For the Tudors and Elizabethans, a beard denoted masculinity while beardlessness indicated boyhood or effeminacy. How a man wore his beard - or not - said a lot about his power and position in society. 

In this edition of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to theatre historian Dr. Eleanor Rycroft about her hirsute pursuits, analysing the depiction of beards in portraits and on stage, what their various colours, shapes and sizes meant, and what they tell us about gender attitudes in early modern England.