Habsburgs

How ever did the inbred Habsburgs control their vast empire?

16 March 2024 9:00 am

For centuries, a line of mentally retarded monarchs managed extraordinary feats of engineering across the world against all odds

Emperor for three years: the doomed reign of Maximilian I of Mexico

15 January 2022 9:00 am

On 8 April 1864 an Austrian archduke with a penchant for daydreaming agreed to be emperor of Mexico. As Edward…

Florence's black Medici prince: a drama worthy of Shakespeare

7 May 2016 9:00 am

The life – and violent death – of a very unusual Renaissance prince has Alex von Tunzelmann enthralled

The battle of Lepanto, October 1571

From Barbary corsairs to people-traffickers: the violence of the Mediterranean

30 May 2015 9:00 am

The Mediterranean has always been central to European civilisation — and a source of drama and conflict, says Anthony Sattin

‘The Census at Bethlehem’, 1566, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Climate change, Bruegel-style

13 December 2014 9:00 am

The world depicted by the Flemish master is not so different from our own, says Martin Gayford

Sweden’s warrior king Gustavus Adolphus inspired the English far more than their own effete, self-righteous Stuart monarchs

Can anyone make a good case for the Stuart kings?

15 March 2014 9:00 am

Historians have generally not been kind in their assessment of Britain’s first two Stuart kings. Their political skills are regarded…

Danubia, by Simon Winder - review

7 September 2013 9:00 am

The inbred Habsburg monarchs, who for centuries ruled without method over a vast, ramshackle empire, managed to leave an indelible mark on modern Europe, says Sam Leith