Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Monday 27 July 2015

Death by drowning in sixteenth century England


Stephanie Mann at Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation has linked to an article in the BBC History Magazine about the frequency of drowning as a cause of accidental death in the sixteenth century. The stories may be sad, but they are very human, and also give a fascinating insight into daily life, not to mention its hazards, in the period. Her post can be read at One Drowning Victim Among Many: Robert Parsons

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