Anna Cusack
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annacusack.bsky.social
Anna Cusack
@annacusack.bsky.social
4.3K followers 1.5K following 92 posts
Early modernist. Lecturer at Oxford Conted, IES, AIFS, & WEA. PhD from Birkbeck, 'The Marginal Dead of London, c.1600-1800'. London, suicides, crime & punishment, execution, dead bodies, burial, religious outsiders (esp Quakers). Co-editor How-to History
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Reposted by Anna Cusack
bucksarchives.bsky.social
Let's play Bucks Name or Name Name
November 7, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
thegozfather.bsky.social
These catalogue updates allow me, a serious historian, to search for "fart" and find the case where the accused allegedly said he "cared not a fart for the Lord Mayor of London." What will you find? discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_a...
November 9, 2025 at 1:21 PM
annacusack.bsky.social
A year ago my friend told me about this new book he was writing, I was intrigued...it's now out in the world and published in the UK today and I'm so looking forward to diving into this incredible story. It's quite something. Would recommend!
waltermarsh.bsky.social Walter Marsh @waltermarsh.bsky.social · 4d
UK PUBLICATION DAY 🇬🇧

A year ago I went to London to visit some grand, old, complicated museums, and track down some big pieces of the puzzle that become my second book #TheButterflyThief 🦋

A year later, pretty much to the day, it’s out now: scribepublications.co.uk/books/the-butterfly-thief
November 7, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
timhitchcock.bsky.social
Really pleased to announce the launch of the all-new, all-dancing, London Lives website - www.londonlives.org It has been thoroughly re-engineered to facilitate more types of search, and redesigned for phones and tablets. The team very much hopes peope like it. 1/
London Lives
www.londonlives.org
November 5, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
emilymayvine.bsky.social
A new 'Will of the Month' post over on the @materialwills.bsky.social blog 👇

October's post looks at the poignant will of Margery Gadyng, a married woman who died in childbirth in 1540, who used her final words to make provisions for her children's future care.

#skystorians #history #EarlyModern
materialwills.bsky.social The Material Culture of Wills Project @materialwills.bsky.social · 12d
📢 In Case You Missed It 📢

October's 'Will of the Month' post is now live on our blog 📜

When Margery Gadyng died in childbirth in 1540, she made a nuncupative or 'oral' will, leaving ribbons to the women who witnessed her declare her final wishes.

Read more here👇 sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult...
A photograph of a brown embroidered ribbon on a black background. The ribbon is curled on the right hand side, and decorated with embroidery, including green plants and white and yellow flowers. Ribbon, embroidered, ca. 1600, English https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O10418/ribbon-unknown/ ©Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2025
October 30, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
thelondonjournal.bsky.social
Our latest Viewpoint article is out: 'Guilds and Companies in London, 1200–1700: Contexts and Comparisons' by @mpdavies.bsky.social.

A 🧵 on the insights provided by this article into the history and historiography of these key metropolitan institutions in the medieval and early modern periods.
Guilds and Companies in London, 1200–1700: Contexts and Comparisons
Published in The London Journal: A Review of Metropolitan Society Past and Present (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
lsangha.bsky.social
👻All Hallow's Eve will soon be upon us! 👻

But what are the spirits associated with this night, and what should you do if one appears before you?

Read my post on #EarlyModern ghost beliefs to find out 🎃 🗃️

manyheadedmonster.com/2016/10/24/d...
Three woodcuts, on the left a black devil with horns, forked tail and hooves. Centre two angels waving their arms around. Right a ghost - a person in a white winding sheet - holding a flaming taper and pointing.
October 29, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
brodiewaddell.bsky.social
New #EarlyModern hearth tax transcriptions for Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Norwich published #OpenAccess online!

