Welcome to all of you who are wondering who exactly Agnes Leman was? Well, as my intro says, she was just one of many men and women who we only know of because she appeared in the various court records of Norwich in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. I first discovered her whilst studying for an MA at the University of East Anglia which focused on both male and female sexual control and punishments in late Tudor and Stuart times. She then went on to headline an alternative tour of Norwich performed by both myself and a museum colleague, Colin Howey under the name of Tangle & Hump, Pedlar's of the Past. The tour was called:The Shaming of Agnes Leman,
or
a Tour of the Fine city of Norwich following in the steps of an unfortunate wretch processed and ducked in 1561, being also a true and faithful account of the sometimes disorderly nature of the same City, taken from court records and other miscellanea that explore its origins & development, expose its underbelly and reproduce the stories of its:
PEOPLE WITHOUT PLAQUES.
It was a serious attempt on our part to avoid the traditional tour of the 'great and the good' and rather to focus on the underbelly of Norwich life, the people who made up the great majority at the time but who left very little evidence behind. For as well as Agnes we told of other people who fell out with the Mayor, Alderman and other 'great' citizens of Norwich and often didn't know or didn't care about their place in early modern society!
As you will see from my profile, I have moved on from my days as an historical interpreter and am now a storyteller by trade, but for some time now I have wanted to do more with my old research . This is why I have set up this blog and also two others dealing with my story telling activities (See my links and blogs. The first is account of life as a traveling storyteller and looks at the places I will be performing this year, whilst the other will give written examples of some of the stories I tell) This blog however will be about my old passion of history and historical interpretation. It will over time include the accounts from the Agnes Leman tour and my other academic research, along with original court extracts, my own commentary and even the occasional debunking of a myth or two about life in the past. The next post will be about Agnes herself...
As you will see from my profile, I have moved on from my days as an historical interpreter and am now a storyteller by trade, but for some time now I have wanted to do more with my old research . This is why I have set up this blog and also two others dealing with my story telling activities (See my links and blogs. The first is account of life as a traveling storyteller and looks at the places I will be performing this year, whilst the other will give written examples of some of the stories I tell) This blog however will be about my old passion of history and historical interpretation. It will over time include the accounts from the Agnes Leman tour and my other academic research, along with original court extracts, my own commentary and even the occasional debunking of a myth or two about life in the past. The next post will be about Agnes herself...
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