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Monarchs

A coin bearing the likeness of the fourth-century C.E. Western Roman emperor Magnus Maximus, overlaid atop a page from a medieval manuscript of the Mabinogion

Cool Finds

Legend Has It That This Roman Emperor Established a Camp in Wales. A Newly Discovered Fort May Offer Proof That It Really Existed

An archaeologist has uncovered an ancient fortification linked to Magnus Maximus, a fourth-century ruler who is immortalized in the medieval “Mabinogion” stories as Macsen Wledig

Work on Elizabeth I’s letters has focused on identifying the English queen’s “voice” within them. Yet they were often the products of collaboration between Elizabeth and her secretaries.

Who Wrote Elizabeth I’s Most Scathing Letters? New Research Suggests the Tudor Queen’s Male Secretaries Revised Her Correspondence to Emphasize Her Temper

An analysis of more than 500 missives found that Elizabeth’s advisers crafted and even intensified the expression of emotion in her messages to such figures as Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI of Scotland

Pages from a manuscript of Nicholas Love's Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ

Cool Finds

Henry VIII Relied on This Courtier to Enforce His Orders During the English Reformation. Behind the Scenes, the Tudor Politician Defied His King by Secretly Saving a Catholic Text

A newly discovered fragment suggests that John Gage preserved a 15th-century religious manuscript, keeping it “safe when he was meant to destroy books precisely like this one”

A staircase leads into the central chamber of the newly discovered Chimú tomb near Trujillo, Peru.

Unsealed for the First Time in 600 Years, This Tomb in Peru Was Just Declared the ‘Discovery of the Decade’

Archaeologists excavating Chan Chan, the capital of the pre-Inca Chimú civilization, found an undisturbed mausoleum that held the remains of at least 38 individuals, as well as a trove of rich funerary goods

From left to right: Thomas McKenzie as Alyce, Jamie Bell as John Ball and Andrew Garfield as the Ploughman in The Uprising, a new film by Paul Greengrass

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind ‘The Uprising’ and the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, When Thousands Marched on London to Demand a Fairer Society

Paul Greengrass’ new film stars Andrew Garfield as a fictionalized, unnamed farmer who leads a rebellion against unfair taxes and the system of serfdom

Records uncovered by researcher Christopher Moore indicate that stones from Sandown Castle were repurposed in a Victorian-era extension of Constable's Gate at Dover Castle (pictured here).

Cool Finds

Stones From One of Henry VIII’s Fortresses Spent More Than a Century Hidden in Plain Sight. New Research Suggests the Victorians Repurposed Them as Building Materials

Recently discovered archival records indicate that workers constructing an extension of the Constable’s Gate at Dover Castle in the late 19th century reused fragments of the Tudor-era Sandown Castle

An illustration of Merlin's Cave, an attraction commissioned by Queen Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach

This 18th-Century British Queen Turned King Arthur Into a P.R. Strategy, Drawing on Myth to Promote Her Dynasty’s Claim to the Throne

In 1735, Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach commissioned a cottage called Merlin’s Cave, which linked the German House of Hanover to both Britain’s ancient heritage and its future success

A modern-day view of Stirling Castle, the Scottish stronghold where the skeleton was found in 1997

A Medieval Man’s Injuries Reminded One Archaeologist of Modern-Day Car Crash Victims. They Turned Out to Be the Work of an English Trebuchet

A skeleton unearthed in Scotland likely belongs to a soldier struck by a high-speed projectile during Edward I’s 1304 siege of Stirling Castle. The man suffered more than 160 fractures

“This wreck is an absolute, untouched monument to 19th-century diplomacy and elite international relations in Europe,” says diver and researcher Pawel Truszynski.

Cool Finds

This Ship Sank in the Baltic Sea With Presents Bound for a Romanov Czar. Its Cargo Included Champagne, Luxury Mineral Water and Rare Meteorites

New research suggests that a shipwreck discovered off the coast of Sweden in 2024 may have been transporting gifts from the German Duchy of Nassau to Alexander II of Russia in the immediate aftermath of the Crimean War

A 1937 photo of Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the maharaja of Nawanagar

This Indian Maharaja Saved Hundreds of Polish Orphans During World War II, Offering Them Refuge When No One Else Would

Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, ruler of the princely state of Nawanagar, opened his realm to young Poles who had been detained in Soviet labor camps as the children of the intelligentsia

This amber pendant is expected to fetch £100,000 to £150,000 at auction.

