Medieval

K.R. Dockray introduces a West Riding family of Percy retainers, whose land-holdings suffered from the Wars of the Roses and from legal disputes.

Between 1285 and 1355, writes Judith Hook, the turbulent Sienese enjoyed a period of unaccustomed peace.

After the Romans left and the Anglo-Saxons arrived, the south-west of England became the predominant kingdom. William Seymour traces the growth of the Kingdom of Wessex from the early sixth century.

During the Mamluk Sultanate, writes P.M. Holt, men imported as slaves and trained as warriors became rulers of a great Islamic state.

L.W. Cowie describe show the Franciscans came to London in the thirteenth century and founded a highly patronised friary.

The Friars Hermits of St Augustine founded their London house in 1253. L.W. Cowie describes how, after the Reformation, it became the Dutch Protestant Church.

By the eighteenth century, writes Adam Zamoyski, four fifths of the world's Jews lived in Poland.

N.M. Sutherland describes how some two hundred English exiles found refuge in Protestant Geneva during the reign of Mary Tudor.

Edward III created the Duchy of Cornwall as an estate for the Black Prince; A.L. Rowse describes how it has been held ever since by the sovereign’s heir or lain dormant in the Crown.

That an occupant of the Celestial Throne should fall into the hands of the barbarians was an unprecedented catastrophe. Nora C. Buckley describes how the situation was cleverly dealt with by his ministers.