Rude Tudors

You know monkeys are hot. Renaissance folks might have thought so, judging from the sexualized and exotic ways in which they depicted and discussed apes and their ilk. In this episode of English history podcast Rude Tudors, literary historian Liz Rodriguez and nerdy laywoman Nicole Keating dig into popular descriptions of monkeys and apes, an animal that many people would never have seen in the flesh. Where did they get their information? From bestiaries, or wacky encyclopedias that were part myth, part legend, part history, and part observation. But they were totally nuts. Find out the answers to the following questions:  What are the tropes commonly used to describe and position apes and monkeys?  What is the role of the exotic in perceptions of apes and monkeys?  What do apes and monkeys have in common with humans, and what does that say about Renaissance conceptions of humanity? Check out RudeTudors.com to play along with Hot or Not: Monkey Edition.  Are you DTL--down to learn? Then take a raunchy jaunt