Jonathan Willis

The Experience of Work in Early Modern England III: ‘Ploughmen go whistling to their toils’ This post is part of a series that marks the publication of The Experience of Work in Early Modern England. The book is co-authored by monster head Mark Hailwood, along with Jane Whittle, Hannah Ro…

As the agricultural cycle starts to wind down for the winter, my next post on 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' looks forward to its resumption in the new year, when...

‘Ploughmen go whistling to their toils’

manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/14/t...

The Experience of Work in Early Modern England I: Winter is Coming This post is part of a series that marks the publication of The Experience of Work in Early Modern England. The book is co-authored by monster head Mark Hailwood, along with Jane Whittle, Hannah Ro…

As you dig out your chunky knitwear from the back of the draw, I know you are wondering: 'How did people prepare for winter 400 years ago?'

Read today's post to find out (and whet your appetite for our new book The Experience of Work in Early Modern England)

manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/07/t...

📢NEW MANY HEADED MONSTER POST📢

A series of posts to celebrate the publication of a really important new study of work in #EarlyModern England, by Jane Whittle, Mark Hailwood, Hannah Robb, Taylor Aucoin.

Just off to fetch a 'burden of wood'. 🪵🪵🪵🪵🪵 🗃️

Gender and Sexuality MA - University of Birmingham Course information for prospective postgraduate students on our MA History taught masters degree programme at the University of Birmingham.

Some big news: the University of Birmingham is launching a new MA in Gender & Sexuality. It's interdisciplinary, with a focus on combining theory & practice. It's going to be amazing. I'm convening it: message or email with questions. www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgr... @unibirmingham.bsky.social

Thanks Nathan!

#CallforApplications 📣

The GHIL awards a number of #scholarships to #postgraduate students, Habilitanden and #postdocs at German universities to enable them to carry out research in Britain. Scholarships are generally awarded for a period of up to three months. 📜
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That sounds really interesting, I'd love to read more about it. It's so important to challenge the unspoken assumptions which often accompany the use of specific terminology, but finding new language or frameworks to use instead can be an even greater challenge.

Thank you Guy, that's very kind of you! It's certainly taken a few twists and turns along the way so it's great to finally have it 'out there'!

Brilliant, thanks Jamie, I hope it doesn't disappoint!

Thank you Amalia! It was a really fascinating but challenging corpus of material to work with.

Thank you Amara!

Are you curious about the potential for archival practices to shape the study of emotion; why there are letters in the English State Papers labelled 'mad'; or how the culture & politics of Elizabethan England shaped people's experience of distress? Find out here! doi.org/10.1017/S008... #earlymodern

Contrasting musical choices for Good Friday!

How did living through a period of violent religious change transform people’s experience of distress? What new light does a history of emotions approach shed on our understanding of the English Reformation? For answers see my new OA article in the JEH! doi.org/10.1017/S002...

Printed Images, Laughter and early modern History This is the first guest post in the new monster mini-series Visual Culture in Early Modern England (read the introduction here). To begin, Adam Morton considers what historians should do with the a…

📢NEW POST: Visual Culture in #EarlyModern England📢

Today Adam Morton considers what historians should do with the alien and often cruel humour of past ages that he finds in in satirical prints

🗃️ #Skystorians

manyheadedmonster.com/2025/02/27/p...

Screenshot of the front page of British Printed Images to 1700. Printed images border the screen on both sides, in the centre is the website title and various links: About, Search, Resources, Research.

📢NEW MANY-HEADED MONSTER SERIES📢

Today I introduce 'Visual Culture in #EarlyModern England', a series that celebrates the relaunch of the brilliant 'British Printed Images to 1700' database and showcases historians' use of printed images.

🗃️ #Skystorians

manyheadedmonster.com/2025/02/24/a...

Concert Review: Birmingham Bach Choir, The Rainbow Comes & Goes (November 2024) - David Barton Music In many respects, this concert was never going to be easy as we and about 35 other music-lovers battled Storm Bert, the German Market and the craziness of the Birmingham Christmas shoppers to make it ...

CONCERT REVIEW | ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall, the programme was intriguing and brave, and the Birmingham Bach Choir delivered a committed and stylistic performance of these challenging works, for which the whole team should be congratulated.

www.davidbartonmusic.co.uk/concert-revi...

From the Margins to the Centre in Seventeenth-Century England - Boydell and Brewer Collection of essays showcasing how one of the greatest historians of seventeenth-century England has shaped and continues to influence the direction of stud...

New Book coming out! boydellandbrewer.com/978183765166...

Pevsner on Brum: 'There have been no dramatic events in the history of Birmingham, and only a few national heroes. But there has been the constant industry and ingenuity of many people, which has gradually gathered momentum to establish a great city.'

The first in what's likely to become a series of occasional posts with (linguistic rather than architectural) gems from Pevsner's 'Buildings of England'. On Bedworth, Warks: 'A depressing small town. The church, though neutral, is architecturally too good and too solid for it.'!

Merry Christmas everybody, I hope you have a lovely time, whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whoever you are spending it with!

Thanks so much Rebecca, it's taken a long time to write, and so many people have helped and influenced the work that's gone into it, but it's great to finally see it out in the world!

Thrilled that Tara Hamling's and my article 'From Rejection to Reconciliation: Protestantism and the Image in Early Modern England' is now available to view open access on the Journal of British Studies website!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources is an introduction to the rich treasury of source material available to students of early modern history. During this period, political development, economic...

Routledge are having a 25% off sale!

You could buy @drjpw.bsky.social and my guide to finding and working with #EarlyModern primary sources 🗃️

www.routledge.com/Understandin...

A rosy-fingered dawn in south east Birmingham this morning!

"The Rabble that Can Write"

*NEW* post from @markhailwood.bsky.social giving you a taste of the many, many different ways people left their mark (ha!) in #EarlyModern England: manyheadedmonster.com/2023/11/21/t...

Mark's arrival means all the monster heads are here now, polluting these once blue skies ... #EarlyModern 🗃️

@brodiewaddell.bsky.social @drjpw.bsky.social

Autumn in full swing!

There's definite [risk of entering/opportunity to enter - delete as applicable] Hyacinth Bucket territory there...