Dr Laura Sangha
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lsangha.bsky.social
Dr Laura Sangha
@lsangha.bsky.social
7.5K followers 620 following 4.3K posts
Associate Prof at Exeter Uni | English history 1480-1700 | CI: Material Culture in English Wills | reformation | angels & ghosts | she/her | brown-ish | 1st gen

Wills Project: https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcultureofwills/
Blog: manyheadedmonster.com
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lsangha.bsky.social
Couple of wills talks coming up: I'm presenting to the Devonshire Association, Tavistock & West Devon branch on Friday.

Then next Friday @bhamhistory.bsky.social & I are giving a talk at a joint Devon History Society & Devon Archaeological society workshop at Devon Heritage Centre.

🗃️
7 people stand in front of two banners showing info about the Leverhulme Trust project, The Material Culture of Wills: England 1540-1790. The people are smiling.
November 17, 2025 at 8:14 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
ok, yep - I defy anyone to work out which is which
The side of an woman's effigy tomb showing the bottom of her dress and her feet (she lays on her back). The dress is depicted as many wiggled folds of fabric, and we can see the soles of her small shoes. A close up of the side of a Viennetta - white ice cream with three 'folded' layers on top of flat layers. It looks a lot like the folds of drapery in the other photo.
November 16, 2025 at 10:19 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
After a woman is prevented from entering Westminster Abbey because of her Wind in the Willow sweatshirt, today I ask, would yours make it in?

Today I worry my Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Nuthatch could prove controversial

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
A person wearing a navy blue sweatshirt with the RSPB logo and an image of nuthatch (a small bird) on it.
November 15, 2025 at 10:35 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
slightly obsessed about the end of this lady's effigy tomb with the voluminous folds of her dress and petite heeled shoes
The side of an woman's effigy tomb showing the bottom of her dress and her feet (she lays on her back). The dress is depicted as many wiggled folds of fabric, and we can see the soles of her small shoes.
November 14, 2025 at 9:43 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
This is fabulous, thanks so much for sharing! We are very interested in fabric mentioned in our wills precisely because it bears all these meanings.

And strangely enough, here's the shirt I am wearing today ...!
Close up of a red shirt with a white decorative pattern on it. The pattern is paisley - 'an ornamental textile design using the boteh (Persian: بته) or buta, a teardrop-shaped motif with a curved upper end'. [wikipedia]
November 14, 2025 at 9:35 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
i met the most remarkable swamp cypress
The leaves of a swamp cypress tree in glorious autumn colours: bright orange with flashes of lime green.
November 14, 2025 at 8:02 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
Preparing today's lecture on Tudor rebellions - at some point in the past I highlighted these places on a slide about Kett's rebellion. But ... why???
Map of Norfolk and Suffolk showing town names, some of these towns names are highlighted in yellow.
November 12, 2025 at 8:41 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
shout out to the silliest cat
A grey tabby cat being held in a person's arms, she sits as if she were a human, with her front paws resting on her belly, looking alertly to the left.
November 10, 2025 at 6:12 PM
lsangha.bsky.social
updating my lecture on popular protest and the weapons of the weak
Still from the Netflix series 'Bridgerton', Queen Charlotte in a huge wig sits reading a copy of the gossip sheet written by 'Lady Whistledown'.
November 10, 2025 at 8:27 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
coast path day, i am alive again
A headland on England's south coast. Grass in the foreground, and a large red cliff in the distance with a pebble beach at it's foot, with white waves breaking gently onto it. The sky above is bright blue.
November 8, 2025 at 8:09 PM
lsangha.bsky.social
On this day in 1605 a Catholic soldier named Guy Fawkes was arrested in an undercroft below the House of Lords.

Many people know about the infamous gunpowder plot, but here's a blog post about the broader Catholic community at the time.

manyheadedmonster.com/2014/11/03/g...

