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Early modern life

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Salmon in pastry: A Renaissance recipe from Shakespeare's Kitchen by Francine Segan
Salmon pastry
Shakespeare and Beyond

Salmon in pastry: A Renaissance recipe from Shakespeare's Kitchen by Francine Segan

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Salmon, oysters, asparagus, and grapes are all ingredients in this unusual pie recipe from Francine Segan’s cookbook “Shakespeare’s Kitchen.”

How much has parenting actually changed since Shakespeare's time?
Childhood and early modern parenting
Shakespeare and Beyond

How much has parenting actually changed since Shakespeare's time?

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Karen Lyon

What did people think about childhood and parenting in early modern England? Did parents express fondness for their children? How did they discipline them?

A solution for pollution?
Shakespeare and Beyond

A solution for pollution?

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Sarah Hovde

In honor of Earth Day, here’s a prominent early modern treatise against air pollution in London from the Folger collection: “Fumifugium,” published in 1661.

A recipe for 1610 rose cakes
Shakespeare and Beyond

A recipe for 1610 rose cakes

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Francine Segan, a food historian with a taste for the Renaissance, adapts a 1610 handwritten recipe for rose cakes from a recipe book that’s part of the Folger collection.

Lady Mary Wroth and 'The Countess of Montgomery's Urania'
Public domain image of Lady Mary Wroth
Shakespeare and Beyond

Lady Mary Wroth and 'The Countess of Montgomery's Urania'

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Lady Mary Wroth watched Shakespeare act in his own plays, heard her relative Sir Walter Raleigh talk about founding Virginia, and almost certainly met Pocahantas and ambassadors from Morocco. Wroth’s later prose fiction echoes elements of her own life, including…

A Renaissance recipe for citrus tarts
Shakespeare and Beyond

A Renaissance recipe for citrus tarts

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Food historian Francine Segan has a taste for the Renaissance and a love of Shakespeare. Here she adapts a recipe for “Citron pye” from a 1587 cookbook. You’ll find an intense combination of vinegar and pepper in these citrus tarts.

A recipe for Twelfth Night cake
Shakespeare Twelfth Night
Shakespeare and Beyond

A recipe for Twelfth Night cake

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Park’s Shakspearean Twelfth-Night Characters. Handcolored print, ca. 1830. Folger Shakespeare Library. Twelfth Night is a Christian holiday typically celebrated on January 5 or 6, concluding the 12 days of Christmas and celebrating the visit of the Magi (the three kings). Twelfth…

Renaissance cooking: Food historian Francine Segan and a recipe for 'pears' in broth (they're not really pears)
Shakespeare and Beyond

Renaissance cooking: Food historian Francine Segan and a recipe for 'pears' in broth (they're not really pears)

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Author
Esther French

Francine Segan is a food historian with a taste for the Renaissance. She’s the author of six cookbooks, including Shakespeare’s Kitchen (2003) and the Opera Lover’s Cookbook, which was nominated for a James Beard award. This year she’s been spending…

Studying early modern women—in Shakespeare's plays and in his time
Early modern women reading
Shakespeare and Beyond

Studying early modern women—in Shakespeare's plays and in his time

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Author
Esther Ferington

By Esther Ferington The roles of early modern women in Shakespeare’s time—both the fictional characters in his plays and the real-life women of his era—have been central to many projects created by Georgianna Ziegler, Louis B. Thalheimer Associate Librarian and…

From the archive to the oven: How to make a sweet potato pudding
Shakespeare and Beyond

From the archive to the oven: How to make a sweet potato pudding

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Amanda Herbert

“Let the sky rain potatoes… I will shelter me here.” Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor is referring here to a food that had but recently arrived to England, but was already on its way to popularity. A team of Folger researchers…

Recipe: How to make a sweet potato pudding
Sweet potato pudding ingredients
Shakespeare and Beyond

Recipe: How to make a sweet potato pudding

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Author
Amanda Herbert

The Folger is home to the largest collection of early modern western European recipe books in the United States, and a team of Folger researchers recently uncovered a very early European potato recipe in our archives. This recipe, “to make a…

Balancing the body and consulting the heavens: Medicine in Shakespeare's time
Shakespeare and Beyond

Balancing the body and consulting the heavens: Medicine in Shakespeare's time

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Author
Esther French

Hyacum, et lues venerea. Stradanus inuent. ca. 1591. Folger Shakespeare Library. Few Elizabethans were wealthy enough to afford a licensed physician. Instead, they would rely on the knowledge of a local “wise woman,” with her home collection of remedy recipes and medicines. Or,…

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