I have to say the spring cygnets are absolutely one of my favorite parts of working at Kew!
[Also looking a ship's papers I have looked at TWICE before - this is why these projects take so long .....]
The earliest days of French colonization from
@brettrushforth.bsky.social
(and Chris Hodson) and their important new book:
substack.com/@frenchatlan...
As the @rsaorg.bsky.social 's Religion discipline rep, I'm excited to share two #earlymodern #CfP for #RenSA27.
The first, coorganised with Amanda Scott, is entitled "Banishment and Exile in the Early Modern World": www.rsa.org/forms/FormRe...
The second is entitled "Execution and Martyrdom in the Early Modern World": www.rsa.org/forms/FormRe...
The idea behind these four sessions would be to explore what historians of religion and crime can learn from each other.
The deadline is 24 July. Please get in touch! 😊
On 11 June 2026, I'm running an online intro to early modern legal records, part of The National Archives' Practical Archival Skills Training #TNAPAST workshops. More details can be found via the link. For accompanying on-site workshops, see the below thread www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/past-early...
I’m rarely at a loss for words but today I don’t have many for the enormity and the complexity of Gordon Wood’s legacy - I was inspired by his work even as I agreed with about 1/2 and was often irritated by the rest. RIP. A real one. www.brown.edu/news/2026-06...
“Petit Dieppe was probably real: a small, semi-permanent merchant settlement on an estuary island at the mouth of the Timbo River. It doesn’t change much to know this small detail. But the drive to so...
A one-day online introduction to Early Modern Legal records.
An absolutely excellent piece on the long life (and now death in some but not other ways) of the Code Noir from @brettrushforth.bsky.social - follow this Substack too which is tied to Brett and @Chris Hudson's important new book, Beyond the Ocean:
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Julie Hardwick
global.oup.com
open.substack.com/pub/frenchat...
We should celebrate France’s long-overdue repudiation of the Code Noir. But French racism did not begin with the code and won’t simply disappear with its repeal.
