EPA-EFE/Ronald Witte
Plague-wary Londoners tolerated mischievous red kites and ravens for their services to the city's sanitation.
In this 1470 illustration, the radical priest John Ball galvanizes the rebels.
The British Library
With the plague decimating the ranks of laborers, surviving workers started pining for higher wages. When the monarchy responded by enacting taxes and restrictive labor laws, the peasants rebelled.
Rebecca Ferguson as Morgana in The Kid Who Would Be King.
20th Century Fox
Yet again sexism rears its ugly head in this portrayal, from Arthurian legend, of a much maligned woman.
British Library MS Harley 4379, fol. 182v
From Scarecrow to Scabby William, what can medieval names tell historians today?
Charlemagne, the decider.
British Library
Monarchs and prime ministers have spent centuries working out which decisions need to be made in public.
anonymous illustrator/Wikimedia Commons
The panic about British children reaching puberty younger is unwarranted. Medieval skeletons provide a different answer.
In Sir Thomas Malory’s ‘Le Morte d'Arthur,’ a character complains that young people are too sexually promiscuous.
The British Library
The anxiety that young people are messing things up goes back centuries.
Luis Santos
Religious and secular festivals followed the rhythm of the seasons to provide a balance between work, prayer and leisure for medieval Britons.
Vuk Kostic/www.shutterstock.com
Historic heroes like King Arthur have helped audiences through the ages to cope with troubling times.
Wikimedia Commons/Eebahgum
Mysterious lumps found at the bottom of a 7th-century burial ship have turned out to be bitumen from the Middle East. But how did they get there?
Students protesting on campus in Davis, California, following the election of Donald Trump.
Max Whittaker/Reuters
Students and faculty are demanding universities declare themselves sanctuary campuses. Historically, sanctuary offered both legal and moral protection for the vulnerable.