Richard Cassidy

I’m well, thank you. Hope you’re likewise, and that our paths cross, at the IHR for instance, soon.

This is a shock. He taught me on the MA course at KCL. I last saw him at Leeds last summer, when he was so cheerful and enthusiastic about the Domesday Book research. May he rest in peace.

Front cover of The Cambridge Companion to Matthew Paris, showing the drawing of Matthew’s death.

Just received the first book I’ve seen with a 2026 publication date, a present from me to me. But sad to be reminded of the loss of Björn Weiler, as it includes one of his last articles. #medievalsky

Good title. Try to get it finished in time for the 750th anniversary.

Unfortunately, as I now spend two days a week looking after grandson, and one day a week recovering, I will be unable to take up your ingenious suggestion. Have fun!

Congratulations. As everyone has no doubt already told you, the first twenty years are the worst …
You then get a break before becoming a grandparent, and start changing nappies again.

The morrow of Michaelmas - yet another Exchequer year begins.

On the heavy tallages, I think the major source is Robert Stacey, ‘1240-60: a watershed in Anglo-Jewish relations’, in Historical Research vol LXI, 1988.

Grinning author holding up a slim volume called Approaching Pipe Rolls.

Traditional proud author photo, at publishers’ stand at #IMC2025.

Attrib to Samuel Johnson (as is just about everything which isn’t attrib to Oscar Wilde):
“Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”

Wow. Surely the last bag must contain the Lego Quasimodo.

Ah yes, the old straight wire.

Extract from the miracles of Simon de Montfort: ‘The same man told of a fowl which had been dead, carved up and half eaten. After being measured, it was splendidly brought back to life through the merits of the earl …’

A carved and half-eaten chicken brought back to life? The most impressive miracle in the Evesham abbey miracle book, from ‘Saint Simon de Montfort’, ed and trans by David Cox.
An editorial note speculates that this might have been a joke. #medievalsky

I only say it because I mean it. And I hope it helps to spread the word.

The front cover of a hardback book, Approaching Records of the Household and Wardrobe, by Abigail Armstrong. The book is propped up by volumes of just such records. The cover is mostly plain shiny black, ideal for showing fingerprints.

Received and read the new book by @medievalabby.bsky.social
In just over 100 pages, this provides a great introduction to a complicated set of records, with case studies showing how they can be used (for example) to illustrate royal gift-giving and household management.
#medievalsky

Congratulations! Looking forward to reading it.

#medievalsky I just received my annual statement from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Soc. www.alcs.co.uk
Only about £140, but better than nothing, for photocopying etc of my relatively few books and articles. If you haven’t heard of it, UK medievalists might find it worth investigating.

Fortunately, not a problem I have to deal with in indexes concerning 13th century England.

Poor Berengaria - she had a hard time getting what she was owed.

May I add H.M. Cam on the hundred rolls and the sheriffs. And first woman professor at Harvard, I believe.

In Word preferences, go to AutoCorrect, then select Maths AutoCorrect. I think you will find that it should replace \thinsp with a thin space, if it is turned on. If you will be using this a lot, perhaps you could choose something shorter as the thing to be replaced.

Exciting times! Looking forward to reading it.

Just in time to ensure that you make the most of the week by having plenty of sleep.

Line of text from pipe roll: Et in sustentatione elephantis Regis et custodis sui … usque ad festum Sancti Valentini antequam idem eleph’ moreretur.

St Valentine’s day is of course memorable as the anniversary of the death in 1257 of Henry III’s elephant in the Tower of London. (See the icon by my name. Recorded in pipe roll for 1257.) #medievalsky

When I worked in the press office at British Gas, I seemed to spend a lot of my time telling reporters that the chairman was Sir Denis with one n (which I found confusing, because my father was Dennis with two ns).

Maximum opus - had I but known how big it would turn out to be, and how long it would take, I don’t think I would have started it.

It will probably be a while before it reaches you, but I hope you find something useful in it.

I hope you find useful material for your areas of interest - there seemed to be an awful lot of people paying for writs.

They get bigger later in the century - which is why we need some sort of calendar, rather than transcripts like this for every year. As Mabel Mills pointed out in 1926.

Thank you, Dean. I’m sure you’ve already checked the index for the Jewish entries.