'One Stroak of His Razour': Tales of Self-Gelding in Early Modern England.

This article examines stories of men who gelded themselves in early modern England. These events, it argues, were shaped and partly motivated by a culture in which castration was seen as both degrading and potentially empowering. Religious precedents such as that of Origen of Alexandria framed self-gelding as a foolhardy activity, but one which nevertheless indicated an impressive degree of mastery over the body and its urges.

Wombs, Worms and Wolves: Constructing Cancer in Early Modern England.

This essay examines medical and popular attitudes to cancer in the early modern period, .1580-1720. Cancer, it is argued, was understood as a cruel and usually incurable disease, diagnosable by a well-defined set of symptoms understood to correspond to its etymological root, (the crab).