Medieval

Umar succeeded Abu Bakr as caliph in 634 and presided over the rapid expansion of the early Islamic state, which took Syria, Iraq,...

Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, became caliph in 656 after the killing of Uthman, and his reign was dominated ...

Thomas Becket rose to become chancellor and close friend of Henry II of England, who made him Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162 exp...

Nizam al-Mulk served for about three decades as the powerful vizier of the Seljuk sultans Alp Arslan and Malik-Shah I, effectively...

James I spent eighteen years as a captive in England before returning to Scotland in 1424, determined to impose royal authority ov...