ZOOM lecture. Wednesday 18^th January. 2023.

On a very cold night the Bristol HA had their only Zoom lecture so far this season with an audience of 56.  Miri Rubin of Queen Mary University London addressed the lives of Women in Medieval Society.  Ranging over centuries and North and Southern Europe she brought out three main strands; marriage, work, and religion. Whilst acknowledging the wide differences between regions and kingdoms of different peoples, she pulled together some fascinating common strands.  She began with the early pioneers of this topic such as Eileen Power and Natalie Zemon Davies (The Return of Martin Guerre), how to study women and the need to find the evidence and sources for most women rather than the exceptional minority.  Patriarchy was she argued always a useful term.  Both Bible interpretations and the ideas of the Four Humours had supported this system but she also argued that Christian marriage with its emphasis on marriage for life and as an act of free will gave a different structure to European marriage.  In the world of labour women were shown as workers in textiles (especially silk), heavy agricultural work, brewing and even as members of Guilds.  The special status of widows of craftsmen were examined.  In family life the different views of male historians Phillipe Aries and Lawrence Stone that saw childhood as a later invention were set against the pioneering work of Shulamith Shakar which had examined the evidence in family for genuine grief for the death of children and the wide range of emotions of parents rather than the detached parenthood that the earlier male historian had argued for.  Tuscan cities with evidence from a detailed 15^th century Florentine census gave evidence for women living lives as “singletons” and as in modern day cities a population where women outnumbered men.  Religion in parishes, nunneries and through personal devotion was another aspect of female life.  The role of female saints and Mary as role models for women was illustrated with some spectacular art work.  The holy family’s importance with both Mary and Joseph as the “social father” was discussed including a brilliant carving of St Joseph washing nappies and another of both parents at their work while Jesus was in a baby walker made parallels to modern day experiences. 

Art work by artists such as Giotto, Massacio and Van Eyck and by Flemish and German carvers were used as evidence.  The lecture was then followed by well informed questions from members and Miri invited expert contributions from Ronald Hutton on how the Reformation changed the position of women. Thanks to everyone who joined for a fascinating lecture. 

Last Wednesday 14 students from 11 different sixth forms took part in the Bristol heat of the Great Debate.  Our largest number of contestants ever.  Our judges were Adam Vaitilingam KC, Claire Deering and Dr James Watts from the University History Department. The topic was “Why does History matter to me?”  The contestants came from a range of local sixth forms plus two schools which had travelled from as far as Cheltenham and Bourton on the Water on a dark and stormy night.  

The students all gave interesting and articulate presentations on the topic and answered the judges’ questions thoughtfully.  Many contestants related to the question back to their own families in particular grandparents and how this had made them first interested in History these included links to the partition of India and the Troubles in Ireland.   Others reflected on what they had learnt from the History of Medicine or events in the Twentieth Century in the wider world which they felt were still not understood well enough in Western Europe. A very witty presentation by Ella Ferris explained how she had looked for reassurance in our recent political upheavals by studying the reign of Roman Emperors.  Orla McMahon after a three and half hour journey from the flooded Cotswolds gave us some excellent thoughts on the local History of her area going back its Roman British heritage.  Our runner up Molly Fleming from Bristol Grammar School gave a very well researched presentation on the need for continued Holocaust History.  Our winner Catherine Saunders explained how her interest in History had been sparked by a balloon debate. She had researched Katherine Johnson, the black American mathematician contribution to the space programme which had once been written out of American History.  Catherine’s commitment to History was about finding out about these hidden figures and she introduced us to the concept of the Matilda effect where the bias against women in science has hidden the achievements of women like Rosalind Franklin and deprived several more of the Nobel prize.  Catherine was chosen as a worthy winner and presented with her certificate by our judges.  She will go on to the national final at Windsor Castle on Saturday 25^th March 2023. Good luck Catherine and well done to all our contestants, Joe Hendy (Yate) Tianna Biddick (St Brendan’s) Orla Mahon and Maya Samuel (Cotswold School), Imogen Lee and Maddie Chan (Cheltenham Ladies College), Molly Fleming (Bristol Grammar School) Ellie Gooch and Lily Wiltshire (Churchill Academy) Saifullah Ahmed (Redland Green School), Ella Ferris and Niamh West (Clifton College), Catherine Saunders (Redmaids High School) and Alice Li (Badminton School). 

