Living History by Dr Julia Martins

Welcome to Living History, where we bring the stories of everyday people to life.

This project started as a way to bridge the distance between academic debates and the wider community - history should be accessible to everyone!

While my focus is on the history of medicine and gender, and I specialise in the early modern period (16th-18th centuries), I also hope to create links between the past and the present.

My goal is to bring history into contemporary debates, especially the stories of those often written out of history, while creating a sense of community and a safe space for discussion. And I am thrilled to have you here!

(If you are curious about the gendered language used in some texts, please read our Language and Inclusivity note.)

You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter which includes the latest videos and articles before they appear on the website, as well as recommendations, from books to films and online courses.

Living History by Dr Julia Martins

Meet Saint Agatha: Sicily’s Virgin Martyr and Dessert Icon

Dracula: Blood Transfusions and Control Over Women

17th Century “Intuitive Eating”: Paracelsus and Digestion

Alchemy in the Renaissance: The Mysterious Isabella Cortese

Renaissance Fitness: Exercise Rediscovery

Eaglestones: Historical Amulets for Childbirth

Playtime in Tudor England: Toys, Games, and Childhood

Caterina Sforza: The Alchemy and Power of a Renaissance Icon

5 More Brazilian Women Who Changed History

Green Sickness: A Historical Look at the ‘Disease of Virgins’

5 Brazilian Women Who Changed History

Golden Locks: Hair Care in the Renaissance Era

Hot Cross Buns: Discovering the Easter Treat’s Rich History

Paracelsus: The Rebellious Doctor Who Defied Tradition

Veiled Truths: Scandal and Mystery in a Renaissance Convent

Fioravanti: Pioneering Surgeon-Alchemist of the Renaissance

The Medicine behind food – from starters to desserts

The Medicine Behind the Nativity Gifts: Frankincense and Myrrh Revisited

What Were Early Modern Beds Like?

What Made a 17th-Century Midwife Good at Her Job?

Little Red Riding Hood and the Invisibility of Older Women

How to Clean Your Body in the Renaissance

The ‘Queen of Hysterics’ and 19th-Century Theatrical Hysteria

Maternal Mortality and “The Mother’s Legacy to Her Unborn Child”

A Grip on the History of Forceps in Medicine

Eostre and Easter: ‘Rebranding’ a Spring Goddess to Fit Christianity?

The Surprising Connection Between Freud and Greek Mythology

Moderata Fonte and ‘The Woman Question’

The Fascinating World of Aphrodisiacs

Why is it that we imagine an older woman when we think of a witch?

‘Holy Anorexia’: The Fascinating Connection between Religious Women and Fasting

‘Extended’ Breastfeeding in the Elizabethan Period

‘Follow what I say’: Isabella Cortese and Early Modern Female Alchemists

On the Medusa, Vampires, and the Fear of the Female Body

Motherhood and Wet Nurses: Breastfeeding in Early Modern Times

Elizabeth I and Ageing

Why Did People Try to Induce Menstruation in the Past?

‘Unnatural Mothers’: The Surprising History of Abandoned Children

Giving Birth in 17th-century England: A Tentative List

Caterina Sforza: Using All the Weapons in Her Arsenal

Green Sickness and Virginity

Is the Catholic Church Harsher on Abortion Now than in Medieval Times?

Opening up the Mother: Caesarean Sections and the Romans

Female Genital Mutilation and ‘The West’: Past and Present

‘Let Nature Take its Course’: In Defence of ‘Gentle’ Midwifery

‘Neither, and yet both’: ‘Hermaphroditism’ and Binaries

Not ‘fit for child-bearing’: Fatness and (In)fertility

(Un)sexing, Violence, and Women

‘Before she was in labour, she gave birth’

‘…but the Art of Midwifry chiefly concern us’!