Sophie Bacchus-Waterman

Records Specialist - Early Modern Parliament at The National Archives Start your UK & international job search for academic jobs, research jobs, science jobs and managerial jobs in leading universities and top...

We're recruiting for a new role in the Early Modern team at TNA to help us integrate the Parliamentary Archives. I'm looking for someone with an expertise in pre-modern Westminster Parliament so we can join the executive, legislative and judicial collections www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOD893/r...

Actor and Archer: The double life of Robert Hardy - The Mary Rose Best known as an actor, Robert Hardy CBE was also passionate about the English longbow, and contributed to the study of those found on the Mary Rose.

Best known as an actor, Robert Hardy CBE was also passionate about the English longbow.

In our latest collections blog, we look at the work he did with the Mary Rose longbows, and the testing that proved English bowmen were tougher than we thought...

#MedievalSky An important new volume in economic history, looking at Europe across the whole 14th century. Allows more nuance in looking at before/after questions in regard to the Black Death. And it's #OpenAccess!

Stained glass window showing St Anne in a green dress teaching a young Mary in a blue dress how to read.

St Anne stained glass in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

An open medieval manuscript depicting a highly detailed calendar page with illuminated script and a border design in gold, bright blue, red, green and pink. Below the text, an illustrated scene shows two figures threshing and reaping grain with sickles in a courtyard. Bodleian Library MS. Canon. Liturg. 99. https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/3c49e764-fa4b-433c-bb79-6901edd32b8f/

Illustration from a medieval manuscript showing a person wearing a hat and cloak, holding a sheaf of wheat over his shoulder and looking extremely dejected while seated on a decorative letter. Latin text around him relates to the month of August and the labours required. Bodleian Library MS. Auct. D. 2. 6 from a manuscript by Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1033-1109. https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/1f893d08-f517-4fa8-9e20-02c225c70b71/

Illustration from medieval manuscript showing a person in a red and green tunic and tights with a green hat, harvesting wheat with a scythe, looking directly at the reader with a distinctly unimpressed expression. He's standing beneath a frame of Gothic architectural elements. Bodleian Library MS. Rawl. D. 939; Astrological and ecclesiastical calendar in six pieces; 1100-1500. England. https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/eca53671-3a29-46ef-acae-3aa2b3b48195/

Gold embossed illumination from a medieval manuscript showing three individuals harvesting wheat. The person on the right uses a tool to gather plants, the one in the centre collects a bundle of harvested wheat from the ground, and the person on the left watches whilst holding a cudgel...perhaps to 'inspire' his fellow labourers. Below, a smaller embossed miniature shows the personification of the astrological sign Virgo. Virgo, 'The Virgin', is usually represented as a young woman holding a sheaf or bundle of wheat. Bodleian Library MS. Add. A. 46. 13th Century calendar from a Psalter. Flanders. https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/5b5a488d-cf31-4bab-a347-b5ae26c01f12/

It’s #MedievalMonday and the start of August - which means you must all be waiting with bated breath to see what your Labours of the Month are.

August is typically represented by threshing or reaping. Exhausting work -as you can tell from the expressions on these faces we found in our archives!

A woman in blue at the top of a castle is striking a man in red on the head with her sword. He seems to fall from the ladder he was climbing as is it enters his skull. The woman has a look on her face that says "Don't mess with me." Reference: The Smithfield Decretals, BL Royal 10 E. IV (14th C)

Women couldn't be outlawed in 13th-century England because they were never put in law. Instead, women accused of crimes were ordered to be waived if they failed to appear at trial. The consequence of waivery was the same as outlawry's: execution (often immediately and without trial). 🧵1/4

I love that a lot of Victorian paintings of the Princes (those that depict them awake!) depict Edward as oblivious and Richard as aware that something's up. I can't remember where I read someone describe this portrait as Richard and the dog looking to the side as if they've heard something.

They're singing the praises of AI "solving problems" like... writing poetry. Insisting that this revolution will lead to a utopia where we don't have to "work" to create, as if many people don't take joy in creating, as if writing and researching and citing sources are problems to be overcome.

Claiming it will be great for everyone and drawing parallels to the Industrial Revolution. Not my period of study, but famously not a great time for everyone. Claiming that if we "distribute it equally", everything will be wonderful. Yes, that's what capitalism is all about. Equality. Of course.

Assassinated by their uncle or miraculously escaped one night? - Philippa Langley's thoughts on the Princes in the Tower mystery King Edward V and the Duke of York (Richard) in the Tower of London (Paul Delaroche, Louvre Museum, 1830).Edward V, King of England, and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, were born to Edward IV, Ki...

My latest article for the website i contribute to is live. It’s on everyone’s favorite subject, the Princes in the Tower! Read here👇🏻

I am so sick of tech giants trying to gaslight us into thinking that AI will make the world into some sort of utopia, as if we're not seeing its devastating consequences of it right before our eyes. It's like standing on the beach as they insist the giant wave we're seeing isn't going to drown us.

