Webinar, Wednesday 20 May 2026, 7pm via Zoom

Emma Nelson, Chetham’s Library, Manchester 

‘Book Owners and Donors in Twelfth-Century Lincoln’

During the second half of the twelfth century, an important development occurred in the history of medieval libraries, as individual donation came to replace communal acquisition as the dominant mode of library growth. This development is reflected in the catalogue that was copied onto a blank folio in the first volume of Lincoln Cathedral’s Great Bible, now MS 1 in the cathedral library, in c. 1165. The first column of this catalogue largely reproduced an earlier list of the books that the cathedral’s first chancellor, Hamo, had found in the armarium around the time of his appointment in c. 1148, while the second column recorded the books that entered the library through donation after that date. After the catalogue was copied, it was updated by various hands to reflect new donations until the end of the twelfth century, offering a remarkable insight into how the library expanded during this period. This paper explores the twelfth-century catalogue of Lincoln Cathedral’s library as evidence for the emergence of book donation as the dominant mode of library growth, and argues that this development was the result of broad trends and local factors. It also considers the donation of books to the library by the author Gerald of Wales, which reveals how practical concerns complicated the theoretical framework of donation. Ultimately, this paper offers new insights into the relationship between the cathedral community and their books, and illuminates a local moment in the twelfth-century renaissance.

Dr Emma Nelson is an early career researcher with a focus on the history of books and libraries, and in particular, the libraries of medieval and early modern secular cathedrals and colleges. She completed her PhD in history at the University of Manchester, on the subject of the library and intellectual and literary cultures of Lincoln Cathedral during the twelfth century. Through a comprehensive survey of surviving manuscripts held in the cathedral library and elsewhere, her thesis challenged previous negative assessments of the library’s size and quality, and advocated for the value of its manuscript witnesses to the study of the history of the book and libraries. She currently works at Chetham’s Library in Manchester.

Thomas Brown-Warr, Lincoln Bishop University

‘“All the counties round are in a flame”: the 1688 Revolution, the Northern Uprising and the Lincolnshire perspective’

This paper explores Lincolnshire’s connection to the planned Northern Uprising during the 1688 Revolution. Prior to William of Orange’s landing at Torbay, the original intention was for his invasion force to land at Bridlington Bay in Yorkshire, combining forces with a makeshift army commanded by the Earl of Danby. However, adverse weather conditions forced William’s invasion fleet to land in the south-west, following the route from Torbay to London.

If events had followed this anticipated course, Lincolnshire would have lain between the path of William’s army and his route to London, potentially resulting in the county playing a far more prominent role in the Revolution than it ultimately did. This paper will examine both the strategic role of Lincolnshire and its connection to the planned northern, with particular attention to the involvement of the Bertie family of Grimsthorpe Castle.

In addition, the paper addresses the actual events of the Revolution, highlighting the role of the aristocracy and gentry in bringing the county over to William’s cause, as well as the popular protests and pockets of violence that erupted across the county against James II’s regime.

Thomas Brown-Warr is an early-career historian of the early modern period who recently completed his doctorate at Lincoln Bishop University. His research examines politics, society, and environmental change during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with a particular focus on the political culture of provincial society and the role of the British nobility in county governance. The paper he presents today draws on research undertaken for an upcoming article and during his doctoral studies.

To book a free place on this webinar, please contact Dr Andrew Walker by Friday 15 May at [email protected].

Webinar, Thursday 9 October 2025, 7pm via Zoom

Jessica Holt, Lincoln Record Society, Nigel Burn Memorial Postgraduate Student, University of Lincoln

Episcopal Authority: Visitation during the Episcopate of Bishop Thomas Bek (1342-1347).

In 1342, Thomas Bek returned from Avignon to the diocese of Lincoln, his appointment to the bishopric confirmed. Now, alongside his staff and clergymen, he had the momentous task of shepherding every soul in his diocese towards salvation. It was essential for Thomas to ensure that his ecclesiastics properly administered pastoral care. It was the responsibility of bishops to hold these individuals to account; ensure that they provided the laity with adequate guidance; and assist those who struggled to access spiritual direction. Visitation was one method employed by bishops, and their officials, to instigate pastoral reform and supervise the morals and behaviour of the laity, the religious, and the clergy. This paper examines the hitherto unexplored visitation records of Bishop Thomas Bek (1342-1347) and considers how he attempted to exert his episcopal authority for the betterment of his diocese. Ultimately, the contents of Bek’s visitation documents indicate that he was willing to act as an arbiter to settle longstanding disputes, regardless of their apparent severity. Despite his diligence, his episcopate was not entirely free from challenges to his authority, up to and including armed resistance from former priors and other issues as detailed in this paper.

(Jessica Holt (she/her) is a Lincoln Record Society funded PhD student working on the episcopal registers of Bishop Thomas Bek of Lincoln (1342-1347). Her interests include bishops’ registers, ecclesiastical politics, and diocesan management. She completed her MA in Medieval Studies at the University of Lincoln. She continues to be based there and is supervised by Professor Louise Wilkinson and Dr Michele Vescovi.)

Dr Martin Roberts, Postdoctoral Research Associate, School of Humanities and Heritage, University of Lincoln

Meeting the Challenges Head On: Confronting Obstacles to Effective Administration of Justice in An Early-Sixteenth-Century Diocese

Covering more than 7000 varied square miles, and stretching from the Humber to the Thames over one-sixth of the English kingdom, Lincoln Diocese, just as it had for several centuries, posed a huge and constant administrative challenge in the early 1500s. Concentrating upon the bishop’s audience court, one of the two senior diocesan courts dispensing ecclesiastical justice around the diocese, this paper is concerned with obstacles to the authority, effectiveness, and long-established record-keeping practices and procedures within its borders created by its size, its diverse and often difficult landscape environment, the death of Bishop William Atwater and, in 1521, the elevation of his more politically motivated successor John Longland, and caused by other changes within its community of court personnel. As well as examining the wills of ecclesiastical lawyers and their contemporaries and other sources to explore the materiality of travel, and providing an analysis of that court’s known movements between November 1514 and March 1530, by focussing especially upon one journey undertaken by its Commissary-General, Anthony Draycott, in October 1528, this paper considers the ability of judges, professional lawyers, and those accompanying them to successfully face up to and overcome such challenges, creating its essential records as they did so, and all the while working to preserve and enhance the authority of the Church’s justice.

(Martin retired early from legal practice in 2013 and obtained his doctorate from the University of Nottingham in 2020. Generously funded by the Lincoln Record Society’s Nigel Burn Memorial Research Grant Scheme, he is currently undertaking a two-year postdoctoral research project where he is especially working towards publication of an edition of unpublished records created during the first six decades of the sixteenth century in the Bishop of Lincoln’s Audience Court.)

To book a free place on this webinar, please contact Dr Andrew Walker by Thursday 2 October at [email protected].