Empress Matilda: Did you mean...?

The Pillow Book (Makura no Soshi) is a personalised account of life at the Japanese court by Sei Shonagon which she completed c. 1002 CE during the Heian Period. The book is full of humorous observations (okashi) written in the style of a...

Xuanzong (birth name, Li Longji, l. 685-762 CE, r. 712-756 CE) was the 7th emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, whose domestic and foreign policies established the Tang Dynasty as the Golden Age in Chinese history. Many of the most important...

John Paul Jones (1747-1792) was a Scottish-born sailor who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). His raid on the English port town of Whitehaven in 1778 and his victory over the HMS Serapis the...

Prince Józef Poniatowski (1763-1813) was a Polish soldier and patriot, who served as commander-in-chief of the Polish army during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). A steadfast ally of French Emperor Napoleon I (r. 1804-1814; 1815), Poniatowski...

The Yakushiji temple, located in Nara, Japan, is the headquarters of the Buddhist Hosso sect and one of the most important temples in the country. Originally founded in 680 CE at Fujiwara-kyo but then relocated to Nara in 718 CE, its famous...

Frederick II of Prussia (1712-1786), better known as Frederick the Great, was one of the most consequential rulers of 18th-century Europe. A scion of the House of Hohenzollern, he came to power in 1740 at the age of 28 and, over the course...

The enamel funerary plaque of Geoffrey Plantagenet (r. 1129 - 1151 CE). It depicts Geoffrey The plaque originally came from the Saint Julian of Le Mans where Geoffrey was buried. It is now in the Tessé Museum in Le Mans, France. Enamel on...

Wolvesey Castle in Winchester, Hampshire, England. Wolvesey Castle was built in 1141 by Bishop Henry of Blois (c. 1096 – 1171 CE), the brother of King Stephen of England (r. 1135 - 1154 CE). The castle was the setting of the Rout of Winchester...

The Hoxne Hoard is the largest cache of late Roman gold found anywhere in the Roman Empire. Discovered by a metal detectorist in Suffolk, in the east of England in 1992 CE, the incredible collection contains 14,865 late-4th and early-5th...

Ancient China produced what has become the oldest extant culture in the world. The name 'China' comes from the Sanskrit Cina (derived from the name of the Chinese Qin Dynasty, pronounced 'Chin') which was translated as 'Cin' by the Persians...