Lee Raye
@leafyhistory.bsky.social
2.2K followers 1.8K following 190 posts
Associate Lecturer, Research Officer, studies medieval/early modern wild animals & plants. Author: #AtlasofEarlyModernWildlife Secretly a fox? 🦊 Slow worm friend. 🧚🏻🐉 they/them. 🍞🌹 (No access to DMs, email me)
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leafyhistory.bsky.social
Out now in the @sochistnathist.bsky.social journal, my article on the BERRY-POMEROY MANUSCRIPT!
This is a natural history text from the year 1599 which lists 278 species of animals and plants living in Elizabethan Devon!
There are some very surprising records here...
🐺🐻🪶🐀🐾🎣🍎🍐📗

(Thread 🧵...)
Screenshot of abstract from a journal website: 

Archives of Natural History, October 2024, vo. 51, No. 2 : pp. 289-302

Keywords: ‘Berry-Pomeroy Manuscript’, chorography of Devon wildlife, early modern animal history, Devon fruit cultivars, sixteenth-century Britain, John Vowell, extinction of the wolf

Fauna and flora listed in John Hooker’s manuscript ‘Synopsis chorographical of Devonshire’ (1599)

Lee Raye

Abstract

This paper introduces and comments on the animals and plants listed in a manuscript dated 1599 (the ‘Berry-Pomeroy Manuscript’), the ‘Synopsis chorographical of Devonshire’ by John Hooker of Exeter (1527–1601). Two hundred and seventy eight animals and plants were named, which is an unprecedented number for a local natural history text from sixteenth-century Britain. The animals mentioned include some of considerable interest like the wolf, bear, roe deer and red deer, polecat, black rat, white stork, Cornish chough and numerous freshwater fishes. Several cultivated varieties of domesticated fruit trees, in particular apples and pears, and other local specialities that are no longer known were also in Hooker’s list.
Reposted by Lee Raye
thatshakespeare.bsky.social
Did you know? Shakespeare’s England had native dog roses and imported damask roses — the latter was prized as the only repeat-flowering rose before the 18th century. 🌹 www.cassidycash.com/ep391
leafyhistory.bsky.social
(If anyone knows anything else about this source or this phenomenon in early modern English please feel free to share more! Happy Black History Month! 🌠)
leafyhistory.bsky.social
But if that's true the ending is cheeky! In the last letter the author says they are sailing back to Tunis and then sign off:
'I remain' (ha!) 'your constant, undisguis'd and sincere Friend'
V. naughty from an author who's writing to himself and using literary blackface for clout!!🙀
'I intend very shortly to set out for my native country, to enjoy the pleasure of conversing with my old hearty friends.
Thus wishing you health, happiness, long life, and all the enjoyments the earth can afford. I remain
Your constant, undisguis'd, and 
sincere Friend for ever.
leafyhistory.bsky.social
But 'Letters from a Moor' (thought to actually be by a 'William Lloyd') doesn't say anything especially shocking. So why the attribution to a traveler from Tunis? 🤔
In this case maybe the Black identity was a marketing tactic? (the promise of a fresh, exotic voice) 🤑
www.jstor.org/stable/29149...
Forerunners of Goldsmith's The Citizen of the World on JSTOR
Levette Jay Davidson, Forerunners of Goldsmith's The Citizen of the World, Modern Language Notes, Vol. 36, No. 4 (Apr., 1921), pp. 215-220
www.jstor.org
leafyhistory.bsky.social
But let's go deeper... This book is actually not by a Tunisian traveler at all!! But it still tells us something about Black history in Europe. In the early modern period, we know Black and Asian identities were sometimes used by Europeans to speak truth to power without censorship... ✍🏽👑
An Image from 'Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy' with a portrait of the fictional spy with a beard and mustache, wearing a turban holding a spear and wearing a cape with a brooch over an embroidered shirt. He is 'Mahomet L'Imposteur' 'L'Espion Turc' and this is from 'Tome Quatrieme'
leafyhistory.bsky.social
The book is really interesting! From my history of nature perspective there's an account of the fishes caught at Scarborough 🎣, the herrings of Yarmouth ⛵(@projectfishistory.bsky.social), and a fun description of the lions of the Tower of London 🦁 (who were sent by the Emperor of Morocco of course)!
'The town is wall'd and moated round, except where it joins to the castle or the sea. The castle is of a vast extent, and stands on a lofty promontory, which runs far back into the sea. There are computed to be upwards of two hundred sail of ships belonging to this place, emplloy'd in different branches of trade; the fishery upon this coast being very considerable; particularly the herring, turbet, ling, cod-fish, haddock, fluke, whiting, mackrel, and lobsters, great quantities of which are sent every season to London'
leafyhistory.bsky.social
For #BlackHistoryMonth, here are some thoughts about a source I've read - 'Letters from a Moor at London to his Friend at Tunis' (1736). This is a kind of guide to England, supposedly (uh-oh! 😅) written by a Black traveler from Tunisia, North Africa. 🇹🇳🧑🏽‍✈️
archive.org/details/b330...
Letters from a Moor at London to his friend at Tunis. Containing an account of his journey through England. With his observations on the laws, customs, religion, and manners of the English nation. Lik...
1 unnumbered leaf, 274 pages ; (12mo)
archive.org
Reposted by Lee Raye
krishbohra.bsky.social
Day 75/100 of Cool Indian Wildlife History

