Matriarchs and mystics

“Hands of Saint Dominic” by Albrecht Dürer, 1506; ...

Horses were involved in King Harold’s defeat at Hastings – but also in the demise of his Norman conqueror It’s one of the most famous of all medieval images. Harold II stands upon the battlefield at H

In July 1575, Robert Dudley enlisted mythological figures to convince Elizabeth I to wed him. Exactly 450 years later, artist Lindsey Mendick reveals how and why she reinterpreted their encounter in her installation for Kenilworth Castle

In her latest novel, Sarah Dunant explores the life of Italian aristocrat Isabella d’Este, the archetypal Renaissance woman

SIENA IS ONE OF THE GREAT HISTORIC CITIES – a living vision of the medieval world found now in very few places. Here is the architecture and street plan of a medieval city-state, the oldest bank in th

This is one in a series of articles; the intention is to provide an overview of useful family and local history records in existence, covering the period 1066-1485. Each article can be enjoyed as a st