Photo of the Sutton Hoo Anglo Saxon helmet

Early medieval

The Venerable Bede: life of the week. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charles Edwards as Celebrimbor in Rings of Power

How ancient history influenced Tolkien: did a forgotten legend inspire Rings of Power's Celebrimbor?

Video podcastBeowulf: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Late-medieval England course: week four quiz. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Laura Berlin as Emma of Normandy in season 3 of Vikings: Valhalla

Emma of Normandy: not just a two-time queen consort of England

Welsh mythology: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration of King Arthur's coronation, from the 13th-century Flores Historiarum

Was King Arthur real? Discover the legend of the 'once and future king'

King Arthur and his knights return to Camelot (Photo by: Christophel Fine Art/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Q&AWhere was Camelot?

Astonishing Æthelstan: Michael Wood on the 10th-century king. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dark Age bullies & forgotten kingdoms: busting early medieval myths. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Sæberht of Essex, who oversaw the building of London’s original church of St Paul’s (Photo by The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo)

How to survive the Dark Ages in Britain: 6 crucial tips. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

This statue of Alfred the Great stands in Winchester, the former 'capital' of his kingdom (Photo by TonyBaggett via Getty Images)

What if...Alfred the Great lost to the Vikings at the battle of Edington?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

St Columba. This Irish patron saint's influence on the Christian church was, and still is, felt much further afield

Medieval miracle worker: how St Columba transformed Christianity in Britain

Early Medieval Britain: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A 12th-century Celtic round tower at Clonmacnoise, County Offaly

“The power of the Irish over the Britons is great”: Fergal Keane on Britain's Irish roots

King John hunting on horseback, 14th century. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Was King John murdered?

Newark Castle flanked by the river Trent. To say that King John's death here in 1216 was little-lamented is something of an understatement. "With John's foul deeds all England is stinking, as does hell, to which he is now sinking," wrote the chronicler Matthew Paris. (Getty Images)

King John and the French invasion. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Byzantine empire: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Bizarre books and macabre manuscripts. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting the deposition of the body of Edward the Confessor in the tomb at Westminster in 1066. (

Was the early medieval period a "golden age" for the elderly?

King Arthur and a hand holding the sword Excalibur.

The legends of King Arthur: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An illustration depicting King Arthur fighting the Saxons, from the Rochefoucauld Grail. The absence of a clear and present origin for King Arthur has created a ‘void’ which many are keen to fill, says Miles Russell. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The real King Arthur: why are we so obsessed with trying to solve the mystery?

Q&AWho was St Swithin?

Hamo Thornycroft's 1901 statue of King Alfred the Great in Winchester. (Photo by RDImages/Epics/Getty Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #12: secrets of the famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicles

Stained glass window of King Alfred the Great

Exclusive podcastThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Queen Emma and her sons, miniature in 'Encomium Emmae reginae', mid 11th century, British Library (Photo by Getty Images)

Are women at the heart of the action in the Norman Conquest?

Newgrange Passage Tombs, Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland. (Photo by Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #9: Do early medieval Irish texts shed light on prehistoric incest?

The ruined monastery walls of Lindisfarne priory on Holy Island, on 27th June 2019, on Lindisfarne Island, Northumberland, England. The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded by Irish monk Saint Aidan, and the priory was founded before the end of 634 and Aidan remained there until his death in 651. The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, also known simply as Holy Island, is an island off the northeast coast of England. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important centre of Celtic and Anglo-saxon Christianity. After the Viking invasions and the Norman conquest of England, a priory was re-established. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images Images)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #8: Did medieval people care about the time? And did they get bored?

This is the famous Rhynie Man carved stone, thought to be Pictish in date. (Photo by © Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service: www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology)

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #4: back to Braveheart, Viking river boats, Picts, and the Crusades

A Pictish stone carving featuring a salmon

BlogMedieval(ish) matters #3: the salmon of knowledge, rolling Roman mosaics, eels, and Crusades