Dr Richard Asquith
@richardasquith.bsky.social
Historian and researcher. Vintners’ Company archivist, secretary of the Yorkist History Trust and Harlaxton Medieval Symposium. Urban history, death, piety, trust, and executors in pre-Reformation England; also early modern art. Often at Berkeley Castle.
It’s St Andrew’s day, which is a tenuous enough excuse to share my article on the early C16th rebuilding of the church of St Andrew Undershaft in #London, published in @thelondonjournal.bsky.social 😇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #Skystorians #medievalSky #church
November 30, 2025 at 6:43 PM
It’s St Andrew’s day, which is a tenuous enough excuse to share my article on the early C16th rebuilding of the church of St Andrew Undershaft in #London, published in @thelondonjournal.bsky.social 😇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #Skystorians #medievalSky #church
Today is the Lady Mayor's show in #London - at Vintners' Hall we have a sumptuous record of the festivities performed for Samuel Dashwood as Lord Mayor in 1702. A remarkable piece of #book history, the cheap commemorative pamphlet has been augmented with gilded wine-themed decoration #Skystorians
November 8, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Today is the Lady Mayor's show in #London - at Vintners' Hall we have a sumptuous record of the festivities performed for Samuel Dashwood as Lord Mayor in 1702. A remarkable piece of #book history, the cheap commemorative pamphlet has been augmented with gilded wine-themed decoration #Skystorians
@latemedievalist.bsky.social's new book (@royalhistsoc.org @ihr.bsky.social @uolpress.bsky.social) is a ground-breaking feat of research that weaves one local #medieval institution into the very fabric of society - read this blogpost, then read the book! blog.royalhistsoc.org/2025/11/06/f...
November 6, 2025 at 10:36 AM
@latemedievalist.bsky.social's new book (@royalhistsoc.org @ihr.bsky.social @uolpress.bsky.social) is a ground-breaking feat of research that weaves one local #medieval institution into the very fabric of society - read this blogpost, then read the book! blog.royalhistsoc.org/2025/11/06/f...
There’s no evidence, as far as I’m aware, that Chaucer himself was a Vintner - but his father, grandfather, and other relatives certainly were. One of our treasures is a 1352 deed for the site of the hall that names John Chaucer as a witness
October 16, 2025 at 8:41 AM
There’s no evidence, as far as I’m aware, that Chaucer himself was a Vintner - but his father, grandfather, and other relatives certainly were. One of our treasures is a 1352 deed for the site of the hall that names John Chaucer as a witness
A site which has changed enormously over the years - here in the 1890s showing a subterranean entrance to Hambro Wharf and (to the left) the Vintners' clerk's house. The Hall to the right has been much modified but retains historic interiors #London #Skystorians
October 12, 2025 at 8:41 AM
A site which has changed enormously over the years - here in the 1890s showing a subterranean entrance to Hambro Wharf and (to the left) the Vintners' clerk's house. The Hall to the right has been much modified but retains historic interiors #London #Skystorians
Earlier this week I had the privilege of attending the launch of the recently restored #medieval hearse cloths at Merchant Taylors' Hall - incredible work by Zenzie Tinker Conservation that really shows off these wonderful objects 💀 #Skystorians #MedievalSky #London
October 2, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Earlier this week I had the privilege of attending the launch of the recently restored #medieval hearse cloths at Merchant Taylors' Hall - incredible work by Zenzie Tinker Conservation that really shows off these wonderful objects 💀 #Skystorians #MedievalSky #London
Well, the 2025 Harlaxton Medieval Symposium has come to an end, and what a week it has been. There’s so much innovative and fascinating work being done on the medieval city by scholars of all stages, and it was a joy to bring them together for four days of generous and lively discussion #Skystorians
August 21, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Well, the 2025 Harlaxton Medieval Symposium has come to an end, and what a week it has been. There’s so much innovative and fascinating work being done on the medieval city by scholars of all stages, and it was a joy to bring them together for four days of generous and lively discussion #Skystorians
'The Cittie of #London lyes in Ashes': from a letter of May 1667 from the master and wardens of the Vintners' Company to a trustee of a charity that had failed to provide the Company's annuity that year - an attempt to play on their conscience and move them to pity for London's plight? #Skystorians
August 9, 2025 at 4:36 PM
'The Cittie of #London lyes in Ashes': from a letter of May 1667 from the master and wardens of the Vintners' Company to a trustee of a charity that had failed to provide the Company's annuity that year - an attempt to play on their conscience and move them to pity for London's plight? #Skystorians
These are gorgeous portraits - here they are in situ at Berkeley Castle
July 20, 2025 at 3:16 PM
These are gorgeous portraits - here they are in situ at Berkeley Castle
Rounding off three (different! new!) talks in as many weeks, I had a wonderful time today speaking to the MBS about a fascinating family of #London grocers. A great programme of speakers in a beautiful setting #Skystorians #MedievalSky
July 19, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Rounding off three (different! new!) talks in as many weeks, I had a wonderful time today speaking to the MBS about a fascinating family of #London grocers. A great programme of speakers in a beautiful setting #Skystorians #MedievalSky
Today! There's still time to join us! www.history.ac.uk/events/estat...
July 3, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Today! There's still time to join us! www.history.ac.uk/events/estat...
I'll be speaking (alongside @dralrs.bsky.social) in session 842 at @imc-leeds.bsky.social on Tuesday next week - a session concentrating on writing and documents in civic and commemorative contexts. Please come along and see what we have to say! 📜 #Medievalsky #Skystorians
July 1, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I'll be speaking (alongside @dralrs.bsky.social) in session 842 at @imc-leeds.bsky.social on Tuesday next week - a session concentrating on writing and documents in civic and commemorative contexts. Please come along and see what we have to say! 📜 #Medievalsky #Skystorians
I'll be dealing with the perennial question of why so few sets of #medieval executors' accounts survive, as well as issues relating to documentary materiality, litigation, and trust 📜 If that sounds like your kind of thing, please join us at @ihr.bsky.social on 3 July!
