Licoricia of Winchester

Marriage, Motherhood and Murder in the Medieval Anglo-Jewish Community. It sounds like another pseudo-medieval bodice ripper or Cadfael clone. Can anyone really have been called Licoricia? But hang on a minute. Wasn’t Suzanne Bartlet a Fellow at Southampton University, until her death in June 2008? And Licoricia of Winchester was actually a real and famous Jewish woman.

Medievalists.net reports that

On a spring day in 1277, the prominent Jewish businesswoman Licoricia of Winchester was found by her daughter murdered, stabbed to death in her own house. Alongside Licoricia’s body was that of her Christian maid, Alice. Why was Licoricia killed? And why was her death reported as far away as Germany? In this ground-breaking new book, Suzanne Bartlet draws on extensive research in the fiscal archives of medieval England, most notably those of the Jewish Exchequer, to examine the family history behind the famous murder. This is the story of Licoricia’s route to wealth through advantageous marriages (her second amidst a divorce scandal which was referred to the Beth Din in Paris) and business acumen, the business contacts she made, the close relationship she appears to have had with King Henry III, and the altogether more mixed fortunes of her sons. By using Licoricia’s family as an example, Bartlet demonstrates the gradual deterioration in the conditions of even the wealthiest Jews in England in the run up to the Expulsion of 1290, as well as drawing together the fragments of a medieval life which has long fascinated historians, but has never been fully investigated.

Who needs fiction when you can have the truth?

Filed under: History

Fourth Century Paintings of Apostles discovered in Roman Catacomb

The oldest known images of the apostles Peter, Andrew and John have been uncovered in the catacombs of Santa Tecla, near Rome beneath thick deposits of white calcium that had accumulated in the humid conditions over the centuries.

Professor Fabrizio Bisconti said: “It’s an exceptional discovery that was made by using a laser technique to uncover the yellow and red pigments beneath layers of calcium deposits. The tomb is believed to have belonged to a noble woman of Rome.”

Chief restorer Barbara Mazzei told Associated Press: “Using the laser, restorers were able to sear off all the layers of calcium that had been bound onto the painting because the laser beam stopped burning at the white of the calcium deposits, which when chipped off left the brilliant darker colors underneath it unscathed.”

This announcement comes after the initial discovery last year of the portrait of Saint Paul.

You can see photos of the catacomb and the icons here.

Filed under: Art, History

Bygone Glory: but Well Done Wisbech Now

The 2009 dig at Wisbech Castle has bee nominated for the Best Community Archaeology project in the current round of British Archaeological Awards. As you can see from the plaque, the Castle was a Bishop’s Palace in the fifteenth century. The vanilla villa at Lynn Road is a fine residence, but palaces just aren’t what they used to be. Just as well really.

Filed under: History

A Conversation between Water and Wine

Image: Trinity College, Cambridge, and to Scriptorium: Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts Online under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeriv license.

A project at Cambridge University called ‘Scriptorium’ has just put online a collection of commonplace books or manuscript miscellanies from the 15th to 18th centuries. To catch the public eye the press release calls them a digital archive of 500-year-old ‘filofaxes’ which offers extraordinary insight into early thought and writing practices.

The earliest ones are very similar to the sort of manuscripts I’ve worked on over the years, though mine had stronger links with the school room, where these ones reflect more adult interests (no, not that sort of adult, sorry)and often seem to have an eye on the kitchen!

Here is a leaf from Trinity Coll Camb MS O.9.38 (fol 12v) which does not give an actual recipe but rather a Latin poem representing a dialogue between Water and Wine – published by Wright in his collection of the poems of Walter Mapes, but not necessarily by him.

If you look in the left column in the bottom half of the page you should be able to see the words Aqua and Vinum introducing the speeches. The poem is set at the end of a great feast after lots of courses and even more wine (line 2 – Post diuersas epulas, et post vinum multum). Everyone is falling into a drunken sleep, but the poet is rapt up into the third heaven (that of Venus [contrast St Paul and the seventh heaven!]  line 6 – Raptus sum et tercium celum penetraui), and takes part alongside God in judging a debate between Thetis (godess of the waves, mother of Achilles) and Lyaeus (another name for Dionysius, god of wine).

It’s all good fun, and even more so if you get into the rhythm of the goliardic verse.

Filed under: History

The Trumpington Bible

“Frugal Dougal” writes a good local blog called Draughty Old Fen Tales and we keep in touch from time to time. He was amused recently to find his blog inundated by search engines looking for “Trumpington Bible”. Why? He had used the two words separately, but never together. What was going on?

