th Century
History is not only written by the victors. Those chronicling the 11th-century conquests in England and Scandinavia tried to rehabilitate the reputations of Byrhtnoth, Harald Hardrada, and others.
History is not only written by the victors. Those chronicling the 11th-century conquests in England and Scandinavia tried to rehabilitate the reputations of Byrhtnoth, Harald Hardrada, and others.
In the popular imagination, William the Conqueror is, without doubt, the villain, yet the sources we have for his life are ambivalent.
Over the last 30 years, western ideas about the Ottoman Empire have been transformed, just as Turkish attitudes towards the West have become increasingly negative, writes Erik Zurcher.
Is reality simply a collection of unconnected moments and impressions? If so, what does it mean for our understanding of the past? For one Argentine writer, fiction was the perfect place to explore such questions.
The Islamic world produced some of the greatest minds of the Middle Ages, including a number of remarkable female scholars. Arezou Azad examines who these women were and why their place in history has been neglected.
The presence of Yersinia pestis bacterium in skeletons found in a recently discovered plague pit proves that the Great Plague of 1665 was bubonic. Or does it?
The Great Fire of of London destroyed everything in its path as it swept through the City. But, against the odds and popular belief, one house remained standing.
The relationship between sovereignty and the law is relatively straightforward. When it comes to politics, however, things are much more complicated.
Bangladesh was born of civil war in 1971. The former East Pakistan has wrangled with issues of religion, secularism and democracy ever since.
As the search for lost medieval kings continues, interest in them seems stronger than ever. But a warning from the past speaks of their – and our – ruin.