🎄CHRISTMAS BLOG POST!🎄 A silly gift for you all: I dug through The National Archive wills looking for Christmassy names. There were a lot, inc: Mr 🎅 Christopher 🍮 ❄️ Green Thomas 🦃 Theophilia 🛷 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... 📜 #EarlyModern 🗃️ @leverhulme.ac.uk @uoearchhist.bsky.social

Some interesting references to beer and brewing in this free to access book, The Experience of Work in Early Modern England by @markhailwood.bsky.social et al www.cambridge.org/core/books/e...

Yesterday I resumed my 'perambulation' of the 17th century parish boundary of Portishead, the subject of my current research on 'Everyday Life in the Seventeenth Century English Village'. My 'research walk' started where the parishioners would have done, at the church...🧵

Ramping up food preparations ahead of Christmas? They did so 400 years ago too... Check out Taylor's post on seasonal work in early modern England, or dive into the 'Rhythms of Work' chapter of our new open access book on The Experience of Work in Early Modern England doi.org/10.1017/9781...

Pudding season approaches; #Thanksgiving is here. Closing my seasonal series of posts marking the publication of our new book, I revisit a case where food takes the plate Featuring industrious duckwives, wisemen & gossiping quarrymen #earlymodern ludicrushistories.wordpress.com/2025/11/27/t....

Last week I went on a 'research walk', a new thing for me. I was attempting to 'beat the bounds' of the parish of Portishead, which is the central case study in my current book project about everyday life in 17th century villages. A good start; it was a dry day... 🧵

Cosy season is well upon us Curl up w/ a warm drink & NEW post on CUP's blog: The #Autumnal Experience of Work in #EarlyModern England This seasonal celebration of our new book features apples & pears, cider & ale, meat & markets, & the #Christmas milling craze cambridgeblog.org/2025/11/the-...

To mark #Halloween & publication of 'The Experience of Work in #EarlyModern England', (now available in print & free online), this blogpost revisits the magiconomy. 🧙🎃 Highlights include a magical service paid for with bacon and pigeons. 🥓🪶 #history ludicrushistories.wordpress.com/2025/10/30/t...

So pleased to be on the list of American Historical Association prize winners. My book, Female Servants in Early Modern England, was awarded the Morris D. Forkosch Prize in British, British imperial, or British Commonwealth history since 1485. Congratulations to all the other awardees!

Lecturer in Early Modern History, Liverpool Hope University: memorients.com/news/lecture...

A missed opportunity on the headline here @wsc.co.uk. ‘Rewilding’, surely?

Got your copies yet? @jwhittle.bsky.social @aucointaylor.bsky.social @hkrobb.bsky.social

Final post in my series on 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England'. It focuses on the heartbeat of the premodern economy.... the harvest. manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/16/t...

I believe you kids call this an ‘unboxing’…

“Histories of friendship… are a way of multiplying connection; a way of making real, small, and embodied solidarities echo louder down the years.” I really enjoyed @lauracforster.bsky.social new article on histories of/ friendship/ as methodology 🗃️ williamgpooley.wordpress.com/2025/10/16/f...

If you want to know more about our use of handwritten text recognition software (Transkribus) on the wills project, tune in on Zoom next week 👇 All welcome (not just postdocs!). #EarlyModern 🗃️ #DigitalHumanities #HTR #CitizenScience

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...

A career highlight for me to join Chris Hoban and various musicians (a string quartet! a hurdy-gurdy man!) on Saturday to deliver an afternoon of history & music at Exeter Phoenix. It's so special to be able to share my #EarlyModern research with the public in such a powerful & meaningful way. 📜🎵🎻🗃️

Another post on 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' - a reminder that work in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was very much a family affair... manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/09/t...

There's still time to grab your ticket for a FREE 'WILLS PROJECT' EVENT Join @lsangha.bsky.social & musician Chris Hoban this Saturday for a FREE performance of history & music inspired by #EarlyModern wills 📜🎵 📍Exeter Phoenix 📅Sat 11 Oct 🕐13.30 Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stories-an...

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...

The night is dark and full of terrors! As the days grow shorter+ the darkness creeps in, grab yourself some pilfered firewood, slaughter a sheep, and read more about seasonal work patterns from @markhailwood.bsky.social +others’ new book on experiences of work 🗃️ manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/07/t...

Coming soon💨 How has energy shaped a nation? Electric Wind by @DudleyMarianna.bsky.social is a cutting-edge history of wind power in Britain, from the industrial revolution to the aftermath of war, through energy crises and the changing politics of the late twentieth century💡 Pre-order now!

I'm very excited to be part of the vibrant FUTURES Festival this year, inviting people to get involved with exciting research happening in the South West. Come along to Exeter Phoenix - you will also be able to see posters belonging to the wills project leader @jwhittle.bsky.social Programme 👇

Who did what in early modern England? New #OpenAccess book, 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' by @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, @hkrobb.bsky.social & @aucointaylor.bsky.social, based on thousands of #EarlyModern court depositions 🗃️ Read it: doi.org/10.1017/9781...

Delighted to see our new book - The Experience of Work in Early Modern England - out now, and open access (free!) doi-org.bris.idm.oclc.org/10.1017/9781...

