Written in the Waters
Tara Roberts
Nell Gwyn: Actress & Royal Mistress
How did a lowly orange seller become the most famous actress of her time, mistress of King Charles II? In 1660, King Charles II ruled that female stage roles must…
Little Ice Age
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb discusses the impact of the Little Ice Age, a period of significant cooling from the 15th to early 19th centuries that caused widespread famine, drought, and socio-economic…
Louis XIV, le Roi Soleil (Intermediate French learners)
with French Teacher Carlito
The Red Violin
The Red Violin (French: Le Violon Rouge) is a 1998 drama film directed by François Girard and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Carlo Cecchi and Sylvia Chang. It spans four centuries…
A Meditation upon a Broomstick (1711)
A classic piece of parody from the great Anglo-Irish satirist and author of Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift. The particular butt of Swift's sharp pen in this instance was Robert Boyle…
What Did 17th Century Food Taste Like?
Guessing the true flavors of these ingredients—the taste of premodern chicken, or mace carried in a ship's hold from Indonesia to Europe, or butter that was churned by hand—is at…