Great news to finish off the year! The Cambridge Companion to Matthew Paris volume - to which I was lucky to contribute a chapter - will be out on Jan 8! www.cambridge.org/core/books/c...

In other #fragmentology news, here is this year's @fragmentarium.bsky.social resequencing project by my Simmons School of Library Science students: the Hours of St. Alexis! fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-2... 🧵

My Book Historian self was happy to read about the copies of the Quran that Zohran Mamdani will use at his swearing in ceremonies: "scholars relied on its binding & script to estimate when it was produced, placing it sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century" www.ynetnews.com/article/hjnk...

Aged 11, Princess Elizabeth made New Year’s gift for her stepmother, Queen Katherine Parr. 🎁 Bound in embroidered blue silk, it has been preserved at the Bodleian since 1729: https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/a3a60c14-8a31-42b9-b8e7-a0986e276459/ Shelfmark: Bodleian Library MS. Cherry 36

SO excited to see this! Lots of fragmentological goodness, including @lizhebbard.bsky.social 's survey of in situ binding fragments at Yale. I am thrilled to see my own study of two fragments of Augustine written by my old friend Gottschalk of Lambach! www.fragmentology.ms/issue/view/8...

Major thanks to @saltandpeppergames.bsky.social for this great game! Now I need to try the solitaire version, where you play against Mr. Voynich himself!

I'm no table-top game expert, but I do know something about the Voynich Manuscript, and I thought this game was a blast. The designers definitely did their research, and I particularly appreciated the design notes that refer to the manuscript.

Finally, the main event, the Rose page! Here, players work together at the end of each turn to trade research and knowledge for pieces of the Voynich puzzle (literally). Pro tip: build to the edges as quickly as possible, as the rewards grow the further you get from the center.

Here's the Recipes section, which interacts with all of the other sections. You have to have tokens elsewhere on the board to work in this section, so save it for later. Strategy!

Let's not forget about the ladies in the baths! Here, you use drops of water to move from fountain to stream to pool. But you can't get to the really good rewards until you transform into a leaf! So do that when you can.

Each section of the board represents a different part of the manuscript, with different actions and goals representing knowledge gained from that section. In the herbal section, you use water and leaves to "grow" plants and gain rewards and knowledge.

Pro tip #1: DO NOT LOSE THE INSTRUCTION BOOK! The game is full of symbols and icons that are important and aren't always intuitive. You will need that book to figure out what actions you're supposed to take!

Played it twice now. First time, we realized at the end that we were doing it wrong which is why it didn't make sense. Second time, we got out the wine & reread the instructions & played it correctly & it was really fun! (even though we didn't "solve" the #Voynich Manuscript...maybe next time!) 🧵

The @britishlibrary.bsky.social had a fire drill this evening. And handed out blankets to help with the cold — it ended up looking like a seasonal to self installation… or like a cut price Dalek invasion…

Happy Hannukah from me and the @bostonbruins.bsky.social!

Unfortunately a bishop insists that the resident toad is resealed into the stone and it is chucked back in the quarry. I would have kept him.

I enjoy the William of Newburgh's accounts of the Green Children of Woolpit and revenants as much as the next person, but I my attention is always caught by his entry describing the finding of a beautiful double-stone in a quarry, which is struck open to reveal a toad wearing a golden chain.

Wishing everyone more light this year.* *please admire our kiddush fountain; I am contractually obligated to be vain about it

Staring at the writing desk...... #writingdesk BnF MS Latin 276; Evangelia; 12th century; f.36v @gallicabnf.bsky.social

Chanucah Sameach! BL Add 26968; Forli Siddur; 1383 CE; Italy, Central (Romagna, Forli); f.101r

First candle. Gotta keep lighting those lights to break up the darkness.

Next semester is already looking quite busy with RA work, part time teaching and ploughing on with my book. But if you have transcription or archival (London/SE area) needs please do drop me a line. My rates are now on my webpage. #MedievalSky #EarlyModern joanneedge.co.uk/freelance-wo...

2/2 As your extra #TimeTravelAdvent content today, I wanted to share this brilliant compilation I found online: 3 different performances of the speech, from 1960 to 2012. A slippery text, which has been used historically as praise, condemnation and rebellion... www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQQy...

#Recording available #online! Watch our @englishassociation.bsky.social webinar 'Adventures in #CloseReading #Poetry with #AHistoryOfEnglandIn25Poems'. Exploring & advocating for close reading as adventure & discovery, with me & secondary expert Jo Heathcote. englishassociation.ac.uk/adventures-i...

#DigiBodAdvent day 10, one for the Middle English and Scots fans, the Sinclair manuscript (MS. Arch. Selden. B. 24). The earliest Scottish vernacular verse anthology and the unique witness to "The Kingis Quair" attributed to James I. digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/ea06...

