The story returns for a brief moment outside the normal timeline to ask ourselves some crucial questions- here, at the start of the Tudor age, what was the prevailing mindset of the Londoners of the period? How did they conceptualise themselves and a world that was brutal compared to our own conditions? How did they fundamentally differ from people living today? An important set of questions because it will hopefully help explain everything that is to come.

A deep dive into attitudes towards health, diet, grief, alcohol, risk assessment and faith.

Cover shows a detail of ‘Venus and Mars’ by Sandro Botticelli, c.1485