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ANNIVERSARIES
HELEN CARR highlights events that took place in June in history
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Should historians interpret the past through the prism of the present?
A recent debate about whether the study of history should address contemporary concerns exposed faultlines in academic approaches. DAVID MOTADEL explores the controversy
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MICHAEL WOOD ON…
400 YEARS OF THE FIRST FOLIO
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”History is currently being used for political purposes that have very little to do with the past”
Is the study of history being skewed by a present-day ‘culture war’? That’s the view of History Reclaimed, an online project that aims to tackle what it sees as distortions of the past - and which has been met with both praise and criticism. Matt Elton spoke to ZAREER MASANI, one of the organisation’s founding members
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HIDDEN HISTORIES
KAVITA PURI explores lesser-known stories from our past
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Elizabeth I: mother’s girl
The Virgin Queen lionised her father, Henry VIII, in public. Yet, writes Tracy Borman, examine what Elizabeth did - as opposed to what she said - and it’s evident that her sympathies lay with Anne Boleyn
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FAMILY HEIRLOOMS
Five objects that embody the bonds between Elizabeth I and her ill-fated mother
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THE RACE TO THE OP OF THE WORLD
On the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest, Robin Ashcroft charts the trials, tragedies and triumphs that led to that pioneering climb - and its implications for Britain’s place on the wor ld stage
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KIT FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE
Climbing the planet’s highest mountain calls for specialist equipment - as the packing list for the 1953 expedition shows
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Black masses, lethal potions and the plot to kill a king
In the 1670s, Louis XIV of France was the target of a series of assassination attempts involving poisons and necromancy. But who was the perpetrator?
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WHEN GERMS MADE HISTORY
Infectious diseases don’t just make individuals sick - they can cause seismic shifts in societies. Jonathan Kennedy charts six moments when pathogens such as plague, smallpox and malaria played key roles in major cultural, political and economic transformations
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How Britain stirred the cauldron of conflict in Palestine
Having ousted the Ottomans from Palestine in 1917, Britain administered a territory that was already a tinderbox of tensions between Arabs and Jews.
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Q&A
A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts
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The queen who wouldn’t go quietly
Margaret of Anjou was a foreigner - and a woman. Those facts alone should have sunk her bid to regain the English throne for her husband, Henry VI. Yet, writes Joanna Arman, when it came to fighting her family's corner, Margaret simply didn't know when she was beaten
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”Henry was not a great king but he was respected as a most Christian one”
DAVID CARPENTER talks to David Musgrove about the second part of his biography of King Henry III, and the extraordinary revolution that removed him from power in 1258
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Visions of England
MICHAEL WOOD enjoys a thought-provoking exploration of English identity from the postwar period to the present day and the myths that have been told about England
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Hitler’s forgotten victims
CHRISTINE SCHMIDT welcomes an important new book detailing the fraught search for justice by the Roma in the aftermath of their genocidal persecution by the Nazis
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A European success story
PETER ANDERSON is impressed by a sweeping history of modern Spain, covering a century in which the country experienced both wartime tragedy and economic triumph
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Tailor-made for Tudors
From decorated codpieces to ‘sheep colour’ fabrics, our podcast editor ELLIE CAWTHORNE discusses a recent episode on how to stay fashionable in Tudor England
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The Tudors' origin story
The town fortified by the Normans as a strategic foothold in west Wales is still guarded by one of Britain's finest castles. NATHEN AMIN explores Pembroke, a suitably imposing backdrop for the tale of the first Tudor king
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Madrid in five places
A Moorish citadel that became an imperial capital, Madrid today is a cosmopolitan city. JULES STEWART picks five unmissable sites that illuminate its history
