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.


Saturday 2 April 2022

The environment of sixteenth century London


Gresham College, now based in Holborn in London  - and for the history of which see Gresham College - originated with the beneficence of Sir Thomas Gresham in 1597. It still offers excellent lectures by distinguished academics and interpreters over a wide range of topics deriving from the mefievsl trivium and quadrivium. These days they are made available online and are well worth sampling.

I came upon a very good example of these yhr other day. It is a lecture from 2019 by Carolyn Roberts entitled “The Natural Environment of Tudor London”. In it she looks at the city and it’s environs in terms of the environment, public health, cleansing, the impact on the urban area of the underlying landscape, flora and fauna and the corresponding impact in return of London on them.

It is entertaining and insightful and rounds out one’s perception of not just sixteenth century London but of the later medieval and Stuart city as well.

The video can be viewed at The Natural Environment of Tudor London


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