On Monday, 14th September, members of the REED N-E team attended the launch of Anne Lancashire’s monumental, 3-volume set of Records of English Drama: Civic London to 1558. This gala event took place in the magnificent Skinners’ Hall, on Dowgate Hill in London, and was hosted by Professor John McGavin, Chair of REED’s executive […]
The prior of Durham Priory was, for much of the medieval period, a very powerful religous figure who guided the monastery with the piety and seriousness required by the Benedictine Rule. However, this doesn’t mean that, on occasion, he wasn’t open to some levity: we have records of Durham priors employing professional fools (jesters, ‘fatui’, […]
A sad tale from the commonplace and account book of Francis Stringer of Sharlston, near Wakefield in the West Riding of Yorkshire: Francis Stringer (1565-1637) lived at Sharlston, and was twice married. His first wife having died, he married Dorothy, the widow of Cuthbert Fleming of Sharlston Hall, and the Stringers subsequently lived at the […]
Today is a beautiful sunny Maundy Thursday in Durham. In light of the day, we’re reposting this Flower from a few years back: How did the medieval monks of Durham celebrate Maundy Thursday? A work known as the Rites of Durham – a mid 16th-century account of the earlier, pre-Reformation rites and practices of […]
See REED N-E’s Professor John McKinnell discussing the death of Durham’s 13th-century tightrope walker* on BBC Television! John can be seen (briefly) on BBC North-East’s Inside Out programme from 23rd February. The programme is available on BBC iPlayer until the last week of March. Click on the link below. John appears in the final piece […]
A Flower of the Well for the Flower of the Month – conflicts over old customs in Aldborough Cause papers in the Diocesan Registry of York (Borthwick Institute, York, H.C.C.P. N.D./11 [1594-5]) provide two records of conflict over the performance of folk customs in Aldborough: 1. In July 1594, Robert Rodes (alias Scotson) heard that […]
Mr Jamie Beckett joins the REED North-east from the university of York. Here he is interviews by research associate Dr Mark Chambers: MC: Jamie Beckett, welcome to the REED-North-east team! First of all, tell us about your educational background: what kinds of past research projects have led you to want to join REED-NE? JB: Before […]
Here’s an interesting little puzzle. On 21 January 1617/18, Richard Cholmeley paid the players of Philip Lord Wharton (of Healaugh, WR) six shillings for a performance of ‘The Dumb Knight’ at his estate in Brandsby/Stearsby. This play, by Lewis Machin and Gervase Markham, has twenty-three speaking parts and at least nine non-speaking roles as printed […]
This record of a local court case of 1522 from the Beverley Great Guild Book (East Riding Archives BC/II/3, f. 27) illuminates not only the contemporary spectator sport of bear-baiting but the political tensions (and often open war) between English and Scots at that period. It shows us that John of Grene, the Earl of […]
October’s Flower tells of a scandalous libel case from the villages of West Yorkshire. One of the main reasons that defamation—libel and slander—became an issue for the civil courts—was to punish those who would undermine the credibility and authority of administrators of justice. Shakespeare captures this idea near the end of Measure for Measure when […]