The REED N-E Team are pleased to announce the recent publication of Early Performers and Performance in the Northeast of England by ARC Humanities Press. You can get your copy here: https://arc-humanities.org/products/e-6997-110100-60-6826/. Here is the publisher’s description: ‘Description This collection explores the evidence for a wide variety of performance traditions up to 1642 in the […]
Here are some images from the recent ‘Dragon Tales at Prior’s Hall’ event, held in the Prior’s Hall in Durham Cathedral on 17 June. REED North-East would like to thank all of the staff, performers, volunteers and attendees (and of course the dragons!) for making this event such a success. All photo credits: Michael Baker.
The custom of choosing a boy to act as ‘Bishop’ for one or more days each year, often with a considerable element of parody, was familiar throughout western Europe in the later Middle Ages. The Boy Bishop of Durham was chosen from among the children of the Almonry School, founded around 1340, whose schoolroom was […]
REED: Durham editors are pleased to announce the launch of the ‘pre-pub’ records from the post-Reformation accounts of Durham Cathedral. After the death of the first dean (and last prior), Hugh Whitehead, in 1548, Durham had a succession of strongly protestant deans, one of whom, William Whittingham, dean 1563-79, had even spent some years in […]
REED: Durham editors John McKinnell and Mark Chambers are pleased to announce the launch of the latest collection of records from Durham: the Durham Priory Feretrars’ Accounts. The ‘Feretrar’ (Medieval Latin feretrarius, from feretrum) was the officer-monk in charge of the shrine of St. Cuthbert and relics related to the saint – for their upkeep and maintenance, […]
REED: Durham editors Mark Chambers and John McKinnell are delighted to make available the latest set of Records of Early English Drama gathered from the documents of Durham’s great medieval monastery: from the accounts of the Almoners of Durham Priory.* The Almoner was the monk in charge of distributing charity and charitable gifts on behalf […]
REED: Durham editors John McKinnell and Mark Chambers are very pleased to announce the launch of the pre-publication records from the Durham Priory locelli. The designation locelli (from Latin locellus, lit. ‘a little place’) originally referred to boxes or chests in which important documents were stored. Now referring to a category of important Priory documents, the Durham locelli contain […]
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 late 16th-century account of the earlier, pre-Reformation rites and practices of […]
In an update to REED N-E’s earlier ‘Flower of the Month’, we’ve discovered that Durham might have even older evidence for plow ceremonies than those mentioned last week (see Epiphanytide in Medieval Durham). As mentioned in the previous post, accounts from several of the manor houses attached to Durham Cathedral Priory record payments to ploughmen and […]
Today, 15 June, is the Feast of Corpus Christi. This feast, traditionally celebrating the ‘Body of Christ’ represented by the bread and wine of the sacrament of Communion, has been a highlight of the Christian calendar for nearly 700 years, and is still the premier feast day following the celebration of Easter. Special services will […]