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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 1h

As a weight.

Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 10h

Students in my medieval crime class @viuniversity.bsky.social are learning about legal proofs and the ordeal this week. It’s going to be loads of fun! We may even learn about the importance of ducks when determining if a person is a witch.

a man with a beard wearing a chain mail helmet and a crown

ALT: a man with a beard wearing a chain mail helmet and a crown

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 8h

I read your thesis.

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · 3d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 8h

I read your thesis.

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · 3d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 10h

Students in my medieval crime class @viuniversity.bsky.social are learning about legal proofs and the ordeal this week. It’s going to be loads of fun! We may even learn about the importance of ducks when determining if a person is a witch.

a man with a beard wearing a chain mail helmet and a crown

ALT: a man with a beard wearing a chain mail helmet and a crown

media.tenor.com

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 11h

Thank you.

Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Oct 22

Coroners in 13th-century England were supposed to view the body of every person who had died unexpectedly BEFORE that person was buried. However, the people of Kent frequently ignored this rule. In fact, between 1248 & 1255 they ignored it no less than 206 times!
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An image of a person being buried by a monk and a nun from Roman de la Rose, c.1390 (The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, MS G.32, f. 86v)

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Nov 26

Could medieval people swim? Some could – if they were sober.

On 25 November 1120, Henry's only legitimate son (William Adelin) drowned in the White Ship Disaster when the vessel he was on struck a rock while crossing the English Channel. He and ~300 others on the ship had been drinking heavily.🧵1/4

An image from an early 14th century manuscript depicting the sinking of the White Ship. The vessel's mast is broken and is falling into the greenish water, though it's still attached to the vessel by ropes. Three people are seen on board with their hands up, as if they are calling for help. One of them is wearing a crown. This is William Adelin, Henry I's only legitimate son. The boat in the image is small and looks as if it could hold maybe 10 people. But the real White Ship had roughly 300 people on it.
Reference: British Library, Royal 20 A. ii, fol. 6v.

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Dec 21

What's that worth in the Middle Ages?

It's not always easy to identify what objects were worth in the Middle Ages, especially the sorts of objects peasants used. Fortunately, legal records provide us with a window into peasants' everyday lives and the objects they used, such as spades. 🧵1/10

A person in a bluish-grey tunic is digging in the green grass with a spade. The person, with blonde hair and a cap on their head, has their right foot on the back of the spade, which is just about to be pushed into the ground. The background is a blue, starry night.
Huth Psalter: BL Add MS 38116, f. 3r

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Dec 10

Getting away with crime or getting justice?

Sometimes medieval criminal court records reveal instances in which localities and/or individuals took the punishment of crime into their own hands. The castration case of Tom, son of Leofwin, from the year 1202 is one such case. 🧵1/5

A person in a blue shirt with light orange trousers is holding a flail, which is two pieces of stick usually joined by a piece of leather. The tool is used for threshing grain. In this instance, the person is holding the flail over his head. He's about to hit the stalks of some plants, but the plants have been cropped out of the image so it appears as if the person is just about to swing a weapon.
Reference: British Library, The Luttrell Psalter

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Nov 15

Horses appear often in medieval legal records, but seldom are they sketched in court records. This picture of a horse was drawn by a clerk at the court proceedings in Norfolk in 1250. 🧵1/5...

A horse drawn in reddish-brown ink in a legal record. The horse is kicking back with one leg, and its genitals are visible.
(JUST 1/564, m. 6d)

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Nov 16

Check out this souvenir silk postcard from November 1915, with a card wrapped in a handkerchief enclosed in the silk pocket. It's from the Thomas Garton (1887-1916) collection in "The Canadian Letters and Images Project". 🧵1/3...
www.canadianletters.ca/collections/...

A souvenir silk postcard from November 1915. The outside edge of the card is very thick and stiff paper. It acts as a frame for the silk postcard. The silk postcard is sewn between two frames. The silk card has sewn into it small purple flowers and green leaves. Within a silk pocket can be seen a card wrapped in a handkerchief.

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Feb 10

Disney wasn’t too far off with its likeness of King John!

John’s effigy on this 13th-century coin looks strikingly similar to the John in Disney’s 1973 “Robin Hood”. 🙃

A 13th-century medieval coin with King John’s face on it is next to an image of King John from Disney’s 1973 film “Robin Hood”

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Nov 17

Each travelling royal justice had his own record of court proceedings in 13th-century England. Many of these records do not survive, especially before 1257. But on 8 December 1257 King Henry III required that legal records be sent to the treasury for safe keeping. 🧵1/3...

Four people are seating and are writing in manuscripts.
Reference: BnF, Français 2090, fol. 12v

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Nov 19

When You Stop Caring: Justice Bath's clerk in the year 1250

The clerk finished recording an entry and began a new one. Suddenly, more information surfaced about the case but there wasn't enough space to write it. What should he do? 🧵1/3

A bald person in a blue tunic is holding both of his hands up in the air as if to say, "I don't know". The image appears in the margins of a 14th-century manuscript.

