Lack of funding for needed repair work threatens to close Canterbury Cathedral. Allegedly, duct tape has been used on pillars to hold them together.

The British publication, The Independent, challenges readers' historical knowledge in Are you a master of history? Answers are provided, but don't cheat!

"Venice has become a museum city, no longer a residential one," said a Unesco director recently about the city threatened by rising sea levels. Jack Watkins of The Independent discusses the fate of the city.

Archaeologists are puzzled over the spring 2010 discovery of a rare 9th century Viking necklace consisting of "71 glass beads covered with gold foil." The necklace was discovered during an excavation of Glencurran Cave in the Burren National Park. (photo)

British father and son filmmaking team Ted and Michael O'Neill believe they have found the source of the Aqua Traiana, the 2nd century aqueduct, constructed by the Emperor Trajan, 30-40km northwest of Rome. (photos)

Despite her ongoing dispute with the university, Cambridge scholar and professor of medieval logic Gill Evans has completed her history of the institution. The University of Cambridge: A New History will be published to coincide with Cambridge's 800th anniversary.

On October 29, 2009, Gaul's most famous denizon, Asterix, celebrated his Lth birthday. (That would be 50 to the Roman-numerically-challenged.) The comic book character was created in 1959 by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo.

Metal detectorists in England have found a new Viking treasure hoard that is thought to be the most important discovery of this type in 150 years.

The popular perception of the Druid as either a sage with a long beard or a blood-thirsty expert in human sacrifice is the topic of a new book by Bristol University professor Ronald Hutton: Blood and Mistletoe: a History of the Druids in Britain.

In the last exhibit of a series on emperors, the British Museum will present Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler which reveals elements of the mysterious life of the last emperor of the Aztecs. The exhibition will run 24 September 2009 to 24 January 2010. (photos)

An article on great works of art for the UK's paper The Independent discusses how works of art from the past are viewed through modern eyes. Included is The Lamentation of Christ by 14th century Italian master Giotto, whose angels seem to zoom about like jet planes. (photo)

A new theory suggests that Henry VIII underwent a personality change as the result of a head injury he suffered while jousting.

Researchers and lovers of the Alhambra, the 14th century palace in Castile, Spain, have long puzzled and marveled at the Arabic inscriptions which cover the walls and arches of the building, wondering "What are these walls telling me?" Now Juan Castilla, from the School of Arabic Studies at Spain's Higher Scientific Research Council, has produced a video which claims to translate 3,116 of more than 10,000 inscriptions carved around the building.

A three-day conference at Cambridge University may shake up traditional views of Vikings. The new study will show that, far from marauding barbarians, the Norse were "more cultured settlers who offered a 'good historical model' of immigrant assimilation."

Italian archaeologists are undertaking a project to raise an entire island which has been submerged in the lagoon of Venice since the 16th century. Among the artifacts they hope to recover is a remarkably preserved 13th century wooden galley.

Millennium, a new book by Tom Holland, takes a look at the Dark Ages with special focus on politics, religion and the combination of the two: the Crusades. Christina Hardyment of The Independent has a review.

No one seems to remember why the French repressed the Cagot people for nearly one thousand years. Now Marie-Pierre Manet-Beauzac, the last of the bloodline, is attempting to uncover the truth about a persecuted people. Sean Thomas of the Independent has the story.

Metal detector enthusiast Andy Sales, from Deal, England, was fortunate recently to uncover a 5th century "gold tremissis bearing the image of the Byzantine emperor, Anastasius the First." (photo)

Long dismissed as savages who hindered the advancement of civilization in Scotland and the North of England, the Picts are now being seen as a sophisticated culture "capable of great art, learning and the use of complex architectural principles."

A new exhibit at Venice's Palazzo Grassi endeavors to disprove the reputation of the "barbaric tribes" during Europe's Dark Ages. Rome and the Barbarians: Birth of a New World will be at the Palazzo Grassi until July 20, 2008.

More than 400 years ago, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, threw the party of parties, a three-week long bash at Kenilworth Castle for Elizabeth I.

Archaeologists are excited over the revelations discovered during the excavation of graves on Lazzaretto, an island in the lagoon of Venice where the city's sick were isolated. The intensive study has led to incredible discoveries involving disease, diet and genetics.

Archaeologists in Greece have discovered a rare 2,700-year-old piece of fabric inside a copper urn from a burial they speculated imitated the elaborate cremation of soldiers described in Homer's "Iliad."

Ed Caesar of the Independent celebrates the arts of cookery and gluttony by reviewing history's top ten greatest banquets.

Self-professed "art detective" Maurizio Seracini, an expert on Leonard da Vinci's lost painting The Battle of Anghiari, has been given funds to continue his 30-year quest for the painting.

A Christian grave discovered near St-Martin-in-the-Fields Church, London, indicates that Christianity may have come to Albion much earlier than previously supposed.

Channel 4's Time Team may have discovered evidence of the existence of the original round table at Windsor Castle. The team has found some evidence of a round structure built by Edward III constructed to house the table and the original 300 Knights of the Garter.

Frank and Marcia Eager (Duke Aaron Graves and Duchess Alisandra Gabriella), of Atenveldt, have requested us to invite their SCA family to join them Saturday to say farewell to their infant son, Timothy, who passed away May 16.

Oxford scholars are using high-tech satelite technology to read the once hidden words on the hoard of manuscripts known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. In the last few days, works by Sophocles, Euripides, Hesiod and other classical greats have been deciphered, and it is believed early Christian texts are also amongst the works.

The Duchess of Northumberland has a black thumb, at least when it comes to her celebrated poison garden.