Medieval

Luke Syson examines how artifice, art and political calculation combined to produce medal portraits by Sperandio of Mantua for two of Renaissance Italy's "warhorses", Giovanni Bentivoglio and Federico da Montelfeltro.

William Makin investigates an evil organisation, accomplice of a bigoted, racist and corrupt monarchy.

Archaeological wonders in the Mediterranean

David Abulafia reassesses the life and motives of a notorious ruler and the complex web of Renaissance diplomacy involving him which led up to the Italian wars.

Andrew Martindale explains why Renaissance Sienese doctored the history of a 12th-century papacy when decorating their new city hall.

When did England become England? Was Alfred really the great ruler of all the English - or was it just a question of clever Wessex PR? Patrick Wormald investigates the myths and realities of unification in Anglo-Saxon England.

Warwick Bray on a new illustrated edition of a colonial 'Domesday Book' for the Aztec world.

Valery Rees surveys the life of the ruler who put 15th-century Hungary on the map, both culturally and geographically, but whose efforts may have put an intolerable strain on the body politic.

Middle Ages Europe

Brent Shaw offers a reassessment of the women martyrs and heroines whose activities on behalf of the faith provoked unsettled admiration from the church fathers.