Lambeth Palace Library

IHR: Reformation and revenge in Tudor London
2023-12-12 17:00 - 18:30 (Europe/London)
Institute of Historical Research Seminar

Using the rich seam of local records (detailed churchwardens’ accounts, vestry minutes and surviving wills), this paper tells the tale of religious divisions in the London suburban parish of St Botolph’s Aldgate. The changes to parish worship and finance during the reign of Edward VI were almost entirely reversed during the reign of Queen Mary.

Previous historians have failed to register the crucial disciplinary role played in the parish during this period by Dr John Story, academic, theologian and close confidante of Bishop Edmund Bonner. A clearer understanding of how Story humiliated a key group of evangelicals in the parish offers insight into how and why Story became a target for revenge resulting in his kidnap and execution for treason in 1571.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org no later than Monday 11 December.

Please note that tickets must be booked individually for security purposes.

Exhibition Curator’s Talk: Reformation Cardinal
2023-12-01 14:00 - 15:00
Born in 1500 into the highest circles of the English aristocracy and then lifted as high in the Church, Reginald Pole’s life was spent steering a perilous course through the storm of the European Reformation. After a brilliant scholarly career in Italy, he chose refuge there from Henry VIII’s regime and its anti-papal policies. His oppositional stance infuriated the king and led to the execution for treason of Pole’s own mother and brother. Steeped in the theology of martyrdom, Pole prepared himself for the same fate at the hands of Henry’s assassins.

Pole was made a cardinal in 1536 and later came within one vote of the papal throne. His great period of service in England arrived three decades after he had left, when in 1553 Mary Tudor appointed him to be archbishop of Canterbury and they began the work of reconciling the English Church to Rome. He died at Lambeth in 1558, on the same day as the queen, in the knowledge that the restoration they had begun would not survive the new dispensation.

Pole’s was a life steeped in books. He was a scholar and a collector of one of the period’s most intriguing libraries, and it was in books that he fought his battles and made his strongest statements for reform. This exhibition gathers books from Oxford, London, and Rome to tell his story. The Pole who emerges is a complex and agonized individual, someone of sincerity and of evident charm, a connoisseur, a man of strong faith, a European statesman—and a battler for moderation within the limits of the possible.

You can book your ticket via Eventbrite.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket or email archives@churchofengland.org no later than Wednesday 29 November.

Please note that tickets must be booked individually for security purposes.

Exhibition Curator's Talk: Reformation Cardinal
2023-11-23 11:00 - 12:00
Born in 1500 into the highest circles of the English aristocracy and then lifted as high in the Church, Reginald Pole’s life was spent steering a perilous course through the storm of the European Reformation. After a brilliant scholarly career in Italy, he chose refuge there from Henry VIII’s regime and its anti-papal policies. His oppositional stance infuriated the king and led to the execution for treason of Pole’s own mother and brother. Steeped in the theology of martyrdom, Pole prepared himself for the same fate at the hands of Henry’s assassins.

Pole was made a cardinal in 1536 and later came within one vote of the papal throne. His great period of service in England arrived three decades after he had left, when in 1553 Mary Tudor appointed him to be archbishop of Canterbury and they began the work of reconciling the English Church to Rome. He died at Lambeth in 1558, on the same day as the queen, in the knowledge that the restoration they had begun would not survive the new dispensation.

Pole’s was a life steeped in books. He was a scholar and a collector of one of the period’s most intriguing libraries, and it was in books that he fought his battles and made his strongest statements for reform. This exhibition gathers books from Oxford, London, and Rome to tell his story. The Pole who emerges is a complex and agonized individual, someone of sincerity and of evident charm, a connoisseur, a man of strong faith, a European statesman—and a battler for moderation within the limits of the possible.

You can book your ticket via Eventbrite.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket or email archives@churchofengland.org no later than Tuesday 21 November.

Please note that tickets must be booked individually for security purposes.

Lucy Wooding: Cardinal Pole and the Catholic Reformation
2023-11-22 17:30 - 19:00
Reginald Pole was many things: royal cousin, humanist scholar, Cardinal, reformer, and the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury. His place in the story of England’s Reformation has always been contested, in particular with regard to the vilified reign of Mary I.

