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This introductory chapter begins by surveying received wisdom on medieval trade and the medieval economy, pointing out that little is known about the purchasing behaviour and motivations of medieval households as consumers. It then discusses the regional economic context of medieval north-east England. Durham was a relatively small market town compared to Newcastle-upon-Tyne (which this study reveals to have been a major regional hub) but had disproportionate political and ecclesiastical importance. This book uses the obedientiary accounts of Durham Cathedral Priory to analyse the economic activity of the monastery and region, and the obedientiary system of monastic administration is discussed in some detail. The Durham accounts have survived in unprecedented numbers, and this has made possible a detailed analysis of the priory's administrative strategies and accounting system in the late 15th century.

This book gives a unique insight into the purchasing strategies practised by a major medieval consumer. The monks were sophisticated consumers, making rational and informed choices, taking into account availability, price movements, and transaction costs, and deploying a variety of purchasing strategies as appropriate. Furthermore, the degree to which the economic activity of the priory can be seen to have been inextricably intertwined with its social and religious activity is unprecedented. The standard of living enjoyed by the monks is revealed to have been a complex mixture of the aristocratic and the merely genteel. In addition, the evidence of the priory's purchasing illuminates the economic well-being and the nature of trade in the north-east region as a whole and in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in particular.

Chapter Seven considers what happens to Sidneian ideals of resistance after the civil wars and regicide illustrated their logical extreme. The chapter offers a new reading of Margaret Cavendish’s fiction, one grounded in the ancient constitutionalism to which both Cavendish and her husband, the Duke of Newcastle, subscribed. Cavendish’s romances struggle to find common ground between the extremes of absolutism and republicanism by turning to the Elizabethan discourse of love: this model insists that monarchs’ power is limited by subjects’ affections even as it acknowledges love’s latent violence. By imagining only compromised, even degrading, erotic unions, Cavendish acknowledges that the overwhelming desires of sovereign and subject alike may vitiate any possibility of mixed rule. Because the allure of power can be irresistible, the subjects who should restore justice may equally imperil it.

This chapter examines women's involvement in patronage. It explores the nature of patronage as a system and its place in 18th-century politics, and suggests that patronage was well suited to women. Not only was it socio-political and non-institutional, but it also had multiple points of access and a range of levels of involvement, thus allowing the involvement of women from a significant cross-section of 18th-century society. A brief examination of women's requests to the duke of Newcastle while he was first lord of the Treasury reveals that they formed at least 10 per cent of his total requests, and demonstrates that women used the system in much the same way and for many of the same reasons as men.

This chapter introduces the North East of England: its people, industries, economy, how it is governed, how it compares to other regions and its future outlook. The idea of the North East is traced to its origins, uncovering the various layers of sub and supra regional devolution that frame its governance today. A thumbnail portrait of the North East region’s geography, industry, heritage and culture outlines its economic trajectory from ‘coal to call centres and ships to microchips’, and highlights the often forgotten two thirds of the region that are rural, rich in environmental assets and growing in population. While emphasising the challenges and vulnerabilities of the region, the account also points to its distinct identity and cultural renaissance through flagship projects in places including Newcastle upon Tyne, Durham, Sunderland, and Middlesbrough. The chapter ends with a consideration of the region’s prospects during Covid-19 and post-Brexit.

This chapter discusses the concepts of empowerment and partnership in post-industrial society. It uses empowerment as a benchmark against which the claims of partnership will be tested. It evaluates whether partnership facilitates or has negative consequences for empowerment, focusing on the Education Action Zone in west Newcastle, England, and related initiatives in communities in Brazil. It concludes that it is not possible to achieve empowerment through partnership.

In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, just a handful of children’s press titles were circulating, with the didactic and evangelical output of the Sunday Schools and Religious Tract Society dominating. From 1866 to 1914, more than 500 children’s periodicals came into circulation, featuring well over 80 newspaper ‘children’s columns’, as publishers sought to produce reading that increasingly reflected the common pursuits of the widest range of juveniles. This piece undertakes a chronological account of the periodical growth in children’s literature over the course of the century, including the development of the boy’s papers from the 1850s onwards, and moves by publishers to broaden appeal by producing unisex publications such as Cassell’s Little Folks. The second half of the nineteenth century saw development of ‘house’ periodicals of campaigning movements, such as the RSPCA’s Band of Mercy. From the mid-century, newspapers began featuring children’s columns written for children, with purpose of educating young readers, organising charitable work and acting as a forum for carrying epitaphs for child readers. Such themes are examined through the lens of the most successful children’s column, the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle’s Dicky Bird Society, which began in 1876.

