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 …
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, …
I recently found myself going down the rabbit hole of Japanese manga and anime fandom online. Now, this is something I know nothing about. I’ve never really been into anime or manga, but I was fascinated to learn about Van Hohenheim or ‘Hohenheim of Light’, a character who is a powerful alchemist in the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist, clearly inspired …
Leonardo Fioravanti was called a Charlatan, a Poisoner, a Reformer, a Knight, a Prophet, a Miracle-Worker, a Saviour, an Alchemist, and a Fraud.
ow would you go about learning alchemy? Well, I would start by making a list of alchemists whose work I should read. Then, I would do a lot of reading. That might seem unimaginative – and it is – but, for centuries, that’s how people learned alchemy. Of course, they would eventually go to their laboratories or kitchens and try things out in practice. But reading was essential.
After her husband was assassinated and she and her children were taken prisoners by their political enemies, Caterina Sforza (1463-1509) found herself in a precarious position. The conspirators wanted to take control of the castle in Forlì, yet the people inside, loyal to Caterina, did not want to surrender.