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IMC 2012: Sessions

Session 226: The Writing of Petitions in Later Medieval England

Monday 9 July 2012, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Society for 14th-Century Studies
Organiser:James Bothwell, School of History, University of Leicester
Moderator/Chair:Chris Given-Wilson, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of St Andrews
Paper 226-aThe Unseen Intermediaries: Who Wrote Petitions?
(Language: English)
Helen K. S. Killick, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Index terms: Charters and Diplomatics, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 226-bThe Common Profit of King and Kingdom: The Political Language of Petitioning, 1300-1450
(Language: English)
W. Mark Ormrod, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York
Index terms: Charters and Diplomatics, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 226-c'And Another Thing… ': Multiple Requests in 14th-Century Petitions
(Language: English)
Gwilym Dodd, Department of History, University of Nottingham
Index terms: Charters and Diplomatics, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Abstract

This session presents the preliminary findings of research carried out as part of the larger project 'Making Medieval English Manuscripts: New Knowledge, New Technologies' funded by the Mellon Foundation. These papers form part of a sub-strand to this wider project - 'The Writing of Petitions in Later Medieval England' - which focusses on the appearance and form of the petitions in The National Archives series SC 8 ('Ancient Petitions'). The aim of the sub-project is to demonstrate the importance and advantage of engaging with digital technologies in the study of petitions. Each paper considers quite distinct subject areas in fulfilment of this goal: the palaeographical profile of the scribal hands employed in writing petitions; the use of language and political discourse to construct the requests; and the physical form and structure of the documents themselves.