Whispers of ‘usurper’ at the Lancastrian court
When Henry Bolingbroke deposed his cousin Richard II, the populace at first united under his command. But was it a sign of divine retribution when his health dramatically deteriorated?
Margaret Tudor – queen, regent and hapless intermediary
Aged 13, Henry VII’s eldest daughter was dispatched to marry James IV of Scotland. But a precarious truce between the kingdoms soon ended with the Battle of Flodden
Ordinary women make just as thrilling history as great men
Philippa Gregory investigates the lives of English women over 900 years – in sickness, health, business, war, prayer and prostitution
Centuries of martyrs
There is no redemption in this account of the birth of Latin Christendom, with ‘heretics’ suffering cruelly for the beliefs, just as Christian martyrs had under the Romans
The intricate stories timepieces tell
The horologist Rebecca Struthers takes us on a journey through time-measurement, from a 44,000-year-old bone carving to the modern Rolex
Heroes and villeins
Chaucer’s motley crew help to encapsulate the richness and diversity of the late-medieval world and its growing literacy, says Ian Mortimer
