The sick man of Bishopthorpe is recovered…
…plus: New courses - and Happy Christmas!
‘Imself, Ill, November/December 2024
aka James Gillray, Visiting the sick, 28 July 1806
Image here: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Felton Bequest, 1944, 1268-4, at https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/28335/
“The sick man of Europe” suggests a concept with which many of you will be familiar (not least because it’s cropped up on several of our recent courses), but as those of you who’ve been with us this term will also know, we have, temporarily, had our very own “sick man” - in this instance of Bishopthorpe - which unfortunately necessitated cancelling a whole week’s courses.
I am happy to report, however, that nigh on a week of enforced bed rest worked its magic. You can, I am sure, imagine how difficult it was to enforce said bed rest (cue: plaintive wails along the lines of “But the show must go on, daaahling”!), but after the first day or so, even Robert conceded that it had indeed been necessary. Thank you again for your patience and lovely Get Well Soon messages - all of which helped enormously.
As a result of this blip, we finished term a week later than planned, and are a little later with announcing the remainder of our courses for next term. But we trust that you agree that it was worth the wait!
So without further ado…
First up, as teased in our last post, I’m thrilled to say that we are again collaborating with the wonderful Judith Hedley, to offer a new course under the Wright History ‘umbrella’…
Austen and the Age of Revolution
The response to our first collaboration (Shakespeare’s Sonnets), from Judith’s regular students and Denizens of Wright History alike, was very enthusiastic. We suspect that this will be equally welcome - so much so that, as you may have noticed, that we’ve given next term a bit of a Regency-tastic theme (see also: Age of Revolution: 1789-1830 and Princes, Pimps, and Pickpockets: The Regency and its Scandalous Underworld)!
NB Although there is an obvious connection between the three Regency courses, and they will complement each other for those who would like a multi-faceted exploration of the period, each course stands in its own right, and no prior knowledge is presumed on any.
Secondly, as also promised last time, I’m happy to announce that Robert will again be heading to Pickering for on Fridays for a 7-week course, namely…
Next up, three Short & Sweet courses, which will take us up to the Easter break:
And finally… several Denizens have been in touch recently, requesting access to courses in our archive.
In case this may be of interest to others amongst you, we’re very happy to re-open our “Cabinet of Curiosities” (aka our archive of all courses recorded in 2022) until the end of January 2025. For practicalities, please see details from when we originally opened the “Cabinet” here. For a list of archive recordings currently available, please see here.
Well that’s our programme for next term now complete. We hope you like it!
It only remains to say thank you all for your continued support, encouragement, and company over the last year.
The Nativity, C12 3⁄4
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 293, f. 8v: https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/fe7c6cf9-6a23-4ec4-bb6c-692e36852f6e/
As those of you who’ve been with us for a while will know, we like to present unto you a selection of our favourite medieval Nativity scenes at this point.
This year’s offering is a break from tradition, however, in that it doesn’t have our favourite medieval Nativity character (i.e., a discombobulated, bewildered, and/or angry-looking Joseph). Instead, we continue this post’s bed-ridden theme, with the newly-delivered Virgin being tended to by a midwife and a censor-wielding angel (because: why not?), atop some friendly-looking dragons (and with apologies for repetition, because: why not?).