As historical thinking on the Marian Restoration has altered, so too Pole’s reputation has been re-evaluated. Where once he was associated with reaction and persecution, more recently the emphasis has shifted to his role as committed reformer and Counter-Reformation visionary.

This lecture will explore where we might place Pole within the competing narratives of the European Reformation, and assess the case for a Catholic Reformation in England.

Tickets are available to book via Eventbrite.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket or email archives@churchofengland.org no later than Monday 20 November.

From Inspiration to Illumination, an Introduction to The Saint John’s Bible
2023-11-13 18:00 - 19:00, 2023-11-13 14:00 - 15:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
In Tim Terne’s lecture guests will learn about the processes, tools, methods and materials behind the making of The Saint John’s Bible, as well as explore several artworks through guided imagery discussions. Participants also get to handle vellum samples and a quill and see large reproductions of The Saint John’s Bible after the presentation.

A﻿bout the Speaker:

Tim Ternes is the Director of The Saint John’s Bible at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. In his role as director, he worked closely with the artistic team during the creation of the Bible serving as facilitator between artist and commissioner. This collaboration has given him extensive behind-the-scenes knowledge and great stories about all aspects of The Saint John’s Bible project. He now serves as curator for the Bible Project and manages exhibitions, programming, and caring for the original pages of the manuscript. Tim travels thousands of miles a year offering presentations and educational programs for The Saint John’s Bible and has given over 8000 presentations on the project during his 19 years at Saint John’s University. In short, Tim is the keeper of the pages and the keeper of the story.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org no later than Friday 10 November.

Early Modern semi-public libraries workshop
2023-11-07 14:00 - 18:40 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
In association with the History of Libraries seminar.

This event brings together work on a wide range of early modern private and institutional libraries which were in some way public. Speakers will introduce research on libraries and collectors in England, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany, inviting discussion on topics such as library acquisition, preservation, and methods of management.

T﻿he speakers are as below:

Tamara Atkin is Professor of Medieval and Early Modern English Literature at Queen Mary, University of London. She is currently completing a book about habits of book reuse in early modern England.

Anna-Lujz Gilbert is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters, UCL, where she is building a database of the earliest donations to the Bodleian Library, c. 1600-1620, for the ‘Shaping Scholarship’ project. Her PhD from the University of Exeter was on the parish and town libraries of early modern Devon.

Dr Jacqueline Glomski is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Editing Lives & Letters (CELL), UCL. Her research focuses on theories of book collecting and library formation in the 17th century. She has recently co-edited and contributed to the volume Seventeenth-Century Libraries: Problems & Perspectives, published by Brill.

Kentaro Inagaki is a PhD fellow at the Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen. Within the framework of the ERC Synergy Project, ‘The European Qur’an’, he is completing a PhD dissertation on Levinus Warner (d. 1665), the German orientalist and diplomat, entitled ‘Between Two Worlds: Levinus Warner and Islamic Literature’.

Luke Kelly, PhD student at Mittuniversitetet (Mid-Sweden University), is currently researching the social practice of book donations to cathedral libraries in 17th-century England. As a social historian of the book, his research seeks to demonstrate how book donations helped to establish and maintain complex networks.

Helen Kemp is the 21st Plume Librarian at Thomas Plume’s Library, and Community Fellow in the School of Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Essex. She studies reading and writing in the early modern world and is currently working on a monograph about 17th century notebooks.

John-Mark Philo is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow. His current project, “English and Scottish Scholars at the Global Library”, examines how Anglo-Scots scholars, merchants, and diplomats shared and accessed new knowledge at libraries in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. He is especially interested in how libraries have functioned, and still function today, as social and community spaces.

Alexandra Plane is a librarian and PhD student who is reconstructing the Scottish and English libraries of King James VI and I. This includes considering the extent to which the royal libraries functioned as a semi-public resource.

