England

On the 250th anniversary of her birth, Jane Austen still has lessons for readers of history.

Queen James: The Life and Loves of Britain’s First King by Gareth Russell illuminates the inner life and passions of James VI and I.

Thieves, cheats, and scoundrels. How did early modern millers get their bad reputations?

King Charles I’s execution in 1649 turned the world upside down – were other outcomes possible?

Eager to be first in line, the astute James VI of Scotland responded to the question of the English succession with a war of words.

A male heir might have saved Queen Mary’s reign, and changed the shape of global Catholicism for good.

Less famous than its 1215 predecessor, the Magna Carta of 1225 held the true power.

The monks of Peterborough told strange tales of the Wild Hunt. Were they ghostly apparitions or wishful thinking?

Friends in Youth: Choosing Sides in the English Civil War by Minoo Dinshaw views the conflict through the sad case of Bulstrode Whitelock and Edward Hyde.

Are beavers beasts or fish? For medieval philosophers, this was an important question with implications for the dining table.