| Title | Author | Created | Published | Tags | | ------ | ---------- | ---------------- | ---------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | Script | Jon Marien | October 26, 2025 | October 26, 2025 | [[#classes\|#classes]], [[#HIST11474\|#HIST11474]] | *** **Slide 1: Title (Ramsey Abbey, 1439)** Hey, everyone, I’m Jon. In this presentation, I got to do a deep dive into medieval history, and honestly, it was way more hands-on than I expected. The big idea was called “primary source analysis,” which basically means setting aside textbooks and summaries, and looking straight at the raw evidence from the past. For me, this was all about unpacking what life was really like at Ramsey Abbey in the year 1439—not just relying on someone else’s interpretation. What blew my mind is how much medieval security and discipline feels like issues I deal with in cybersecurity, just with different tools. *** **Slide 2: What Is Primary Source Analysis?** So the foundation of this project was thinking like a historian, and that means using primary sources. Primary source analysis is when you base your conclusions on original records—stuff actually written at the time, like reports, letters, manuscripts, or artifacts. You skip the part where someone summarizes for you and instead make your own observations, asking questions and looking for proof. When I went looking for those reports about Ramsey Abbey, this meant hunting down Bishop Alnwick’s original visitation notes and finding that physical evidence in a centuries-old manuscript. *** **Slide 3: Assignment Overview – The Detective Challenge** The assignment was honestly pretty fun, even if it was a headache. My task was to use the English translation, find a specific “incident report” that was relevant, and then track it down in the actual medieval manuscript. Like tracing a config setting back to the changelog, but with Latin, abbreviations, and centuries-old handwriting. The detective challenge was to figure out what real life looked like from these old records—like reconstructing a story from logs. *** **Slide 4: The Printed Source – Thompson Edition** I kicked things off with Thompson’s translation, which is basically an edited, readable version of the old reports. I found the section about Ramsey Abbey spread across pages 302 to 312. But the magic is matching this translation back to the real deal, written in Latin on folios 44 to 51 in the manuscript. No search function here—you’re flipping back and forth, double-checking small clues, and sometimes the old scribe throws curveballs like weird abbreviations or scraps in the margins. *** **Slide 5: Detective Process – The Hunt Through the Manuscript** Honestly, looking for the record in the actual manuscript felt like doing a forensic audit without any digital tools. CTRL+F does nothing for you. I had to stare at page after page, hunting for Latin keywords like “Ramsey” or the names of key monks. Anything in red ink jumped out—rubrication was how they flagged important stuff—plus decorated initials that marked big rules or chapters. Sometimes you see repairs or even random margin notes, which are actually clues. It took time, but after a while it turns into a weirdly satisfying puzzle. *** **Slide 6: What Stands Out – Visual Features** One thing that stood out once I started matching text was how carefully the monks used visuals to organize info. Rubrication, those bright red highlights, made it easier to spot rules and events. Big capital letters split up new sections, and margin notes worked almost like tags, comments, or reminders. You realize that even 600 years ago, people needed ways to keep track of their process—these manuscripts are basically super-old audit logs. *** **Slide 7: Security and Access – Medieval Access Control** It became super clear that the Abbey spent a lot of effort on restricting access, logging behavior, and making sure the right people were in the right places. Monks had to check in everywhere. Only some roles were allowed certain rooms or responsibilities, just like RBAC or MFA today. When someone crossed the line, the Abbey took note and logged the event, but here the "log" was ink on parchment instead of a syslog server. *** **Slide 8: Compliance Issues – Incidents and Insider Threats** When you look closer, the record is full of what I’d call incident reports. There were monks ignoring silence, sneaking out, misusing shared resources, and pushing back against authority. Sometimes they got off easy with warnings, but sometimes punishments were pretty intense—things like fines or bread and water diets. The Bishop kept pushing for more detailed records and audits, trying to enforce consistent discipline, but a lot of the monks just played it safe and wrote “all good,” which is basically medieval compliance theater. *** **Slide 9: Infosec Parallels – Then vs Now** It’s kind of wild how much their compliance headaches match ours in cybersecurity. The Abbey had access restrictions, role-based permissions, logging, and annual audits. They worried about insider threats, ignored policies, and records that got fudged to look good. Pretty familiar, right? Human nature, loopholes, and pushback don’t change just because the tech does. *** **Slide 10: People vs Systems – The Human Element** Honestly, that’s the real lesson. All the rules and systems you create are only as good as the people following them. Medieval monks would dodge uncomfortable truths if they could, and modern sysadmins can be just as “creative” about compliance. The gap between what’s written and what’s actually done is the hardest thing to control—600 years ago or today. *** **Slide 11: Big Takeaway – Security Is Always Human** Looking at these primary sources, it’s obvious the core challenges never changed. Discipline, accountability, enforcing policies—it all rides on trust and people, not the technology, parchment, or passwords. It’s funny how doing old-school manuscript sleuthing made me think about the modern world of cybersecurity in a really fresh way. *** **Slide 12: Present Day – Abbey Today** For the bonus, I wanted to see what’s left of Ramsey Abbey now. The medieval gatehouse is actually still standing, right beside a modern school in Cambridgeshire. It’s wild that the bones of this discipline system are still visible, even if all the monks (and most of the ink) are long gone and everyone is living with digital access controls today. *** **Slide 13: Credits – Sources & Thanks** So that’s my deep-dive through primary source analysis, reading the original records like a historian, and honestly, reflecting on some classic security headaches. Check the slides for my sources: Thompson Edition, the manuscript images, Google Maps, and all my own screenshots. Thanks for coming along with me to see where our infosec problems really started. *** Feel free to tweak any of these blocks as you want or riff over them during recording! This matches every visual and assignment requirement.