England

The medieval approach to emergency planning may offer lessons for the 21st century.

William Chester Jordan’s study of one of medieval Europe’s great monastic rivalries suggests that social mobility may have been more common in the Middle Ages than historians previously thought.

Brutality, corruption and abuses of power in the Metropolitan Police at the turn of the 20th century led to an inquiry – but no reform.

On 27 November 1809, a bet between two friends brought a large part of London to a standstill.

Before the British Empire and the Atlantic slave trade, Africans lived freely in Tudor England.

The grand funeral of Anne of Cleves, the neglected fourth queen of Henry VIII, took place during the reign of Mary Tudor, when English Catholicism was resurgent.

A little-known encounter between the English and French navies should rank alongside Trafalgar and the defeat of the Armada.

In his pursuit of Anne Boleyn, Thomas Cromwell was guided by a prophecy foretelling treason.

Francis Drake’s exploits in the New World made him perfect material for the English gutter press and a figurehead for rising Hispanophobia.

Along with Robin Hood, the romantic highwayman is one of the great myths of English outlawry. But the model for this most gallant of rogues was a Frenchman name Claude Duval, who carried out audacious robberies with a touch of Parisian flair.