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.


Sunday 24 April 2022

Medieval English Hospitals


The Gresham College lectures are always worth watching on YouTube and none more so than one from a symposium ten years ago delivered by Professor Carole Rawcliffe on hospitals in medieval England. 

She begins by saying she has an evangelical intention to correct misunderstanding of these relatively little known institutions and she does so with intellectual honesty and commitment, fine examples and gentle humour. In under an hour she sets out her case and then supplements it in her answers to questions afterwards. It really is a talk I cannot commend too highly if you are interested in medieval life.



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