A burial practice among elite medieval Europeans was to be interred on their beds, a rite which archaeologists call “a bed burial.” An English researcher has now completed an analysis of 72 bed...
When people think about love and sex in ancient Rome, it tends to be pretty scandalous: orgies here, there, and everywhere! But the truth is rarely black and white. Were the Romans more sexually...
People often have the strange idea that people in the “olden days” were much more conservative when it came to sex than they are today. However, if modern history tells us anything it is that people...
The jus primae noctis , droit du seigneur , or “right of the first night,” is an alleged medieval custom which permitted lords to engage in sexual intercourse with the brides of their male subjects...
The year was 1832 when Joseph Thompson, a local Cardiff man, led his wife by halter to the local marketplace hoping for a good price in what was, after all, just a wife auction. Before the bidding,...
Robert Dudley was an English courtier who lived during the 16th century. He is best known as being a favorite of Elizabeth I, the Queen of England. He had been a suitor of the queen for many years...
The institution of marriage dates back to almost the beginning of written history, with countless variations on how it has been practiced throughout the ages in different cultures and religions. The...
In the 21st century, most people would consider their intimate and sexual relationships to be a private matter. In the Middle Ages however, the division between private and public areas in the lives...
Domestic violence is a serious problem in modern society, but it should surprise no-one that this issue has been plaguing Western society for many hundreds, even thousands of years. It is difficult...
Hera, also known by her Latin title as Juno, is best known in Western culture as the wife of Zeus, king of the gods. While technically subordinate to him, Hera is never a submissive figure, in fact...
Since medieval times, many Muslim communities have regarded the hymen, the tiny piece of skin known as the vaginal membrane, as proof of virginity and a woman’s moral virtue. Even today in the United...
The Claddagh ring design of two hands holding a crowned heart is a recognizable symbol of Ireland and enduring love. It is hugely popular as a fashion accessory and a symbolic gesture. While everyone...
Royal courts were always a hotspot for intrigues, secrets, schemes, and love affairs. Where prestige and power reign, true love is often nowhere to be found. But in those cases when royal passions...
Love is the universal feeling. From the dawn of time, from the earliest epochs of man, and all throughout the rise and fall of world’s many civilizations, the concept of love drove the wheel of time...
Catherine of Valois was a French princess who lived during the 15 th century. Catherine is an important female figure in medieval English history, being the wife of one English king, and the mother...
Napoleon Bonaparte's London-based heir, who shares the historic general's famous name, is marrying the great-grand-daughter of Austria 's last emperor, who is descended from Napoleon’s second wife,...