FRENCH TRAVELLERS IN INDIA

Two decades after the first visit of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and six years after François Bernier, a traveller named Jean de Thévenot arrived in Surat in 1666 during Aurangzeb’s reign.

SEMS TALKS: SEPTEMBER, 2026

The Baptism of Christ by Parmigianino

Hello Everyone! Come September, and we’re busier than usual! Join us for two interesting lectures this month. Check out the event details and sign up to learn about the fascinating people and things of the early modern world! …

MADNESS AFLOAT

Delightfully quirky and satirical, The Ship of Fools, a compilation of poems by the German humanist Sebastian Brant was publishedin 1494 from Basel. In it, Brant claimed to have documented the many kinds of madness or “foolishness” found among the men and women of his time.

SEMS TALKS: 20 AUGUST, 2026

Shakespeare’s Objects: Exploring the Off-Stage Lives of Early Modern Properties By Prof. Catherine Richardson, University of East Anglia Keep an eye on our EVENTS calendar for more online talks in the series. Check details of the talk on the event…

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

John Donne shroud portrait, miniature portrait, and "Biathanatos" title page image photo collage

John Donne’s Biathanatos Doyeeta Majumdar “nothing that we call sin is so against nature, but that it may be sometimes agreeable to nature” Biathanatos, I.i.7 When Hamlet muses upon “a consummation devoutly to be wished” (III.i), suicide was considered a…

LAURA WRITES BACK

Extending the line from courtly love through the Tuscan dolce stil nuovo, Petrarchism redefined the position of women in European love poetry. Yet the more things changed, the more they remained the same. Petrarchism gave women a new inviolate space