Jane Austen’s final chapter – and lasting legacy

Welcome to the History Extra podcast. Today marks the fourth and final installment of our Sunday series on Jane Austen, in which Lauren Good is joined by Dr. Lizzie Rogers to explore the author's life and cultural afterlife. And if you've enjoyed this four-part series, join us next week when we'll be exploring the final days of Pompeii. But for now, it's over to Lauren and Lizzie.

What led to Jane Austen's death, and what does her writing from later life tell us about her changing ideas? I'm Lauren Good, and in this fourth and final episode of our four-part series on the influential novelist's life and writings, I'm joined by Dr. Lizzie Rogers, as we chart the end of Austen's life, from her worsening illness to how her grave remembers her, as well as the astonishing legacy of her writing and their continued adaptations today. Lizzie, we start this episode in 1816.

Up to this point we've seen Jane experience a lot of literary success, but she's sadly become unwell. At this point she's 40 years old. Do we know what she was suffering from? So various things have been suggested. We don't know for definite what she was suffering from and various historians, medical professionals have had to look at it.

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