Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf wonders at the mystery of the Bethlehem manger, where all the light of heaven was shining.

Rudyard Kipling’s poem about St Wilfrid’s chaplain and an unusual Christmas congregation.

The sounds of an English country Christmas helped Tennyson in his deep mourning for an old friend.

The Victorian practice of hanging sugared nuts on a Christmas tree was bursting with Biblical symbolism.

The martyr St Euphemia played a vital role in preventing the message of Christmas from being watered down.

Persian star-gazers hasten to Israel for the birth of a royal heir, but find that King Herod has had his fill of them.