Land and God: Essays in Honour of Nicholas Bennett - Book Launch

The Lincoln Record Society cordially invites you to the Launch of Land and God: The City County and Diocese of Lincoln over Nine Centuries. Essays in Honour of Nicholas Bennett. Come along at 3pm on Friday 23 January 2026 to the Chapter House of Lincoln Cathedral to celebrate this special collection of essays dedicated to a remarkable scholar. Don't miss out on this wonderful event honouring Nicholas Bennett's immense contribution to scholarship on the city, county and diocese of Lincoln.

This volume, the 114th in the Society's Main Series, celebrates the scholarship of Nicholas Bennett, a medieval historian and former Lincoln Cathedral Librarian, who was for many years general editor of the Lincoln Record Society. It features a wide chronological and thematic range of articles. Some have a Lincoln Cathedral connection, such as: Carol Bennett on the building history of the Medieval and Wren Libraries; Marianne Wilson on fifteenth-century chantry chaplains; and David Stocker on the use Katherine Swynford and Alice de Lacy made of the Cathedral Close as a political refuge. Another medieval woman, the Freiston heiress Petronilla de Craon, is brought to life by Louise Wilkinson. Among medieval bishops, there is an investigation of Robert Grosseteste’s ideas on the ideal bishop (Julian Haseldine) as well as two edited texts: the enthronement of Bishop John Buckingham (Alison McHardy) and the lost rolls of Oliver Sutton (the late David M. Smith). Two medieval legal questions are examined: the issue of criminous clerks (Philippa Hoskin), and a case of trespass in Welby before the Court of King’s Bench (David Crook). Michael Jones writes about the Lincolnshire estates of the Honour of Richmond. Articles of a more modern flavour are those on the Wainfleet Haven Railway project (R. C. Wheeler), Bishop Edward Lee Hicks and the diocese during World War I (Andrew Walker), and the debates around the Vote for Women at the Lincoln Diocesan Training School (Andrew J. H. Jackson, Claudia Capancioni, Sian Hope-Johnson, Elaine Johnson and Jasmine Mills).

The volume will be issued free to all members of the Lincoln Record Society in advance of the Launch. For those non-members attending the launch a 30% discount will be offered on the full price. Alternatively, society membership is £25 per annum, and members will receive this book as part of their subscription.

This is a FREE event. Tea/ coffee and cake will be served. We therefore ask that you please request a place through Eventbrite so that we have accurate numbers for catering. Please reply no later than Friday 16 January. However, if you have received a personal invitation, please do not register through Eventbrite.