Medieval

Kenneth Fowler looks at the genius of the 14th-century French courtier and chronicler and how he captured the spirit of his age in a sophisticated and complex narrative.

John Maddicott argues that Edward III's bid for glory in France was motivated by concerns about England's neighbours and trade as well as amour propre for his claim to the throne of Philip of Valois.

'Not as a conqueror but as a legitimate heir' – Henry's grand gamble to unite the crowns of England and France recognised the realities of national sentiment on both sides of the Channel.

Robin Studd shows how Henry III's acceptance after 1259 of vassal status for England's one remaining continental territory of Gascony gave enormous scope for interference by the French crown.

A damned inheritance, hopelessly over-extended and out-resourced by the kings of France? Or an effective empire thrown away by incompetence and harshness? John Gillingham weighs the blame for John's loss of the Angevin dominions.

Anglo-Saxon art gave way to Romanesque under the Conqueror and his successors, but the change was more gradual and less one-sided than the political changes might lead us to suppose.

Nigel Saul takes a look at the significance of the Norman conquest.

Transition in art and kingship, between medieval and Renaissance Europe, characterises the first Tudor's memorial.

Ruthless militarists who extinguished a more thoughtful and sophisticated culture? Or synthesisers of genius who gave England a new lease of life in focusing its attention on Continental Europe? R. Allen Brown weighs profit and loss from the events of 1066.