🧵 about #alevels, #results and exams in the UK. My mum was working class, went to the type of secondary school where girls were encouraged to leave at 16 to train as secretaries. They saw her as the 'wrong sort', and made her do CSEs and barred her from O Levels. She fought and lost. 1/

CFP: “Women, Lordship, and the Culture of War” A Haskins-sponsored session at the 2026 ICMS in Kalamazoo, MI (14–16 May) Apply by 15 Sept. 2025 at icms.confex.com/icms/2026/pr... @kzooicms.bsky.social #MedievalSky

Exactly 7 years ago I was at Hereford Cathedral with @chloermckenzie.bsky.social, launching the St Thomas Way: a new #heritage route from #Swansea to #Hereford, inspired by a real #medieval #pilgrimage. 13 locations, 13 circular walks, + free multimedia resources & activities. www.thomasway.ac.uk

Many people have compared what is happening in America to what happened in 1930s Germany - and rightly so. But I want to remind everyone that the current situation is not a fait accompli, and I worry that these comparisons sometimes imply otherwise. The situation is dire, but not without hope.

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!

We’ve launched a new collection of openly accessible videos, Interviews with Historians, in which prominent 20th century historians reflect on their lives and professional practices. Access the collection here: www.history.ac.uk/library-digi...

A great day at the UK National Archives, Kew, for the Pipe Roll Society AGM and Council. It’s such an honour to serve on this society, which does so much to facilitate medieval research and accessibility to original documents. Check out PRS work and consider becoming a member! piperollsociety.co.uk

MAMO is this week! I’m so excited for so many amazing papers and workshops reflecting on how medieval research interacts with the modern world.

Today on #BetwixtTheSheets I am talking to the one and only and utterly fabulous prof Vanessa McCarthy about her research into sex work in #renaissance Italy. Listen wherever you get your podcasts!

BALH is hosting a talk this evening about Jane Austen’s Social Networks and the Wider World which will explore the remarkable women in Austen’s Southampton circle, lives shaped by empire, scandal, and global connections. All welcome Find out more: balh.org.uk/NTM209 @balhnews.bsky.social

Poppies pouring in through Traitors’ Gate, beneath St Thomas’s Tower, at sunset 🌅 We also met Poppy, one of the Tower’s resident ravens, named for the original 2014 installation. I had met Poppy once before, in February during a visit with students, but it was nice to be formally introduced 🐦‍⬛

An evening with lovely people at the Tower of London. Endless thanks to @ravenology.bsky.social for hosting, showing us round and telling the best tales, and to @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social for bringing us all together. @euanroger.bsky.social @tealcartoons.bsky.social @katewilliamsme.bsky.social

An incredible night at the Tower of London, hosted by the wonderful @ravenology.bsky.social 🐦‍⬛ I’ve never seen the Tower like this: peaceful, dusky light. We saw the ancient Key Ceremony, then spent the night at Yeoman Warder’s pub, The Keys. Thanks @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social for organising! 🏰 🍻

What an evening hanging at the Yeoman Warder's Club w/ @ravenology.bsky.social at the Tower of London! No ghosts (this time), but lots of laughs! Grateful to have such good people in my life @katewilliamsme.bsky.social, @chloermckenzie.bsky.social, @tealcartoons.bsky.social, @euanroger.bsky.social

📢 #jobopportunity #medievalsky 📜 Lecturer in Old English ⏳5 years, full-time (anticipated duration to 30 June 2030) 🏫 University College Cork ⏰12 noon (Irish Local Time) on Tuesday, 8th July 2025 📲 Details of the post, selection criteria and application process: www.ucc.ie/en/future-hu...

I did all my degrees at Cardiff University This news is heartbreaking

Very excited about our #EstuaryAnthology workshop 'Routes to Protest' on 22 June at Gravesend Town Pier. There will be 1381 sound sculptures, a banner workshop and punk legend Gina Birch's choice of protest songs. Come and join the fun - its free!

www.facebook.com/share/1DwtdX... Come and see me this weekend at the Highland Folk Museum, Newtownmore.

News | @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social begins process to repatriate human remains – delegation of Naga representatives visit museum to discuss return and care of ancestral remains

Excellent history content incoming!!! Can’t wait to listen to this new episode in @alexvont.bsky.social HISTORY’S HEROES, featuring the incomparable @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social on one of greats of medical history, Harold Gillies.

When losing a limb made you a hero but losing a face made you a monster, Harold Gillies restored dignity to WWI's disfigured soldiers. In HISTORY'S HEROES, I speak to @alexvont.bsky.social about what courage & imagination can accomplish in the face of relentless horror. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

It was great to hear @elizabethbiggs.bsky.social’s talk last night for our @mappingthemarch.bsky.social seminar series. Really interesting discussion afterwards on if it is possible to compare the different Marches (particularly the Scottish, Irish, and Welsh) in the late Middle Ages. #medievalsky

A historian who doesn't do any actual research is like a neurosurgeon who doesn't operate on brains. It's so fundamental to what we do that you can hardly claim the title "historian" without it.

