Volume 74 Issue 9 September 2024

Roger II, crowned King of Siciliy by Christ. La Martorana, Palermo, 12th century. DEA/G. Dagli Orti/Getty Images.

The Kingdom of Sicily is Born

On 27 September 1130 a Norman usurper gained a crown from a desperate pope and the Kingdom of Sicily was born.

An attack by the Lorraine squadron on the Mûr-de-Bretagne transformer station near Guerlédan, Brittany, 26 August 1943. Mirrorpix.

Free French Bombers Over France

What happened to the French airmen in the Second World War who bombed France to help liberate it?

The Great Fire in the Greek Quarter of Smyrna (now Izmir), 1922. Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo.

The Great Fire of Smyrna

As the Ottoman Empire crumbled, the Greek and Armenian quarters of Smyrna were set ablaze on 13 September 1922 by the vengeful Turkish army.

Frontispiece from Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes, Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, 1686. New York Public Library. Public Domain.

Aliens and the Enlightenment

In the 18th century the existence of extraterrestrial life went from debatable hypothesis to fundamental tenet of Enlightenment thought.

‘Venus and Adonis’, by Peter Oliver, c. 1631. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Public Domain.

‘Straight Acting’ by Will Tosh review

Bard romance? Straight Acting: The Many Queer Lives of William Shakespeare by Will Tosh sets the stage for the next wave of accessible queer histories.

Portrait of the widowed Catherine de’ Medici, by François Clouet,c. 1565. Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris. Public Domain.

‘Catherine de’ Medici’ by Mary Hollingsworth review

In Catherine de’ Medici: The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen, Mary Hollingsworth helps the pragmatic queen escape her ‘black legend’.

Bishop Odo blesses the food and wine, detail from the Bayeux Tapestry, late 11th century. Bridgeman Images.

How to Rescue the Reputation of the Nasty Normans

The villains of British history, the Normans can be a difficult sell. But going off script has its rewards.

A woman working a nail on the anvil, from the Holkham Bible, England, c.1330. British Museum/Bridgeman Images.

The Women who Forged Medieval England

Who were the female blacksmiths of medieval England?

Students hurl rocks at the US embassy in Moscow to protest the Vietnam War whilst Soviet police look on. US Information Agency. Public Domain.

‘Outposts of Diplomacy’ by G.R. Berridge review

Outposts of Diplomacy: A History of the Embassy by G.R. Berridge shows us that debates about the role of the ambassador are as old as the institution itself.

‘Oliver Cromwell of Ely Visits Mr. John Milton’, by David Dalhoff Neal, 1883. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Public Domain.

On the Spot: Alice Hunt

‘What is the most common misconception about my field? That the republic was an absolute failure and the Restoration inevitable.’