Eliot Benbow

Very much looking forward to the next London Medieval Society colloquium on 21st February via Zoom. Four fascinating papers on the subject of nonconformity in the Middle Ages. 😊

You can sign up via the Zoom link here: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Still a few days left to apply for the next colloquium on Late Medieval and Early Modern cities. 🙂

Please do get in touch with any questions.

Wow this is amazing! 🙂 (Side note they also found rosary beads on board like with the Mary Rose…)

Toys, Trifles & Trinkets The Museum of London's collection of pewter, bronze, and brass toys is the largest of its kind in the world, comprised of some 1,800 items. This is the first comprehensive inter-disciplinary study eve...

The wonderful book by Hazel Forsyth and Geoff Egan based on mudlark Tony Pilson's wonderful collection of medieval and post-medieval toys (now held at London Museum) is a good example of this connection: www.google.co.uk/books/editio...

Absolutely yes, the sorts of dress accessories, beads, badges, toys and other types of cheap consumer goods that often form part of mudlark finds correspond nicely with these sorts of imports. Much would have also been made locally, but there does seem to have been a particular import trend. 🙂

Brief section of text from the searchers account of London Searcher William Baldry "Et de lviiii s vi de de med[ietate] cix s de p[re]c[io] lviii duo[denis] [58 dozen] de copyn hatts ml ml [2000] de tenys ballys & duo[rum] parv[orum] sacc[orum] cum brusshes ...... The goods were arrested at London on 4th November 1464

Just as a small example: here is London searcher William Baldry seizing some goods including 2,000 tennis balls, 58 dozen "coppyn" hats (felt hats) and two small sacks of brushes which had been imported "contra formam statuti" i.e. against the import legislation [TNA E 122/186/3 m.1]

As a result you get instances of the searcher in London seizing cargoes of tennis balls along the Thames riverfront (which were one of the items proscribed in the 1463 legislation) but it seems that there is very little wider evidence of the bans being enforced.

It's also worth saying that the mercantile and commercial politics of these imports is very interesting. Attempts at import bans in 1463 and 1484 were made by a number of London's artisanal companies in an attempt to halt the flow of cheap imports by the wealthier London merchants and Aliens.

What the accounts certainly show is a vibrant culture of cheap, imported wares for everyday use and consumption (and certainly onward distribution) of which Londoners and their colleagues in the Low Countries were supplying (and driving) a substantial demand.

Volume IX, Issue 4 (Autumn 2025) Welcome to Volume 9, Issue 4 The articles presented here grapple with how our understanding of medieval objects changes with time, including our assumptions from not that many years ago. The pieces…

If you happen to be interested in I have recently written an article for the journal Peregrinations which you can find here: peregrinations.kenyon.edu/2025/12/17/v...

Beads were ubiquitous imports in the accounts. But also common are the large quantities of children's toys, clothes, games, bags and other evidence of the materiality of childhood. A fascinating thread to follow in our upcoming work on these records.

He had, for instance, imported a large shipment of 600,000 beads in November 1494. His will of 1502 [TNA PROB 11/13/313] reflects this range of importing - he left substantial quantities of cheap goods or "pennyworths" totalling £40 out of his remaining stock.

Many of such merchants had access to prime London retail property. Henry Somer (fl. 1478-1502,d. 1502) rented multiple shops on London Bridge in the 1470s including the first shop on the Bridge as you entered from the north side. He imported some similarly large quantities of "stuff."

These merchants and their the Low Countries counterparts (many of whom settled in London or in Southwark) supplied much concerning the goods of everyday life to Londoners in the Later Middle Ages, and brought great quantities of goods across the channel from fairs at Antwerp and Bergen-op-Zoom.

A selection of the imports of London Haberdasher Thomas Ostriche (fl. 1423-1454) with a pair of bone framed spectacles recovered from the Thames Riverfront excavations at Trig Lane in 1974

A distinct group of London merchants focused on this general importing in the 15th century, especially the Haberdashers who built their wealth in such everyday imports, using this accrued wealth to buy their way into the cloth trade. As the collected imports of Thomas Ostriche (fl. 1423-1454) show.

Delighted to re-post the first of the outputs from the Unlocking Upcycled Medieval Data Project. We've been fascinated to see the wide range of objects, games, toys, material culture within the London Customs Accounts. 😊

Parchment bag with long handle containing a 15th century searchers account for King's Lynn (or Bishop's Lynn as it would have been) TNA E 122/181/39. The bag contains a textual inscription describing the account and a modern call archival catalogue number.

