JUNE 2018

CONTENTS

Features

Every month

Discover what this year’s elections tell us about Italian history, on page 14

20 Black Death horrors Samuel Cohn reveals why people chose to abandon their dying relatives during the ferocious outbreak of plague in 1348

27 Georgian parenting guide Elizabeth Foyster describes how our 18th-century ancestors navigated the fraught world of child-rearing

32 A bridge too far Operation Market Garden was a terrible plan right from the start and right from the top, argues Antony Beevor

38 A history of dentistry Curator Emily Scott-Dearing introduces seven objects that chart humanity’s quest for a pearly white smile

44 The scourge of the Vikings Janina Ramirez tells the story of the Anglo-Saxon ruler Æthel aed – mother, wife, diplomat and warrior queen

50 Europe’s apocalypse The Thirty Years’ War was remembered as the moment that God deserted Europe. Peter H Wilson describes a brutal con ict

6 ANNIVERSARIES 11 HISTORY NOW 1 1 The latest history news

1 4 Backgrounder: Tensions in Italy

17 MICHAEL WOOD’S VIEW 18 LETTERS 58 OUR FIRST WORLD WAR 67 BOOKS Thelatestreleasesreviewed,plus Alison Weir discusses her new novel on Henry VIII’s wife Jane Seymour

79 TV & RADIO The pick of new history programmes

82 OUT &ABOUT 82 History Explorer: palaeontology

87 Five things to do in June 88 My favourite place: Bruges

95 MISCELLANY 95 Q&A and quiz 96 Samantha’s recipe corner 97 Prize crossword

98 MY HISTORY HERO Aled Jones chooses Freddie Mercury

EVENTS 6 1 Festival Guide to our History Weekends

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27 The secrets to perfect parenting in Georgian Britain

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50 The brutal story of a 17th-century cataclysm: the Thirty Years’ War

44 How Æthel aed stood up to England’s Viking foes – and won

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