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The voice of a female golden age

The 14th century was a time of great change in England - not least for women, who enjoyed more autonomy, work opportunities and wealth. Marion Turner explains what Chaucer's outspoken Wife of Bath reveals about their lives and thoughts

7 Alyce Boyle, the ballad singer who performed for a queen

1 Elizabeth Stile, the condemned witch Elizabeth Stile was a witch - at least, in the minds of many of her contemporaries. She was 65 years old, widowed, and living in Windsor when she was accused of witchcraft. Together with her associates, she was accused of killing several people and bringing harm to many others, with the help of familiars including a rat, a black cat and a toad.

How people power fuelled England's century of chaos

Charles I's clashes with parliament may dominate the history books, but behind the turmoil of the 17th century lay something deeper: a political awakening of the people

Centuries of iron

JONATHAN BOFF is impressed by a comprehensive and insightful military history of Germany and its southern neighbours

The long fight over abortion rights in the United States

Fifty years ago, the US Supreme Court's landmark Roe v Wade ruling guaranteed access to abortion throughout the United States - a decision that was reversed last summer. ALLISON MCKIBBAN charts the complex, often contradictory currents that have shaped women's reproductive rights in America

Trading on reputations

LUBAABA AL-AZAMI has mixed feelings about an insightful but sometimes Eurocentric look at the development of the East India Company

Liberal views

RICHARD TOYE is intrigued but ultimately unconvinced by a detailed account of the state of British liberal politics in the first years of the 20th century

Breast practice

Joanna Wolfarth's new book is a love letter to all women who have cradled an infant close to their breasts.

THE BOY WHO DISCOVERED THE BOY KING

When Howard Carter located the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb, he became an archaeological hero. Yet, as Toby Wilkinson reveals, the British Egyptologist failed to credit the person behind the historic find

The history that shaped the Queen’s funeral

People around the world were transfixed by the scale and splendour of Elizabeth II's funeral in September - a ceremony that drew explicitly on centuries of British royal traditions. TRACY BORMAN reveals how such events have changed, yet remained the same, across generations

Power behind the throne

KATIA WRIGHT is entertained and (mostly) impressed by a book examining the lives and influence of five English queens of the 14th century

Writing for her life

Marie Antoinette spent much of her reign engaged in a battle: first to cement her position as queen of France, and then to avoid the guillotine. Catriona Seth uses the queen's letters to trace her desperate bid for survival

A DYNASTY OF DESPOTS

From the colossal to Tutankhamun's temples of Luxor golden death mask, the pharaohs of ancient Egypt's golden age created some of history's greatest treasures. Yet, writes Guy de la Bédoyère, behind the glittering facade lay a society built on brutality, inequality and staggering levels of corruption

Marching into infamy

RJB Bosworth reveals how the March on Rome which saw Benito Mussolini's Fascist squads seize power a century ago - set Italy on a path to totalitarianism

QUEENS OF BLING

When Henry VIII's wives sought to project messages about themselves to the watching world, they often did so via jewellery. Using six portraits, Nicola Tallis reveals how the consorts' choice of pendants, rubies and brooches shaped their public images

“She was in the world of change but somehow apart from it”

Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth II remained a constant presence in an era of vast social, technological and geopolitical transformation. Anna Whitelock charts an era in which Britain, but not its queen, changed beyond recognition

“What unites these commanders Is selt-beliet. It they didn't have faith in themselves, no one else would”

AL MURRAY tells Spencer Mizen about his new book profiling 10 military leaders whose experiences shine a light on the Allies’ extraordinary transformation in the Second World War

Noor Inayat Khan 1914-44

MY HISTORY HERO Actor and TV presenter Sam Naz chooses

Ruins and royalty

Surrounded by verdant Suffolk countryside, Bury St Edmunds rose to prominence as a pilgrim hotspot in the Anglo-Saxon era before its fortunes dipped during the Dissolution. RHIANNON DAVIES pays a visit

Past tense, future perfect?

PATRICIA FARA lauds a detailed double biography of grandfather-and-grandson thinkers whose ideas on evolution were both influential and inflammatory

The stomach for the fight

In the Third Reich, food was not a personal matter but a way for Germans to show their patriotism and sacrifice. Lisa Pine investigates how the Nazis micromanaged what was being served on the nation's tables

THE RACE TO DECIPHER ANCIENT EGYPT, SACRED SCRIPT

The discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1799 breathed life into a quest long deemed impossible: the reading of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Toby Wilkinson tells the tale of the two rivals who raced to be first to crack the code

"There's still this hangover that has to be seen through everything the prism of enslavement"

HAKIM ADI speaks to Rhiannon Davies about his wide-ranging study of the experiences of African and Caribbean people in Britain, from the height of the Roman empire to the modern day

Political battles

ANDREW ROBERTS applauds a masterful exploration - required reading for any seeking high command - of why warfare and politics went hand in hand in the 20th century

Marching to war

DAN JONES talks to Rhiannon Davies about his debut historical novel Essex Dogs, which follows a group of hard-bitten mercenaries fighting for their lives in the 1346 Crécy campaign

When Richard rose again

Ten years ago a skeleton in a Leicester car park transformed our understanding of a medieval king, and turned him into a media sensation. Mike Pitts tells the remarkable story of the discovery of Richard III's remains

The television age

In 1936, the BBC launched its new TV service - and changed British broadcasting at a stroke. DAVID HENDY charts the technological innovations that produced the so-called "magic rays" - and explores the delights they offered the viewing public

One thing's for sure: religion will not fade away any time soon

In my job, travelling the world making films on history and culture, I've spent a lot of time exploring religion in its many manifestations. Religion, after all, is a gift for the camera: full of colour, action and often moving rituals. It's also a crystallisation in words and gestures of humanity's beliefs, hopes and dreams, making for a powerful sensory insight into the ways in which our ancestors understood their relation to the universe.

The pleasures and pains of life as a medieval monk

Our podcast editor ELLIE CAWTHORNE tells us about a recent episode focusing on life in a monastery in the Middle Ages, and why it wasn't necessarily all that bad

Dancing feet

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