Twice-told Tales

Jan 21 2022 5

Twice-told Tales Podcast artwork

What makes a good life? People in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were as concerned about living in an enriching and edifying way as we are now. Historian Leah Astbury, and French Literature academic Emma Claussen dive into the lives of people in the past picking through books, ballads and diaries. Is a life well-spent a godly one or a hedonistic one? From universities to dingy London taverns, Leah and Emma explore a transformative period in European history, enjoying a glass of wine or two along the way.
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5. The Good Life: Ageing

Jan 21 2022 38 mins

Do the possibilities for a good life change as you get older, and is a long life desirable? We talk about ageing, health advice for the elderly, life expectancy, families, and the stages of life in early modern Europe. Was it possible to live a good life when old, and if so, good in what sense? This episode's examples are a ballad about an old man neglected by his son and daughter

4. The Good Life: Religion

Nov 22 2021 41 mins

In this episode we discuss the role of faith in early modern Europe and what it menat to have a 'good' soul. We talk about the Reformation, worship, illness, suffering, martyrdom, Providence, and stoic principles. Our examples include a spiritual diary by Yorkshire gentlewoman Alice Thornton and fragments of the French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal's musings on religi

3. The Good Life: Learning

Nov 12 2021 39 mins

What does reading, learning and contemplating have to do with living a good life? We talk about fortune telling, manifesting, humanism, philosophy, devotion, debate and different kinds of knowledge in early modern Europe. Was it better to be a scholar or lead a more active, practical life? This episode's examples are an English treatise in defence of women's education that encourag

2. The Good Life: Relationships

Nov 04 2021 42 mins

In this episode Leah and Emma discuss the role of relationships (romantic and otherwise) to maintaining health, wellbeing and happiness in early modern Europe. We talk about compatibility, chastity, divorce, widowhood, masturbation, sex and sexuality in the period in literature, conduct texts and personal writings. This week's examples are a short story by Marguerite de Navarre, pr

1. The Good Life: Bodies

Oct 28 2021 46 mins

This episode is about the relationship between living well and the body in early modern Europe. Was it achievable to live well or did the body and poor health always get in the way for early modern people? This week's sources are Thomas Elyot's medical regimen, intended to advise on protection against the plague and other illnesses, and Lyon poet Louise Labé's sonnets, in which sh