Jessica G. Purdy is Associate Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of St Andrews. She completed her PhD on parish libraries and readership at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2021. Her research interests focus on the history of books, libraries and reading, and the history of education

Caren Reimann is a post-doctoral researcher at the Herzog August Bibliothek (HAB), working at the project “Knowledge of the World. Early modern aristocracy and its cosmopolitan interest in collecting”, reconstructing noble woman’s libraries. Her PhD from the University of Würzburg was on the Arabic Gospels of the roman printing shop Typographia Medicea.

Ana Sáez-Hidalgo is Associate Professor at the Universidad de Valladolid. Her research is concerned with late medieval and early modern Anglo-Spanish cultural and literary relations, with special focus on book culture. Her most recent publications explore the cross-cultural dimension of the textual and material exchanges between Spain and England and the circulation of knowledge, ideas, and objects through English Catholic exiles on the Continent.

Ted Simonds is a rare book cataloguer currently working to catalogue early printed books in the Sion College Library collection, housed at Lambeth Palace Library. They completed the MSc in Book History & Material Culture at the University of Edinburgh, and undertook a placement at the National Library of Scotland, before training at the University of Reading Special Collections.

Andrea Thomas studied History at Somerville College, Oxford, and produced a doctoral thesis on ‘Renaissance Culture at the Court of James V’ at the University of Edinburgh. She is the author of two books, several articles and essays, and has been a trustee of the Cranston Library since 2003.

Those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via the IES website.

CANCELLED: David Skinner on 'The ‘Arundel’ Choirbook (Lambeth MS 1): a 16th-century journey from West Sussex to Lambeth'
2023-09-13 17:30 - 19:00
This lecture has been cancelled until further notice, the Exhibition space will still be open to visitors 17:30-19:00 who would like to speak to the curator, Mary Clayton-Kastenholz.

Lambeth MS1 is a very rare musical survival from early Tudor England, and is one of only two ecclesiastical choirbooks to have come down to us intact from the reign of Henry VIII. Its content is dominated by the music of Robert Fayrfax (d. 1521) and Nicholas Ludford (d. 1557), who represent two distinct generations of early English composers. The complex story of how the choirbook might have ended up in Lambeth Palace Library is discussed, as well as the nature of pre-Reformation musical sources, its singers, and the institutions which fostered them.

The talk will last 45 minutes with a Q & A at the end, finishing around 6:30pm.

Lambeth Palace Library Open House Festival
2023-09-09 10:00 - 16:00
Open House Festival is coming to Lambeth Palace Library! A day of guided tours of the Library, allowing access to behind the scenes areas of the Library including our state of the art Collections Care studio and the views of London from our 8th floor terrace.

Tours are occurring between 10am and 3pm and must be booked through the Open House website, Lambeth Palace Library (openhouse.org.uk)

Starting at 4pm, we have a talk by Stephen Smith, Wright & Wright architect, entitled ‘Preserving History, Embracing Change: Creating LPL’. This talk must also be booked through the Open House website, Lambeth Palace Library (openhouse.org.uk)

For further information, please see the Open House website below.

We will not be accepting any bookings made directly to the Library.

Cantate Domino Curator's Talk
2023-08-17 13:00 - 14:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
A chance to see our current exhibition ‘Cantate Domino’ and ask questions of the curator, Mary Clayton-Kastenholz.

This inaugural exhibition for the Library’s new exhibition room celebrates musical treasures held in Lambeth Palace Library, placing better-known holdings alongside lesser-known volumes and fragments from the collections.

The exhibition features the Arundel Choirbook (one of the most important records of Tudor polyphonic music); Sion College’s illuminated York Breviary from the 15th century; and sermon notes pertinent to the composition of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ (celebrating its 250th anniversary this year). These are displayed alongside numerous other beautiful and interesting examples of music in the Library’s collections found in a variety of forms and spanning the 11th to 20th centuries.

All are welcome but those wishing to attend should book tickets via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org no later than 16 August

Guided Tours of Lambeth Palace Library
2023-08-04 13:00 - 15:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
On the day of the August Garden Open Day, Lambeth Palace Library will be running two guided tours of the Library, including a chance to visit our Collections Care Studio and our amazing London view from our 8th floor terrace! The tours will be at 13:00 and 14:00.

