History
Discover facts about history. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
History
An Ottoman traveler reported vampires fighting witches
If you're going to write a ten-volume travel log, you might as well throw in a massive supernatural war just to see if your editor is paying attention. Evliya…
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The Viking map that fooled Yale
Getting scammed is bad, but getting scammed out of millions by a map drawn with modern house paint is a special kind of academic humiliation. In 1965, Yale…
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The prison death toll that helped justify empire
Sometimes the most enduring historical narratives are just inflated statistics drafted by a guy trying to cover his own incompetence. John Zephaniah Holwell…
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The famous helmet rebuilt from hundreds of rusty fragments
The majestic face of Anglo-Saxon warrior culture that graces every history textbook is basically just a glorified ancient jigsaw puzzle put together with…
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The impostor who lived Martin Guerre's life for three years
A 16th-century French peasant named Martin Guerre vanished for years, leaving his wife behind. Then a guy named Arnaud rolled into town, perfectly mimicked…
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Why Louis XIV's court turned to arsenic
In the 1670s, King Louis XIV's glittering court was suddenly gripped by a massive, underground murder ring. Hundreds of elite French nobles were caught…
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The surgeon whose secret lasted until death
Dr. James Barry spent fifty years screaming at incompetent British military officials and performing the British Empire's first successful cesarean section…
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The general Napoleon tried to erase from history
Napoleon couldn't handle sharing the spotlight, especially with Thomas-Alexandre Dumas. Born in Saint-Domingue to an enslaved woman and a French nobleman,…
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The stone recipe its inventor took to the grave
Corporate espionage was so rampant in the 18th century that Eleanor Coade literally took her billion-dollar secret to the grave. While male architects were…
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Richelieu survived a celebration of his downfall
Counting your chickens before they hatch is a bad idea, but doing it with Cardinal Richelieu is a historical death sentence. During the Day of the Dupes in…
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The longest Etruscan text became mummy bandages
If you ever want to hide a secret document, the ancient world proved that tying it around a corpse is a fantastic strategy. The Liber Linteus is the longest…
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The woman who fought a siege and ordered almonds
If you think balancing a career and family is hard, try doing it while heavily armed men are actively trying to batter down your front door. Margaret Paston…
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The miller who saw the universe as cheese and worms
Imagine telling the Inquisition that God is just a maggot in the cosmic parmesan. That’s exactly what Menocchio, a 16th-century Italian miller, did. Historian…
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The Russian whistleblower who became an anatomy prop
Edward Snowden's exile looks like an all-inclusive vacation compared to the fate of 17th-century Russian whistleblower Grigori Kotoshikhin. A high-ranking…
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The opera singer who stabbed three noblemen
Hollywood screenwriters couldn't invent a character as delightfully chaotic as Julie d'Aubigny if they tried. A 17th-century bisexual opera singer and master…
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The crusade that never reached the Holy Land
The Fourth Crusade is the ultimate historical example of getting distracted on a road trip and committing massive war crimes. In 1202, a bunch of French…
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The ancient disk we still can't read
You’d think with all our AI and linguistic PhDs, we could read a literal clay frisbee from 1700 BC. Nope. Discovered in a Minoan palace on Crete, the Phaistos…
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The French spy who lived as both a man and a woman
If you think modern gender politics are complicated, meet Charles d'Eon de Beaumont, an 18th-century French spy who casually infiltrated the Russian court as…
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How Aladdin entered Western literature
Everybody knows the story of Aladdin and his magic lamp, firmly cementing it as a foundational pillar of Middle Eastern folklore. Except it completely isn't.…
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The widow who bought a fleet for revenge
When the French king unfairly executed her husband on flimsy treason charges, Jeanne de Clisson didn't just write a strongly worded letter. She sold her…
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Babylon's ancient map put Babylon at the center
If you've ever thought your local politicians were too self-important, look at the Imago Mundi, a 6th-century BC clay tablet representing the Babylonian Map…
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The monster that reads villagers’ gossip aloud
Forget anonymous confession pages; the residents of Andrista in the Italian Alps use a furry cryptid to air their dirty laundry. Every year, villagers…
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A comet helped destroy Istanbul’s observatory
In 1577, Ottoman polymath Taqi al-Din built one of the most advanced astronomical observatories in human history in Istanbul, featuring custom-designed…
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The pirate queen who ruled the western Mediterranean
While Caribbean buccaneers were still centuries away from capturing the public imagination, Sayyida al Hurra was busy owning the western Mediterranean. A…
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