A man with a big knife working within a text. He's no text worker in our modern sense, as a content providing author, but he is still there doing his work among words.

Initial 'D'(ixim[us]) depicting Dunstan pinching the devil's nose with a pair of tongs. Ouch! BL Harley 315; Canterbury Passionale; 12th century; England, S. E. (Canterbury); f.15v

So we've gone from "he never said anything Nazi" to "well he might have said something Nazi but not in a hurtful way" to "well okay he probably did say something Nazi in a hurtful way, but didn't we all?"

Just got the news to say I’ve been elected as a Fellow of the @royalhistsoc.org! With many thanks to my referee @adamchapman.bsky.social

#DigiBodAdvent day 9 is the Tanner Bede (MS. Tanner 10). In a slightly sorry state owing to submersion near Wallingford in the 18th century but still a priceless example of the renewal of English book culture in the early 10th century. 📜 digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/6285...

St Dunstan as a bishop writing a commentary of the Rule of Saint Benedict, and beginning with the opening words: 'Obsculta o fili praecepta magistri..' BL Royal MS 10 A XIII/1; Miniature of St Dunstan as a bishop; 12th century; England (Canterbury); f.2v

A GOAT SPINE! 🤩🐐 maybe it’s morbid, but these kind of physical material details can be important for piecing manuscripts back together! @peripheralmss.bsky.social #midwestmss #medievalsky #medievalmss #manuscripts #fragments

Last newsletter of 2025! Treasures inside... open.substack.com/pub/majnouna...

Couldn't resist...just bought it myself!

Did you know that the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine was among the first students to matriculate at St Peter's College? We're delighted to see his Stroud home marked with a blue plaque commemorating his legacy. www.spc.ox.ac.uk/news/alumnus...

A buzz of anticipation in the packed room at @spcoxford.bsky.social for Jane Roberts’s Dorothy Whitelock Lecture 2025: “Guthlac: what the early medieval records tell us”

Just got this very cool @saltandpeppergames.bsky.social tabletop RPG (h/t @stewartbrookes.bsky.social)! The designers did a great job re-imagining the images, and gameplay is divided into the manuscript's six sections. #Voynich himself is a character! Can't wait to try it with my family.

A buzz of anticipation in the packed room at @spcoxford.bsky.social for Jane Roberts’s Dorothy Whitelock Lecture 2025: “Guthlac: what the early medieval records tell us”

Finally made it to Curious Cures at @theulspeccoll.bsky.social and what a delight to see so many plain looking text manuscripts alongside the herbals and zodiac men

Noah's longship ark BnF MS Latin 8865; Lambertus de Sancto Audomaro , Liber Floridus; 13th century; f.51 @gallicabnf.bsky.social

A reminder of the 'Teaching With Ovid' symposium - accepting paper and panel proposals through to January! Do you use Ovid in teaching, or do you have an idea you'd like to road-test? The International Ovidian Society and Soc. Ovidiana (a medieval outfit) have teamed up. All disciplines welcome!

Thank you for your service, @fakehistoryhunter.net! #BlamePetrarch

20th November is the feast of St Edmund King and Martyr. Here is depicted his martyrdom, & the finding of his head which was being guarded by a wolf. Morgan Library MS M.736; Miscellany on the life of St. Edmund; England, Bury St Edmunds; ca. 1130; ff.14r, 14v, 16r, 16v

@monicamedhist.bsky.social for the win! This thread is pure awesomeness and a fantastic example of 1) #ImagingProblems 2) what can happen when we deign to imagine the possibility that medieval women (gasp) had thoughts and knowledge and wrote things!

Living my best life![1] @bodleian.ox.ac.uk MS. Broxb. 90.28) [1] Aside from playing board games with my kids 😏

I’m*very* excited The Voynich Puzzle board game has arrived! It might not help me solve the Voynich manuscript (where would be the fun it that?) but it will help me solve the puzzle of what to do on Shabbat and Sunday afternoons w/ our kids 😏 @saltandpeppergames.bsky.social @lisafdavis.bsky.social

For those who missed it, I'm crowdfunding for the revised edition of this handbook of mine. We've reached the funding goal but there are still rewards and add-ons to be had... #bookarts

Nine...

I’m excited to be presenting at Limmud Festival 2025 – a celebration of Jewish learning, culture, and creativity! Join me (and about 2000 others!) for an unforgettable experience this December. 👉 You can book now at www.limmud.org/festival

@bodleian.ox.ac.uk MS. Addit. B. 1. The manuscript has been described and edited by Frank Klaassen in his book "Making Magic in Elizabethan England" (he calls it the "Antiphoner Notebook") doi.org/10.5325/j.ct...