Topic description and stories

Pop-up mints and coins made from prayers

04 Dec 2017

In the tumultuous upheaval of the English Civil War, Royalist castles under siege used ‘pop-up’ mints to make coins to pay their soldiers. A unique...

Read more

Seventy years of Indian independence celebrated with summer exhibitions at the Fitzwilliam Museum

06 Jun 2017

Two exhibitions and a new book have launched the Fitzwilliam Museum's celebration of the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence. The displays...

Read more

Æthelred the Unready, King of the English: 1,000 years of bad press

21 Apr 2016

He was just a boy when he became King of the English and his reign was marked by repeated attacks by the Danes. Æthelred, who died 1,000 years ago on...

Read more

Holinshed's Chronicles 1557

Naughty money: clippers and coiners in 16th-century England

12 Apr 2014

In 2017 a new £1 coin will appear in our pockets with a design extremely difficult to forge. In the mid-16th century, Elizabeth I’s government came...

Read more
Illustration from the Saga of St Olaf, Flateyjarbók, Reykjavik, Iceland

Explore the scary stories of early cultures

31 Oct 2012

Don’t miss the chance to learn about the rich cultures of the early British Isles in a series of free talks and readings at the Faculty of English...

Read more
Tudor pendant

Treasures lost and found

05 May 2011

An exhibition of precious objects found in East Anglia provides a window into the lives of both the people who lost their treasures and those who...

Read more