The Contrary Journalist: Lady Elizabeth Rigby Eastlake
One of the sharpest female journalists of Britain’s Victorian era, Eastlake considered Jane Eyre an exercise in rudeness and vulgarity.
Knights and Kings: Medieval Chess as Male Bonding
Scholar Jenny Adams examines the homosocial facets of the game through literature of the Middle Ages.
Why Europe’s Oldest Intact Book Was Found in a Saint’s Coffin
The St. Cuthbert Gospel is the earliest surviving intact European book. Some time around 698, it was slipped into the coffin of a saint.
The Restoration’s Filthiest Poet (and Why We Need Him)
Creature of the court, royalist and fop, dandy and dilettante, John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester, knew how to scandalize with verse.
In Celebration of Lost Words
At some point in their lexical histories, lost words' original meanings died and have been revived into a mere semblance of their former selves.
When Did Colonial America Gain Linguistic Independence?
By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, did colonial Americans still sound like their British counterparts?
Old English Has a Serious Image Problem
Although studying the language known as “Anglo-Saxon” helped women advance in the academy, the subject is fraught with racist associations.
The Medieval Historical Figures Behind Bruce Holsinger’s Novels
Discover the real men Bruce Holsinger based his characters on.