In ancient Rome, putting on theatrical plays was not just a form of entertainment – it became a powerful tool of propaganda ...

From lost silver coins to fossilised faeces, medieval cesspits have become some of the richest archives of everyday life in ...

In June 1940, as France collapsed and Britain faced the prospect of resisting the Nazis alone, Winston Churchill searched for a French leader willing to keep fighting ...

Pliny the Elder was an intellectual powerhouse of ancient Rome. Though not a physician, in describing the ideal daily routine ...

The idea that medieval people routinely emptied chamber pots straight into the street as their primary method of waste ...

In the middle decades of the 19th century, Britain experienced rapid industrial change without suffering revolution or major ...

As Britain’s longest-reigning monarch – a rule of 68 years and counting – it’s fair to say that Queen Elizabeth II has probably seen it all. Prime ministers have come and gone; the royal family itself ...

In the winter of 1386, a French noblewoman by the name of Marguerite de Carrouges found herself at the centre of a criminal case that electrified Paris, captivated the king and culminated in blood ...

Andrew Roberts: "If we topple Nelson, what do we do about the pyramids, built at least in part by slave labour?" Although it is completely illogical, ahistorical and unfair to natural justice to judge ...

Iran enjoys one of the richest historical lineages of any modern state stretching back several thousand years. This history can be broadly divided into three epochs: the pre-Islamic ancient period ...

Cosimo de' Medici (later known as Cosimo the Elder) was, according to Pope Pius II, “king in all but name” of Florence. This was not entirely a compliment: like Pius's home city of Siena (a Tuscan ...