The Trust On…
Late Medieval Bristol: Book Launch

On 9 April 2024, friends, colleagues, and admirers gathered to celebrate the launch of Late Medieval Bristol: Time, Space and Power by Peter Fleming, recently published by the Yorkist History Trust. Co-hosted by the Trust and the University of Bristol’s Centre for Medieval Studies, we were delighted that Peter himself was in attendance, and that despite his advancing MS he was able to catch up with old friends and receive many compliments on his scholarly and readable magnum opus. Here we are publishing the texts of two speeches given on the occasion: one by Dr Christian Steer, chairman of the Trust, and one by Peter, read on his behalf by Professor Steve Poole, Peter’s colleague at the University of the West of England. The Trust would like to thank Professor Marian Ailes of the CMS and, in particular, Dr Evan Jones.

Christian Steer:

It’s a great pleasure to be here this afternoon and to celebrate the publication of such a brilliant new book on Bristol! I remember very clearly a conversation I had with Margaret Condon – who I’m delighted to see here this afternoon – a little over a year ago. We were talking about various things to do with the fifteenth century, and Margaret mentioned Late Medieval Bristol which had recently been put online thanks to the Bristol Record Society. “Wouldn’t it be nice”, Margaret suggested, “if we could get a list of Peter’s friends together and pay for it to be printed out as a real book”. From memory I think we were musing on a sort of print-on-demand arrangement.

Well, I had a look at the online copy and the very fact that we are all here today tells you that I was absolutely blown away by the scholarship, the different themes, the richness of the book and the depth of detail. When the Yorkist History Trust was founded in 1985 we focused on publishing editions of documents and texts but in recent years we’ve developed our range of publications and added monographs. There was absolutely no doubt that Bristol would be most welcome in our series with chapters that examined Bristol’s trade, both within the British Isles and beyond, urban government, the authority of the mayor and Bristol’s relationship with the Berkeleys. Other themes stood out to me, such as the extent of memory and commemoration, particularly drawing on the scholarship of a very dear, and much missed friend of Peter’s, the late Professor Clive Burgess, as well as, and perhaps most especially, the Yorkist-ness of Bristol during the Wars of the Roses. Peter’s research on this, eloquently written and discussed in chapter 7 on ‘Bristol and the Crown’, suggests that this connection between Bristol and the House of York began from at least 1454 and possibly even a little earlier. Well this really was absolutely splendid news from our point of view! Margaret put me in touch with Evan Jones, who I think it is fair to say, is the unofficial godfather of this book, and I should just add that Evan has been the very best of sponsors and with rapid responses to my many questions and queries which has helped immensely, and he has encouraged production at every step of the way. Evan also very kindly contacted Peter’s late wife Ann and suggested that the Trust publish a print copy. We had a reply within a day with an enthusiastic “sounds great” from Peter! My colleagues and I got on with the work and, if I may, I would like to mention in dispatches a couple of my fellow trustees, Lynda Pidgeon – here today – and Joanna Laynesmith who helped copy-edit the manuscript and helped to standardise various stylistic points and sort out some queries. I also want to thank another trustee, Heather Falvey, who produced an absolutely heroic index and one that is at an exceptionally detailed standard. Heather, Lynda, Evan and Margaret all read the proofs and their conscientiousness and eye for detail has made an already splendid book even more splendid!

As for me I’ve now read the book three times, twice during copy-editing and once again at proofs. I’ve also been dipping into it over the last couple of weeks. I was reflecting over the weekend on what I’ve personally found most interesting and rewarding in Late Medieval Bristol. For me I think it’s three things.

First and foremost, and before I read it, I knew next to nothing about Bristol in the Middle Ages and this book most certainly fills a gap; it brings together a rich bibliography of work by Peter and by others and it provides a narrative that is accessible, informative and interesting. That might all sound a bit obvious but I’ve read many books that I simply don’t understand and ‘readability’ is important; there really is no point publishing a book if the reader can’t understand it. So thank you Peter for writing so elegantly.

