Europe

The pope retires to a monastic life today, a withdrawal from the world that marks the end of both his pontificate and his public life. As historians assess his reign, they will all ask how

The recent resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has given media commentators a gratefully received excuse to trot out the list of bad, weird and notorious popes of the past. Near the top, along with (the

History will tell us whether there is more to Benedict XVI's abdication than Monday’s Vatican press statement about his advanced age and deteriorating strength. In the meantime, it is the novelty of the move that

Introduction, by Caroline Pennock It's been a pretty hectic week, all in all. What with the launch of the History Matters blog and the not-Maya-apocalypse, I've been kept rather busy explaining to people that no,

'Turkish village becomes latest doomsday hotspot', ran one headline last week.  This is the news that 60,000 people are descending on a small Turkish village, where it is thought the Virgin Mary ascended to heaven:

The popular myth of the Borgia family involves poison, incest, orgies and general tyranny. But beyond the Showtime version, how many of the tales are true? And if they aren’t true, where do they come