In this article, we analyse three "classical" cases of using history of mathematics in teacher training and reinterpret them using the framework of mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT). We continue with a discussion of the potential benefits of applying MKT as a framework for discussion in research related to the use of history in mathematics education. MKT serves as an example of a framework from general mathematics education research which has something to offer in this respect. We argue that the MKT framework provides a powerful language to communicate results from research on the uses of history of mathematics to researchers in other areas of mathematics education research.