I'm a medieval historian specialising in state finance and the evolution of the Exchequer from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, but have written and lectured on later Exchequer and Treasury history into the early nineteenth century. I work at The National Archives, where I'm the Head of the Medieval, Early Modern, Legal, Maps and Photographs teams. I have been known to work in the fields of family history, genealogy and local history before as well.
The early Exchequer was once described as an occasion not an institution, referring to the somewhat ad hoc nature of its foundation and early days. Over 9 centuries later, the modern Exchequer retains a similar place in our national consciousness …
As ‘Deepthroat’ instructed Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward during Watergate, ‘follow the money’ – and this sage advice applies to historians looking for material reflective of all aspects of British, indeed international, history from the 17th century onwards. The archives …