Not Just the Tudors

Henry VIII’s commanding gaze, Thomas More’s intellect, Anne of Cleves’ cautious poise; Hans Holbein’s portraits didn’t just depict the Tudors, they defined them. His astonishing realism gave us not ju...

St Paul’s Cathedral still dominates the London skyline, defiant, majestic, timeless. Yet, its story begins in the ashes of the Great Fire of London out of which would rise Sir Christopher Wren’s maste...

On 5 November 1605, Guy Fawkes became infamous not for what he achieved, but for what he failed to do: kill King James VI & I and bring down the British parliament. But what if the Gunpowder Plot had ...

500 years ago, the fields outside Pavia in Italy became the stage for one of the most dramatic and decisive battles of the Renaissance. Francis I of France led his army into Italy, waiting for him was...

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb unlocks the pages of one of the most extraordinary diaries ever written. Samuel Pepys chronicled his life in Restoration England — a world alive with plague, fire, war, the...

Jane Boleyn has long been called the most hated woman in Tudor history. Wife to Anne Boleyn's brother George, Jane served as lady-in-waiting to five of Henry VIII's six wives, and when Anne Boleyn fel...

In the Early Modern period the boundaries between Christian and Islamic civilisations were far more porous than we imagine: Isaac Newton’s library included Arabic biographies of the Prophet Muhammad; ...

In 16th and 17th century England, the plague and pox, disease and injury were a daily presence. At at time when medicine was a complex interplay of tradition, faith and observation, survival depended ...

Songs have always carried stories of love, loss, rebellion and hope. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by author Amy Jeffs, illustrator Gwen Burns and composer Natalie Brice to explore the magical...

In 17th-century England, women weren’t asked what they believed, they were generally told to obey. But amid civil war, revolution, and religious upheaval, a remarkable group of women risked everythin...