Adolescence is a time of adaptation between childhood and adulthood, and it’s often described as a modern invention. This course will look at how people in their teens and twenties navigated social demands and expectations around work, law, education, and marriage in the period 1400-1700. The course will address issues around biology, gender, violence, sexuality, mobility, and forced labour, with attention to comparing experiences between distinct traditions in different parts of the early modern world.