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The Development of Medicine in 17th Century Italy
Deborah SwiftMy fourth book in the Giulia Tofana series, The Cameo Keeper, focuses on medicine and healing in the 17th Century, a time of significant transformation in Italian medicine. As Europe...
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Spying during the Napoleonic Wars - by Rosemary Hayes
Researching for my second book in the 'Soldier Spy' trilogy, it’s been quite a journey to learn about the extent of spying, on both sides, during the Napoleonic Wars. Not only at a diplomatic level,...
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Would you like to learn some Ancient Greek? by Caroline K. Mackenzie
Following the bumper box office success of Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey this summer, online searches for ‘Learn Ancient Greek’ have soared and students of all ages are signing up for classes offering...
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Bees and Brehon Law in Medieval Ireland by Kristin Gleeson
Brehon Bee LawsWhat would happen if bees from your hive swarmed and then settled in a neighbour’s tree, or if you were stung badly by one of your neighbour’s bees? If you were living in Ireland in the...
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Veronica Franco and the Courtesans of Renaissance Venice by Kristin Gleeson
Renaissance Venice Travellers who visited in Venice in the 15th, 16th and 17th century never failed to marvel at the number of courtesans in the city. Thomas Coryat writing in 1608 was astonished to...
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Domestic Manuals and the Perception of Womanhood
For more than four hundred years, domestic manuals have done far more than offer women recipes and guidelines for running a household. They have also served to construct and reinforce gendered...
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Ten Years of Being a History Girl by Sheena Wilkinson
I’m going on holiday very early tomorrow morning, and tonight we have sixteen people coming for supper and some music. In retrospect, this may not have been the wisest scheduling. And in the middle of...
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Revolution! non-fiction for 8-12 year-olds by Joan Lennon
Like many of us, I grew up in a time of protest. In Canada, we marched against the war in Vietnam (I carried a placard with the catchy slogan END CANADA’S COMPLICITY!), for women’s lib, against racism,...
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The Myths and Deities of Ancient Egypt by Rachel Louise Driscoll
The Ancient Egyptians worshipped a pantheon of well over 1,400 gods and goddesses – possibly as many as 2,000. Each deity was believed to have its area of power in life or in death, and would often be...
View ArticleFinding the Past, by Gillian Polack
I’m thinking about historical sources. Not just any historical sources, but ones that give us access to everyday lives. There are sources everywhere, but some sources are special. Let me start with...
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A Cursed House? by Maggie Brookes
Could a house could be unlucky? I'm not sure I believe in such things, but something prickled the back of my neck when I was researching the history of Forty Hall in Enfield, and I began to wonder......
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Minoan Textiles by Kathryn Gauci
Minoan Textiles For millennia, women in particular sat together, spinning, weaving and sewing, but because textiles are perishable, early textiles are not easy to find. Even when we look back at...
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Cardinal Beaton: Villain or Statesman? by V.E.H. Masters
A day out in Edinburgh recently and walking through the Cowgate, I passed this sign.Few figures in sixteenth-century Scotland aroused stronger opinions than Cardinal David Beaton. To his supporters he...
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An Irish Weekend in Paris by Carol Drinkwater
The courtyard of the Irish Cultural Centre in ParisIn the above photo my husband, Michel Noll, is surveying the grounds at the Irish Cultural Centre, 5...
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The Fairy Visions of Richard Dadd by Miranda Miller
I’m looking forward to the launch, or rather relaunch, of my novel on June 30th. It was first published by Peter Owen in 2013. When I was writing this novel I was deeply impressed by Dadd’s heroic...
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The "Saracen Children" who were actually horses. Elizabeth Chadwick on the...
I am working on a novel about Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt. It's contracted but as yet untitled. Currently I am editing the work and checking my historical details and it's proving to be...
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The Bloomsbury Set at Charleston by Judith Allnatt
I recently had the opportunity to visit Charleston Farmhouse in East Sussex, which was home to some members of the Bloomsbury group including Vanessa Bell who was a painter and the sister of Virginia...
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The Puffin at Palazzo Tron
If this post had a subtitle, it would be ‘in which the Royal Mail sabotages my debut at the Venice Biennale of Art and I’m made to understand that my artwork is “of no intrinsic value”.’But in the end...
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A Sinister Neighbour: Gestapo HQ Berlin
My new novel, Fables & Lies: A World War II, arose from my fascination with the archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, who not only proved the ancient city of Troy existed but also discovered a...
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Researching my novels has always led me to fall in love with places. Hever Castle was my first love affair with a place – a love affair that continues to this day. I suppose this is not surprising...
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