Memory, Materiality, and Trauma: Revisiting the Parlour Floor, St. Albans, 1381.

Gammie, R. M. (2025) Memory, Materiality, and Trauma: Revisiting the Parlour Floor, St. Albans, 1381. Rethinking History. ISSN 1470-1154

Text Gammie_memory materiality and trauma_2025.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 5 September 2026. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (444kB)

Abstract

This paper explores the events at the abbey of St. Albans in 1381 through a lens of memory and trauma. It revisits the much-discussed actions of the rebels, ripping up the millstones of the parlour floor, and frames it not as akin to documentary culture (per Justice, 1994) but rather material culture. In doing so, this paper emphasises the role of memory in the motivations and actions of the rebels and establishes a valuable and fruitful connection between medieval trauma and medieval memory. It shifts the study of medieval trauma from a current focus on violence to one that highlights and emphasises societal and community identifiers – in this case, centuries of oppression and enforcement of suit-of-mill. By using trauma as a valuable analytic, rather than diagnostic tool (Trembinski, 2018, 26) this paper encourages its use by medieval historians and particularly historians of the Revolt.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an author accepted manuscript of a paper published on 5th March 2025 by Taylor & Francis in Rethinking History. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Divisions:	School of Humanities
Depositing User:	Ros Gammie
Date Deposited:	06 Mar 2025 11:20
Last Modified:	06 Mar 2025 11:20
URI:	https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/1220

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