Sold for Just £5,588, This Amber Pendant Turned Out to Be a Rare Tudor-Era Portrait of Elizabeth I. Now, It’s Going on Auction for £100,000

A master craftsman carved the likeness around 1600, possibly as a commission from the English monarch herself. A parrot on the back of the heart-shaped object symbolizes Elizabeth’s status as a “virgin queen”

Teachers wonder whether pottery was purposefully stashed in the tunnels for storage.

Cool Finds

Hidden Tunnels Dating Back to Henry VIII’s Reign Were Discovered at This English Boarding School, Where the King Once Lived

Bones, bottles and pottery were found at the New Hall School, which was once Henry VIII’s Palace of Beaulieu. Before that, Anne Boleyn’s father owned the estate

Elisenda of Montcada founded the Royal Monastery of St. Mary of Pedralbes in 1327. She was buried there after her death in 1364.

Archaeologists Excavating a Monastery in Spain Identified the Remains of a 14th-Century Queen—and Multiple Skeletons Buried in the Wrong Graves

The tomb of Elisenda of Montcada has long fascinated experts. But the team was surprised to learn that burials supposedly belonging to a medieval knight and abbess held entirely different individuals

Seven of the coins from the newly discovered hoard, which is the largest of its kind ever found in Norway

Cool Finds

See the Largest Viking Age Hoard Ever Found in Norway. At Nearly 3,000 Coins and Counting, the Cache Is a Once-in-a-Lifetime Find

Buried in the mid-11th century, the stash includes silver pieces minted under rulers such as Cnut the Great, Aethelred the Unready and Harald Hardrada

This map shows an English flag flying over Calais, an English territory lost to France in 1558.

Cool Finds

A Collection of Maps Owned by England’s First Queen Spent Centuries Overlooked in a Family Library. Now, the Rare Volume Is on Sale for $1.6 Million

Created for Mary I, the first woman to rule England in her own right, the book is “perhaps the most significant artifact of Tudor intellectual history still in private hands,” the seller says

Western monarch butterflies bask in the sun on a eucalyptus branch at Lighthouse Field State Beach. In December 2025, researchers placed ultralight radio tags on some monarchs at this site, hoping to track their movements and identify areas to prioritize for the species’ conservation.

Butterflies Are in Dramatic Decline Across North America. A Close Look at the Western Monarch Shows Why

Pesticides, habitat loss and climate change have taken their toll on the beloved insects. But the experts working with them still find hope for their future

This colonnaded open hall—unearthed in the Maya city of Ucanal in 2024—may have been a council house.

Cool Finds

In Times of Trouble, the Maya Rejected Divine Kingship. This Newly Discovered Public Building Reveals How the Transition to Shared Power Unfolded

Archaeologists in northern Guatemala unearthed a colonnaded open hall that may have served as a council house, where local leaders and everyday people met to discuss political issues

This stone slab shows Tiberius standing next to the Egyptian gods Amun, Khonsu and Mut.

Why Does This Newly Discovered 2,000-Year-Old Stone Slab Depict a Roman Emperor as an Egyptian Pharaoh?

The sandstone monument shows Tiberius standing next to a family of local gods. Archaeologists say the scene illustrates the ruler’s role as a leader who upheld cosmic order in Egyptian society

A photograph of Sophia Duleep Singh (on the right) with her older sisters, Catherine (left) and Bamba (middle)

This Punjabi Princess Fought for Women’s Suffrage and Sheltered Refugees During World War II. A Goddaughter of Queen Victoria, She Rejected British Imperialism

A new exhibition at Kensington Palace tells the riveting story of Sophia Duleep Singh, daughter of the last maharaja of the Sikh Empire

These recently discovered portrait miniatures by Nicholas Hilliard are believed to depict Elizabeth Knollys, Lady Leighton, and Henry Wriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton.

Cool Finds

Tudor Courtiers Exchanged Portrait Miniatures as Love Tokens. Centuries Later, New Research Is Unlocking the Secrets of These Intimate Artworks

Over the past few years, art historians have identified several previously unknown paintings by Elizabeth I’s favorite artist, Nicholas Hilliard

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