@richardasquith
Historian, archivist and researcher, College of Arms and the Vintners’ Company. Secretary of the Yorkist History Trust and Harlaxton Medieval Symposium. Urban history, death, piety, trust, and executors in pre-Reformation England; also early modern art.
1510 probate record with a seal depicting the murder of Thomas Becket
Spotted in the searchroom this week was this 1510 probate with a very interesting seal! It appears to depict the murder of Thomas Becket and is in pretty good condition given its age! 📷 D/EBP/E33
We can just imagine how useful this will be for late 15th c researchers!
What better opportunity than #WorldBookDay to announce the publication of our latest volume!? 🎉📖 Claire Martin's 'The Post-Mortem Accounts of Sir Thomas Charlton, d. 1465', is an important edition of a fascinating collection of #medieval documents. More info: yorkisthistorytrust.org/2026/03/05/n...
Yeah good point - the plot thickens…
A quick look at the edition on Archive.org (very scholarly, I know) seems to have very different styles of woodcuts, including one of an elephant and castle that looks similar in date to this one - perhaps he was reusing old blocks?
That’s what I was wondering!
I don’t have any suggestions I’m afraid, but it’s an interesting image - do you think it represents a double deathbed? The presence of a scribe(?) on the left is intriguing…
Has anyone come across this woodcut before? It may have belonged to Abel Jeffes at some point but not entirely sure. EBBA isn't working for me so any help would be much appreciated!
It appears that the only expenses the Vintners laid out at Midsummer was purchasing white cloth to make coats for the wine drawers - not quite the same...
I just checked her book and it suggests (p.16) that mustering of citizens with arms recounted by fitz-Thedmar may have been the origin of the Mayor's Watch at midsummer. She cites Sheila Lindenbaum, 'Ceremony and Oligarchy: The London Midsummer Watch', but I'm afraid I don't have a copy!
Photograph of a 16th-century account which includes the entry 'Item for making clean their harness'.
This is also my reading - very similar things in Vintners' accounts (and elsewhere). Entry below groups it with other assorted weapons and armour (1543), and see 'harneis' in MED: 'Personal fighting equipment, body armor'.
Image of an early 16th-century account for ‘money paid for expenses for upping of swans’, which includes the entry ‘item paid in the great frost to James the under swan herd for upping of the master’s swans’.
The earliest reference in the Vintners’ accounts to swans is when James the under swan herd took them up from the Thames during the ‘great frost’ - they crop up again and again for centuries thereafter!
Book your ticket to our 2026 Maurice Bond lecture, 7th May at the Guildhall Library in London on "Sustainability and Resilience – the Future of Preventive Conservation" 📚
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/maurice-bo...
Last week @mappingthemarch.bsky.social held a launch for my new book and a new book by the brilliant @mattlampitt.bsky.social in the atmospheric crypt of The Mount Without. It was so much fun to celebrate with friends, family, and colleagues who have supported us along the way! #medievalsky #newbook
Thank you Kathleen, that’s amazing!
Detail of the fifteenth-century drawings of the deathbed of Richard Whittington, sometimes (but not always) attributed to the limnour William Abell.
#Historians, #ArtHistorians, and #Manuscript scholars - does anyone have a copy of J.G. Alexander, 'William Abell, Lymnour and fifteenth century English Illuminator’, in Kunstshistoriche Forschungen Otto Pacht Zu Seinem 70 Geburtstag (Salzburg, 1972), that they might be able to share with me? TIA! 📖
Photograph of the cover of Clare Gittings’ book, ‘Death, Burial and the Individual in Early Modern England’. It shows a black and white image of a funeral procession, but the title and the author’s name are in neon pink capital letters.
Agreed - hers is an excellent book and possibly a contender for the coolest (and most 80s) cover of any history book!
Detail of the fifteenth-century drawings of the deathbed of Richard Whittington, sometimes (but not always) attributed to the limnour William Abell.
