Not Just the Tudors

In the 16th Century, rude jokes and scatological humour were just as much a feature of life as they are today. Between 1529 and 1539, a Swiss linen trader called Johannes Rütiner included many jokes a...

22 Touko 202340min

History has painted Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn in two very different hues: one wife, one mistress; one Spanish, one French; one committed Catholic, one radical reformer. But a new exhibition ...

18 Touko 202320min

Following the Second Granada War (1568-70), thousands of Moriscos in Spain were exiled, imprisoned or enslaved. Moriscos were former Muslims who had been compelled to convert to Roman Catholicism. But...

15 Touko 202344min

In March 1582, a number of women from the small Essex village of St Osyth, were hanged for the crime of witchcraft. Several others, including one man, died in prison, in what was a shocking and highly...

11 Touko 202357min

Louis XIV ruled France for more than 72 years, the longest recorded reign of any monarch of any sovereign country in history. Despite the devotion of his wife Maria Theresa of Spain, Louis took a seri...

8 Touko 202351min

What could be more topical this week than looking back at the coronations of the first two Kings Charles. Charles I’s reign is best remembered for the events of the English Civil War, a conflict over ...

4 Touko 202334min

On a cold February morning in 1554, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded for high treason. Named by King Edward VI as his successor, Queen Jane had reigned for just 13 tumultuous days before being imprisoned i...

1 Touko 202351min

When Thomas Roe arrived in India in 1616 as James I's first ambassador to the Mughal Empire, the English barely had a toehold in the subcontinent. Roe was representing a kingdom that was beset by fina...

27 Huhti 202353min