Authors on the podcast
Phillipa Vincent-Connolly on Tudor disability
“There was a strange mix of attitudes towards disability in the Tudor period. On the one hand, it was thought that if the mother had been involved in satanic worship, or the parents had sinned greatly, it might affect the baby in the womb. Yet, people with disabilities were also seen as being closer to God because they were already suffering on Earth. This meant that they were often cherished and honoured, as conduits to God and truth.”
Leo Damrosch on Giacomo Casanova
“Casanova had the most varied and extraordinary life. He invented a lottery for the French government and was a professional gambler, con man and spy, as well as a priest and a soldier. He even persuaded people he had magical powers! In one case, he managed to detach a very rich French noblewoman from an enormous fortune because she thought he could help her be reborn as a younger person.”
Jacob Mchangama on the history of free speech
“You can sketch the tense history of free speech all the way back to ancient times. In Thucydides’ account of Pericles’ famous funeral oration, Pericles explains how the Athenians of ancient Greece enjoyed debating, and paints a picture of tolerance between citizens. In contrast, the Roman Republic took a far more top-down view. It was largely the elite who exercised free speech – not those considered ‘the mob’ by authors such as Cicero and Cato.”
