Lucy Allen-Goss

Pulling on the Threads of History: Writing 'Good' and 'Bad' Tudors Cynthia Harnett, H. M. Castor, and fictions of Henry VII

Pulling on the Threads of History: Writing 'Good' and 'Bad' Tudors
open.substack.com/pub/lucyalle...

YES!

It’s so common to come across the assertion that books were luxury objects exclusively for the elite in the Middle Ages that I want to guest curate a massive exhibition called “Meh-nuscripts: Books for the Many,” which features just workaday or unremarkable objects.

Catherine Tuggy's Plant Nursery in 1630s Westminster: Women in Horticulture .... aaaand a bit on the gender pay gap.

Did you know that in 1633, a woman called Catherine Tuggy had a plant nursery getting rave reviews, on the site of an old monastic garden in Westminster? Women belong in horticulture. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/catherine-...

Thank you! Much appreciated. I know they had land (annoyingly referred to both as 'pasture' and 'garden' and so had the space to keep cattle ... but of course, whether they did anything with the hides themselves is another matter. And yes, I'm well thanks! Hope you are too.

(Incidentally, while entertaining very preliminary thoughts about this I came across your submerged graphosphere project, and it looks *amazing*!)

@drdavidrundle.bsky.social Hello! This is a niche question but I am sure you will know - do we have evidence for the monks of Westminster making their own parchment in the fifteenth/early sixteenth centuries? (I have a convoluted interest in cows pastured on Long Acre!) Would love your expertise!

Oh, thank you, you are kind! I ought to get my university of York access to thing like this sorted out (I have a bad habit of letting it lapse).

Oh, you are a star! (I don't have subscription).

Anyone know the etymology of the colour/dye word 'gingeline'? I wondered if, like 'grideline' it comes from a corruption of 'de line' (flax). I am loving this quotation about 'silk grogans, satins, velvet fine/ The rosy-colour'd carnadine/ Your nutmeg hue, or gingerline/ Cloth of tissue or tabine'.

Look what arrived today, or at least the ebook did. This is the first encyclopedia devoted exclusively to medieval women’s writing globally,focusing on the thousand-year period between 500-1500. Entries on about 250 women writers plus longer thematic essays. You’re welcome.

Stob fobbing women off with 'grief is love with no place to go' Can we please just acknowledge that sometimes, it hurts for a reason?

I'm really proud of this post (so I am correspondingly nervous about sharing it). In it, I'm arguing against the narrative of grief as 'love with no place to go,' which I think is damaging and dismissive.

lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/stob-fobbi...

Wonderful news from Birkbeck's School of Historical Studies. We're hiring not one but TWO open-ended, full-time roles: Medieval Studies, and History of Art! cis7.bbk.ac.uk/home.html#fi...

Check out the CFP for the Gender & Medieval Studies conference in Oxford in Sept! Theme is ✨GENDER & CREATIVITY✨ Conf generously support by University College, Oxford; the John Fell Fund (Oxford University); the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship; the GMS group; & @guildmedmak.bsky.social

Professor Deborah Cameron on Language and Gender Professor Deborah Cameron discusses Language and Gender.

Very saddened by the death of Deborah Cameron this week—a brilliant linguist, feminist, and colleague, who shone bright light on language and gender in society.

Here she is talking about why people are interested in linguistic differences between men and women:
englishandmedia.co.uk/videos/colle...

Yes, I found this bit of her argument so powerful! She captures exactly what it's like to be constantly chipped away at by people who can only imagine one kind of 'correct' way to be struggling or in need.

It's an amazing book.

Such a lovely surprise. Lucy's reading is so perceptive and thoughtful - honestly, if no one ever reads or reviews All My Worldly Joy again, I will be happy with this!

This is going to be wonderful!

When Women Scream Like Hawks: Emotion, Memoir, and the Hamnet Debate Today’s post was sparked off by a wonderful book I read, far too quickly and far too late into the night (because I couldn’t put it down): Laura Richmond’s All My Worldly Joy. It was also inspired by ...

I am, on reflection, genuinely stunned that Jonathan Bate got away with writing a review of Hamnet that basically concludes with 'she should have written the book *I* wanted to read' and 'if only she'd thought of making the main character a man!' Thoughts:

lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/when-women...

Weaving Dreams, Quilting Community Dr. Kim F. Hall in conversation and hands-on demo with fellow quilters Dr. Christa Gilliam, Juandamarie Gikandi, and Jacqueline Johnson.

If you are in #NYC next week, come to “Weaving Dreams/#Quilting Community” a panel discussion-sewing demo featuring textile artists/writers/organizers who have inspired me. You’ll get swag to embellish!! #quiltsky #Artsky #Blacksky Pls register by 1/27!

www.eventbrite.com/e/weaving-dr...

When Women Scream Like Hawks: Emotion, Memoir, and the Hamnet Debate Today’s post was sparked off by a wonderful book I read, far too quickly and far too late into the night (because I couldn’t put it down): Laura Richmond’s All My Worldly Joy. It was also inspired by ...

Here's my post, which is about Hamnet, and emotion, and gender, but also about the fantastic new memoir All My Worldly Joy, by Laura Richmond, which totally blew me away. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/when-women...

1990s, I do hope?! Unless you have a much darker secret than you've been letting on! :D

Yes, I have been told this too!

Spinning Tall Tales: Shakespeare's Silk Mulberry and Magical Herbs in 'Hamnet' I have not yet watched Hamnet. I will - I might post about it - but the general excitement about it has brought me back to the novel behind the film. I found Maggie O’Farrell’s writing spellbinding, b...

Here's today's post, on Shakespeare, Jacobean silk making, and what we do with historical records. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/spinning-t...

So many happy memories here!

Spinning Tall Tales: Shakespeare's Silk Mulberry and Magical Herbs in 'Hamnet' I have not yet watched Hamnet. I will - I might post about it - but the general excitement about it has brought me back to the novel behind the film. I found Maggie O’Farrell’s writing spellbinding, b...

It's a Hamnet post for me today - book, not film - because I stumbled across a reference to silk-making in Greer's biography of Hathaway (which O'Farrell cites as an influence), and it got me thinking about the way women's work, and practicality, are portrayed.

open.substack.com/pub/lucyalle...

I love they do Oberon vanishing into leaves. It's delightful.

An image from a cartoon version of a play by Shakespeare. Head and shoulders, a young man with curly hair and a headband wearing an Elizabethan ruff over a Greek-style tunic, showing his hairy chest. He's looking not very kindly at a young woman, also wearing a ruff, with red hair, who is smiling up at him.

Lysander: but what about Demetrius and HELENA? #MoonMad #SlowShakespeare
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
Disdainful Demetrius & doting Helena in a still from the opening of the BBC Animated Tales Dream; adapted by Leon Garfield, the storytelling stands up well www.dailymotion.com/video/x7umt8z

Ohhhh ... I loved the Animated Tales! I think I have the whole of this one in my memory. 'Lysander loved Hermia, and Hermia loved Lysander. What could be better than that?' Etc. Such a great version.