Cumbria: the forgotten Anglo-Saxon kingdom

Today, we think of the seven deadly sins as outdated definitions of moral flaws prohibited by the church. But as this Long Read written by Peter Jones reveals, these vices were originally conceived to provide medieval solutions to universal human problems. Today's feature origina ...  Show more

The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 buried Pompeii and its citizens beneath pumice, stone and ash for centuries. But, as this Long Read written by Jess Venner reveals, we can now reconstruct the lives of its citizens before the catastrophe. Today's feature originally appeared in th ...  Show more

1066 is a year carved into the history of western Europe. It radically transformed the cultural, political and built landscape of England in a way that is hard to overstate - and yet its immediate aftermath is often forgotten. By Domesday, just 20 years later, around 94 percen ...

In the fifth century, Western Europe began remaking itself in the turmoil that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire. In south-west Britain, old tribal authorities and identities reasserted themselves and a ruling elite led a vibrant and outward-looking kingdom - toda ...

Though today it is just a muddy field, the small hamlet of Yeavering was once a bustling centre of Anglo-Saxon power in the North of England. At its heart was a 7th century palace - known in Latin as Ad Gefrin - which was built by King Edwin in 616 AD, the first king of a unit ...

It's the 13th of December, 1642, and Parliamentarian soldiers have just stormed the city of Winchester. They burst into the city's grand cathedral on horseback, and begin tearing it apart. The soldiers smash windows, burn tables and tapestries and steal anything of value. Stas ...