Book review – medieval history
The beauty of medieval bestiaries
Spiders, owls, elephants and dragons appear alongside dog-headed men and tusked women in a wealth of texts explaining the world in the most vivid terms then available
Black prince or white knight?
We cannot know for sure how Edward the Black Prince earned his sobriquet. For some it was the volatile mixture…
Henry IV: unsightly usurper and megalomaniac
Poor old Henry IV: labelled (probably unfairly) as a leper, but accurately as a usurper, he has been one of…
What it took to wage holy war, Medieval style
For most of history, religion and war have been the most powerful social instincts of mankind and its chief collective…
King John was not a good man: two distinguished historians echo A.A. Milne
This being the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, it is not surprising that there should be two…
