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Showing posts from March, 2024

Who were these historians?

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Leez Priory photographs (courtesy of the Foxearth and District Local History Society)

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Tomb of 2nd Lord Darcy (St Peter and St Paul parish church, St Osyth)

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Tomb of 1st Lord Darcy (St Peter and St Paul parish church, St Osyth)

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St Osyth Priory gatehouse c.1959

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The World Turned Upside Down again

  I understand that John Rees (Goldsmith's College) and Waseem Ahmed (UCL) have signed contracts with Boydell and Brewer to edit a volume of essays in tribute to Christopher Hill's book, The World Turned Upside Down. A follow-up to the recent conference at the IHR, I suspect.

Trinity College, Dublin: Early Modern History seminar on 8th April (pasted)

  8 April 2024 Food Culture and Identity in Ireland (ERC FoodCult Project) Susan Flavin & Charlie Taverner (TCD), Meriel McClatchie (UCD), Alice Rose University of York), Fiona Beglane (ATU Sligo), Julie Dunne (University of Bristol)

Losing the 'social origins' of the English Civil War or Revolution

I often begin my mornings by browsing the internet and social media sites to see what new items have appeared on subjects in which I am interested. By chance, I came across a post by Susan D.Amussen on Facebook enquiring in May, 2014 about the disappearance of books on the origins of the events in the 1640s in England covering both the social origins and the political history of the country during these tumultuous events. (Her post can be found  here  together with a number of comments from historians mainly based in the U.S.A.) This phenomenon derives from the supersession of the economic and social determinism of Tawney and Stone after the 'revisionist' response in the mid-1970s. By 1990, the latter was itself a spent stream of analysis. I am not a determinist of any kind but I do not entirely rule out the possibility that economic and social changes prior to 1640 did contribute to the 'grand soulevements' as I prefer to call it in England and Wales (if not in Scotlan

Charmian Mansell, Female Servants in Early Modern England

Looking at Charmian Mansell's Twitter (aka X) account a few moments ago, I discovered that her book on this subject can now be downloaded free of charge.

Richard Cust and David Hughes on the Gunpowder Plot of 1605

 I have just come across this brief article from 2018 in The Irish Sun by Richard Cust and his son on the subject of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  It can be read  here  .

Simon Bradley's revision of the Pevsner Guide to the buildings of Oxford

John Adamson's review of this work can be read in the December, 2023- January, 2024 edition of The Critic  here  . 

Oliver Cromwell

 I caught up last evening with John Adamson's essay on England without Cromwell and followed that by watching John Morrill's discussion with Joel Halcomb on the editing and production of the three volumes on Cromwell's Letters and Speeches published by the Oxford University Press in 2023. A more than stimulating way to develop one's knowledge.

Wales in the Civil Wars 1642-1648 (pasted notice)

  New Podcast Beyond England’s Borders Wales Besieged (1642-1648) Some historians refer to the British Civil Wars as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland.  As a result it is easy to forget the Welsh experience and imply that it was unexceptional. But Dr Lloyd Bowen, Reader in Early Modern and Welsh History at Cardiff University says this ignores the  important and unique Welsh dimension to the conflict. From the beginning, Wales – apart from  the Parliamentary enclave of Pembroke - was united in its loyalty to the King and by the end of the first year of the war about a fifth of all Welsh men were engaged in fighting for the Monarch.  Thereafter, Wales was so important to the Royal army it became known as “The Nursery of the King’s Infantry”. In the years that followed Wales remained steadfastly loyal to the Crown even when its aristocracy and gentry were besieged in their homes and castles until finally, as so often happens in Welsh history, they were subjug

