I found a Shakespeare record. I'm trying to be cool about it (but it is pretty exciting). www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/s...

Very much looking forward to Dan Gosling (TNA) speaking on 'A Question of Sex? Assessing Lord Mansfield’s “judgment” on the sex of the Chevalier d’Eon' this Wed. @long18thsem.bsky.social @ihrlibrary.bsky.social All welcome online or in person, but please register: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

This Wednesday 24 September, I'm speaking @long18thsem.bsky.social on the various "judgments" made on the Chevalier d'Eon's sex in 1777. To whet your appetite, here's the title slide, and you can register for this (free) hybrid talk via the link. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

An interesting item from the Court of Requests project just went live. The plaintiffs were stage players that played in Philip Henslowe's Rose theatre, now complaining about an agreement to play in the Swan theatre. TNA REQ 2/266/23 discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2...

An interesting item from the Court of Requests project just went live. The plaintiffs were stage players that played in Philip Henslowe's Rose theatre, now complaining about an agreement to play in the Swan theatre. TNA REQ 2/266/23 discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2...

Hot on the heels of E 134 Victoria, the first hundred MISC items for Exchequer depositions by commission are now on the catalogue. A lot of 17th Century stuff in there. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/r/C...

History curious? You don't need to be in London (or the UK) to attend many Institute of Historical Research seminars, although if you're in Bloomsbury you'll enjoy doing so. Most are hybrid (online/in person). They're free, usually fortnightly and open to the public. Starting this week:

This Wednesday 24 September, I'm speaking @long18thsem.bsky.social on the various "judgments" made on the Chevalier d'Eon's sex in 1777. To whet your appetite, here's the title slide, and you can register for this (free) hybrid talk via the link. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

The swear passed muster with the editors! One step closer to getting "go f*ck yourself" in an academic article, which will genuinely be a career highlight.

Still some time (well, 1 day) to submit an abstract for The National Archives panels at IMC 2026, if anyone fancies a last-minute submission @imc-leeds.bsky.social

There's a LOT going on in this King's Bench title rotulet. Church, State, Henry VIII, a bunch of weird little guys. I love it. TNA KB 27/1019 aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT3/H8/KB2...

Very much enjoying Anthony Delaney talking to m'learned colleague Dr Gosling tonight re Queer Georgians, his book which is doing a podcast tour at the moment. I bet the commercial pods don't invite/get/provoke such a full-throated defence of archival research vs, say, litcrit. Heh.

The @ihr.bsky.social Late Medieval Seminar series for autumn 2025 is now published. Themes from ladies in waiting to the custom house, and a roundtable on editing sources. All seminars are hybrid (or fully online), also, I'm now one of the convenors! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Join us next Wednesday for our first seminar of this year with @thegozfather.bsky.social discussing Lord Mansfield’s judgement on the Chevalier d’Eon (register via this link www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...) Check out the following clip to receive a sneak peak! www.tiktok.com/@long18thcen...

Next week (24 Sept) I'm speaking at the @long18thsem.bsky.social on the English court cases relating to the Chevalier d'Eon, and whether they really made a legal judgment of d'Eon's sex (they did not, but don't you want to find out what was actually going on). www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Tomorrow (Wed 17 Sept), I'll be chatting with Anthony Delaney about his excellent new book Queer Georgians. You can sign up for this free (pay what you want) online event via the link. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/whats-on/eve...

Hot on the heels of E 134 Victoria, the first hundred MISC items for Exchequer depositions by commission are now on the catalogue. A lot of 17th Century stuff in there. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/r/C...

Tomorrow (Wed 17 Sept), I'll be chatting with Anthony Delaney about his excellent new book Queer Georgians. You can sign up for this free (pay what you want) online event via the link. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/whats-on/eve...

Interested in London trades in the 16th Century? Court of Requests proceedings in REQ 2 have you covered. One way to find a bunch of cases (over 500) is to search REQ 2 for "citizen and". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_a...

You can now fully search Exchequer depositions for the reign of Victoria [1837-1841] online. Plaintiffs, defendants, subject, county, dates of commission, the whole shebang. Enjoy! discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C...

Interested in London trades in the 16th Century? Court of Requests proceedings in REQ 2 have you covered. One way to find a bunch of cases (over 500) is to search REQ 2 for "citizen and". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_a...

