The last thing the archivists of Toledo Cathedral wanted was for anyone to read their documents. The archive was open to the public for only one hour on weekdays, and not at all on feast days. Some weekdays it wouldn’t open to the public at all, forcing Peter Linehan, there to research his book on medieval Spain, to wait outside in the hope of catching an archivist on his way in. They regarded him with suspicion, unable to understand this English academic’s interest in their old papers. Linehan managed to get the assistant archivist onside; he would take him for a long boozy lunch, then accompany him back to the archive, where he spent the rest of the day working in peace.

Source: The Times August 11, 2020 15:56 UTC