In October 1032, a young man named Theophylact of Tusculum ascended to the highest position in the Catholic Church through financial bribery arranged by his father.

In 1951, archaeologists excavating the wet clay soil of Novgorod discovered a collection of extraordinary documents detailing knights, wild beasts, and spelling exercises.

Deep inside the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University sits a 15th-century codex that has baffled cryptographers, military codebreakers, and linguists for over a century.

Olivia Farnsworth was hit by a car, dragged down the street, and simply stood up without a single tear.

In January 532 AD, the most violent riot in the history of Constantinople erupted over a chariot race.

The Codex Gigas is a historical document that defies standard bookmaking.

History features many unusual military encounters, but the 9th-century conflict in Scottish history between a Pictish nobleman and a Viking Earl ended with a rare fatality.

When experts search for the absolute worst period in history, they do not point to the Black Plague or World War II.

In 1939, a university student made a simple scheduling mistake that led to a major mathematical discovery.

In May 1846, a group of 89 American pioneers left Springfield, Illinois, heading toward California with dreams of abundant land.