Upon st crispin’s day

Somehow, it isn’t hard to imagine the scene of battle here, even on a sultry July morning when only the distant growl of a motorbike interrupts the crooning of collared doves. Perhaps it is the quiet.

This year marks the 625th anniversary of The Canterbury Tales author – and “father of English literature” – Geoffrey Chaucer’s death. He penned this classic, about a merry band of medieval pilgrims te

this story: Edgar Ætheling, Edward’s great-nephew. We know, of course, which one of these contenders held the crown in his possession at the end of the year. What is less certain is who was the most d

Does a newly found Nicholas Hilliard miniature portray Shakespeare’s patron the Earl of Southampton?

Investigating the deathbed conversion of Oscar Wilde

Richmond Palace, 22 March 1603. Elizabeth I – the self-proclaimed Virgin Queen who had ruled England for 44 years, seeing off the Armada, healing religious divisions and creating a court so magnificen