Co-directed by Alan H. Nelson (University of California, Berkeley), Lena Orlin (Georgetown University), and Duncan Salkeld (University of Chichester)

The Bridewell Court Minute Books offer windows onto the everyday lives of early modern Londoners—from the destitute to the upper middle-class—who ran afoul of the law for myriad reasons. The Minute Books thus also form an ideal pathway into archival research, recording demographic and other information about early modern Londoners accused of prostitution, adultery, theft, begging, gambling, witchcraft, cross-dressing, and other types of disorder. Typical entries document criminal charges; note the time and place of alleged infractions; provide verbatim interrogations; and record court decisions, including dismissal, whipping, forced work, fines, incarceration, referral to “Bedlam,” or deportation to Virginia. Bethlem Royal Hospital makes the Minute Books available online, open access, in high-resolution digital images. This two-part seminar will share modernized transcriptions of the Court Minute Books from the years 1559 through 1610 and beyond with scholars who wish to explore the administration and functions of Bridewell; put Bridewell in the context of other early modern courts and other institutions, authorities, or bodies that regulated behavior; or consider the intersections between crime, punishment, gender, race, geographical origins, and class. Those with relevant interests are encouraged to apply.

Co-directors: Alan H. Nelson is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at the University of California, Berkeley. His specializations are paleography, bibliography, and the reconstruction of the literary life and times of medieval and Renaissance England from documentary sources. He is a major contributor of essays to the Shakespeare Documented project sponsored by the Folger Shakespeare Library. Lena Cowen Orlin is Emeritus Professor of English at Georgetown University and Fellow of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study. Her work on London includes Material London, ca. 1600 and Locating Privacy in Tudor London. Her most recent publication is the archival biography, The Private Life of William Shakespeare. Duncan Salkeld is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at the University of Chichester, England. His specializations are Shakespeare and early modern London, textual and authorship studies, and paleography. His book Shakespeare and London draws extensively on the Bridewell records.

Anticipated Schedule: All day Friday and Saturday, February 21-22, and May 23-24, 2025, at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Following February’s extensive introduction to the Court Minute Books, Bridewell’s situation in London, and other areas of interest to participants, the May meeting will be devoted to the sharing of participants their Bridewell-related research projects.