{"id":2101,"date":"2021-09-24T11:34:39","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T11:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/?p=2101"},"modified":"2024-08-06T06:20:46","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T06:20:46","slug":"the-upside-of-virtual-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/","title":{"rendered":"The Upside of Virtual Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Just when Lockdown 1 began I\u2019d started to think about the acknowledgements I would include at the front of my new book, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/yalebooks.co.uk\/display.asp?K=9780300115727\">The Dissolution of the Monasteries. A New History<\/a><\/em>. Already I had a long list of names in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then the implications of a complete suspension of research life became clear. Campus and library were closed, and for long weeks there was no prospect of access to the office where I keep most of my academic books. Now I faced the task of completing the final edit of the book and finding 30+ illustrations with all of the usual resources \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/\">British Library<\/a> and its imaging studio, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalarchives.gov.uk\/\">National Archives<\/a>, regional archives, Inter-library Loan \u2013 shut down for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve lost count of the times over this past year that well-meaning people have said to me: \u2018Of course, for the kind of research you do, I imagine it\u2019s not so bad because pretty much everything you need is online!\u2019. Er, pretty much not, in fact. Even the medievalist with an interest in Britain\u2019s abbeys, cathedrals and other well-documented foundations will find that open-access sources are thin on the ground, despite the best efforts of <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/\">Internet Archive<\/a> to dig up long-forgotten nineteenth-century editions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what is free-to-access online is an extraordinary community: even via organisations\u2019 official homepages and, of course, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/\">Twitter<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/\">Instagram<\/a>, personal blog sites and good, old-fashioned email. As all the familiar avenues remained closed off my relationship with this virtual network was steadily transformed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that the long disruption to research facilities is coming to an end, and a visit to the BL promises to be a little less like buying a ticket to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk\/\">Glastonbury Festival<\/a>, it is worth marking how the virtual world has helped research to carry on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was able to reach archivists at city and county heritage centres \u2013 for example,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityoflondon.gov.uk\/things-to-do\/history-and-heritage\/london-metropolitan-archives\">London Metropolitan<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.herefordshire.gov.uk\/herefordshire-archive-records-centre\">Hereford<\/a> &#8211; who were only too glad to lift the gloom of their reader-free search rooms for a moment to snatch a phone image of that one Dissolution deed I\u2019d been counting on before research facilities were closed off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contact through the homepage of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.manxantiquarians.com\/\">Isle of Man Natural History &amp; Antiquarian Society<\/a> connected me to the intrepid Dave, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/help.twitter.com\/en\/using-twitter\/direct-messages\">DM<\/a> told me he would take advantage of the empty roads to catch the last mail plane of the day to be sure that hard-to-find monograph on <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rushen_Abbey\">Rushen Abbey (Mannishter Rushen)<\/a> \u2013 the last <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cistercians#:~:text=The%20Cistercians%20(%2Fs%C9%AA%CB%88,the%20Rule%20of%20Saint%20Benedict.\">Cistercian<\/a> house of all to fall (in June 1540) \u2013 was in my hands by the next day. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parcelforce.com\/\">Parcelforce<\/a> presented it to me the next morning at 10am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" data-id=\"2106\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/Rushen_Abbey_-_Ballasalla_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_55692.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2106\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/Rushen_Abbey_-_Ballasalla_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_55692.jpg 640w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/Rushen_Abbey_-_Ballasalla_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_55692-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rushden Abbey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"350\" height=\"144\" data-id=\"2103\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/download.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2103\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/download.jpg 350w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/download-300x123.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Manx mail plane lands at Ronaldsway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The lively virtual noticeboard of the tiny village of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dingley,_Northamptonshire\">Dingley<\/a>, Northamptonshire (a population of 194) put me in touch with Tony, keyholder of <a href=\"https:\/\/historicengland.org.uk\/listing\/the-list\/list-entry\/1372349\">All Saints parish church<\/a>, who generously agreed to redirect his one permitted period of outdoor exercise, open up the building and capture in close-up the beautiful memorial brass of Ann Boroeghe, former nun of <a href=\"https:\/\/historicengland.org.uk\/listing\/the-list\/list-entry\/1002003\">St Mary\u2019s Priory, Clerkenwell<\/a>. She settled there after the Dissolution, apparently attracted by traditional sympathies of the new proprietor of the old <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Knights_Hospitaller\">Hospitaller<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.british-history.ac.uk\/vch\/northants\/vol2\/pp142-144\">Preceptory<\/a> nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parish churches scarcely had a chance to consider even a partial reopening before Lockdown 3 but a post on the Vicar\u2019s page of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/St_Peter_and_St_Paul,_Dagenham\">St Peter and St Paul, Dagenham<\/a>, brought another against-the-odds plan from the verger, Steve, to follow the maintenance men into the building to take some fine IPhone images of the Urswick family brass, which, perhaps uniquely, shows the eldest daughter at the head of her sisters, in the habit of her nun\u2019s profession. The patriarch, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Urswick\">Sir Thomas Urswick<\/a> (d. 1479), was <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Recorder_of_London\">Recorder of London<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chief_Baron_of_the_Exchequer\">Chief Baron of the Exchequer<\/a>\u00a0and father of thirteen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1005\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"2105\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/28-Ann-1005x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2105\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/28-Ann-1005x1024.jpg 1005w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/28-Ann-294x300.jpg 294w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/28-Ann-768x783.