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In the Icelandic sagas communal feasting served as cornerstone of celebration. A thousand years on, these cautionary tales still offer sage advice for the Yule festivities.

How did Uyghur chieftain Yolbars Khan come to be buried in a Chinese Nationalist grave in Taipei? The answer reveals much about China’s violent relationship with its most western province.

In 1960, the arrival of a ship carrying Caribbean stowaways in Preston caused a political and diplomatic furore.

In late 16th-century France, a powerful noblewoman stood up to soldiers’ violence during the Wars of Religion. Using her wealth and connections she was able to defend her interests in court.

Richard Whatmore’s The End of Enlightenment: Empire, Commerce, Crisis takes the ideals of the 18th century on their terms.

There is an enduring obsession with understanding the body and mind of Henry VIII, but how sound are diagnoses past and present – and do we need them?

‘In postwar Britain I was prejudiced against Germany. Then I studied German history, met German people and changed my mind.’

In 1954 a new agency was founded: the KGB. While less violent and arbitrary than what it replaced, its insidious reach soon permeated Soviet society.

Caspar Hauser died on 17 December 1833, but was it murder or a self-inflicted wound? Hauser’s mysterious death raised as many questions as his mysterious life.

The proper pastime for a young lady in the 19th century was the pursuit of marriage – the magical rituals and folk charms she used might be less proper.