Twice-told Tales

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.

Leah Astbury

Leah Astbury is a Research Associate at the University of Manchester on the Wellcome funded project 'Sleeping well in the early modern world'. She was previously a Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of History & Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. She works on the history of family, gender and medicine in early modern England.

Emma Claussen

Emma Claussen is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge. Her current project is on life and its value in early modern Europe, especially in French literature and philosophy.