History Today

Taylor Downing recalls the BBC series The Great War.

Michael Rosenthal and Martin Myrone look beyond the traditional view of Gainsborough and argue for a view of the painter beyond that of society portraitist, as a modernist responding to the broader themes of his times.

King Æthelred ordered the massacre of Danes in England on November 13th, 1002.

Louise Curth, Gareth Shaw and Andrew Alexander explain how the British supermarket was born.

Twelve years after the first stone of the new building was laid, the state opening of the new Houses of Parliament took place on November 11th, 1852.

Pope Boniface VIII issued the papal bull Unam Sanctam, the most famous papal document of the Middle Ages, on November 18th, 1302.

Colin Jones discusses the art and artifice of the leading mistress of Louis XV.

Anubha Charan reports on the latest findings from the Gulf of Cambay.

Entries describing the objects kept and used in the principal rooms of Henry VIII’s household.