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England

8 articles

André Brouillet's painting showing Charcot demonstrating hysteria at the Salpêtrière hospital

The History of Hysteria: Medical Misogyny in a Nutshell

From wandering wombs to shell shock: how medicine kept finding new words for what it could not explain about women.

A woodcut depicting Prince Rupert's white poodle Boy, from a 1643 Civil War pamphlet.

Prince Rupert's Dog: The 400-Year-Old Propaganda Hoax That Fooled Everyone

The story of Prince Rupert's poodle 'Boy' being feared as a devil by Parliamentarians is a myth — created by Royalist propagandists as a joke that spectacularly backfired.

What Hamnet Gets Right (And Historians Got Wrong)

What Hamnet Gets Right (And Historians Got Wrong)

Did parents in the past love their children? Explore the historical debate on parental love and grief that Hamnet brings to life so powerfully.

Below Stairs at Christmas: A Victorian Servant Speaks

Below Stairs at Christmas: A Victorian Servant Speaks

Read Hannah Cullwick's 1863 diary—a Victorian maid-of-all-work reveals the exhausting reality of Christmas below stairs.

A close-up detail from "Children’s Games" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, illustrating children playing on a fence.

Playtime in Tudor England: Toys, Games, and Childhood

From wooden dolls to hobby horses and brutal games—discover how Tudor children played, learned, and grew up in 16th-century England.

Maternal Mortality and a Mother's Last Letter

Maternal Mortality and a Mother's Last Letter

Elizabeth Joceline's heartbreaking 1622 letter to her unborn child—a testament to maternal love and the perils of early modern childbirth.

Eostre, the Germanic goddess of spring and dawn

Eostre: The Spring Goddess Who Gave Easter Its Name

Did a Germanic spring goddess really give Easter its name? What the historical sources actually say about Eostre, and how her story was reinvented over centuries.

An engraving of a woman breastfeeding her child by W. M. Craig (1810). (Wellcome Images)

‘Extended’ Breastfeeding in the Elizabethan Period

Discover how Elizabethan children nursed until age three, using wormwood to wean—Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet reveals extended breastfeeding practices.