CW: “Historical discussion of sexual coercion, blood & bodily harm” In Renaissance Europe, failing to bleed on your wedding night could cost a woman her dowry, her marriage – even her safety. So, of course, someone offered a solution. A 17th-century English translation of an Italian book called Magia Naturalis puts it like this: In case that wasn’t clear: the …
Scrolling through TikTok, Instagram, YouTube… it feels like influencers are everywhere, a thoroughly modern invention, right? But what if I told you the original influencers weren’t crafting viral videos, but commanding royal courts, dazzling high society, and shaping empires centuries ago? And the recent Met Gala? It gave us a perfect glimpse into one fascinating branch of this long history …
This was written by one of my favourite historical characters, the ever-charming surgeon often accused of being a charlatan, Leonardo Fioravanti. But hold on, because here’s another juicy 16th-century quote: Hmmm… Intriguing, right? This was actually a popular proverb that writer Michel de Montaigne heard from locals while travelling through Italy. So, what exactly was going on in these baths? …
What if I told you one of the most popular medicines in medieval Europe was also the trendiest party drink? Hypocras (or ‘hypocras’ if you stick to the French pronunciation) was a spiced and sweetened wine so prestigious that kings gifted it to each other; it was believed to be so medically effective that doctors prescribed it, and so delicious …
Imagine this: It’s 1910, and you’re strolling through an international medical conference in Europe. The legacies of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch are being celebrated for discovering that tiny microbes—not “bad air”—cause diseases. Revolutionary! Groundbreaking! The audience applauds these European geniuses who saved humanity! And then, from the back of the room, a Brazilian doctor stands up: “Excuse me, but …
Alone in her sick room in the late 19th century, a woman writes: What is going on? Still, she thinks: The narrator of this story is being treated by her husband, John, who is a doctor. Victorian medicine had some rather peculiar ideas about women’s mental health. Take, for instance, the notion that intellectual stimulation could damage a woman’s reproductive …
If a couple can’t have children and you want to know whose ‘fault’ it is, what do you do? Well, if we’re talking about Renaissance Italy, you might give this experiment a try. This recipe is from a 1529 book called Dificio di ricette, or ‘House of Recipes’ and I came across it recently when I was preparing a talk. …
‘It’s a weird feeling, isn’t it? Feeling relief at a death certificate.’ This must be one of the most powerful phrases in the Brazilian film ‘I’m Still Here’, which everyone seems to be talking about lately – and rightly so. The film tells the story of Eunice Paiva, whose husband, the left-wing politician Rubens Paiva, was arbitrarily arrested during the …
What if I told you the most expensive artwork ever created by a Brazilian artist is about… cannibalism? Yep, you heard that right—cannibalism. But don’t worry, it’s all metaphorical. Nobody’s getting eaten here—except maybe outdated ideas about art. This is Abaporu, sometimes called the “Brazilian Mona Lisa.” But let’s be honest—it looks nothing like the Mona Lisa. There’s no mysterious …
Do you love women writers who write with humour and irony? Who criticise their society in a satirical, tongue-in-cheek way? Do you like a good literary mystery? Let me introduce you to the elusive Ephelia – yes, that’s Ephelia with an ‘E’, not Hamlet’s Ophelia with an ‘O’. Ephelia was a 17th-century poet & playwright whose identity has puzzled historians and …
