They wore WHAT? Medieval men dressed differently than you think
Join Dr Mortimer for the first instalment of the journey, travelling through A to D. Did you know medieval cows were a fraction of the size of today's? That men's…
Here’s what your medieval ancestors could REALLY afford to eat
In this HistoryExtra Academy, historian Ian Mortimer continues his A-Z of life in 14th-century England, exploring how dramatic changes in climate helped plunge communities into famine, why a skilled worker…
Ian Mortimer on the extraordinary scale of the Black Death and how its aftermath transformed England’s social order
Discover the terrifying diseases that people feared most, the extraordinary scale of the Black Death and how its aftermath helped transform England’s social order. Meet a famous medieval 'traveller', and…
How Did Medieval Women Style Their Hair?
In the medieval period, society attached a strong importance to appearing healthy and clean. Skin, hair and cleanliness was a measure of your health, and your status, and for women,…
What Medieval Fast Food Restaurants Were Like
Apple, Fig, and Raisin Rissoles
The Pentagon Threatened Pope Leo XIV’s Ambassador With the Avignon Papacy
The Free Press has documented a closed-door Pentagon meeting in which a senior Trump official lectured Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador on American military supremacy.
The Name of the Rose (film)
The Name of the Rose is a 1986 historical mystery film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on the 1980 novel of the same title by Umberto Eco. Sean Connery stars…
‘Morning Edition’ Returns: A Bubbly Girl Named Diot Coke
George Redmonds, a researcher with the British National Archives studying 14th-century names, finds a girl's moniker that pops with recognition: Diot Coke. Redmonds believes Coke was a corruption of "Cook,"…
History Extra podcast: Breaking news! How stories spread in early modern Europe
If you lived in 16th-century London, would you have any idea what was happening in Paris, Venice or Frankfurt? Well, yes, according to Joad Raymond Wren – and that news…
Eleanor Rykener: Trans Sex Worker of Medieval London?
The year is 1395. The city: London. The crime: an "unmentionable, ignominious vice" commonly known as sodomy. And the perp? A rascally, resourceful enigma named John Rykener, who enters the…