Oh, how frustrating. If only there were a way to search Exchequer depositions for the reign of Victoria online... (For those of you that can't see where I'm going with this, don't worry, there's another post)

Anyone else see a screaming face, or just me? 😱 TNA C 147/1138

According to the British Press, in July 1777, the sex of the Chevalier d'Eon was "legally substantiated in a court of judicature." Join me @long18thsem.bsky.social on 24 Sept 2025 to unpick that statement, because it doesn't quite tell the whole story.

On 17 September 2025, I'll be chatting with Anthony Delaney about his excellent new book Queer Georgians. You can register for this online event via the link. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/whats-on/eve...

There is something so archivally satisfying that this bundle of deeds has a note to say which Chancery case they were brought in for (Keyt v Coventry). TNA C 149/28

There is something so archivally satisfying that this bundle of deeds has a note to say which Chancery case they were brought in for (Keyt v Coventry). TNA C 149/28

A lovely endorsement on the back of this deed, "this deed was cancelled by cause it is forged" TNA C 147/1097

Want a quick way to find over 1,500 sole female plaintiffs bringing cases to Requests in the 16th Century? Just search REQ 2 for "SFP". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_a...

REQ fact of the day. Did you know (I didn't before I started this project) that the King of Portugal is listed as a complainant in an Elizabethan Requests case? You can now find the record by search REQ 2 for "King of Portugal" [REQ 2/253/44] discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2...

First off, for the pun alone, here are two mentions of recusants in the new catalogue data #REQusancy discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q...

#REQciting news for fans of the Court of Requests. As of this morning, over 20,000 new online item descriptions have been added to the catalogue for REQ 2/16-265 since Feb 2024. Captain Nemo eat your heart out. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/r/C...

A lovely endorsement on the back of this deed, "this deed was cancelled by cause it is forged" TNA C 147/1097

A big REQ 2 (Court of Requests proceedings) milestone coming this week. Get ready for some truly terrible REQ puns to celebrate. #GreatREQspectations

This does, of course, mean that my chapter in @kjkesselring.bsky.social and Natalie Mears' excellent Star Chamber Matters is now out of date. A small price to pay to get these descriptions on the catalogue. Do still check out Star Chamber Matters (open access) though. uolpress.co.uk/book/star-ch...

When you stop the group to take the perfect cathedral photo.

How burdensome were financial penalties on 13th-C villages & tithing groups? How effective was the frankpledge system? These are questions I’ve discussed before briefly, but I’m finally getting back to now. In time it’ll be a book on social control in 13th-C England. academic.oup.com/histres/arti...

I found a Shakespeare record. I'm trying to be cool about it (but it is pretty exciting). www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/s...

Anthony Delaney isn't on here, so here's a shout-out for his new book, Queer Georgians - published today! It looks fabulous . . . 🌈📚🗃️ www.penguin.co.uk/books/460692... @doubledaybooks.bsky.social There's an online event with AD and @thegozfather.bsky.social (The National Archives) on 17 Sept . . .

Durham looking very Wear-y this morning.

Fascinated that In Our Time is one of the BBC’s most popular podcasts among under 35s. The young people demand three academics and a peer discussing Demosthenes, apparently. And they’re right to do so.

A great article about our archive collections featured in the @yorkpress.bsky.social‬ by our Head of Archives, Julie-Ann Vickers, discussing the international appeal of the archives here at Explore York.  https://tinyurl.com/mwjdnbnj #york #archives

Fifteenth century conference this week, seventeenth century writing next week, eighteenth century seminar the week after. Legal history truly doesn't care for puny (or should that be puisne) periodisations.

The National Archives (UK) from the air. Nothing like spying your workplace on your way back from a holiday to bring you back down to earth...

A volume of dragons, the sort of archival arrangement I can get behind. TNA BT 244/457 [full credit to my colleague Olivia for showing me the volume] discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2...

"Don't go Napoleon on that, boys" is quite the song title. TNA COPY 1/1108

Henry VIII is displeased with you [from the title rotulet of a King's Bench Plea Roll, TNA KB 27/1084]

Join The National Archives at Leeds IMC in 2026! @imc-leeds.bsky.social

Closing date for this Early Modern Parliamentary Records Specialist role at The National Archives is this Sunday (31 August). Details via the link in the original post.

My favourite thing about this King's Bench title rotulet from Richard III's reign isn't the boar forming the initial P (though that's pretty cool). It's the fact the clerk forgot to include the law term (a pretty important detail) and had to add it in superscript [TNA KB 27/888/2]