Iremember vividly when I first saw Nigel Saul. It was during the days of the old Public Record Office in Chancery Lane (now, of course, the Library of King's College). As many will remember, readers, having climbed the steps of the grand doorway and entered the hall, had to stand at a high desk and sign their names into a book, before proceeding to the Round Room where the documents were produced. One day, on arrival, I saw a few places before me in the queue, a tall, spare young man, conventionally dressed (as was I) in collar and tie and wearing, I think, a sport's jacket. ‘Who is that?’, I wondered, and when my turn came, I looked a few signatures up and saw the name ‘Nigel Saul’. ‘Ah, so that is the author of the book on the Gloucestershire Gentry’, I said to myself. It had just appeared, so this must have been in 1981 or 1982. I had, I should say, no difficulty deciphering Nigel's signature because it was the reverse of some indecipherable scrawl. Indeed, one of the pleasures of working with Nigel over the years was to see his beautifully elegant handwriting in letters and in comments on essays and exam scripts. One curious feature of his hand is that he does his Greek ‘e’ in two different ways without, as far as I can see, any consistent pattern as to when one or the other appears. Given all we know about Nigel's well-balanced personality, this is a warning against reading too much into such quirks of handwriting!

Just when I made actual contact with Nigel after this initial sighting I cannot recall, but by 1988 I certainly knew him well enough to suggest we join forces in the way I will describe. Perhaps our friendship was cemented during a very enjoyable walk with our wives (both Janes) around Berkhamsted castle, an event recorded by a photograph in one of our albums. In 1988, I was appointed to a lectureship at King's College and had to decide what specialist courses to put on. The third-year special subject was easy. It would focus on the reign of Henry III. But what of the ‘optional’ subject for second years? I wondered about something on the medieval nobility and gentry, but here encountered a problem.