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Early VersionsEpisodes

    Elizabeth I

    Why didn't Queen Elizabeth l marry? A handwritten speech offers clues as to why

    Sumer Is Icumen In

    How did a secular song end up being written and preserved by medieval monks?

    The Tracking Satyrs

    The recovery and restoration of Sophocles' lost play The Tracking Satyrs

    Leonardo da Vinci

    Why were Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks written backwards?

    Diamond Sutra

    The remarkable discovery of the world's earliest printed book

    The Lindisfarne Gospels

    The history of one of the most beautiful medieval books in Britain

    Codex Sinaiticus

    The text of Codex Sinaiticus, a hand-written ancient copy of the Greek Bible

    Beowulf

    The history of the epic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf