EI Portraits EI Portraits

Vanessa Harding on the God-fearing diarist Nehemiah Wallington whose personality was far removed from the cosmopolitanism of Samuel Pepys, his fast-living contemporary. Read by Sebastian Brown.

Image: An excerpt from Nehemiah Wallington's diary, dated 1654. Credit: Folger Shakespeare Library. 

Peter Frankopan on the Byzantine princess Anna Komnene who, banished to a convent for her political ambition, devoted her gifts of observation to charting the fortunes of her father's empire – etching her legacy as Europe's first female historian. Read by Sebastian Brown.

Image: Anna Komnene, a Byzantine princess and scholar. Credit: history_docu_photo / Alamy Stock Photo

Gillian Clark on Saint Monica, mother to Augustine of Hippo and lionized by the Latin Church, a women of many names and many more mysteries. Read by Sebastian Brown.

Image: Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica. Credit:: Carlo Bollo / Alamy Stock Photo 

Jenny McCartney on Comte Lanjuinais, who risked his life by defying the Jacobins. Read by Sebastian Brown.

Image: Comte Lanjuinais speaks at a febrile meeting of the National Convention, 1793. Credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo

Armand D'Angour on Aspasia of Miletus, wife of Pericles and friend to philosophers. Read by Sebastian Brown.

Image: 19th Century lithograph of Aspasia of Miletus. Credit: GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo