Mince pies weren’t always the sweet, fruity treats we know today. In Tudor times, they often contained meat—usually veal or mutton—along with suet, dried fruits, rosewater, and spices. Back then, sweet and savoury mingled happily in the same dish, and spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves were as much about showing off your wealth as they were about taste. These …
What if a seemingly ordinary wooden tray could tell the story of a society’s rebirth after one of the deadliest epidemics in history? “In the year of our Lord 1348, there happened at Florence, the finest city in all Italy, a most terrible plague…” So starts Boccaccio’s Decameron, one of the most celebrated texts in medieval literature. The Decameron tells us much about the …
CW: Torture, violence against women, sexual assault. Take a look at these paintings: What is this woman holding? We can tell she’s a saint by the halo around her head, but who is she? You may know this if you’re a Catholic – or an art historian – but this is St Agatha. The reason why I know this, is that …
Content Warning: Blood, animal cruelty, sexual assault. ‘She wants blood, and blood she must have or die’ – this is one of my favourite passages from Bram Stoker’s 1897 masterpiece, Dracula. (And there are several!) So, let’s set the scene. After a series of sleepwalking episodes, Lucy, one of the main characters in the novel, is left mysteriously exsanguinated: she’s …
What should you eat to be healthy? Well, the answer varies according to time and place, as we know from social media influencers who seem to constantly change their minds about what we ‘should’ or shouldn’t eat’. But who should decide what is healthy in the first place? According to some, only you can know what works for you and …
How do you become an alchemist? This is what a 16th-century book suggests: This advice is said to come from a woman; it’s from The Secrets of the Lady Isabella Cortese, published in Venice in 1561. But what does this book, and the mysterious writer to whom it is attributed, tell us about women, science, alchemy, authorship, authority and expertise …
In his book, On the Art of Exercise, the Italian physician Girolamo Mercuriale writes in a way that makes you think that, just like Botticelli and Michelangelo had ‘rediscovered’ the art of ancient Greece in Renaissance Italy, he too had rediscovered a lost art, the art of exercise. But, was that true? Did people stop exercising with the fall of …
Content warning: Miscarriage/Abortion Part 1 – What are Eaglestones? Childbirth can be scary, especially if you’ve never given birth before and don’t know what to expect. Just like we might do today, throughout history, women have talked to each other about it, developed their rituals surrounding it, they have asked midwives and doctors questions, and they have prayed for protection. …
Content warning: Animal Cruelty and Violence In describing childhood, following infancy, this is what Shakespeare wrote: I think most of us can relate to this, dragging yourself to school, zero enthusiasm, having abandonned whichever game or toy we were playing with until then. Do you remember what your favourite toys were growing up? Or the games you loved playing with …
Imagine you are the ruler of an Italian city in the Renaissance; your husband has been murdered and your children were taken hostage by your political enemies, who hope to take control of your fortress. Yet the people inside are still loyal to you and are not surrendering. So, leaving your children with your enemies, you go inside the castle, …