All visitors wishing to join a guided tour of Lambeth Palace Library must be pre-booked via Eventbrite or by emailing archives@churchofengland.org not later than 3 August. We will let you know what time slots we have free by email in reponse.

This is not a ticket for the Garden Open Day, you will need to purchase these on the door at Lambeth Palace on the day. Those wishing to join the tour MUST have a ticket to the Garden Open Day too.

Access to our exhibitions are NOT ticketed and free to all.

Cantate Domino Curator's Talk
2023-07-28 13:00 - 14:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
A chance to see our current exhibition ‘Cantate Domino’ and ask questions of the curator, Mary Clayton-Kastenholz.

This inaugural exhibition for the Library’s new exhibition room celebrates musical treasures held in Lambeth Palace Library, placing better-known holdings alongside lesser-known volumes and fragments from the collections.

The exhibition features the Arundel Choirbook (one of the most important records of Tudor polyphonic music); Sion College’s illuminated York Breviary from the 15th century; and sermon notes pertinent to the composition of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ (celebrating its 250th anniversary this year). These are displayed alongside numerous other beautiful and interesting examples of music in the Library’s collections found in a variety of forms and spanning the 11th to 20th centuries.

All are welcome but those wishing to attend should book tickets via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org no later than 27 July

Richard Palmer: 'This august tribunal' - The Court of Arches: sex, money and the church in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
2023-07-27 17:30 - 19:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
This talk is about the Court of Arches, the ancient appeal court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and its rich archive in Lambeth Palace Library. It outlines court procedure and the tangled lives of those who came before it, caught up in disputes about inheritance, marriage, divorce, morals, slander, church buildings, pews, rates and tithes.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than Wednesday 26 July.

Cantate Domino: Exhibition Concert
2023-07-11 17:45 - 20:15 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
Exhibition concert for Cantate Domino: Music in the Lambeth Palace Library Collections, with private view and glass of wine.

This hour-long concert of music featured in our exhibition Cantate Domino will include selections from the Arundel Choirbook and Archbishop Parker’s Psalms. It will include a private view of the exhibition and a glass of wine in our rooftop room before the concert.

T﻿imings

5:45-7:15 private view (wine in the Bancroft Room from 6:15)

7:15-8:15 concert

Sung by The Olympia Singers; Tom Williams, Conductor

Tickets: £20 seated; £15 standing.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book their tickets via Eventbrite

Special reduction for Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, see circulated email for discount.

Learn more about the Friends and join here: https://www.lambethpalacelibrary.info/about-lambeth-palace-library/friends-of-lambeth-palace-library/

Guided Tours of Lambeth Palace Library
2023-07-07 12:30 - 14:30 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
On the day of our July garden open day, Lambeth Palace Library will be running three guided tours of the Library, including a chance to visit our Collections Care Studio and our amazing London view from our 8th floor terrace! The tours will be at 12:30, 13:30 and 14:30.

All visitors wishing to join a guided tour of Lambeth Palace Library must be pre-booked via Eventbrite or by emailing archives@churchofengland.org not later than 5 July. We will let you know what time slots we have free by email in reponse.

This is not a ticket for the Garden Open Day, you will need to purchase these on the door at Lambeth Palace on the day.

Access to our exhibitions are NOT ticketed and free to all.

Fit for a King: The Symbolism of a Coronation
2023-06-28 18:00 - 19:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
Danny Johnson was appointed The Archbishop’s Coronation Planning Director in October 2022, working closely with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Westminster Abbey, The Royal Household, and a host of others on every detail of the Coronation Service. In this talk Danny discusses his journey exploring the iconography of past Coronation Services, their symbolism and what their visual language lends to the storytelling and understand of a Coronation today.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than Tuesday 27 June.

Please note that tickets must be booked individually and we need each attendee’s name for security purposes.

Canon Daffern: 'Rubrics for Royalty: The story of the Coronation Service in 2023'
2023-06-27 17:30 - 19:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
Canon Adrian Daffern was commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be the principal author of the revised Coronation service used for HM the King on May 6 this year. In this lecture Adrian will give put the newly revised service in its historical context, referring to many of the unique items held in Lambeth Palace Library. In addition, we will hear something of the story of how a Coronation service is revised and rewritten, as well as some stories from inside the processes of planning and delivery.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than Monday 26 June.

