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The Latest Breaking News from British Library

What a list of Black Death survivors reveals about the way people recovered from plague

In our research in the British Library’s medieval collections, we have identified a previously unnoticed document that provides fresh insights into the survivors of the outbreak of plague known as the Black Death (1346–53).

The Conversation

Who were the ‘peasants’ of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt? New database has answers

The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was one of the largest and most dramatic popular uprisings in medieval Europe. But what do we really know about this celebrated event in English history?

The Conversation

Medieval women used falconry to subvert gender norms

Hawks are taking cinematic flight. In two recent literary adaptations, they are entwined with the lives and emotions of their respective protagonists – Agnes Shakespeare (née Hathaway) and Helen Macdonald.

The Conversation

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The Standard podcast: The worst of times: Trouble at the British Library

Listen here on your chosen podcast platform.

Evening Standard

Scandals, grossly underpaid staff and a devastating cyber attack. Inside the nightmare at the British library

Cyber chaos, striking staff and a crisis of leadership. Claudia Cockerell investigates a national treasure’s year of reckoning

Evening Standard

Is it time to redraw our maps?

From migration to ecology, new knowledge makes new cartographic demands

The Guardian - UK

From the Miller’s Tale to King Lear’s roaring sea, a history of flooding in literature

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale is renowned for its salacious storyline of sexual misadventure. Set in 14th-century Oxford, it tells the tale of John the Carpenter, a husband so terrified that another “Noah’s flood” is coming to drown the world that he sleeps in a basket in the attic – freeing…

The Conversation

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Bird sex fascinated medieval thinkers as much as people today

Earlier this year, a group of researchers published a paper on the remarkable phenomenon of sex reversal in several Australian birds, including wild magpies and kookaburras.

The Conversation

Medieval peasants enjoyed a surprising range of sick, annual and bereavement leave benefits

In medieval England, peasants on some estates were entitled to a range of sick, annual and bereavement leave that could rival those of many workers in the UK today.

The Conversation

Secret Maps at the British Library reconsiders the lines that shape our world

Maps do more than show us where we are or help us find where we need to go. They are powerful cultural documents, reflecting – and often shaping – the values, priorities and secrets of the societies that create them.

The Conversation

‘People have had to move house’: Inside the British Library, two years on from devastating cyber attack

Staff tell Athena Stavrou they’ve faced abuse because of ongoing issues at the library, where dozens of services remain unavailable

The Independent UK

Stephen King’s son among writers boycotting British Library event in solidarity with striking workers

King’s son, Joe Hill, joins V Castro and Keith Rosson in withdrawing from the Tales of the Weird festival this weekend in support of industrial action

The Guardian - UK

Was Oscar Wilde Gay? Questions Resurface After His Library Card Is Reissued 130 Years After Being Revoked Over Suspicions of Homosexuality

Oscar Wilde's reading pass for the British Library was reissued after its revocation 130 years ago.

International Business Times UK

Oscar Wilde’s library card reissued by the British Library 130 years after it was revoked

The British Library said they hoped to honour Wilde’s memory and ‘acknowledge the injustices and immense suffering he faced’

The Independent UK

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The Conversation

The medieval folklore of Britain’s endangered wildlife ‘omens’ – from hedgehogs to nightjars

As the seasons turn and the nights draw in, the countryside of the British Isles seems alive with omens: an owl’s screech, or a bat above the hedgerows.

The Conversation

For medieval people, the Moon was both a riddle and a blessing

Each night, the Moon glistens in the night sky, replete with all sorts of meanings depending on the person viewing it. Poets and artists have contemplated it for thousands of years.

The Conversation

The 28 Days Later franchise redefined zombie films. But the undead have an old, rich and varied history

The history of the dead – or, more precisely, the history of the living’s fascination with the dead – is an intriguing one.

The Guardian - UK

British Library to reinstate Oscar Wilde’s reader card 130 years after it was revoked

Exclusive: Pass to be presented to playwright’s grandson after original cancelled over conviction for gross indecency

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Ideal Home

Celebrating 105 years of Ideal Home - 7 snapshots from Ideal Home's archives, from pivotal moments to one very well-known Food Editor

From Mary Berry's stint as Food Editor in the 1970s to the founding issue

Evening Standard

Digital collection of oldest English language daily newspaper to be boosted

The News Letter was first published in September 1737.

The Guardian - UK

British Library acquires torn-out drafts of Edward Elgar masterpiece

Exclusive: sketches for Introduction and Allegro for Strings had been removed from sketchbook by composer in 1930

The Guardian - UK

Medieval Women: In Their Own Words review – a bracing cold shower with Joan of Arc and co

A letter from the French saint and a lethal shopping list are among the stars of a mind-bending show of the words, mystical visions and everyday lives of women from 1100 to 1500

Radio France Internationale

'Priceless' letter from Joan of Arc goes on display at British Library

A letter signed by Joan of Arc in 1429 has left France for the first time, to be displayed as part of an exhibition at the British Library in London.

The Guardian - UK

Tight corners, red tape and amazing grace – why architects love a tricky site

Dodging railway lines, squeezed into historic sites, or down a Highland lane… how building design responds to constraints, on projects from the British Library to the Eden Project, makes for a fascinating exhibition

Evening Standard

UK's 'largest solar heat project' installed on roof of British Library

The £1.5m installation will be used to help maintain the temperature of artefacts in the library’s collection, including the Magna Carta

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