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.


Friday 6 November 2020

More about the Byland ghosts


Further to my post Ghost stories from fourteenth century Yorkshire about a collection of ghost stories written down by a Cistercian monk of Byland Abbey in Yorkshire about 1400 I see that the British Library’s Medieval manuscripts blog has a very useful commentary on the stories and draws out how they had a didactic purpose in promoting confession and repentance, as well as being recorded, or at  least located, in local villages. The illustrated blog post can be seen at Byland Abbey ghost stories: a guide to medieval ghosts



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