History Today

Edward Heath, newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, outside his home, London, 27 July 1965. PRISMA ARCHIVO/Alamy Stock Photo.

The Conservative Party Popularity Contest

How the first Conservative leadership election modernised the party in the 1960s.

Woodcut illustration from the Roxburghe Ballads showing a man pleading before a lawyer or magistrate, early 17th century. Bridgeman Images.

The Tudor War on Libel

As rude rhymes and rumours threatened reputations, the Elizabethan government attempted to regulate barbed language.

People gather to read a special edition of the Nürnberger newspaper reporting the sentences handed down by the International Military Tribunal, 1 October 1946. US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Gerald Schwab.

‘The Writers’ Castle’ by Uwe Neumahr review

In The Writers’ Castle: Reporting History at Nuremberg, Uwe Neumahr discovers that it wasn’t just the men in the dock who had scandalous social lives and hidden agendas.

North Korean leader Kim Il Sung arrives at Schönefeld airport in East Berlin, welcomed by Otto Grotewohl, prime minister of the GDR, 6 June 1956. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

The Road from East Germany to North Korea

The Cold War forged new international relationships in which physical distance seemed overcome by ideological proximity. In North Korea, East Germany found a fellow traveller – and a fellow victim.

Reason, Righteousness and Sincerity teaching some women, c. 1425-50. KB, National Library of the Netherlands. Public Domain.

‘Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife’ and ‘God’s Own Gentlewoman’ review

Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women and God’s Own Gentlewoman bring the real world of medieval women out of the margins.

Carthusian monks at the dining table, from an account of rules of the Carthusian Order, the Netherlands, 15th century. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

The Violent Life of the Medieval Monks

Meant to live a life of perfect peacefulness and contemplation, in reality monks were human and fallible. How violent could life in the medieval cloister be?

Robert Fergusson, artist unknown, 18th century. NPL - DeA Picture Library/Bridgeman Images.

Robert Fergusson: Scotia’s Bard

The often overlooked life of Robert Fergusson, Edinburgh’s unofficial poet laureate and Scotland’s voice.

Former-president Baltasar Brum prepares to face minister of war Alberto Riverós, 1924. On the signal, he chose to shoot at the ground while Riverós fired into the air. Archivo Fotografico de El Pais, Montevideo.

Why Uruguay Legalised Duelling

Uruguay was the only nation where fighting a duel in defence of honour was perfectly legal for most of the 20th century. Why?

An auto de fe in Valladolid, 1558. Print attributed to Claes Visscher, 1596-1652. Opposite: an auto de fe in a courtyard, by Sebastián de Herrera-Barnuevo, 1619-71. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Public Domain.

The Ballad of the Inquisition’s Greatest Witch Trial

How a lost ballad detailing the Inquisition’s sentencing of 28 alleged Basque witches spread a witchcraft panic through 17th-century Spain.

’Accusing the anointers in the great plague of Milan‘, a scene from Alessandro Manzoni’s The Betrothed. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

What Makes Good Historical Fiction?

The best historical novels infer aspects of lives of which no trace remains. George Garnett starts awarding grades.