THIS IS WHAT WE CALL SOME PRETTY MAJUSCULE INFORMATION

As you dig out your chunky knitwear from the back of the draw, I know you are wondering: 'How did people prepare for winter 400 years ago?' Read today's post to find out (and whet your appetite for our new book The Experience of Work in Early Modern England) manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/07/t...

Had a great time today chatting with @sixteenthcgirl.bsky.social for the Not Just the Tudors podcast on History Hit. Watch out next week for the episode on Voices of Thunder and radical 17th-century women!

As the first female Archbishop of Canterbury is appointed, it’s worth remembering that dissenting women were preaching to mixed sex congregations in London as early as 1645. My book Voices of Thunder has a whole section on 17th-century “she-preachers” #earlymodern

During the course of this year, I am available to give invited talks at Departmental seminars, symposia and the like. My research is now developed enough to shed new light on the role of walking in theatre history, but still pliant enough to benefit from the input of scholarly conversation.

An important thread making the case for books being better than ostriches as places to put words

Pretty momentous email to send just before lunch on a Monday morning. Second book appears to be...done! Watch this space for further news from me and @gregmw4.bsky.social as we approach publication.

It's almost like young people are interested in institutions facing up to their history in a frank and nuanced way www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...

A call for papers on 'Ritual Artefacts & their images for medieval liturgy' in Madrid next January with special focus on 'three main categories of liturgical artefacts' ritual objects (such as reliquaries, crosses, censers), vestments and liturgical books. eventos.urjc.es/137188/secti...

Question to Zach Polanski at the leadership announcement: "Q: How can you take on Nigel Farage when your policy on immigration is so different?" Everything wrong with British politics and media summed up so succinctly in a single absolutely unhinged question.

TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE has a COVER👀 (this is a late C16 embroidered coif - never in fact assembled - in the V&A. All the crazy scale with added big cats, like an acid trip As You Like It. I love that it is a bit stained and messy.) global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Tonight am watching Escape from New York, a film that poses a number of important questions, most of which are Wait, What is Going on with Kurt Russell's Trousers.

Possibly the last photo of the @leverhulme.ac.uk Bee-ing Human team, as we work to bring our project to conclusion later this year. We will share the url for our project site soon! @viveknityananda.bsky.social @oliviasmith.bsky.social @racheljwillie.bsky.social @sjjackson32.bsky.social

Katherine Steele Brokaw and Elizabeth Freestone *Performing Shakespeare on an Endangered Planet* Free to download until the end of today (18 July) www.cambridge.org/core/element...

📢JOBS: 2 postdoc research associate positions📢 On AHRC project 'Informing contemporary land use policy through sustainability assessment of farming systems' in pre-modern periods🗃️ - FT from 01/10/25 - #Medieval history (3 years) - #EarlyModern history (28 months) jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

A privilege to stand on/over the Curtain playhouse stage again, and in its adjoining yard (thanks to an architect tour). Feeling very close to all those figures I’m writing about for the #CurtainBook, who were, naturally, so often to be found at these very spots too.

Very much this! 👇 it’s hard out here for creatives, share the good stuff when you can

This is very worth making the time for. And congratulations Professor Samson!

Excellent to see this call for papers for a conference bridging the gap between military, political, social & cultural approaches to conflict, war and violence in the #EarlyModern world. 🗃️ 👇

Sneak preview of the contents page for #VoicesofThunder - a roll call of the incredible 17th century women whose amazing stories I am lucky enough to tell in this book @reaktionbooks.bsky.social #earlymodern

📢WILL OF THE MONTH SPECIAL📢 The research and transcription for this new post are the fruits of a collaboration between two of our amazing Zooniverse volunteers! sites.exeter.ac.uk/materialcult... #EarlyModern 🗃️ @leverhulme.ac.uk @uniofexeterhass.bsky.social @uoearchhist.bsky.social

The weather today: illegally hot. Sort it out, sun.