In Offley 1663, Sir Brocket Spencer, baronet, had 24 hearths, while Widow Pilgrim was ‘poore and not able to pay’. 🗃️

Explore 370,406 others here: gams.uni-graz.at/archive/obje...
October 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
drhollyfletcher.bsky.social
I collaborated with cell biologist, Prof. Paul Martin to explore the relationship between early modern and modern wound healing through the lens of the Wound Man. Our article is available open access: www.jprasurg.com/article/S174... (first and likely last time I'll publish in a surgical journal!)
The Renaissance Wound Man: Parallels with today’s understanding of wound repair
The image of the “Wound Man” first appeared in surgical texts from the late fourteenth century where it served as an illustrated guide to what medical practitioners might be called upon to treat. Acro...
www.jprasurg.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
thegozfather.bsky.social
This is an excellent deep dive by @kjkesselring.bsky.social into the Devil in legal records. My (very) small contribution was coming up with the title, which I blurted out mid-conversation with Krista when told about the subject.
October 27, 2025 at 9:01 AM
annacusack.bsky.social
Just your periodic reminder that there is an early modern pub night once a month for PhDs and ECRs and anyone else who'd like to join in London. If you'd like to be added to the mailing list please DM me.
Woodcut of four individuals around a table which has tankards of ale on it and a candle in a candle stick. One individual on the right as you look at the image is smoking a pipe and standing. The others are sitting. They are dressed in late Elizabethan or early Stuart clothings with some hats with feathers. One individual may be a woman the other three are male.
October 27, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
jdmccafferty.bsky.social
Memento Mori finger-ring

Possibly made in Flanders, c. 1525-1575. (British Museum)
October 26, 2025 at 6:05 PM
annacusack.bsky.social
Grading midterms for US study abroad students, and 1) I don't need to worry about AI as it is all handwritten, and 2) I was pleasantly surprised to see one student writing in perfect and beautiful cursive.
a close up of a person 's hand pressing a button on a computer keyboard
ALT: a close up of a person 's hand pressing a button on a computer keyboard
media.tenor.com
October 24, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
brodiewaddell.bsky.social
Birth! Death!! Domestic Religion!!!

Come along (or join online) to hear @emilymayvine.bsky.social's talk at the @ihr.bsky.social next Thursday.
ihrscb.bsky.social IHR Society, Culture & Belief, 1500-1800 @ihrscb.bsky.social · 18d
Join us next Thursday (30/10, 5.30 pm) for Dr Emily Vine’s (@emilymayvine.bsky.social) talk on ‘Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London’! You can sign up to join in-person (IHR Wolfson Room, NB02) or online via Zoom here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London
Society, Culture and Belief, 1500-1800 Seminar- Session 2
www.history.ac.uk
October 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
julialaite.bsky.social
Here is my first publication from my new project on the history of colonial Newfoundland and the Beothuk people, and I'm rather nervous to put it out in the world. Genuinely, all thoughts on this work are welcome as I head into writing a book about it...
royalhistsoc.org Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 18d
New in 'Transactions': 'Possible Maps: Newfoundland, 1763–1829' bit.ly/4oygf5V

@julialaite.bsky.social shows how overlapping maps highlight complexity of encounter with place over a coherence of colonial ideologies. What were peripheries of some people’s empires were centres of others' worlds 1/2
Opening page for the new Transactions article: 'Ppssible Maps: Newfoundland, 1763-1829'. Full abstract: "Islands have a disproportionate role – as strategic locations, as imaginative or symbolic locales, as extractive zones and as ecological bellwethers – in oceanic imperial histories. They were and are places of ‘great practical use and metaphorical power’. And yet Newfoundland was seen (and continues to be seen) as marginal and peripheral, even if the biomass that was pulled out of its ocean fed – quite literally – a global network of exploitation. This article uses four overlapping maps to tell four overlapping stories: James Cook’s circumnavigation of the island in 1763–8; Lt David Buchan’s trek into the interior to contact the Beothuk in 1811 and 1820; William Eppes Cormack and Joseph Sylvester’s trek across the island in 1822; and finally, a series of story-maps created by Shanawdithit, who is apocryphally known as ‘the last of the Beothuk’. In doing so, it draws in Indigenous ‘storywork’ and cartographic histories and makes a case for storytelling as powerful methodology for examining overlooked colonial histories. These maps and stories highlight the complexity of encounter with a place rather than a coherence of colonial ideologies. Through the stories these maps help me tell, I hope to show how the peripheries of some people’s empires were the centres of other people’s worlds." Extract from Julia Laite's new TRHS article with image of Clarence Brown's 'The Newfoundland Centred World' (1977), reproduced with permission from the Department of Geography, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.
October 23, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
boapublishing.bsky.social
Coming soon to British Online Archives — Witchcraft and Magic in England, c. 1400–1920.
Featuring rare records from The National Archives, British Library, UCL, and The Folklore Society.
Register your interest: buff.ly/YBeFCF1
October 22, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
socialhistsoc.bsky.social
📅 Save the Date!
🎉 To mark 50 years of the Social History Society, we’re hosting a Social History Festival with @ihr.bsky.social!