History in Higher Education in the United Kingdom

Most people engaged with or employed in higher education in the United Kingdom will be aware of the pressures facing universities, pressures in particular over admissions and regarding finance. The Minister in the current government responsible for higher education is Robert Halfon, the Member of Parliament for Harlow in Essex. He can be contacted most readily via his constituency office there or by e-mail at halfon4harlow@roberthalfon.com By coincidence, the next President of the Royal Historical Society, who will be taking up office in that post next autumn, is Lucy Noakes who holds a professorial chair at the University of Essex (which is located in Wivenhoe to the east of Colchester). The Royal Historical Society is a body that represents historians covering a wide range of historical interests in the U.K. and elsewhere. She can be contacted on l.noakes@essex.ac.uk

Samuel Argall and the cases of John Hudson and Edward Brewster

 Samuel Argall and the cases of John Hudson and Edward Brewster The government of the English colony in Virginia under Samuel Argall between 1617 and 1619 was and is a contentious subject. As acting or Deputy Governor in this period, Argall was involved in a dispute with Edward Brewster, the Captain of the vessel, the Neptune, upon which the Virginia Company’s designated Governor, Lord De la Warr, had been travelling to assume command in Argall’s place. De la Warr had died en route. When the Neptune reached Virginia, there was a quarrel between Argall and Brewster over the disposition of De La Warr’s goods and servants. As a result, Brewster was tried by a Court Martial, sentenced to death and, although reprieved , sent into banishment in England. If he returned, the original punishment would be applied. Argall’s conduct was subsequently the subject of investigations in England, of disputes between Sir Edwin Sandys, the company’s chief officer from late in April, 1619, and his follower

Cambridge University: Call for Papers for 'Material Culture in the Early Modern World' (pasted)

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A summary account of the Hines and Gillain papers on Caroline foreign policy 1634-1642

A summary of these papers given at the Institute of Historical Research last week can be found  here  .

Durham MEMSA Call for Papers (pasted)

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King's College, University of London: (pasted post on) Law and the Early Modern: Power, Speech, Form 10 May, 2024

  Law and the Early Modern: Power, Speech, Form 10 May 2024, 10.30am - 6pm Council Room, King's College London Register here. The ‘legal turn’ in social, political, and literary history has shown the fundamentality of law to ways of being, knowing, and making in the early modern world. Across intensely legalistic and interconnected cultures, the practice and forms of law structured and reflected gender, power, race, and status relations, as well as systemic forms of subjugation, inequity, and enslavement. These relations are refracted in different ways when situated in different social, cultural, political, and, crucially, disciplinary contexts, and they pose urgent questions for our understanding of and engagements with the early modern past. This colloquium will bring people together from different fields to think critically and collaboratively about law not just at but  as  a disciplinary juncture. In particular, we ask what intersectional, inclusive, and explicitly interdiscipl

Past and Present Society event (3rd April, 2024): Popular Knowledge of the Law in Early Modernity

 Details of this event to be held in St John's College, Oxford can be found via the link  here  .

(Pasted) Notice of seminar in Cambridge today on Medical Microhistories in the Early Modern Period

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The Material Culture of Wills, England 1540-1790 project (pasted)

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Visit to the Essex Record Office today: a soggy, wet experience outside

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Northern Early Modern Network Conference 12 June 2024 (pasted) call for papers

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Forthcoming early modern history events (pasted notices)

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  Saturday, April 20 Prayer Book and Revolution Leading historians will discuss the significance of Christ Church MS 540, and its place in the Civil Wars and religious identity. By  Christ Church Library Follow Date and time Saturday, April 20 · 10:30am - 8pm GMT+1 Location Christ Church Upper Library Saint Aldate's Oxford OX1 1DP Show map Refund Policy Contact the organizer to request a refund. Eventbrite's fee is nonrefundable. Agenda 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM Registration 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Session 1 Ken Fincham (University of Kent), ‘Charles I, Laud and the reformation of the British churches’ Richard Cust, (University of Birmingham) ‘Charles I and the Scottish Revolution 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM Lunch Lunch is not provided, but can be easily found in the city centre. 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM Session 2 Will White (University of Hertfordshire) 'Prayer, preaching, and piety in Civil War England' Sarah Mortimer, (Christ Church, University of Oxford), 'Images, ideas and Anglican iden