Church of England Records Society AGM and lecture
2023-06-26 16:00 - 19:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
The Church of England Record Society AGM will start at 4pm, followed by a lecture at 5pm by Canon Professor Michael Snape who is Michael Ramsey Professor of Anglican Studies at the University of Durham will speak on ‘The Trials of the “Glorious Glosters”: Chaplaincy, the Church of England and the Korean War’.

Those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than Friday 23 June.

Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, followed by the Friends’ annual lecture by Professor Magnus Williamson (Newcastle University): ‘Singing to the Lord in Tudor England: Musical Ventures, Dynastic Misadventures’.
2023-06-23 14:00 - 17:00
This event is limited to Friends of Lambeth Palace Library and their guests. To book a place, please email libraryfriends@churchofengland.org or telephone 020 7898 1400.

Peter Lake (Vanderbilt): 'On Laudianism'
2023-06-20 17:00 - 19:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
Peter Lake, Professor of History at Vanderbilt, is one of the most distinguished writers on English religion after the Reformation. Later this year Cambridge University Press will publish Peter’s latest book, Piety, polemic and politics during the personal rule of Charles I. The central argument is that ecclesiastical politics under Charles I and Archbishop Laud in the 1630s represented a ‘full-scale making’ and ‘true reformation’ of the English church, rejecting much that had passed as normative since the mid-16th century. The forthcoming volume shows how the Laudians’ famous obsession with the beauty of holiness contained a plan for the reinvigoration of both the church and the state. It represented a self-conscious reaction against the long-term evils of puritanism and of the immediate political crisis of the 1620s. On Laudianism explores how this intensely controversial movement, and the strong reactions it provoked, helped cause the English Civil War, but over the long term provided one of the visions of the national church, one that has been in contention to define ‘Anglicanism’ ever since.

Peter will discuss his findings with two fellow scholars of the period – Ken Fincham (University of Kent) and Anthony Milton (University of Sheffield, to be followed by a general discussion.

In association with the University of London research seminar on the Religious History of Britain, 1500-1800. All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than Monday 19 June.

Garden Open Day
2023-06-02 12:00 - 16:00 | Lambeth Palace, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JU
Join us for a family fun day in the beautiful historic grounds of Lambeth Palace, celebrating the new Coronation exhibition!

We are excited to welcome you to Lambeth Palace Library and Lambeth Palace Gardens for a very special garden open day, celebrating the Coronation of King Charles III and the opening of the new Coronation exhibition, ‘A declaration of our hopes for the future’.

Join us for food, refreshments and fantastic activities, including:

Library tours and access to the brand new Coronation exhibition

Palace Garden tours

Crafts

Photobooth

Cookie Decorating

Entry is FREE for all, with a suggested £5 donation on entry. All donations collected will be given to the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library.

The last entry time is at 15:00.

A﻿bout the Coronation exhibition:

To mark the coronation of King Charles III, Lambeth Palace and Lambeth Palace Library collections are bringing you an exhibition of materials relating to previous coronations from that of Henry I in 1100 to that of our new sovereign.

The Library exhibition will run from 12 April to 13 July 2023 with highlights that include the manuscript coronation service prepared for William III and Mary II, Archbishop Wake’s notes for the coronation of George II, a letter from George VI thanking Archbishop Lang for his part in the coronation ceremony, and the Bible upon which Elizabeth II swore her coronation oath.

Until 14 June 2023 the Library will host a display of artefacts from the Palace collections used in previous coronations, including the cope and mitre worn by Archbishop Fisher in 1953 and the large banners from the 1902 coronation from which Archbishop Frederick Temple had to read the service because of his failing eyesight. We also have on display the Bible used during the Coronation service of King Charles III for the swearing of his oaths.

Book your place via Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lambeth-palace-garden-open-day-tickets-635445383247

British Records Association 2023 Maurice Bond Lecture and Harley Prize Presentation
2023-05-10 18:00 - 20:30 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
The 2023 Maurice Bond lecture will be given by Dr Andrew Flinn of the Department of Information Studies, University College London.

