Written by Melissa Kane. Maggie O’Farrell’s is a magisterial text. The writing is sublime, bringing to life Elizabethan Stratford-upon-Avon. However, it is a difficult text and requires a degree of familiarity with its inspiration, Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Written by Hazel Atkinson. The life of Philippe I Duc d’Orléans has been treated with pity and contempt by historians, on account of his lack of conformity to both early modern and modern notions of masculinity. But when re-considered, we can learn much about Philippe’s life, and how he was regarded by those around him.
Written by Amy Hendrie. Popular conceptions of the Middle Ages as cruel and gruesome extend to ideas about medieval medicine. But the medieval understanding of the body was steeped in history, and likely extended into modernity more than one would think.
Written by Nikita Nandanwad. Witchcraft trials have traditionally been viewed as campaigns of irrational religious belief. Yet, recent scholarship has demonstrated the complexity behind witchcraft trials and the ways they were informed by conceptions of gender.