Behold King's Lynn [TNA E 122/181/39]

I think the tassels on the corners are a nice touch. 😊The handles on some of those vellum bags are long enough to be thrown over the shoulder🤔. Turns out that there's actually loads of them at TNA, the ones I've seen have 15th century searchers accounts and related documents in them.

Thank you very much! I believe the seminar will start at 5:30. 🙂

Very much looking forward to presenting at the Low Countries History Seminar at the IHR this evening. I'll be talking about merchants from the Low Countries who specialised (and excelled) in supplying London's goods market with everyday stuff in the later Middle Ages. 😊

The programme for the London Medieval Society Colloquium on Women & Knowledge scheduled for Saturday 22nd November from 10:20 to 15:00 UK time. The poster features an illumination from a medieval manuscript depicting a group of women seated and standing reading a number of books. Image credit: British Library, Harlety 4431, f. 107

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone to the upcoming London Medieval Society @londonmedievalsoc.bsky.social Colloquium on Women and Knowledge which will be Saturday 22nd November from 10:20-15:00 UK time. 🙂

You can find the zoom registration link here: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Here is the full programme for the London Medieval Society colloquium on Women and Knowledge on the 22nd November.

We are very excited to welcome everyone to the colloquium and to hear a range of fascinating papers. 🙂

You can find the Zoom registration link here: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

This poster provides the details for the London Medieval Society Colloquium on Women & Knowledge. Saturday 22nd November 10:00-15:00 (UK time) via Zoom In the centre of the poster is an image from a Medieval manuscript of a group of standing and seated women reading a number of books Image credit: British Library, Harley 4431, f. 107

@londonmedievalsoc.bsky.social London Medieval Society will be hosting its first colloquium of the academic year on the 22nd November 2025 on the subject of Women and Knowledge in the Middle Ages. 😊

You can find the Zoom link here: us02web.zoom.us/j/81823681150

The EAUH 2026 Barcelona call for papers has been extended! We've had some great submissions for our panel on pre-modern quaysides and customs records, but have room for some more - please do consider making a proposal!

Delighted to be working on the III Colloquium on Late Medieval and Early Modern Cities with @arodsan95.bsky.social and @emmaolson5.bsky.social. Excited to see the proposals and the conversations that develop. 😊

Deadline for submissions 31 Jan 2026

Please do get in touch with questions or queries!

We're absolutely delighted to invite you to this upcoming symposium on Nineteenth-Century Medievalisms, co-organised by the New York Medieval Society and the LMS!

It will take place on 18 Oct 2025. Please join through this link: us02web.zoom.us/j/8729115924...

We look forward to seeing you all! 🙂

programme of hte Low Countries Seminar, Institute of Historical research, Fridays 17:30 17 October: Alexander Marr: Three Renaissance ‘Grotesques’: Holbein, Dürer, Massys 31 October: Dirk van Miert: The Synod of Dordrecht: binding the Anglo-Dutch orthodox Republic of Letters 17 November: Eliot Benbow: Low Countries Merchants in and around London c. 1350-1550: Specialising in the Trade of Everyday Goods programme of hte Low Countries Seminar, Institute of Historical research, Fridays 17:30 17 October: Alexander Marr: Three Renaissance ‘Grotesques’: Holbein, Dürer, Massys 31 October: Dirk van Miert: The Synod of Dordrecht: binding the Anglo-Dutch orthodox Republic of Letters 28 November: Eliot Benbow: Low Countries Merchants in and around London c. 1350-1550: Specialising in the Trade of Everyday Goods

PROGRAMME! Excited to be welcoming Alexander Marr, Dirk van Miert, and @ebenbow.bsky.social this term -- and David Hopkin, Jeroen Puttevils, Feike Dietz, Sam Geens, Valika Smeulders, and Gloria Moorman in Spring.

All welcome @ihr.bsky.social or zoom! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #SkyStorians

There's still plenty of times to get tickets for our 80th anniversary event on 'Memory and Commemoration' on Saturday 18th June:
www.eventbrite.com/e/memory-and...

Very much looking forward to what is shaping up to be a fantastic celebration of LMS on its 80th anniversary!