Coming soon...traveller's tales

So, it's been a while since I wrote anything on here, completing my MA thesis last year having just about sucked all the writing will out of me by the end. But, as I'm staring down the barrel of a 6-week trip to France and England, it seems like this might be the easiest way to keep a bit of a travel and research journal (and, periodically, let my peeps know I'm still alive). The doctoral research is in its (very) early stages but it progresses. I've been working with printed and digital/online sources so far (chronicles, the digitised Parliament Rolls etc.), so I am very much looking forward to getting my hands on some genuine smelly old archival documents. Time will be spent at the National Archives in London and the British Library, though I will also be enjoying the summer weather (hopefully). I'm planning a day out to visit Hampton Court and, Shakespeare geek that I am, I've also got a ticket to a performance at the Globe. By eerie coincidence, they are doing 'Henry V' (very relevant for my research, which is, broadly speaking, on 14-15thC Anglo-French political culture). Then, I'll be off to stay with friends in a small village on the Breton coast for a couple of weeks (getting my fix of Frenchness) before a week in York and then on to the International Medieval Congress at Leeds. I'll be delivering a paper there and, no doubt, be totally overwhelmed by the size and scale of the thing (the conference, not my paper).

For friends and family, I'll be posting updates (and hopefully photos, if I can get my iPad to cooperate) as I travel, so don't be disappointed if you don't get any postcards! (They're in the post, I swear...)

A bientôt !