This issue’s contributors
Helen Hackett
“I’ve found that exploring Elizabethan ideas about the mind sheds light on the extraordinary literature of the period, and on still unresolved questions about the mind and the self.”
Helen untangles the Elizabethans’ complex relationship with their mental wellbeing
Jessie Childs
“I’ve always been fascinated by sieges. They offer dangerous vistas, incongruous meetings and, most dauntingly, an unflinching look at the human condition. The siege of Basing House threw up some extraordinary characters.”
Jessie charts the savage siege that helped win the Civil War
Monica H Green
“I think people haven’t been as interested in the Black Death as perhaps they should have been. If they had been, I think we might be in a better situation right now.”
Monica explains how scientific discoveries are transforming our understanding of the plague
Ronald Hutton
“I spotted a problem with our attitude to the question of pagan survival in the Middle Ages: there were a number of rather goddess-like figures in medieval culture, who didn’t seem, to me, to be surviving from the pagan ancient world.”
Ronald discusses four deities who straddled the Christian and pagan worlds