The lecture will explore the work of community archivists in identifying, preserving and making accessible community generated archives and heritage material. Employing Sven Lindqvist’s Dig Where You Stand (1978 & 2023) metaphor and method, the lecture will discuss the motivations and value of such labour, the role for established archive bodies like the UK & Ireland Community Archives and Heritage Group in supporting these archive endeavours, and the challenges faced by community archivists, often volunteers with limited resources in sustaining these materials and activities.

We will also be presenting the 2022 Janette Harley Prize, which has been awarded jointly to Dr Janet Weston (Centre for History in Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), and Charlie Barnes (Dead Earnest Theatre) for ‘Power and Protection – the history of the Court of Protection’, two short films and a website created as part of ‘Measuring Mental Capacity’, a research study funded by the Wellcome Trust.

The lecture and presentation will be followed by a drinks reception. Tickets can be booked on Eventbrite.

The event will take place on the top floor of the library’s new building, entrance on Lambeth Palace Road near St Thomas’ Hospital. Please try to arrive ten minutes before the advertised start time to allow time to take the lift to the top.

Dr Harry Spillane (University of Cambridge): ‘The Bishops’ Bible, Archbishop Matthew Parker, and the Elizabethan Church’
2023-05-03 17:30 - 19:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
The Bishops’ Bible, which was first printed in 1568, has frequently been cast as a useless and widely unpopular translation of the Bible into English. However, by exploring what the intended purposes of the Bishops’ Bible were, and by paying attention to the wealth of images, prefaces, maps, diagrams and heraldic devices within it, a different story emerges. This talk explores the role that Archbishop Matthew Parker played in the creation of the Bishops’ Bible and sheds new light on this neglected version of the English Bible.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket on Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than Monday 1 May.

Please note that tickets must be booked individually and we need each attendee’s name for security purposes.

This event takes place in the Bancroft Room, Lambeth Palace Library (new building, entrance on Lambeth Palace Road). Please arrive 10 minutes before the advertised start time to allow time to take the lift to the top.

Desirée Baptiste: Incidents in the Life of an Anglican Slave, Written by Herself (2023), staged reading.
2023-04-27 19:00 - 20:30 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
A new play inspired by a rare 1723 letter from an anonymous enslaved Virginian to the ‘Lord arch Bishop of London’, Incidents (2023) draws on archival research and historical imagination to bring to light, 300 years after a bold act of resistance, the life of a ‘poore’ parishioner of the Church of England, author of one of the earliest pleas for freedom from slavery in the British Empire. The playwright’s discovery in 2021 of the word ‘arch’ lodged before ‘Bishop of London’ within the 1723 document, sparked not only a catalogue change but the desire to allow the enslaved Virginian, three centuries on, to address the likely intended authority: The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.

Desirée Baptiste is a writer and researcher based in London (www.desireebaptiste.com)

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than Tuesday 25 April.

Desirée Baptiste: Incidents in the Life of an Anglican Slave, Written by Herself (2023), staged reading.
2023-03-15 18:00 - 19:30 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
A new play inspired by a rare 1723 letter from an anonymous enslaved Virginian to the ‘Lord arch Bishop of London’, Incidents (2023) draws on archival research and historical imagination to bring to light, 300 years after a bold act of resistance, the life of a ‘poore’ parishioner of the Church of England, author of one of the earliest pleas for freedom from slavery in the British Empire.

Desirée Baptiste is a writer and researcher based in London (www.desireebaptiste.com)

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than Monday 13 March.

Joanna Story, University of Leicester: 'Insular Manuscripts – some new approaches to some old questions.'
2023-03-14 17:30 - 19:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
More than 600 manuscripts survive that were written between c. 600–850 in the Irish or Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, or in continental monasteries founded by missionaries from the islands of Britain or Ireland in the seventh or eighth centuries. Defined by characteristic script, as well as decoration, these manuscripts are graphic testimony to the contribution of the islands to post-Roman European culture. Digitisation has now reached critical mass, facilitating comparative analysis in ways not previously possible. Other new methods, including biocodicological analysis (proteomics, aDNA, microbiomes) and new visualisation techniques, open up exciting new avenues for research around mobility (of people / books / cows), methods of making, as well as the reading and reception of Insular manuscripts in the age of Charlemagne.