Delighted to share that my first book The Experience of Work in Early Modern England (co-written with the fantastic @jwhittle.bsky.social, @markhailwood.bsky.social, and Hannah Robb) has been published and is available free and Open Access! doi.org/10.1017/9781... #earlymodern #economic #history

Please help. Please sign & share. I work on a degree programme known as ELCE for mature students who didn't or couldn't do a degree at 18. Bristol uni has decided to close it. Bristol was set up to serve this community & now we are losing our most accessible degree. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The vast majority of UK students attend good to excellent universities that don't have or use the "right" spoons. De-spoon the university.

And that’s a wrap! Doing a PhD with @markhailwood.bsky.social and Prof. Jane Whittle (with Dr. Tyler Rainford, left, as my PhD brother) was the absolute best. I may not be in academia, but you can bet I’ll still be infiltrating @drinkingstudies.bsky.social anyway 😂❤️

The winners of the BAHS's Joan Thirsk Prize (2025) have been announced. They are: Charmian Mansell, 'Female Servants in Early Modern England' @oxfordunipress.bsky.social John Bulaitis, 'The Tithe War in England and Wales, 1881-1936' @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social Congratulations to them both!

Do you know what I find works really well for cleaning my glasses? Nothing.

Wow - so many people already signed up for our Wills Project Transcribathon later this month! 🙏 If you drop by you can transcribe some lines & help make 25,000 English wills more accessible for all. In person & online, join us here: willstranscribathon.eventbrite.com #EarlyModern 🗃️ #Palaeography

Myself & @jwhittle.bsky.social have been collaborating with the Gender & Work project at Uppsala for a decade now: so we're very excited to have a collaborative article comparing the gender division of labour in early modern Sweden and England: www-cambridge-org.bris.idm.oclc.org/core/journal...

Today!

Campop blog #48: Are Mrs and Miss, for married/unmarried women, relics of a patriarchal system? Amy Erickson explains that Mrs used to denote a woman of status irrespective of marital status. Read the blog for the history of Miss! @camunicampop.bsky.social www.campop.geog.cam.ac.uk/blog/2025/05...

We are pleased to share the details for the Annual Gender & History Lecture, which will be given by Dr Onni Gust. Their talk is titled 'Kin: transgender history with and beyond the human'. May 15, 2025, 15:00 - 16:30 (In person and Online) Register here 👇 ticketpass.org/event/ELMPHJ...

Delighted to announce the first three events in our re-launched 'Think While You Drink' series. Based in pubs in Bristol, free and open to all, come and join us for some interesting and fun talks this spring/summer. Sign up for the first event here: fb.me/e/2uqWTYz3s

Delighted to be collaborating with @britbeerwriters.bsky.social for this online event with @culturalclare.bsky.social @professorpub.bsky.social @thurnellreadsoc.bsky.social and Dr Rob Deakin, chaired by @philmellows.bsky.social www.beerguild.co.uk/news/new-gui...

fancy a bit of legal history, law and literature, and practice-as-research? come to my @leverhulme.ac.uk-funded workshop at @sheffieldcems.bsky.social on the 23rd May. featuring libels, process-serving, facsimile documents, lewd remarks and document eating! tinyurl.com/4ras5xtv please share widely!

Thanks to my department for combining my and my colleague's Leverhulme Trust teaching buy out into an almost full time (0.9) 1 year post 👇 - Application deadline 16th April #EarlyModern 🗃️ 1/ www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DML369/l...

MPs realising in real time just how utterly dire things are is a welcome development. I do want to highlight that many MPs seem to think them asking universities not to fire people or declaring "jobs must be protected" has any effect right now, whatsoever, on what those universities are doing.

ok this is SO cool, adding immediately to the "to read" file. 🐻

Excellent stuff from Adam Morton on teaching History through images - starting my classes with an 'image of the week' has had a similarly positive effect on student discussions. manyheadedmonster.com/2025/03/18/t...

📢NEW VISUAL CULTURE POST📢 The monster mini-series wraps up with Adam Morton on teaching with #EarlyModern printed images. Can they spark discussion in a way other sources don't? #Skytorians 🗃️ manyheadedmonster.com/2025/03/18/t...

📢NEW VISUAL CULTURE/MONSTER POST📢 Malcolm Jones tracks the uses & abuses of a particular printed image (bet you will never guess what's under the flap!) 👇 🗃️ #Skystorians #MaterialCulture #EarlyModern manyheadedmonster.com/2025/03/11/c...

Does anyone know of any published work on, or that at least touches on, early modern birthdays?

A new many-headed monster mini-series on Visual Culture in Early Modern England, you say? To mark the relaunch of British Printed Images to 1700, you say? A post by Adam Morton about visual humour, you say? Sounds like a hoot... manyheadedmonster.com/2025/02/27/p...

📢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...

ICYMI: the many-headed monster has just launched a new mini-series on Visual Culture in #EarlyModern England. Over the next month we celebrating the relaunch of British Printed Image to 1700 by publishing guest posts on the theme. 1st post tomorrow (Thurs)!🗃️ manyheadedmonster.com/2025/02/24/a...