Lady Ranelagh remained involved in the Hartlib Circle's correspondence on science until the end of the Commonwealth. Her transmutation history of famed alchemist Dr. Butler gained international circulation and reached John Winthrop Jr. in the American colonies. She expressed disappointment after Cromwell's death and advocated for educational reform. After the Restoration of the Monarchy, the Hartlib Circle dissolved. Though Boyle was a founding fellow of the new Royal Society, Ranelagh did not receive a nomination, in part because she was a woman. However, many other politically motivated members of the Hartlib Circle, such as Benjamin Worsley, John Dury, and Hartlib himself, also did not become fellows. Ranelagh turned her energies towards social improvement by advocating for nonconformists. Her old friend Edward Hyde became Earl of Clarendon under Charles II and enforced the Clarendon Code. Ranelagh worked with William Kiffin to appeal to Clarendon to free twelve Baptists who were imprisoned for dissent. Meanwhile, she also supported her brother Robert as he became more engaged in experimental philosophy. Boyle published some of Ranelagh's work, such as her chemical treatment for rickets using the ens veneris recipe, without using her name. Her life presents a contrast to Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle.

Durham’s wealth came from more than coal. Yeomen were emerging in Durham shortly after the Black Death. Rather than being poor and backward, parts of rural Durham developed precociously, to be overtaken only centuries later. Not all shared in the growing prosperity, however, due to local conditions and institutions that shaped access to land. Durham’s agriculture supported the rapid expansion of the coal trade out of Newcastle, and was reflected in increasing quantities of imported and locally produced goods. The vitality of the north-eastern economy helps to explain how England overtook the Low Countries to be the dominant economy in Europe in the seventeenth century.

Catholics fought on both the royalist and parliamentarian sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, as both sides skirted religious tests meant to deprive Catholics of access to arms in a rush to win the war. The force of necessity provided leverage to the Catholic minority, as their wartime service enabled them to press for religious liberties they had been unable to secure in peacetime. Though these efforts ultimately failed, the negotiations over Catholic toleration during the Civil Wars demonstrate that, under the right circumstances, a minority group could wield a surprising amount of power in a divided society.

This chapter elaborates the different aspects of the Marston Moor campaign in England. Whilst two of Parliament's generals were putting the king's military position in south central England under near intolerable pressure, Prince Rupert was trying to put together a force capable of rescuing the marquis of Newcastle and his infantry from York. The matter was not that pressing as the Earl of Leven and Lord Fairfax could not cut the city off completely from the surrounding countryside and appeared to have ruled out the idea of storming it. Their focus was on drawing in the army of the Eastern Association. There would be sufficient troops to make the blockade watertight and to starve the Marquis of Newcastle's forces into surrender.

This chapter first illustrates how a large number of observations can inform the design of a particular experiment intended to test rigorously the causes of the observed associations. It does so through the discussion and analysis of two case studies drawn from experimental immunology: (i) the efficacy of vaccines for Newcastle disease virus in poultry, and (ii) cancer immunotherapy. It then shows that it is important when repeating experiments to reproduce not only the expected result (i.e., the estimated mean value) but also to reduce the variability in estimates of the mean. Reduction in overall variance can be accomplished both with more precise measurements and by accounting for additional sources of error (covariates or “nuisance” variables). When potentially important covariates are recorded during an experiment, they can be included in the analysis of the data and help to isolate the true “signal” of the experimental treatment from the “noise” of the experimental environment.

This chapter examines the rate and pattern of growth of shipbuilding output in the major ports of Northeast England in the nineteenth century, with the aim of determining the contributing factors that led to the region’s shipduilding successes in the period. Ville determines major factors as:- cost savings due to access to raw materials; good labour relations; and the development of skilled labour.

This chapter provides the theoretical background for the theme of the book and its focus on ‘ordinary’ cities. It introduces liberal theories of justice and fairness and their critiques. Drawing on the concept of spatial justice, the chapter aims to situate debates about justice in and of the city in the broader debates about conceptualisation of justice. It argues in favour of a multi-disciplinary and pluralistic approach to thinking about justice, a relational approach to the city and a dialectic understanding of spatial justice. These are seen as important first steps toward bridging the gaps between different disciplinary perspectives on social justice, spatial justice and fairness. The chapter also provides a short introduction to the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom and explains why the book focuses primarily on this single city.

Birds are known to carry pathogens affecting human and agricultural health. Conversely, agricultural operations can serve as sources of pathogens that affect wild bird populations. This chapter provides guidelines to identify focal avian species that frequently use agricultural operations. These guidelines are coupled with identifying host types, such as maintenance and bridge hosts, and potential direct and indirect pathways for pathogen contamination from wild birds to agricultural operations, including patterns of spillover and spillback. The chapter also identifies major bacterial and viral pathogens of concern that are prevalent in birds and that affect human and agricultural health. These pathogens are then used to illustrate disease ecology concepts important at the wildlife–agriculture interface. These microorganisms include food-borne bacteria, influenza A viruses, and Newcastle disease virus. The chapter introduces the concept of contamination potential for categorizing avian species in terms of the risk they pose to contamination of agricultural operations with pathogens of concern. Finally, the chapter examines long-distance movements of wild birds in relation to pathogen introduction and illustrates this with global movement of influenza A viruses by wild birds.