Monthy Round-up

Medieval 'selfies'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-33098831

Oxford nunnery excavation:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/01/medieval-oxford-nunnery-witches_n_7469386.html

Job hunting using social media:
http://www.nus.org.uk/en/advice/careers/how-to-use-social-media-for-job-hunting/

Digital age Magna Carta (British Library project)
http://www.medievalists.net/2015/06/10/what-would-the-magna-carta-look-like-if-it-were-written-for-the-digital-age/?utm_content=buffer4feca&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

In addition to the British Library's illuminated manuscripts catalogue, this is another useful catalogue for finding medieval images:
http://ica.themorgan.org/default

Sneak peak of the upcoming medieval lego book (including contributions from Reading's own History department!)
http://geekdad.com/2015/06/medieval-lego-book/

...and finally, who doesn't want a spot of dragon on lady sex to round off their Saturday:

(conception of Alexander by Nectanebus and Olympias - BL, MS Burney 169)

GCMS Summer Symposium

Having written the day up as a blog for the History's department's page, I thought I'd simply share the social media aspect of it with you here. For those of you that follow me on Twitter (@nunastic) I'll post a link the blog when it goes live.

Suffice to say, the day went really well and had a nicely celebratory feel to it, whilst being peppered with some really interesting research papers.

Sainthood - Saint Anthony of Padua

Before diving into today's medieval trivia, here's an event which if you're in the South of England may be of interest to you:

Buy tickets here: http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/

Onto some saintly-ness...Saint Anthony was born in Lisbon in 1195 and was an Austin Canon before becoming a Franciscan friar in 1220 after being impressed by the martyrdom of several friars in Morocco.

He was a great speaker and taught at several universities in addition to preaching. He eventually dedicated his life to preaching and remained in Padua until his death in 1231. He was canonised in 1232.

He is usually depicted wearing a Franciscan cowl and with bread, flame, heart, lily, book, and Jesus as a baby. He is invoked for finding lost things and women looking for husbands. He protects orphans, prisoners, shipwrecked persons, pregnant women, sterile women, sick children, glaziers and conscripts.

Notes

Image: "St Athony of Padua", by Benozzo Gozzoli, mid-fifteenth century, in Santa Maria d'Aracoeli Gallery, Rome, Italy

Giorgi, R. Saints, A year in faith and art (New York, Abrams: 2005) p. 352

Que the Benny Hill music

As I am currently in the throes of research for a paper for a conference on Peterborough abbey this summer, I'm coming across a lot of interesting accounts including this one.

In 1304, the coroner for the Peterborough area reported:

"On Thursday 30th January/6th August, 1304, a certain Robert Hod of Seytingdon and a certain Agnes of
Ardingthorn, at the time of Compline, broke the prison of Peterborough and placed themselves in the church of St Thomas the Martyr, at Peterborough. And the said Robert Hod acknowledged the breaking of the said prison and the commission of the theft of six pigs and other robberies; and the said Agnes of Hardingethorn
acknowledged the breaking of the said prison and the theft of six fleeces of wool, worth 2 shillings; for which
robberies and felonies, they abjured the realm of England before H[ugh] Daundely with [a jury formed from]
four nearby towns, namely, Wittering, Thornhaugh, Newark with Eastfield, Eye, Carton with Dogsthorpe; And the port of Dover was assigned to the said Robert Hod and the port of Portsmouth to the said Agnes. Chattels of Robert Hod: one tunic, worth 2 d; 1 hood worth 1 d; shoes worth 1 d. The township of Peterborough shall answer for those. Chattels of the said Agnes: none."

What's interesting is that this is the fourth incident I've come across of this happening at Peterborough and I've only really begun going through the documents.

This is a rough plan of the modern day Peterborough Cathedral's entry precinct. The medieval prison is now the building south of the gatehouse and as you can see, the chapel to which the prisoners claimed sanctuary was only a short walk away.

Upon reading this extract, I immediately envisaged a series of Benny Hill like chases as the gaoler attempted to corral his escapee prisoners.

Notes

Plan - Harriet Mahood, 2014

Extract from the coroner's roll for Nassaburgh, Northamptonshire, 1304, PRO/JUST 2/107, membrane 4A, verso, Latin; transcribed and translated into English by T. Halliday