Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Professor Phillipp Schofield, Professor of Medieval History at Aberystwyth University has been elected as Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. A leading international researcher in medieval economic and social history, with a particular interest in matters of credit and debt, Professor Schofield is one of 42 leading social scientists to be recognised by the Academy. Following the announcement, Professor Schofield said: “I am delighted to be elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. “As a medieval historian, my involvement in the social sciences comes from two main directions. In my own work, which is directed mostly at the study of rural society in the middle ages, I focus in particular on topics that have a wider application within social science. So, themes such as the social and economic response to crisis and population change are central to a great deal of what I do, as is an interest in the use of law in past societies. Secondly, but also importantly for me, m...

A five-month exhibition showcasing the research of Aberystwyth and Bangor universities into medieval seals in Wales from 1200-1550 is running at the National Library of Wales. The exhibition, Seals in context: Medieval Wales and Welsh Marches, is housed at the National Library’s Hengwrt Gallery and runs until the end of September 2012. The ‘Seals in Medieval Wales’ (SiMeW) project, undertaken by the Department of History and Welsh History at Aberystwyth in collaboration with the Department of History and Welsh History at Bangor University, is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The project has been running since September 2009 and has recorded around 3,500 seals from across Wales and the Marches in order to explore aspects of medieval society and economy, politics, religion and expressions of identity in new ways. The exhibition offers an early opportunity to present some of the rich material contained in medieval seals. Seals shed light on many aspects of medie...

A deadly famine that struck England during the 14th century, killing upwards of half a million people in less than three years, will be the focus of a major new study by Aberystwyth University historian Professor Phillipp Schofield.  Professor Schofield, Head of the Department of History and Welsh History, has been awarded a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship worth £140,507 which will run for three years from September 2012. The study will culminate with the publication of a book on “The Great Famine. Dearth and society in medieval England c.1300”. “Despite being northern Europe's most extensive famine event of the last millennium, relatively little has been written on it,” said Professor Schofield. "This work will not only bring us closer to an understanding of an event that may, on current estimates, have killed upwards of half a million people - out of a total population in England circa 1300 of around 5 million - in less than three years but will also draw to wide...