Clara was a famous rhinoceros captured from Assam, taken to Holland, and exhibited across Europe in 1741-58. In India, Director of the Dutch factoy, kept her as a pet in Hooghly for 3 yrs.

This 1747 illustration shows a ship taking her from Hooghly.
Reposted by Lee Raye
archaeologymag.bsky.social
Megafauna bones discovered in South America suggest that humans regularly ate giant sloths and armadillos. Archaeologists now think smaller animals only became dietary staples after the megafauna were hunted to extinction.

archaeology.org/news/2025/10/06/what-happened-to-south-americas-megafauna/
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Acorrn seasooon 🥳🌰💚🌳
Footpath covered in acorns. The sound of me walking along it goes CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH
Reposted by Lee Raye
stonefishweirs.bsky.social
Images of wood #fishweir wicker fence 2 meter tall on the shore #RhosonSea #ConwyCounty Borough, #Wales. Historical sources indicted used for seasonal fisheries for herring and mackerel late 19th century.
1/6
#maritimeheritage #oceandecadeheritage
#coastalhistory
“Big Mackerel Catch at Rhos” Postcard https://www.rhosfynach.co.uk/history.htm
Reposted by Lee Raye
pocketwildingie.bsky.social
I found an interesting study on the potential links between copper mining 4000 years ago and Strawberry trees in Ireland based on DNA sequencing a year or two ago.

britishandirishbotany.org/index.php/bi...
View of Is the Strawberry Tree, Arbutus unedo (Ericaceae), native to Ireland, or was it brought by the first copper miners?
britishandirishbotany.org
Reposted by Lee Raye
jeffmakala.bsky.social
Mood. Owl from the 16th century Aztec Codex Bourbonicus
Illustration of a bug-eyed owl, slightly dazed and staring at you.
Reposted by Lee Raye
xingwu.bsky.social
The turtle (靈龜), ancient guardian of time, reigns as the wisest among the Four Spirits of Chinese mythology, alongside the Qilin, Phoenix, and Dragon. Its immense lifespan reflects not just longevity, but the weight of eternal wisdom.
Some legends say a divine turtle bears Mount Penglai 1/2
A mural depicting the Black Tortoise, featuring the images of a turtle and a snake, was unearthed from the tomb of Han Xiu from the Tang Dynasty (618–907).
Image source: Shaanxi History Museum.
Reposted by Lee Raye
cuileannach.bsky.social
"Oíche Shamhna the púca spits on the sméara dubha. Can't be eaten after that night."
14 Sept 38 Fine display [of Northern Lights] seen from Glin at about 10pm (old time)
"If they appear early in the autumn they are a sign of bad weather - late in autumn a sign of good weather"
"Sign of another Great War"

"Oidhche Shamhna the púca spits on the sméara dubha. Can't be eaten after that night."
Same interpretation in N. Wales (Holy Isle)

https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbe/9001058/7289320/9107696?transcribe=true
Reposted by Lee Raye
intrepidpup.bsky.social
🎨 🐕 Meet Buster, the “Coal Saving Dog” as this week's #ArtfulPup. His 1924 pic appears in the Savannah History Museum. Buster was a Central of Georgia Railway foreman’s pet, trained to round up any spilled lumps of coal. Buster’s dedication to fuel economy earned him local publicity and lots of fans
Black and white photograph of a a mid-sized, light-colored dog looking up at a 1920s fuel poster that reads, "SAVE FUEL - EVERY ONE ENLIST."