In this episode, host Susannah Lyon-Whaley talks to Ben James about his exciting new book on the female convents of Lisbon, including the royal women who lived in these monastic institutions. Ben James is a historian of early modern Portugal and completed his doctoral research at King’s College, London. His thesis was entitled The Female Convents of Lisbon 1640-1750: Economies, Material Culture and Sociability. Most recently, he has worked as a research assistant for the National Palace of Sintra. His first monograph The Female Convents of Lisbon 1640 to 1750 was published by Routledge in June 2026.For more on royals and nuns, see Magdalena S. Sánchez, The Empress, the Queen, and the Nun: Women and Power at the Court of Philip III of Spain (John Hopkins University Press, 1998).

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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