Luttrell Psalter, BL Add MS 42130 (14th century)

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Dec 12

Murder at the Medieval Mill

Medieval millers were not always well liked and it’s not uncommon to read in criminal court records that a miller had been killed. This person leaving a windmill sure looks like they regret doing something nefarious at the mill with the mallet they're holding. 🧵1/5

A person wearing a dark tunic is leaving a windmill, presumably at the end of a hard day's work. The person is carrying a mallet and has a look on their face like they've done something wrong. Maybe they've killed the miller?
Reference: Taymouth Hours, BL, Yates Thompson 13 (14th century)

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Mar 29

Women played an important role in policing 13th-century England. Women couldn't be in frankpledge or sit on juries, but they were still required to raise the hue & cry, they chased criminals when need be, and were required to attend trials when they witnessed crime or discovered bodies. 🧵1/5

The image shows two people atop one house point behind a third person atop another house who is holding a hammer. The background to the image is gold leaf, and the houses are small, appearing as if the people are too small for them to do anything but stand upright in them.
Reference: Vidal Mayor, Ms. Ludwig XIV 6 (83.MQ.165), fol. 153v (1297-1305).

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Nov 17

Robin Hood had a daughter!

I have come across "Robin Hood" written in records from the 1200s. My favourite is this entry from a Northumberland court record in the year 1269. It tells us that a person named Robin Hood had a daughter named Asselina, who was the wife of Ralph, son of Lambert. 🧵 1/4...

A court record written in brown/black ink on parchment. A section of the record has a red square around it. The section in the red square says "Robertus Hode, pater Asseline uxoris Radulphi filii Lamberti", which means "Robert Hode, father of Asselina, wife of Ralph son of Lambert".
(TNA, JUST 1/643)

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Nov 18

Jedi knights existed in the Middle Ages. Here's one with a lightsaber depicted in the 14th-century Luttrell Psalter. 🧵1/2

A person is standing at the front of a wagon with a stick/whip to drive the horses. The wagon is loaded with hay and two people are behind the wagon pushing it.
Reference: BL, MS Additional 42130

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Dec 3

Correcting errors in medieval records:

You listed the wrong person as a killer in a court record. What do you do? Well, you could draw a line through the name, as the clerk did in this homicide case from 1255 when he accidentally listed Walter le Stock as the killer instead of Walter Stuttuk. 🧵1/4

A record of a homicide case from 1255 in which the clerk recorded the wrong name for the killer, then put a line through the incorrect name and added the correct name. The record is written in brownish-black ink in abbreviated Latin on parchment.
Reference: TNA, JUST 1/300C

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Nov 29

Medieval Bear Advice from the 13th-century Rutland Psalter:

Taking off your clothes MIGHT help you if you encounter a bear. But don't climb trees. Things won't end well. 🧵1/3

A naked man is at the top of a tree. A brown bear is climbing up behind him. The man is straddling a large branch. He doesn't look too scared.
Reference: BL, Add MS 62925

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Apr 4

In 13th-century England, lords with the right of infangthief could hang thieves in their jurisdiction who were caught in possession of stolen goods. If the thief was not in possession of stolen goods and the thief did not resist arrest, then the thief would be tried by royal justices. 🧵1/3.

A king wearing a crown and dressed in a blue tunic with a reddish-orange cloak is seated and holding a sword in his left hand while pointed at a scribe in orange, who is writing something down on parchment with a quill. Two other people in blue are standing behind the scribe. The blank space behind these figures is filled in with gold leaf.
Reference: British Library, Royal MS 11 D IX, fol. 6r.

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Dec 30

Two very different ways to write an uppercase "M". The image on the left (Manerium) is by Justice Thirkleby's clerk from the 1243 judicial proceedings in Somerset. The image on the right (Matheus) was done by Justice Bath's clerk at the 1250 judicial proceedings in Norfolk. 🧵1/2

The word "Manerium" has been underlined in red. It was written in abbreviated Latin in brownish-black ink. What you see are the letters H A N and M with abbreviation marks that let the reader know it's supposed to be the word "manerium". The M looks less like an M and more like a lower-case letter H with the line and half circle connected by three horizontal lines.

A close up of the word Matheus with the M underlined. The word is not abbreviated, but the M looks very odd. It looks like a pair of glasses without the arms or a barbell with round weights on each side.

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Reposted by Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦

Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Dec 2

Medieval villages were often tasked with transporting people to gaol. This could be dangerous and expensive business. Friends and family of criminals could try to free the person through violence or bribery. And if a captive escaped, then the village would collectively be fined £5–£8! 🧵1/5

A group of people are in a procession in the marginalia at the bottom of a manuscript. There are eight people in total. The person at the front is playing a fiddle, while the person at the back is banging a set of drums that is being carried by (what appears to be) a child. The other five people in the middle are holding hands.

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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · Nov 11

Gilbert le Blechere killed Roger Horn in Bodenham, Wiltshire, sometime around the year 1268. What caused the fight that led to this homicide? A fight between 2 dogs! Had the dog following Gilbert been leashed, like Harry the Hayward's dog Talbat, Gilbert might not have killed Roger. 🧵 1/6...

An image of Harry the Wayward and his leashed dog, Talbat, from Bodleian Library, MS. Rawl. D. 939. Harry is wearing trousers with one leg blue-green in colour and the other red. He has a brown and green shirt and is blowing a horn while holding a staff. The dog, Talbot, is light brown and has his tongue sticking out. The dog is attached to a red leash that Harry is holding on his arm.

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