All was revealed when he put up a post on the subject and commenters quickly told him that Bishop Tom Butler on Thought for the Day had mentioned the Trumpington Bible – which is on display in the current excellent exhibition of Treasures at Lambeth Palace Library.

The Bible was an Ely book which the Vicar of Trumpington had borrowed to keep Thomas Cromwell happy (you had to have one in church which could be seen at his inspection). Then the Vicar panicked, because being short of Hebrew as well as a Bible, he saw the word “Eli” in it, and took it mean “Ely”. Would his ruse be realised? In Bishop Tom’s words:

In 1539, Thomas Cromwell ordered that the Great English Bible should be placed in every parish church in the land – and instituted inspections to make sure that it had been. Panic ensued in the small Cambridgeshire village of Trumpington when the inspectors were on their way – for Trumpington had no Bible. Still, the parish priest, who was a resourceful man, borrowed a horse and rode to the nearby town of Ely where he borrowed a Bible.

All seemed well until when it was installed in Trumpington, he began to read it and came across the heart-rending cry of Jesus from the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Or in the transliterated Hebrew, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? Believing in horror that his loan would be discovered, the good man took a pen – and solemnly amended the immortal words, which now read much more reassuringly Trumpington, Trumpington, lama sabachthani?

I visited the present (new) Vicar of Trumpington recently (the Revd Andy Chrich andychrich@virginmedia.com) and am pleased to report that he is settling in very well there with his family, that there are Bibles aplenty, and you will be very welcome if you want to consult them.

Filed under: Cambridgeshire, Church of England, History

The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Cambridge University Press have made the whole contents of the latest issue of The Journal of Ecclesiastical History available to be read on line, with their compliments. JEH has established itself as one of the most important journals in its field, attracting some of the world’s leading scholars writing on all aspects of the Christian Church.

Papers include:

• A Compromised Inheritance: Monastic Discourse and the Politics of Property Exchange in Early Twelfth-Century Flanders
  Steven Vanderputten
• The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary: Devotional Communication and Politics in the Burgundian-Habsburg Low Countries, c. 1490–1520
  Susie Speakman Sutch and Anne-Laure Van Bruaene
• The Reformation of Hell? Protestant and Catholic Infernalisms in England, c. 1560–1640
  Peter Marshall
• John Dury’s Apocalyptic Thought: A Reassessment
  Kenneth Gibson
• Anti-Americanism and the Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia
  Glen O’Brien

Filed under: Christianity, History

The Isleham Hoard

The Antiquaries Journal has just added two articles on Bronze Age Hoards to its on-line content. David Yates and Richard Bradley present the results of fieldwork at the findspots of 100 metalwork deposits of the Middle and Late Bronze Age in south Hampshire, Sussex and parts of Surrey and Kent in their paper The siting of metalwork hoards in the bronze age of south-east England .

Of especial local interest is one which looks in detail at the hoard from Isleham, Cambridgeshire, using it to discuss the environmental and social context and the distribution of Middle to Late Bronze Age hoards within the Fenland region.

The paper, by Tim Malim, FSA, with contributions by Steve Boreham, David Knight, FSA, George Nash, Richard Preece and Jean-Luc Schwenninger can be read on-line at The environmental and social context of the Isleham hoard.

Filed under: Anglo-Saxon, Cambridgeshire, History

Historical Conferences in Cambridgeshire

---

Saturday 10th April

Cambridgeshire Association for Local History

Spring Conference 2010

St Peter’s Hall, March PE15 9JR

in association with March Community Archive Network

For full details of the conference programme and how you can book, can be downloaded by clicking here

The 3 R’s  – RIVERS, RAILWAYS & ROBBERS

The Conference Secretary is:

Maureen Nicholls

For further information in the first instance

please contact Maureen at:

members@calh.org.uk : 01354 650308

Conference Programme:

The day will begin with registration between 09.30 and 09.50.
We have four expert speakers and two excellent chairmen to host the proceedings for you, and the days programme will be as follows:
The Morning Session will be hosted by our President Mike Petty:
Our first speaker is Cliff Carson – (the Environmental Officer at Middle Level Commissioners) and he will be talking on:

THE WATERWAYS OF THE MIDDLE LEVEL

After a cup of coffee and a brief stand up & stretch,

Our second speaker is Andrew Ingram - (Author and Fenland Historian) he will be telling us about:

RAILWAYS IN AND AROUND CAMBRIDGESHIRE

The morning session will close with a question and answer session.

After break for Lunch, when delegates can either bring their own Lunch or

enjoy a Pre-booked lunch, which includes soup and roll, a piece of cake/or fruit & tea, coffee or a soft drink .

