Renaissance

4 Feb 2026

What Hamnet Gets Right (And Historians Got Wrong)

Everyone's talking about Hamnet – and whether you've read the book, watched the play or the film – or all three like me, you'll know that it's a beautiful story about loss and grief, and it feels very relatable to a modern audience. But did you know that there was a big debate among historians about this very subject –

10 Sept 2025

Medieval True Crime: When a Corpse Solved Its Own Murder

In 1503, in the quiet Swiss village of Ettiswil, a woman’s corpse was laid out in the churchyard. Her name was Margaretha, and she had died suddenly; too suddenly, some whispered. Her husband, Hans Spiess, had fled the town, but he was eventually tracked down and brought back to face justice. Justice, however, didn’t mean what we might expect. Spiess

26 Jun 2025

The Censored Witches' Flying Potion (That Promised a "Lover")

"Rub this on your skin, get a lover." That’s not clickbait. It’s a sixteenth-century recipe, written in all seriousness by the Italian natural philosopher Giambattista Della Porta. He recorded the formula for an ointment, said to be used by witches. The claim was that it could induce an extraordinary phenomenon: it would make the witch believe she was flying and

12 Jun 2025

Fake Virginity: The Painful Renaissance ‘Cures’ They Sold Women

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

21 May 2025

Before TikTok: History's ORIGINAL Influencers

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

9 May 2025

How Water Cures Revolutionised Medicine in the 16th Century

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?

22 Apr 2025

Hypocras: The Medieval Wine Doctors Prescribed as Medicine

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

14 Mar 2025

How Urine Revealed Fertility in Renaissance Medicine

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.

21 Nov 2024

Birth Trays in Renaissance Italy and Motherhood

What if a seemingly ordinary wooden tray could tell the story of a society's rebirth after one of the deadliest epidemics in history? "In the year of our Lord 1348, there happened at Florence, the finest city in all Italy, a most terrible plague…" So starts Boccaccio's Decameron, one of the most celebrated texts in medieval literature. The Decameron tells us much about the

15 Aug 2024

What were the "Non-Naturals"?

When I was growing up, my grandmother told me to avoid cold showers if I was having my period. I was also not supposed to leave the house with my hair wet unless it was summer. When we travelled to the mountains, my other grandmother would ‘fill her lungs with forest air’. She claimed to feel instantly healthier. I'm sure

1 Aug 2024

Alchemy in the Renaissance: The Mysterious Isabella Cortese

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

18 Jul 2024

Renaissance Fitness: Exercise Rediscovery

In his book, On the Art of Exercise, the Italian physician Girolamo Mercuriale writes in a way that makes you think that, just like Botticelli and Michelangelo had 'rediscovered' the art of ancient Greece in Renaissance Italy, he too had rediscovered a lost art, the art of exercise. But, was that true? Did people stop exercising with the fall of

31 May 2024

Caterina Sforza: The Alchemy and Power of a Renaissance Icon

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,

23 Feb 2024

Veiled Truths: Scandal and Mystery in a Renaissance Convent

Can being possessed by the devil ever be a good thing…? Well, for a 17th-century Italian nun who claimed to have seen Jesus Christ, plus literally marrying him, it kind of was. Plus it helped with all the accusations of her having sex… with another nun. Let me tell you a story. The story of Sister Benedetta Carlini, sometimes described

8 Feb 2024

Fioravanti: Pioneering Surgeon-Alchemist of the Renaissance

Leonardo Fioravanti was called a Charlatan, a Poisoner, a Reformer, a Knight, a Prophet, a Miracle-Worker, a Saviour, an Alchemist, and a Fraud.

30 Oct 2023

What Were Early Modern Beds Like?

Fairy tales don't have to make sense to be meaningful. They follow their own logic and readers – or, traditionally, listeners – get so enraptured in the story that no one really questions their elements, be they fairy godmothers, magic roses, or talking frogs. Yet there is one story that always left me puzzled when I was growing up: The

10 Jul 2023

How to Clean Your Body in the Renaissance

One of the silliest historical myths out there is that people in the past were somehow ‘dirty’ and had poor hygiene, especially compared to today’s standards. Of course, I’m generalising; each culture had different practices depending on time and place. But think of people living in the Italian Renaissance: how did they cleanse their bodies? Bodily hygiene was intimately connected

10 May 2023

What is the 'Doctrine of Signatures'?

In the early modern period, an impotent man might be prescribed boiled orchid roots. But why? Well, they resembled testicles and were consequentially believed to be useful in improving male potency. If you think this sounds weird, stay with me. Efficacy aside, prescribing this remedy makes sense… if you accept the premise of the doctrine of signatures, one of the

23 Sept 2022

Elizabeth I and Ageing

A few days before Queen Elizabeth II’s death, she met the UK’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, at Balmoral Castle, in Scotland. Royal watchers were quick to point out what appeared to be a bluish bruise on her hand, as concerns over her health grew. At the time of her death, the Queen (1926-2022) was 96 years old, having reigned for 70 years. As the media coverage of the mourning and funeral rites took over the UK and much of the world, I couldn’t stop thinking about the Queen’s hands and ageing. I inevitably thought of Elizabeth I’s hands, famously beautiful with their long fingers, even into her old age.