By Nigel Coulton
The Bishop is Roger Northburgh, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield for well over thirty years in the fourteenth century including the years scarred by the catastrophe of the Black Death. The Nuns are those who lived in the Nunneries of the diocese to whom he paid official visits after which he sent a report back to them. I will be talking about these reports and the picture they allow us to see of the state of the Nunneries.
Nigel read Classics at Oxford long ago, but more relevantly for the last twenty years taught Latin to various groups and individuals, including post grad. medieval historians at Keele. Nigel also teaches palaeography to members of the Ranulph Higden Society. This all began by coming across the Borough Minutes of Newcastle under Lyme, which he transcribed and/or translated from the 14th century onwards. I further transcribed and translated the Quarter Sessions records of the Borough from the Restoration on. My main palaeographic task, however, has been the transcription and calendaring of the vast Correspondence Register of Roger Northburgh, which I have virtually finished.
