England

Richard Cavendish looks at all things Stuart in the month when Charles I lost his head.

Maurice Keen describes how, in the years around the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 Robin Hood emerged as the legendary hero of the common people of England.

John Bossy has painstakingly reconstructed from clues and evidence, a hitherto untold story of intellectual intrigue, spying and double-cross in Elizabethan England.

Roger Knight looks at the National Maritime Museum's acquistion of the papers of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.

Sir Steven Runciman profiles a fabled Englishman, concerned with the political and military relationships between East and West.

Business with pleasure - Steven Gunn shows how the spectacle of the joust oiled the wheels of service and diplomacy as well as building up the court's image, not just for Henry VIII but for his dynasty-founding father as well.

Henry VIII spent astronomical amounts on military fortifications from the Scottish border to the South Coast of England. Marcus Merriman discusses the locations and architecture of these fortifications.

Maria Dowling considers the contribution of Henry VIII's queens in promoting new learning and religion at the Tudor court.

Dame Veronica Wedgwood turns to one of the great set pieces of English history – Charles I's January 1642 attempts to settle his differences with Parliament by the attempted arrest of five MPs.

Michael Foot celebrates the anniversary of the London Library with a tribute to its founder, Thomas Carlyle.