I also like, as I am sure many other readers will, the ‘holistic’ approach in this book. It is as if Peter is sat in a helicopter looking down on different strands of Bristol’s past and then neatly bringing them all together. Books on medieval towns and cities often focus on particular themes, whether it be urban government, commemoration, trade, wealth, whatever, and they’re very interesting and very good. But what we have here is a broad range of different themes which inter-connect and where influences ‘pollinated’ different activities and beliefs. I like this approach very much and especially too how Peter has tackled myth alongside history. It isn’t easy to achieve this and I congratulate Peter in succeeding with this ‘bird’s eye’ view!

The third and final achievement of this book, at least for me, is the biographical detail on Bristol’s urban elite and most especially those with Yorkist credentials. For some time now I’ve been reflecting on the Yorkist-ness of late fifteenth-century London in my own work and I’d not fully appreciated the important networks between wealthy merchants in different towns and cities who, as it were, had tied their flag to the Yorkist mast. The activities of the Canynges-Yonge family revealed much to me. I am indebted to Peter for drawing this to my attention.

There is no doubt that Late Medieval Bristol: Time, Space and Power will appeal to many different readers with many different interests. But I hope you will all agree that it isn’t only the content which is of such excellent quality: the design, typesetting, cover, quality of the plates, everything has been so elegantly well-produced by Shaun Tyas, an independent publisher, who continues to produce such excellent books at exceptional quality. I sent him the text and images for Bristol at the end of October, and ‘hey presto’ we had a book four months later. How great is that? Shaun is at home today hard at work on his production line, but thank you so much Shaun for creating a book of outstanding quality and so quickly.

Finally, and on behalf of the Yorkist History Trust, I would like to thank Peter Fleming very much indeed for publishing Bristol with us. It has been an absolute pleasure to help bring such an excellent piece of scholarship into print, to make it, as it were, “real” and to ensure that Peter’s enormous knowledge reaches as wide an audience as can be. It has been an extremely enjoyable process, we’ve all learnt much and I only hope, Peter, that you are as delighted with the book as we are.

Peter Fleming:

Friends and colleagues… Thank you for coming to the launch of a book that before the intervention of the Yorkist History Trust, I thought, would never be published formally.

While the book was almost ready for publishing by 2013, I’m afraid that my advancing MS got the better of me, and it stalled at that point. I did post a draft on the UWE’s electronic repository to ensure that others would have access to my findings. However, it didn’t seem likely to get further than that and its future preservation was never assured.

For rescuing the book from the bowels of UWE’s digital archive, for seeing its potential, I would like first to thank Evan Jones and the Bristol Record Society. They offered to publish the draft as an electronic publication 15 months ago to ensure its long-term survival and to raise the work’s profile. For alerting other medievalists to the book’s content, I thank Margaret Condon, who pointed Christian Steer of the Yorkist History Trust towards it. For seeing the volume’s value as a piece of research, and for the considerable efforts of the Trust’s Council in copy editing, correcting, and publishing the book, I offer great thanks. I would particularly like to acknowledge Heather Falvey for the heroic index she provided for the book. And for turning the copy into the fine volume being launched here. I thank Shaun Tyas. And finally, for hosting this launch event, I thank the Centre for Medieval Studies and the Yorkist History Trust.

This, though is just the story of the final publication. Long before the developments of the last year I acquired many debts of gratitude. For the help and advice of friends, colleagues, fellow medievalists, archivists, and historians, I have some acknowledgments to make. In particular, I’d like to thank my many friends and fellow historians at the University of the West of England and especially the Regional History Centre. Steve Poole, Madge Dresser, James Lee: thank you. Beyond UWE, but still in Bristol, I thank my many colleagues here at the Centre for Medieval Studies as well as people I worked with at the Bristol Record Society, the Bristol archives, and the Bristol Central Library. Further afield I found inspiration and support from Ralph Griffiths, especially on all matters Welsh, the late and much missed Keith Dockray, and the many medievalists I became friends with across the country and beyond, including my good friend, the late Clive Burgess.

Above all, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my wife Ann Rippin. who supported me in health and later in advancing sickness. Her sudden and unanticipated death last year was a horrible shock. It was not what we expected. So, for supporting me for so many years, I thank Ann. It was Ann who liaised with Evan Jones for the Bristol Record Society e-publication, continuing when I could no longer do so. So this book is dedicated to her.

Late Medieval Bristol: Time, Space and Power by Peter Fleming is available to order from Shaun Tyas for £25.