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Islam and the Elizabethans
Elizabeth I's excommunication by the Pope in 1570 marked the beginning of an extraordinary - and little talked about - English alignment with Muslim …
4 years, 11 months ago
Making Babies in the 17th Century
Making babies was a mysterious process for people in early modern England. Their ideas about conception, pregnancy, and childbirth tell us much about…
5 years ago
Ottoman Traveller: Fynes Moryson
In July 1596, Fynes Moryson - a Lincolnshire gentleman and travel writer - was struck down with grief when his younger brother died as they crossed t…
5 years ago
Tudors in Love
The dramas of courtly love have captivated readers and dreamers for centuries. Yet they’re often dismissed as something that existed only in the lege…
5 years ago
Accused of Witchcraft
Not all suspicions of witchcraft led to a formal accusation, and not all such accusations led to trials and execution. During the entire early modern…
5 years ago
Henry VIII's Break with Rome
King Henry VIII was deeply religious and started out as a staunch supporter of the Pope and the Roman Catholic church. But everything changed when He…
5 years ago
The Biblical Apocalypse in Münster
Between February 1534 and June 1535, the German city of Münster was seized and ruled over by a radical group of Protestant Christians called Anabapti…
5 years ago
Beauty Ideals in the 16th Century
What was the 16th century ideal of beauty for women? Fat or thin? Blonde or brunette? Pale or tanned? How did women keep clean? Did they remove their…
5 years ago
Bloody Mary vs. The Virgin Queen
Queen Mary I has had a bad press over the centuries, her five-years on the throne overshadowed by her half-sister Elizabeth's 45-year reign. While El…
5 years ago
Alessandro de' Medici, Black Prince of Florence
In the cut-throat world of Renaissance Florence, Alessandro - the illegitimate son of a Duke and a mixed-race servant - attempts to reassert the Medi…
5 years ago