King Olaf Tryggvason’s dramatic fall at the battle of Svolder in around AD 1000 became one of the most famous episodes of the ...

When the dying teenage king Edward VI rewrote the royal succession in his own hand, he tried to overturn his father's wishes, disinherit both Mary and Elizabeth, and place his Protestant cousin Lady ...

Test your knowledge with our general knowledge weekly history quiz... This page contains content provided by Riddle. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Riddle may use cookies and ...

Although the castle was said to be “escape-proof”, more escape attempts took place at Colditz than any other PoW camp. Altogether more than 130 men broke out of the castle, though little more than 30 ...

What were the Corn Laws? The most infamous Corn Laws were the protectionist measures brought in by the British government in 1815, which restricted the amount of foreign grain that could be imported ...

Harald made his first mark in history as a 15-year-old warrior, when he fought alongside his elder half-brother King Olaf II (later Saint Olaf) against Danes loyal to Cnut the Great in the battle of ...

She started a riot by sharing a kiss with her female lover on the stage of the Moulin Rouge in 1907, and was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 1948: Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette – or simply Colette, as she ...

Smothered by sheets of ice and rugged tundra, Greenland is the world’s largest island. Situated in the cold waters of the north Atlantic and crossing through the Arctic circle, the sparsely populated ...

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 ...

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 ...

How did many Nazis escape – and who helped them? Rumour has long had it that the nefarious ODESSA, codename for a supposed ‘Organisation of Former SS Members’, sluiced Nazis out of Europe to South ...

It’s not too often that medieval historians grab national headlines, but when you get an Oxford academic counting penises in a world-famous embroidery, you’re sure to arouse media attention. On ...