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…
BBC Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death Documentary
For a medieval woman approaching the moment of labour and birth, there were no antiseptics to ward off infection or anaesthetics to deal with pain. Historian Helen Castor reveals how…
What Was Life Really Like For Medieval Children?
Medievalist Dr Stephen Baxter takes a fresh look at the Middle Ages through the eyes of children. At a time when half the population was under eighteen he argues that,…
How to be an Atheist in the Middle Ages
We tend to think that it was impossible not to subscribe to Christianity in the Middle Ages. But, as in any age, belief can wax and wane. But the chroniclers…
Chivalry: everything you wanted to know
Where does the word "chivalry" come from? How should an honourable knight treat his vanquished foes? And do chivalric ideals underlie modern-day misogyny? In our latest Everything you wanted to…