Who was Thorkell the Tall?
A viking mercenary who fought on three sides, who was Thorkell the Tall?
History Matters
Thoughts, opinions and commentary on all things historical.
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The Death of Clive of India
Robert Clive’s death has long been attributed to suicide. What is the evidence?
Brushing for Britain
The First World War revealed the bad state of Britain’s teeth. Intervention was required to keep the nation biting fit.
Doc Holliday: The Perennial Sidekick
Misfit, Old West villain or tragic hero of the O.K. Corral: who was the real Doc Holliday?
The Conservative Party Popularity Contest
How the first Conservative leadership election modernised the party in the 1960s.
Robert Fergusson: Scotia’s Bard
The often overlooked life of Robert Fergusson, Edinburgh’s unofficial poet laureate and Scotland’s voice.
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.
Solving the Victorian Housing Crisis
The acute housing crisis of mid-Victorian Britain generated stormy opinions about the nature of state intervention and the need for ‘wholesome despotism’.
The Roman Catholic War on Wigs
The Catholic Church’s ban on wigs in the 18th century was as revealing of attitudes towards disability as vanity and sanctity.
Free French Bombers Over France
What happened to the French airmen in the Second World War who bombed France to help liberate it?