I finally got around to uploading our 'About the Zoo' video to the wills project YouTube channel. Take a look for a quick introduction to the research from members of the team, for recordings of webinars and for guides to transcribing wills for us on Zooniverse. 🗃️ www.youtube.com/@MaterialWills

Been asked to share some speaking events I’m doing! First - WRITEABILITY’S Book Club and Craft Seminar for Writers! The program runs September 2025-March 2026. I will be the featured author for February www.writeability.org/bookclub

It's out! On Thursday, there was a book launch for this transformative study of how the Domesday Book was made. Astonishing that it has been possible to learn so much about something so apparently well-understood. @oxmedstud.bsky.social

A man at my local coffee place has decided my name is Alfie, and this is such an enormous upgrade in first-name coolness that I can never, never meet friends here lest they very pedantically correct him.

In case not obvious, this research is about dogs

25 time machines into moments in England's past... I'm so excited to share the cover for A HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN 25 POEMS (and thanks to Waterstones for doing the cover reveal on their channels this morning). I hope you love it as much as I do!

Looking forward to our Tudor England & the Antwerp Book Trade conference (8–11 July). Meet us in Antwerp to hear all about the #earlymodern book trade, religion & reform. Come for the scholarly discussions, stay for the atmosphere! ☟Sign up before the 30th☟ #bookhistory #rarebooks 📜💙📚

Having had... variable experiences with publishers in the past, my hat goes off to the professional and supportive work @uclpress.bsky.social did with our ECR team in producing their edited volume The Hand That Feeds: uclpress.co.uk/book/the-han...

Open to teachers, academics, writers, policymakers, and anyone else with an interest in how English is taught and what it means for us.

Plenty of time left to register! Join us in Glasgow or online this July 🤩

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging." Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council. I wrote about my decision in TIME. time.com/7285045/resi...

Lecturer in Cultural History (Early Modern) University of East Anglia - Faculty Arts & Humanities - School of History & Art History #skystorians 🗃️www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNA978/l...

There were things Cameron’s government did were IMV terrible that directly contribute to the UK’s malaise, but I think a far bigger problem is just “we haven’t actually had a government that has been able or willing to focus on actual governance for a long time now”.

"The Future of Sound Studies" Symposium to remember Bruce Smith and his legacy, Cambridge, 24 May 2024. Register by 17th May www.rensoc.org.uk/event/the-fu...

Some wonderful pics by Troy Grant of @1623theatre.bsky.social and @wresurgence.bsky.social's Midsummer Mayhem this weekend. This test performance sold like hot cakes. Expect more BARDCORE productions very soon.

Relevant to #BoxOfficeBears and other animal interests

Just under two weeks until applications close.

It's lovely to have a copy of this in my hands! #ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧 If you buy it from publishers @edinburghup.bsky.social and use the code NEW30, it's only just over £10. edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shakesp... #RadioDrama #AudioDrama

A very well done and thank you to @wresurgence.bsky.social and @1623theatre.bsky.social for an extravaganza of wrestling and Shakespeare last night. Can’t wait to see what BARDCORE does next.

Final tech on Bardcore before we open this evening.

Lovely piece from the BBC on our work bringing wrestling and Shakespeare together with @1623theatre.bsky.social and @wresurgence.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Could you mentor a neurodivergent, early career humanities academic? I did this last time: it's not a big time commitment and is massively rewarding. You don't necessarily have to be neurodivergent/in humanities yourself. @ndhumanities.bsky.social

An absolutely brilliant opportunity for a funded PhD working on femininity, race-making & gender non-conformity in early modern performance, supervised by Clare McManus in collaboration with Royal Museums Greenwich & Historic Royal Palaces. Please spread the word! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

And just like that, we are all sold out. But hopefully this trial run will be the start of something new.

Submitting this for publication shortly, and we're now at 2920 signatures. It would be amazing to get it over three thousand before I turn it in...

We've just added new tickets for Saturday's scratch performance of Midsummer Mayhem, bringing together wrestling and Shakespeare with @wresurgence.bsky.social and @1623theatre.bsky.social. The show is looking absolutely brilliant. Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bardcore-m...

'Trump’s anti-EDI stance is a menace to any form of university research seeking to address inequalities and build inclusion for seldom heard population groups, and the effects of these decisions will have wide-reaching and intersectional repercussions.'