A History of Royal Incest and Inbreeding

Witch! The word struck terror in the hearts of many a medieval man. It whispers of people, mostly women, using dark magic and even selling their souls to Satan to get what they want. Forcing men to fall in love with them and cursing their enemies. Sorceresses have been feared sin ...  Show more

The Romanov Imperial House ruled Russia with an iron fist for 300 years. In that time they made plenty of enemies. From a grief-stricken mother who foretold the demise of the dynasty, to a scorned Tsaritsa who cursed St. Petersburg to calamity. From a hermit monk who claimed to k ...  Show more

People will do crazy things to keep hold of power.The Habsburgs - one of the most powerful families in European history - were a prime example of this. To keep hold of their power, they decided they would keep their gene pool as small as possible.What were the disastrous conseque ...  Show more

From recent research we know that the great boy king Tutankhamun was a result of incest.How did it effect him? And was incest in Ancient Egypt mostly for symbolic reasons of retaining power, or did it go further than that?Joining Kate today is the wonderful Sarah Parcak, archaeol ...  Show more

Incest. It’s not the lightest topic of conversation, we wouldn’t recommend bringing it up as an icebreaker on a date, or when you’re trying to impress new people at a party - but it’s one which has fascinated many of us for centuries nonetheless.But has it always been taboo? How ...  Show more