IMC 2026: Sessions
Session 1313: Archives and Sources, II: Finding Daily Life in the Archives
Wednesday 8 July 2026, 16:30-18:00
| Sponsor: | The National Archives, Kew |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Kathryn Maude, The National Archives, Kew |
| Moderator/Chair: | Paul R. Dryburgh, The National Archives, Kew |
| Paper 1313-a | Materiality Matters: Manorial Custumals, 1200-1348 (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Daily Life, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Social History |
| Paper 1313-b | Windmills, Reindeer Hides, and Squirrel Fur: The Manorial and Customs Accounts of Ravenser Odd (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Daily Life, Economics - Trade, Social History |
| Paper 1313-c | The Relative Visibilities of 'Peasants' in Southern French Archives in the Central Middle Ages (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Daily Life, Economics - Rural, Social History |
| Abstract | Can a close study of the archives bring new evidence for the distribution and circulation of medieval knowledge over time? To what extent do the activities of antiquarians and archivists conceal and/or enable the process of, and potential for, discovery? Have historical practices and fashions helped or hindered studies of the archives? In this panel, the participants use different archives and archival sources to illuminate the everyday life of peasants and manorial tenants in France and England. Jenni Lane investigates the materiality and temporality of manorial custumals, scrutinizing the additions, deletions and other annotations made across time by multiple hands in order to argue that, far from static texts, these were ‘live’ documents which could be updated; Kathryn Maude compares customs and manorial accounts from Ravenser Odd to discuss daily life on a sinking medieval island; and John Arnold investigates southern French archives to shed light on the visibility of peasants in archival sources from the central Middle Ages. |