We start the afternoon session with host Tom Doig:
The afternoon will start with a question posed by our third speaker Brian Jones - (Local and Social Historian, and Peterborough Tourist Guide) he will be telling us about:

ROBBERS AND VILLAINS

After a break for afternoon tea, biscuits, and traditionally home made cake,

the last talk of the day is from our Stuart Orme - (Historic Interpretation Manager at Peterborough Museum) who will tell us all about

PRISONS AND PUNISHMENT

The afternoon session will close with another question and answer session and we all depart around 4.45 pm.
The day cost just £10.00 for CALH and March Community Archive Group members, other Affiliated Society and Associated members pay just £12.50 and £15.00 for non-members, a preordered lunch is available for just £6.00.

If a full day is too daunting, why not try a half day, just £6.00 for CALH and March Community Archive Group members, other Affiliated Society and Associated members pay just £7.25 and £8.50 for non-members.

There will be a range of stalls, including the association bookstall and there will be a raffle.

Saturday 17th April 2010

Cambridge Antiquarian Society

Spring Conference

PAST RELATIONS

Different approaches to the dead over time

Room LG18, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge,

10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ

PROGRAMME

‘Death on the Thames in Later Prehistory’ by Ceri Boston

‘Deviant burial in Roman Britain’ by Alison Taylor

‘Death and Data: new approaches to the interpretation of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries’ by Dr Sam Lucy

‘A tomb with a view: ancient Egyptian attitudes toward death and burial’ by Dr Kate Spence

‘Sweeping it all under the carpet’ Under floor burial practices at Çatalhöyük by Shahina Farid

‘Prehistoric Burial Practice on Borneo: a long term perspective’, by Dr Lindsay Lloyd-Smith

Contact Mark Hinman, CAS Spring Conference 2010, Oxford Archaeology East, 15 Trafalgar Way, Bar Hill, CB23 8SQ

or email mark.hinman@thehumanjourney.net

Saturday 24th April 2010

University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education

Vernacular Architecture in the Fens

Saturday 24th April 2010

Room LG18, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge,

10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ

Kings Lynn, Wisbech & Boston  by Dr Paul Richards, ARU

The Vernacular buildings of East Cambridgeshire by Ms Rosie Burton ECDC

The Vernacular traditions of the Fen Edge by Beth Davis

Norfolk Stone & Stone buildings by Dr John Selby

Building materials in Fenland by Ian Harper, English Heritage

Railway buildings: the end of the vernacular tradition by Tony Kirby

Contact Dr Susan Oosthuizen on smo23@cam.ac.uk

Saturday 1st May 2010

Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust

Spring Conference 2010

10.00 am – 4.30 pm

‘Enduring Monuments’

The Rood & Remembrance

a talk which will encompass medieval rood screens and funerary rites

by Prof Richard Marks

Early Modern Memorials

the ways in which post reformation memorials changed from

their predecessors, & what they intended to communicate

by Dr Jean Wilson

Funerary Monuments & Attitudes to Death

in the Eighteenth & Nineteenth Century

by Dr Julian Litten

The final session will be a panel discussion with representatives of the

Church Buildings Council & English Heritage & a leading Conservator.

There will be advice on care and repair of monuments, where to get

professional help and sources of funding

Filed under: Events, History

Oldest example of written English discovered in church

I’m just enjoying puzzling over what has been claimed as the first example of the English language written on the fabric of a British church.  The papers carried the story at the beginning of the month and Ruth Gledhill picked it up on her  blog then too, so I’m well behind the game, but as regular readers know I had a professional interest in mediaeval English once upon a time, so I’ll be keeping an eye on this.

The inscription (Photo: APEX) is at Salisbury Cathedral and was hidden behind the Henry Hyde memorial (post Civil War). When that was removed for restoration the earlier text, dating from perhaps the fifteenth century, was revealed. The writing is very faded (the picture above is computer enhanced and all the red is added) so it’s quite a challenge to read, and no-one has yet come forward with anything that looks convincing to me.

“And we are c….” seems to stand out in line 5, and in the word beginning with c the second letter looks like an o in the photo (but if that’s a crossbar in its middle, try an a), and then the third letter shaped like a 2 could be an r, which was sometimes written that way especially after an o.

Inscriptions are notoriously likely to be difficult to decipher, and working from photos like this isn’t easy – but the original is now covered up so that’s all you’ve got, I’m afraid. Have a go! Here’s a version without the added red:

Filed under: History

Ely Cathedral in London

Michael White is to give an illustrated talk on Ely Cathedral’s Octagon Tower and Lantern. It will be take place at Imperial College London on 13th March 1t 2.30pm, under the auspices of the Society for the History of Mediaeval Technology and Science (www.shmts.org).

Filed under: History