Lately, there has been some controversy over the re-interpretation of a 1,000-year-old grave, which had initially been discovered in 1968. The grave is located in Suontaka, Finland and its occupant had originally been identified as female, based on expensive jewellery and a feminine dress. Curiously, the supposedly female warrior was…

In recent history, long-standing gender norms have been challenged with ever-increasing frequency. Both Lil Nas X and Harry Styles made headlines when they chose to wear dresses publicly, sparking both an outpouring of support alongside some backlash. One can find photographs of people cross-dressing as far back as the 1940s…

Between 1566 and 1700, around 500 people were executed in England for the crime of practising witchcraft. To this day, over three hundred years since the last witch was executed on English soil, the convictions still stand. The first person to be executed for witchcraft in England was Agnes Waterhouse…

In 1583, a Spanish ship sank off the west coast of England. The disaster was put down to witchcraft. An elderly woman in Norfolk, Mother Gabley, was blamed for ‘boyling, or rather labouring of certeyne eggs in a payle full of colde water.’ This was not the first time witches…

One of the most serious criticisms of Elizabeth I’s reign of England was her failure both to marry and produce, or indeed name, an heir. Her father had been so adamant to produce an heir (and preferably a male one) that he had established the Church of England, at least…

The more you look at maps, the more apparent it becomes that they aren’t always just lifeless, objective depictions of the spatial distribution of objects. Early maps, which began to replace the simple panoramic views of cities which had preceded them, often featured images and lengthy passages describing (and usually…

On this day 392 years ago, John Felton died. A man who might otherwise have not gone down in history at all, those that do not recognise his name will most likely be familiar with George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. …

The genre of horror fiction has a long history. Even in ancient Greece and Rome, and early European settlements which had prevalent folklore, people couldn’t help themselves but tell each other scary stories. As a genre in its own right, one can trace horror fiction back to Ann Radcliffe’s The…

King Henry VIII of England reigned from 1509 until 1547 and was constantly preoccupied with one thing: military success. Namely, Henry was obsessed with pressing his claim to the French throne. Through success and failure, at times of prosperity and of financial ruin, there was rarely a moment when Henry…