#EarlyModern 🗃️
A 1799 engraving of the undercroft below the house of lords. It shows a long, brick lined space with regular archways along each side.
November 5, 2025 at 7:39 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
Pretty sure that beauty features in my favourite film too
Drawing of a green fish with butterfly like fins, and coloured stripes on its tail. The fish has a human eye and a little cheeky smile.
November 4, 2025 at 9:22 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
autumn celebrity
Close up of a bright red mushroom with white spots, nestled among a pile of coppery beech leaves, all glistening in the rain.
November 2, 2025 at 4:52 PM
lsangha.bsky.social
And here we all are, not being at all self-conscious about having our photo taken and enjoying Harry's visualisation of our bequests.
Photo of six people seated around a table with water and computers on the table top. Photo of six people seated around a table with lots of books and computers on the table. A screen showing a coloured graphic is on the wall at the front of the room.
October 29, 2025 at 1:42 PM
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
lsangha.bsky.social
the odds looked good though!
Weather forecast showing a 10% chance of rain, and sunshine at 7am.
October 28, 2025 at 6:24 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
Fingers crossed for this sort of dawn today.
Photo of sunrise - the outline of a dark tree is silhouetted against the very bright yellow light of the rising sun. In the middle distance steam rises from a river.
October 28, 2025 at 6:07 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
😄

So ...
Cover of a history book titled 'The Great Cat Massacre and other episodes in French Cultural History'. The author is Robert Darnton. Graphic shows % of universities undertaking various cost cutting measures, comparing spring 2024 with spring 2025. Course closures, cutting optional modules, compulsory redundancies, and department closures have all surged.
October 27, 2025 at 10:24 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
autumn in a sunnier year
A mud track strewn with orange beech leaves, to the left the track is bordered by beech trees, their leaves in shades of green, orange and yellow. The scene is drenched in sunlight, two people walk the track in the far distance.
October 27, 2025 at 10:06 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
the portal opens
Dawn on a blustery damp day, the sky is cloudy and awash with colours of pink, orange and blue. Below a very large puddle reflects the sky making it look a bit like a window into a different world.
October 25, 2025 at 7:04 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
Dartmoor ponies rocking their autumn styles
Two squat ponies, one brown with white feet, the other brown with a white stripe, stand motionless on moorland with green hills behind. They both have long luxurient manes.
October 24, 2025 at 5:36 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
i have hit on the perfect solution! I should start taking a memento mori clock to lectures = i know when to stop, & the students are reminded that death comes for all and to redeem their time accordingly
An elaborate, gold, 19th-century clock. The white clock face is surrounded by memento mori icons - skulls and snakes.
October 22, 2025 at 7:27 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
We played #Exeter Phoenix!

Stories & Songs was a huge success last weekend 🎵🍿📜

Many thanks to FUTURES Festival and Exeter Arts and Culture for funding, & to our ensemble for bringing Chris Hoban's will inspired compositions to life.

#EarlyModern 🗃️ @leverhulme.ac.uk @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social
Nine people standing in front of the stage in an auditorium, all except one hold instruments: recorder, guitar, cello, violins, viola and just about in view, a hurdy-gurdy.
October 20, 2025 at 7:06 AM
lsangha.bsky.social
nice gloomy wander on the Grand Western Canal yesterday before the storm hit
A sign in a hedge that reads 'Halberton Cemetary: NO PARKING EXCEPT FOR FUNERAL CORTEGES: by order of the parish council A canal tow path lined with dead plants and with lots of trees, some in the yellow and red of autumn, on the opposite bank. Three people walk on the path away from the camera.
October 19, 2025 at 7:23 PM
lsangha.bsky.social
October is generally a very grey month in Devon, and this year it seems even worse than usual. Not always though, as this snap from #otd in 2018 shows:
Photo of the River Exe just before dawn. The river is very still and reflects the sky, which is shades of very light blue and yellow, broken up by strips of cloud that shine with the light of the soon to rise sun.
October 18, 2025 at 5:55 AM