Gone Medieval

Cecily Neville was the matriarch of the House of York, the mother of two kings of England and an ancestor of every monarch since Henry VIII. Born in the year of Agincourt and at the centre of the Wars...

Rollo was a Viking leader who became the first ruler of Normandy in the early 10th century. His descendants, the Normans, later conquered England and southern Italy, leaving a lasting legacy on Europ...

Almost immediately after Thomas Becket’s murder, reports of miraculous healings and divine interventions spread like wildfire. Canterbury witnessed a huge influx of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims f...

One of the most important of Holy Roman Emperors, Frederick II was revered and reviled in equal measures.  He was a scholar, an architect, a poet, a scientist and a composer. Yet rumours swirled that...

We don't often use the word 'Tudor' on Gone Medieval but we can't ignore how the Tudors have a sensational medieval story.  Henry VII was descended from the greatest Welsh princes and when word spread...

Today on Gone Medieval we arrive at one of the most consequential events in English history; the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. A moment in time that is famed for its horrendou...

It's 1163; Thomas Becket has cast off the shackles of his working class roots to become King Henry II's right-hand man. He is appointed to the highest position in the land next to the Crown; Archbisho...

When you think of drama in the medieval period the appointment of bishops would not naturally come to mind. But the Investiture Controversy is one of those political storms that eventually embroiled ...

Parliament is perhaps the single most significant institution in the United Kingdom. Like anything worthwhile, it's a medieval creation. But why did these meetings become settled in Westminster, where...

"Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?!" These words supposedly uttered by a King over 800 years ago set in motion a chain of gruesome events, and sparked cult-like devotion across the world. Th...