Finally, a big thanks to all the teachers who prepared these students for the competition and who supported them on the night and to all their parents and friends who also came along to support them as well. 

Come along to 7 Woodland Road BS8 1TB on Wednesday and hear Professor David Edgerton challenge many long held beliefs about Britain in the twentieth century.

A ZOOM LINK will be sent out to all Bristol HA members and National HA members in the Bristol area.

Please use your full name on your login screen so that we can admit you. If are not sure if you are on Rob’s list please contact him.

Last Wednesday’s long awaited talk for members by Dr Evan Jones was definitely worth the wait.  Evan has already given us talks on death and disease and led a walk that illustrated the sex lives of Bristolians of the early modern period. What was awaiting us this time? He began with the origins of the wine connection, from the Roman Empire when wine drinking was a symbol of Imperial sophistication and wines was shipped over in amphorae. The extent of alcohol consumption during the medieval and early Modern times was a surprise to many of our members and especially that in Bristol much of this was wine. The cost of moving it elsewhere in the country by land meant that in Bristol it was a relatively cheaper drink and from Norman times it was regularly coming into the city (from Bordeaux and later Spain and Portugal). So it was not just the drink of the aristocracy. After members tasted small amounts of first the adulterated mixture that resembled those drunk by Bristolians in the thirteenth century we moved on to stronger and richer wines accompanied by French, Spanish wines and English cheeses. We also learnt the about the use of barrels in shipping wine and the amount of alcohol poisoning that went on when men sought to salvage the cargo of shipwrecks as well as the derivation of the name of Bristol’s most famous sherry (Cream as well as Milk). The social history of drinking is clearly a major field of research.  By the end of the talk we had had not only enlightening talk but a friendly meeting of members and surprisingly no-one spilt anything.

We have 15 places left for the ‘Wine Through Time: A Vinous History of Bristol’ talk with Evan Jones on Wednesday 12th October at 7pm.

The event is free to members as a reward for your loyalty during lockdown. The event will be at 7 Woodland Road.

Please book your places through Rob

Jogger, Mugger and Hipster: Gentrification in late 20th century Britain

Professor Peter Mandler

Peter Mandler a renowned cultural historian at Cambridge University opened our sixth year of the new Bristol Branch of the Historical Association.  In forty five minutes he gave a wide ranging and fascinating exploration of the changing demography of Britain’s post-war cities.  He introduced the Jogger a now widely accepted part of urban life as a once “UnEnglish” even preposterous figure.  Originally middle aged men  trying to ward off heart disease these exercisers had become highly visible in our cities by the 1970’s.  These pioneers were often graduates of our expanding universities who now choose to live in the inner city for longer and by 1978 had been joined by female joggers.  Their uniform of sweat shirts and trainers moved from running to protect their hearts to running for their minds.  We got use to them hogging our cities’ pavements.

Another media trope “the mugger” was seen as part of the moral panic that often surrounded reporting on our inner cities. While the media presented street crime rising and the victims being aging, poorer white women, the work of Stuart Hall and other sociologists helped to present a more accurate account of crime and robbery in the 1970’s suggesting black young men were being presented as scapegoats in  the zones of transition of the inner city. 

The final figure the “Hipster” often seen as figure of fun and even a pretentious phoney by journalists was presented by Professor Mandler as part of the way cities evolved in the noughties.  These socially aspirant young people had well paid jobs and were part of making cities more viable even in the more unattractive parts of London . 

This funny and insightful lecture was followed by lots of lively questions from the audience many contributing their own experiences as urban dwellers in our city.  

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