History in 28-minutes

The Avignon Papacy (1309-1376) was the period during which seven successive popes resided at Avignon, in modern-day southern France, rather than at Rome. It followed a bitter conflict between the papacy and King Philip IV of France, and the death of Pope Boniface VIII in 1303 marked a decisive shift in the balance of power within the Church. Talia Bega explains — and look...

By September 1066, England had become the prize in one of the most extraordinary succession crises of the medieval world. King Edward the Confessor was dead, Harold Godwinson occupied the English throne, and two powerful foreign rulers had already claimed that the crown belonged to them. Duke William of Normandy was preparing an invasion across the Channel, but before Wil...

Interest in historical sites where popular legend has substantially diverged from the documentary record has remained strong among readers of American history, particularly cases involving a private individual's life story overtaken by commercially convenient folklore after their death. The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, represents one of the clearest s...

From Manhattan firehouses to Honolulu, the surprising life of the man history turned into baseball’s founding father. Brian D’Ambrosio explains.

Said to be the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club, circa 1847 - Alexander Cartwright, top-cent...

As one of the wealthiest figures in American history, Andrew Carnegie left behind a legacy that remains deeply contested among historians and the public alike. While his name is permanently memorialized on thousands of public libraries, universities, and cultural institutions across the globe, his rise to unprecedented economic dominance was achieved through methods that ...