The Italian legal tradition called for the public display of a humiliating—but recognizable—portrait of the disgraced person.

Philip Sidney’s attempt at translating the Psalms ended with his early death. Then, his sister took up the cause—and proved herself the superior poet.

In the 17th century, Nathaniel Giles had the right to conscript young singers into the British royal children’s choir. He and a business partner went a step further.

Did women in the premodern world have much agency over reproduction? Their use of plants like dittany suggests that they did.

According to the extramission theory of vision, our eyes send out beams of elemental fire that spread, nerve like, to create the visual field.

Despite the twelve volume herbarium she created, this seventeenth-century scientist earned little recognition. 

Letters reveal how language changes. They also offer a peek into the way people--especially women--have always constructed their private and public selves.

The 15th and 16th epidemics of English sweating sIckness still fascinate historians and epidemiologists.