June 6, 2025 at 9:21 AM
I'll be dealing with the perennial question of why so few sets of #medieval executors' accounts survive, as well as issues relating to documentary materiality, litigation, and trust 📜 If that sounds like your kind of thing, please join us at @ihr.bsky.social on 3 July!
A kind offer, thanks, but no need! Here's the relevant folio in the accounts (and yes, unfortunately no court minutes this early). No other references to the beast in this account, or the years on either side - but Mrs Wolverstone later appears carrying billets to the Hall, so clearly recovered!
May 19, 2025 at 2:49 PM
A kind offer, thanks, but no need! Here's the relevant folio in the accounts (and yes, unfortunately no court minutes this early). No other references to the beast in this account, or the years on either side - but Mrs Wolverstone later appears carrying billets to the Hall, so clearly recovered!
The master church-crawler himself, John Betjeman, buried in one of the loveliest spots in Cornwall; a county full of lovely spots and lovely churches.
May 14, 2025 at 8:37 PM
The master church-crawler himself, John Betjeman, buried in one of the loveliest spots in Cornwall; a county full of lovely spots and lovely churches.
Here they are hanging up to dry - a sort of pastiche of the Luttrell Psalter, and woodcuts from a Golden Legend and a Pynson book. Probably my favourite print yet!
May 14, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Here they are hanging up to dry - a sort of pastiche of the Luttrell Psalter, and woodcuts from a Golden Legend and a Pynson book. Probably my favourite print yet!
This week, @latemedievalist.bsky.social and I were married at Owlpen, a gorgeous medieval manor house set on the fringes of the Gloucestershire Cotswolds - where else?
May 10, 2025 at 10:03 AM
This week, @latemedievalist.bsky.social and I were married at Owlpen, a gorgeous medieval manor house set on the fringes of the Gloucestershire Cotswolds - where else?
Finally, a collection of lovely seals attached to a range of property deeds, indentures, and wills. They include (appropriately) a wine tun, several merchants' marks, and a profile of Hercules wearing the coat of the Nemean lion. The latter belonged to Christopher Barker, later Garter King of Arms 🛡️
April 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Finally, a collection of lovely seals attached to a range of property deeds, indentures, and wills. They include (appropriately) a wine tun, several merchants' marks, and a profile of Hercules wearing the coat of the Nemean lion. The latter belonged to Christopher Barker, later Garter King of Arms 🛡️
Back to the freedom register, the 16th century sees the inclusion of merchants' marks alongside entries - here is that of David Gyttens, who would later bequeath an elaborate gilded pot to the Company - it still survives, and the same mark is featured on the lid alongside the Company arms
April 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Back to the freedom register, the 16th century sees the inclusion of merchants' marks alongside entries - here is that of David Gyttens, who would later bequeath an elaborate gilded pot to the Company - it still survives, and the same mark is featured on the lid alongside the Company arms
An arbitration award by Archbishop Henry Chichele, dated 1436 - it concerns a dispute between the London churches of St Martin Vintry and St James Garlickhythe about which church will host chantry priests - like Solomon (sort of), Chichele orders that they shall each divide the burden equally
April 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
An arbitration award by Archbishop Henry Chichele, dated 1436 - it concerns a dispute between the London churches of St Martin Vintry and St James Garlickhythe about which church will host chantry priests - like Solomon (sort of), Chichele orders that they shall each divide the burden equally
A couple of centuries later, the Vintners petitioned Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector about the price of wines - but look closely, and this is not a printed bill; instead, it is (very neatly!) handwritten. An interesting interplay of media in the golden age of printed ephemera 📜
April 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
A couple of centuries later, the Vintners petitioned Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector about the price of wines - but look closely, and this is not a printed bill; instead, it is (very neatly!) handwritten. An interesting interplay of media in the golden age of printed ephemera 📜
An astonishingly rare survival - a page from the account of a 15th-century cellarer working in the household of an unspecified lord and lady: for the month of June, he recorded all of the Gascon and sweet wine consumed by the household, including for the nurse and any given away as charity 🍷
April 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
An astonishingly rare survival - a page from the account of a 15th-century cellarer working in the household of an unspecified lord and lady: for the month of June, he recorded all of the Gascon and sweet wine consumed by the household, including for the nurse and any given away as charity 🍷
In the same freedom register as the above poem, the very first entry - for one Nicholas Mundy in 1434 - is noted as being 'a forger put from [the] freedom' until he is 'verily amended and known and proved true and reconciled again' #Skystorians #MedievalSky #medieval
April 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
In the same freedom register as the above poem, the very first entry - for one Nicholas Mundy in 1434 - is noted as being 'a forger put from [the] freedom' until he is 'verily amended and known and proved true and reconciled again' #Skystorians #MedievalSky #medieval
Derision of the past? Criticism of the present? Or a little of both? From the Vintners’ Company register of freemen in @guildhalllibrary.bsky.social
April 17, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Derision of the past? Criticism of the present? Or a little of both? From the Vintners’ Company register of freemen in @guildhalllibrary.bsky.social
Nice to see the Vintners’ Company and swan upping mentioned here - we’ve had swans on the Thames since before our earliest extant records begin. Here’s an account for swan upping and a payment to ‘James the under swan herd’ from 1509!
April 8, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Nice to see the Vintners’ Company and swan upping mentioned here - we’ve had swans on the Thames since before our earliest extant records begin. Here’s an account for swan upping and a payment to ‘James the under swan herd’ from 1509!