This event is in association with the Institute of English Studies. Registration is required for all events and booking must be made via the IES website: Insular Manuscripts – Some New Approaches to Some Old Questions | The Institute of English Studies (sas.ac.uk)

Professor James Walvin (University of York): ‘The Black Presence in Transatlantic Slavery Archives’
2023-03-13 17:30 - 19:30 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
*Please note change of speaker*

The distinguished social historian James Walvin, author of many books on slavery and the slave trade in the Atlantic world, will discuss ‘The Black Presence in Transatlantic Slavery Archives’ with Desirée Baptiste, author of a new play, Incidents in the Life of an Anglican Slave, Written by Herself (2023), inspired by a document at Lambeth Palace Library: a 1723 letter from an anonymous enslaved Virginian to the ‘Lord arch Bishop of London’. James Walvin’s next book, to be published in September 2023, will be ‘Amazing Grace’. A Cultural History of a Beloved Hymn.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket on Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than 10th March.

P﻿lease note that tickets must be booked individually and we need each attendee’s name for security purposes.

This event takes place in the Bancroft Room, Lambeth Palace Library (new building, entrance on Lambeth Palace Road). Please arrive 10 minutes before the advertised start time to allow time to take the lift to the top.

Professor Raluca Radulescu (Bangor University): 'What do we need to know about the Prose Brut tradition and why? A medieval best-seller and modern scholarly silence'
2023-03-09 17:30 - 19:00
This talk will focus on the appeal of the Prose Brut tradition in the Middle Ages with a view to examining the relationship between the large number of manuscripts it survives in (over 200) and relatively little scholarly interest from modern scholars. It takes a broad view of how the text was presented to modern audiences (including the Lambeth Palace witnesses to the text) by generations of cataloguers and scholars, and what a renewed interest in it might entail.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than 6th March.

Please note that tickets must be booked individually and we need each attendee’s name for security purposes.

This event takes place in the Bancroft Room, Lambeth Palace Library (new building, entrance on Lambeth Palace Road). Please arrive 10 minutes before the advertised start time to allow time to take the lift to the top.

Dr Helen Paul (University of Southampton): 'The South Sea Company and Enslavement'
2023-02-15 17:30 - 19:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
The South Sea Company is famous for giving its name to an early financial crash, the South Sea Bubble of 1720. This event has overshadowed the company’s involvement in Britain’s transatlantic slave trade. In popular histories, the importance of the company’s trading arm has been downplayed in order to highlight the supposed foolishness of investors. In reality, the company managed to ship thousands of human beings across the Atlantic on the infamous Middle Passage. The talk will briefly outline the company’s history and the various ways in which that history has been traditionally told.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket on Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than Monday 13 February.

P﻿lease note that tickets must be booked individually and we need each attendee’s name for security purposes.

This event takes place in the Bancroft Room, Lambeth Palace Library (new building, entrance on Lambeth Palace Road). Please arrive 10 minutes before the advertised start time to allow time to take the lift to the top.

Professor Catherine Hall (UCL): 'Making White and Black: Edward Long slave-owner and historian of Jamaica'
2023-02-08 17:30 - 19:00 | Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7JT
This talk will introduce Edward Long, whose History of Jamaica published in 1774 (and in print ever since) aimed to convince a metropolitan audience that slavery was essential to the wealth of Britain and that black people were naturally born to serve those who were white. Long’s account of Jamaica provides an extraordinarily detailed picture of the plantation economy, the slavery business as it operated across the Atlantic, and the forms of racialisation on which the system depended. Long’s ideas of racial difference and hierarchy have had a powerful influence in Britain as well as in the US.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket via Eventbrite or email archives@churchofengland.org not later than 5th February.

P﻿lease note that tickets must be booked individually and we need each attendee’s name for security purposes.