🗓️ Fri 24 April 2026
📍 Senate House, University of London

Panels, a keynote + hands-on activities!
💡 Want to contribute? 👉socialhistsoc@gmail.com

More info coming soon!
October 22, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
exeterunispeccoll.bsky.social
Good morning to everyone, but especially to all the wombats, for today is their special day!

To celebrate International Wombat Day, here is an engraving of a wombat from 'The Illustrated Natural History' (1863) by J. G. Wood.

📷 Reserve 590.2/WOO

#InternationalWombatDay #WombatDay #RareBooks
Cropped image from a book, showing an engraving of two wombats walking on the ground, with vegetation around them. One wombat is a darker colour and one is a lighter colour. They are very rotund and look very fluffy.
October 22, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
markhailwood.bsky.social
Final post in my series on 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England'. It focuses on the heartbeat of the premodern economy.... the harvest.

manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/16/t...
The Experience of Work in Early Modern England IV: Harvesters
This post is part of a series that marks the publication of The Experience of Work in Early Modern England. The book is co-authored by monster head Mark Hailwood, along with Jane Whittle, Hannah Ro…
manyheadedmonster.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
allankennedy.bsky.social
Pleased to see my interview with the BBC History Extra podcast has now gone live! Had great fun chatting with Emily Briffett about my book on 'Serious Crime in Late Seventeenth-Century Scotland'. www.historyextra.com/membership/c...
Bandits & blasphemers: crime in 17th century Scotland
Allan Kennedy unpacks what looking at crime and punishment can reveal about Scottish values in the 17th century
www.historyextra.com
October 15, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
mors-amor.bsky.social
OTD in 1564, Andreas Vesalius (Andries van Wesel) passed away.
The Brussels-born physician broke a major dogma by dissecting human bodies himself and publishing De Humani Corporis Fabrica (1543), the masterpiece that reshaped our understanding of the human form www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...
Andreas Vesalius - De humani corporis fabrica (Of the Structure of the Human Body) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
possibly Philip Yorke (British); most likely Alexander Buchan, M.D. (British); Samuel Lane (British); Francis Turner (British); H.W. Turner (British); Sir D'Arcy Power (British); Harold and Frida Lask...
www.metmuseum.org
October 15, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
markhailwood.bsky.social
As the agricultural cycle starts to wind down for the winter, my next post on 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England' looks forward to its resumption in the new year, when...

‘Ploughmen go whistling to their toils’

manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/14/t...
The Experience of Work in Early Modern England III: ‘Ploughmen go whistling to their toils’
This post is part of a series that marks the publication of The Experience of Work in Early Modern England. The book is co-authored by monster head Mark Hailwood, along with Jane Whittle, Hannah Ro…
manyheadedmonster.com
October 14, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
justincolson.bsky.social
At @ihr.bsky.social we can now offer PhD by Publication in History! For those with a substantial body of existing published research (within past 10 years), but without a PhD, should be of particular interest to #heritage professionals and independent scholars!
October 14, 2025 at 8:53 AM
annacusack.bsky.social
Looking forward to talking about the executed body this Saturday for @bodiesandbeing.bsky.social 👇🏻
October 14, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Reposted by Anna Cusack
lsangha.bsky.social
Many congratulations to my colleagues in the Forms of Labour project team on the publication of their new monograph! 🗃️👏🎉

Brilliantly, The Experience of Work in #EarlyModern England is available open access:

www.cambridge.org/core/books/e...

news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-h...
A woman’s place was not in the home: New book challenges assumptions about women’s work in early modern history
New research has revealed that women played a fundamental role in the development of England’s national economy before 1700. Far from being the unpaid homemakers and housewives of traditional historic...
news.exeter.ac.uk
October 9, 2025 at 12:17 PM