Medieval

Angevin family tree showing Henry II and his children. From left: William, Henry, Richard, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan and John.

How Henry II Survived the Great Rebellion

In 1173 the Angevin empire looked set to fall, facing rebellion on all sides. Against incredible odds Henry II won a decisive victory, silencing kings, lords – and his own children.

Birdlore: ‘De avibus’ (On Birds), from De proprietatibus rerum (On the Properties of Things), by Bartholomaeus Anglicus, 1240.

The Meaning of Lore

How ‘lore’, a largely neglected medieval word, has found a new lease of life in fandom.

An illustration of a woman humiliated by the medieval inquisition.

Behind Closed Doors: Women and the Inquisition

What was there to fear from a medieval inquisition? For the inquisitors, quite a lot.

Henry III depicted in stained glass, chapel of the Maison Dieu, 19th century. Photograph by Jim Linwood

‘Henry III’ by David Carpenter review

A new account of some of the most exciting, terrible and important years in English history.

Folio 153v of the Ellesmere Manuscript, illuminated manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, 1410. Wikimedia Commons

Origins and Originality

What does it mean to be happy? For poets, medieval and modern, joy comes in many forms.

Richard III, oil on panel, late 16th century. National Portrait Gallery

Was Richard III a Bad King?

Child-murderer, arch villain, failed monarch, ‘northern’. Have efforts to redeem Richard III succeeded or is he still one of history’s worst kings?

Visionary: Henry III and the facade of Westminster Abbey, from the Chronicle of England, by Peter Langtoft, 1307-27.

Crowning Triumph

Westminster Abbey was the focus of the world during the recent coronation. How and why was it built?

The coronation of Edward the Confessor, from Flores Historiarum by Matthew Paris, 13th century.

Old Traditions and New Hopes

The ceremony for coronations may have changed, but its echoes stretch back a millennium.

Edmund ‘Ironside’, from the Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings, late 13th century.

Toad Testicles, Foul-Beard and Broad-Arse

Nicknames can easily raise an eyebrow, but they have value to the historian beyond humour.

Louis IX carrying the Sceptre and the Hand of Justice, from Registre des Ordonnances de L’Hotel du Roi, c.1320.

We are Family

From alliances, to open warfare; from tense meetings on bridges, to collective mourning at family funerals: French and English royalty were united by marriage and divided by war.