Historical men and women

  Anne Hyde (1637-71) had two daughters who would become Queens and would have been a Queen Consort herself had she not died before her husb...

  Sweyn Forkbeard was the father of King Cnut (also known as Canute), the Dane who ruled England from 1016 to 1035. Sweyn was himself the vi...

  Thorkell the Tall was a Viking leader who was prominent in English affairs during the reigns of Ethelred the Unready (Anglo-Saxon king fro...

  Berengaria of Navarre was a Queen of England who never set foot in England as Queen. She was born, in around 1165, in Navarre, was married...

Richard Hunne was a man who became the central character of a 16 th century “cause celebre”, and a figure of interest ...

James Fitzroy 1 st Duke of Monmouth was born on 9 th April 1649 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His father was King Charles II of Engla...

The name John Hardyng might perhaps be better known if one of his employers, King Henry V, had not died at the age of 35 and thus rende...

King John of England (reigned 1199 to 1216) is widely regarded as one of the country’s “bad kings”. This was largely due to his tyrann...

Henry of Blois was a 12 th century churchman for whom political power and personal wealth had far more importance than holiness or th...

The Isle of Wight lies off the south coast of England, separated from Hampshire by two narrow waterways, namely The Solent and Spithea...

Bethnal Green’s blind beggar was a legendary character who gave his name to a pub that was to acquire a sinister reputation in m...

The name Mary Rose brings to most minds (British ones at least) the famous warship that belonged to King Henry VIII’s navy and was so ...

John Rogers’s claim to fame is that he was the first victim of Queen Mary I’s campaign against Protestants. The break from Rome that...

Sir Martin Frobisher (1539-94) was an adventurer during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I who made a name for himself both as an explore...

Edward the Black Prince should have become King of England but died before his father (King Edward III), so the throne passed to his ...