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/28-Ann-1508x1536.jpg 1508w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/28-Ann.jpg 2010w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1005px) 100vw, 1005px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brass for Ann Boroeghe at All Saints, Dingley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"570\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"2102\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/5-Urswick-570x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/5-Urswick-570x1024.jpeg 570w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/5-Urswick-167x300.jpeg 167w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/5-Urswick-768x1381.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/5-Urswick-854x1536.jpeg 854w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/5-Urswick-1139x2048.jpeg 1139w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/5-Urswick.jpeg 1182w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Urswick family brass, SS Peter and Paul, Dagenham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>These \u2018drop-everything\u2019 responses and publication-standard photos were far more than I expected; and then I stepped into the middle of another network: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/explore\">Flickr<\/a>. Of course, Flickr\u2019s members are instinctive illustrators: they document their professional and personal lives in picture albums. They also like to show and share their talents. From across the community, they responded rapidly to my strange requests for very specific viewpoints of this gatehouse and that tomb effigy with wonderful images that spoiled me for choice. Very soon, the book\u2019s illustration slots were all filled; and the quality was immeasurably raised. The last plate of all in the book is a Flickr close-up of the cadaver image of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/William_Weston_(prior)\">William Weston<\/a>, Prior of the Hospitaller&#8217;s principal priory at <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Clerkenwell_Priory\">Clerkenwell<\/a>, the last leader of the medieval religious orders to be toppled by crown. It was said that he died on the very day that the congregation\u2019s properties were seized by parliamentary statute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large wp-image-2104 size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"2104\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/33-William-Weston-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2104\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/33-William-Weston-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/33-William-Weston-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/33-William-Weston-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/33-William-Weston-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/33-William-Weston-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cadaver effigy of Prior William Weston (d. 1540)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>My research address book and browser bookmarks are a good deal more diverse than they were twelve months ago.\u00a0 The book is about to appear (publication date, 12 October). The acknowledgements page has more than doubled in length. Research of this kind can continue under pandemic conditions, but like so much of life in Lockdown, it is a matter of people, not things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just when Lockdown 1 began I\u2019d started to think about the acknowledgements I would include at the front of my new book, The Dissolution of the Monasteries. A New History. Already I had a long list of names in mind. Then the implications of a complete suspension of research life became clear. Campus and library [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1255,"featured_media":2106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[179,455],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Upside of Virtual Research - Exeter Medieval Studies Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Upside of Virtual Research - Exeter Medieval Studies Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just when Lockdown 1 began I\u2019d started to think about the acknowledgements I would include at the front of my new book, The Dissolution of the Monasteries. A New History. Already I had a long list of names in mind. Then the implications of a complete suspension of research life became clear. Campus and library [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Exeter Medieval Studies Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ExeterMedievalStudies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-24T11:34:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-06T06:20:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/Rushen_Abbey_-_Ballasalla_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_55692.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Gordon Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@exetermedieval\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@exetermedieval\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Gordon Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Gordon Clark\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/#\/schema\/person\/cacb7761dea4010d01c9dfb80461713e\"},\"headline\":\"The Upside of Virtual Research\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-24T11:34:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-06T06:20:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/\"},\"wordCount\":867,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/339\/2021\/09\/Rushen_Abbey_-_Ballasalla_-_geograph.org_.uk_-_55692.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Digital Resources\",\"Research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Digital Resources\",\"Discussion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/medievalstudies\/2021\/09\/24\/the-upside-of-virtual-research\/\",\"name\":\"The Upside of Virtual Research - 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