#Historians, #ArtHistorians, and #Manuscript scholars - does anyone have a copy of J.G. Alexander, 'William Abell, Lymnour and fifteenth century English Illuminator’, in Kunstshistoriche Forschungen Otto Pacht Zu Seinem 70 Geburtstag (Salzburg, 1972), that they might be able to share with me? TIA! 📖
Has this research been published? Would be fascinated to read more!
Distemper or oil on linen painting depicting St Martin and the Beggar. The saint is shown standing on a plinth with sword in one hand and section of cloak in the other; the composition is repeated within the same outline on both sides of the banner, creating a mirror-image; one one side St Martin is shown wearing a green hat and on the other a blue hat.
The Banner of ‘St Martin and the Beggar’ is perhaps the earliest sizeable fragment of an English painted cloth in existence.
Recent research suggests that it might have been the banner of the Worshipful Company of Drapers in London.
A map is shown, with the logo of the Historic Towns Trust in the top left corner. The words "Mapping our Past, Shaping our Future" are written in the centre.
Join us next week to learn about how an Atlas of London in 1666 has been researched!
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Picture of Professor Caroline Barron
24 Jan 2026, the Anne Sutton Memorial Zoom Lecture will be given by Prof Caroline Barron speaking on 'The Precinct of St Bartholomew's Hospital in the 15th & 16th centuries' Members of the Richard III Society can register for this free talk by following the instructions in the new RIII Mailing 1/2
Less then two weeks left for this CFP!!
Come and join us in London for an exciting research exchange on movements in late medieval and early modern cities. We are looking forward to getting to know about your work! 🤗🤗
#medievalsky #skystorians #callforpapers #medieval #earlymodern #history
The call for the @londontopsoc.bsky.social Ann Saunders prize is now open. londontopsoc.org/about-us/ann...
Poster showing the details of the book launch event with a gradient green background, with each book cover featured in the centre of the page
Double book launch 📚
Celebrating new books by @latemedievalist.bsky.social and @mattlampitt.bsky.social, with introductions by Professor Christian Liddy & Professor Miranda Griffin.
Food and drinks provided.
🗓 26 Jan 2026, 5–7pm
📍 The Mount Without, The Crypt, Bristol
All welcome to attend!
A map is shown, with the logo of the Historic Towns Trust in the top left corner. The words "Mapping our Past, Shaping our Future" are written in the centre.
Join us next month to learn about how an Atlas of London in 1666 has been researched!
This webinar is in collaboration with the Historic Towns Trust @historictownstrust.bsky.social
Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-r...
#WeAreLocalHistory #LocalHistoryForAll
Covers of the following 5 new titles in the New Historical Perspectives book series. Forging Fraternity in Late Medieval Society, Rachael Harkes Atlantic Isles: Travel and Identity in the British and Irish West, 1880–1940, Gareth Roddy Waterscapes: Reservoirs, Environment and Identity in Modern England and Wales, Andrew McTominey Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England, Hannah Jeans Voice, Silence and Gender in South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Struggle, Rachel E. Johnson
In 2025 the Society was pleased to add 5 titles to its 'New Historical Perspectives' book series for early career historians bit.ly/4qh8eDt
This year saw publication of the 25th NHP title and the 200,000th download from the series. All books are available free Open Access @uolpress.bsky.social.
Morgan's 1682 map of London. Black and white, showing Tower Bridge, Wapping the Thames and Bermondsey.
Delighted to be continuing as a research assistant on the London on the Eve of the Great Fire project. To support the creation of this Atlas and Gazetteer of 1665-6 London then consider a donation to the project. @historictownstrust.bsky.social 🗃️ shop.historictownstrust.uk/product/donate
Very useful - thank you!
These are marvellous, Eleanor! Can I ask what ink you used? My Christmas lino project is a couple of foliage-clad jousters from a manuscript in the BNF who might benefit from being printed in green