Woman’s memoirs give fascinating insight into life in 17th-century northern England Newly reunited manuscripts by Alice Thornton show how she navigated personal crises during tumultuous events such as the civil war

Alice! Top work @hagenilda.bsky.social @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social @sharonhoward.bsky.social et al!

www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Suggested for you Follow ... More than a dozen slavery displays in Philly, including at Washington's former home, have been flagged for a Trump admin review. Thirteen items at the President's House Site, which illustrates the paradox between freedom in the new nation and the ongoing horrors of slavery, were among those flagged for review.

I don’t think there is a day that goes by that I am not reminded of an old teacher’s admonition: “If the only history that interests you is the history that makes you feel good about yourself, you are not interested in history; you’re interested in propaganda.”

Early Modern Source Editions Teaching early modern European history is a joy. And introducing students to a diversity of sources from across the Continent is a joy. But finding those sources can be a bit of a headache… I…

Since @onslies.bsky.social went to the trouble to compile this thorough list of #earlymodern published primary sources, it should be more widely known: liesbethcorens.wordpress.com/2019/12/13/e...
And @sharonhoward.bsky.social has this page for online resources: earlymodernweb.org/resources/

An extract from TNA SP 1/93 f. 68r, which reads: "It is said maliciously that the king's grace should first keep the mother [Elizabeth Boleyn] and after the daughter and now he hath married her [Anne Boleyn] whom he kept afore and her mother also".

One of the few things most people know about Elizabeth Boleyn is that she was accused of sleeping with Henry VIII, both during her lifetime and afterwards. I take a forensic look at these accusations in my book. Who made them? When? What purpose might they have served? Is there any truth to them?

The St. Luke Evangelist portrait from the St. Chad Gospels

Another happy manuscript discovery: all the files from the 2010 digitization of the St. Chad Gospels by the University of Oklahoma/Lichfield Cathedral project have been CC licensed & made available for batch download at lichfield.ou.edu/cc-download!

#medievalsky #paleography #insularart

Photo of the cover of "The Last Medieval Queens" by J.L. Laynesmith

Though I relied on many primary sources for my book, secondary sources were also very helpful. I'm currently checking my citations of @jllaynesmith.bsky.social's wonderful book "The Last Medieval Queens", which was so helpful regarding Elizabeth Boleyn's potential role early in Anne's queenship.

The author explaining the text

Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, C II 10; Bernardus de Montemirato, Lectura super Decretales; 1st half of the 14th century; f.1r
(www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...)

You're welcome! Yes, she was married first to Humphrey Bourchier, who died in the Battle of Barnet. It's honestly surprisingly how many people were related to each other at the Tudor court.

The artes and culture and instituciouns and connectiouns that sustayne us as people wyth heartes and soules are being dismantled for financial gayne by forces that wisshe us to be more alone.

An entry within a list of Baron Berners' personal effects after his death, which mentions a "gold ring with a sapphire which my lord hath given to my Lady Wiltshire". (TNA 1/81 f. 157v)

Checking citations for "Elizabeth Boleyn", and I was reminded of this lovely mention of a 'gold ring with a sapphire' that John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, left to Elizabeth Boleyn after he died. He was her half-brother from her mother's first marriage to Humphrey Bourchier (TNA SP 1/81 f 157v)

Harewood House reveals portrait of unique Jane Austen character Sanditon's Miss Lambe is the only Austen character 'explicitly of African descent'.

Amazing write-up of a new portrait of Austen’s Miss Lambe, inspired by the research of none other than @jenniebatchelor.bsky.social (and other brilliant colleagues @cecs-york.bsky.social) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The reason historians don’t now use the term ‘witch hunts’ as a generalised term for the prosecution of people for witchcraft is that it implies witchcraft was always prosecuted in a different way compared to other crimes - it wasn’t

Delighted to announce a new date for my talk on Pirates, Highwaymen and Thieves in Criminal Biographies at the Sir John Moore Foundation Museum at Appleby Magna is Sunday 7th September at 2pm. Tickets available at Eventbrite. #criminalhistory #historytalks www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pirates-hi...

Photo of Osney Lock

A beautiful walk to visit the Bodleian Digital Library Systems and Services team this afternoon!

Biographies that claim to be about historical figures for whom little direct evidence survives should be about the figure themselves. Obviously, the period in which they lived and surrounding figures need to be mentioned, but the focus should be on the subject, as far as the sources allow.

Inscription on SJC MS 167, f. ii r. The top line reads "Syster Mare Nevel". Below this is the inscription "Syster tomysyn grove". The final line reads "Brother James Stock".

I am currently writing about SJC MS 167. This early 16th century Bridgettine processional was owned by two Syon Abbey nuns - Mary Newel (d. 1558) and Thomasina Grove (d. 1566). Their inscriptions can be seen on folio ii r. You can view the manuscript here: digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/0e88...

August is the time for reaping the wheat, and taking a break from your labours in the fields to have something to eat and drink.
#MedievalCalendar
BL Add MS 24098; the 'Golf Book'; c. 1540 CE; Bruges; f.25v

It seems this is the case for a lot of people 😊 I'm managing well enough on the screen, but I shall have to print it out and have a read to see if I spot anything I've missed!