People

1483–1546

Martin Luther was the German theologian whose challenge to indulgences helped begin the Protestant Reformation. His writings attacked papal authority, promoted justification by faith and encouraged […]

1 series · 1 book

1929–1968

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and one of the leading figures of the American civil-rights movement. He helped organise the Montgomery bus boycott, […]

1 series · 1 book

1545–1578

Mary Grey was the youngest sister of Lady Jane Grey and a possible claimant in the Tudor succession. Like her sister Katherine, her marriage choices and […]

1 series · 1 book

1457–1482

Mary inherited the Burgundian territories after the death of her father, Charles the Bold, in 1477. Facing French pressure and demands from her own subjects, she […]

1 book

1818–1882

Mary Todd Lincoln was the wife of Abraham Lincoln and first lady during the American Civil War. She managed a politically exposed household while enduring intense […]

1 series · 1 book

died 238 BCE

Mathos was a leader of the rebel mercenaries and subject peoples in Carthage’s Mercenary War. After Carthage failed to settle arrears owed to troops from the […]

1 book

1873–1956

Maud Allan was a Canadian-born dancer and performer famed for her sensual Vision of Salomé. In 1918 she brought a libel case against the conspiracy theorist […]

1 series · 1 book

310–372

Maximus of Ephesus was a Neoplatonist philosopher and religious adviser associated with the emperor Julian. He helped shape Julian’s interest in theurgy and traditional cult, later […]

1 book

1844–1913

Menelik II was emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to 1913 and a major state-builder in modern Ethiopian history. His forces defeated Italy at Adwa in 1896, […]

1 series · 1 book

20–48

Messalina was the third wife of the emperor Claudius. Ancient writers accuse her of sexual scandal, prosecutions and a failed political marriage to Gaius Silius, after […]

1 series · 1 book