If anyone is interested in working at CSMC and has any questions, I’m happy to try and answer them

Where it all began for me. A third-year special subject, 1980-81, involving historical computing, a brilliantly innovative course by my mentor, John Palmer. The rest has been history. #DigitalHumanties before the term had been invented. Weeding old box files, this course booklet from my UG years…

In case anyone is free next Monday and would like to join- please do email the project. Would love to see people there in person and online!

To whet your appetite ahead of our CPD Day next Monday, one of our speakers, Steve Illingworth, has written a blog post for TMW: teachingmedievalwomen.org/on-teaching-...

📢 #medievalsky Help inform our #TOEBI roundtable for #IMC2025 @imc-leeds.bsky.social 📜Topic: Fostering Learning Exchange and Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration in Early Medieval English Studies 📲 Questionnaire: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... ‼️Closing date: 30 June 2025

#IMC2025 may be 4 weeks away, but the #IMC2026 Call for Papers is officially open!!! 🎉 This year our Special Thematic Strand is 'Temporalities'! Click here: www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2026/ to find out how to submit papers and sessions, and also to learn more about our Padlet page.😊 #MedievalSky

🎶 Thou needest not have wealthe To be my love Thou needest not be coole To rule above Ther nys no especial signe Ich have affinitee wyth Ich nede naught but thyne extra tyme and thy [lute riffe] kysse 🎶 #Prince

Child casualties almost halved, child deaths down by 3/4… All the other stats don’t really matter

Free this time next week? Join us live at 6:30pm on Thursday 12 June as we announce the winners of the 2025 Women's Prizes for Fiction and Non-Fiction. Watch over on our website: womensprize.com/

Such a fabulous evening celebrating #SceptredIsle. A true labour of love by @helencarr.bsky.social 🙌🏻

Really enjoyed @helencarr.bsky.social’s book launch this evening at @hatchards.bsky.social. So great to hear from Helen and be part of a great crowd of #Medievalists 🥳 Cant wait to delve into Helen’s book and learn so much more about the 14th century!

Funded PhD studentship of €25,000/year for 4 years plus fees available @tcddublin.bsky.social to work with me on Irish women's life writing from the long 18th century! Please spread the word! @ecfjournal.bsky.social @cecs-york.bsky.social @clhlwr.bsky.social @oxfordlifewriting.bsky.social

A little video from @tealcartoons.bsky.social and me about our forthcoming kids' book DEAD ENDS: FLUKES, FLOPS, AND FAILURES THAT SPARKED MEDICAL MARVELS! And yes, my office is just as weird as you might imagine it to be, complete with Houdini's Water Torture Cell! www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvl5...

Have you seen this #Saxon #rainbow? #OldEnglish inscription in the #Saxon church at #Breamore: “HER SWUTELAÐ SEO GECWYDRÆDNES ÐE” (Here the covenant is revealed to you). The stone arch becomes a #rainbow - like the sign of God's covenant in the biblical story of the Flood. 🌈 Happy #PrideMonth all 🌈

Shout out to the amazing Dr Stephen Spencer, fellow medievalist @northeasternu.bsky.social London, for leading this fantastic research at Lambeth Palace Library. The historians explored a range of docs, from the 12th-20th centuries, demonstrating the variety & scale of the library’s collection

Watch the ever-engaging @helencarr.bsky.social explore the reign of Edward II, addressing the question: was he England’s worst king? From @history-hit.bsky.social, featuring Paul Dryburgh, Kathryn Warner and yours truly, at some fav medieval locations. www.historyhit.com/edward-ii-en...

And it’s out today! Helen Carr’s brand new history of the 14th century is a must read!

BIG NEWS, BIG REVEAL! One of the Sunday Times top 40 books of 2025, out May 29 but you can pre-order now! I cannot wait to share this book with you all

Regicide! War! Bubonic plague! SCEPTRED ISLE has it all. A thrilling new history of the 14th century by the incomparable @helencarr.bsky.social is OUT today! You aren't gonna wanna miss this one 👇 uk.bookshop.org/p/books/scep...

From Arts & Crafts patterns to medieval archaeology. These biscuits recreate stained glass fragments found a few years ago in the triforium of Westminster Abbey.

I suspect this is something @cathamclarke.bsky.social would like!

Today is National Biscuit Day, and it’s about time that I populated this account with biscuit (cookie) sets from the past few years. Here are some of my favourites. 🧵 First up, a set inspired by the delicious designs of William Morris and John Henry Dearle.

Really excited to be giving the John Grove Memorial Lecture for 2025 online on 2nd July on Edmund Mortimer, fifth earl of March, and his lieutenacy of Ireland during 1423-25 as part of the Mortimer History Society Spring Conference. #skyhistorians #skymedievalists

From sessions on Denmark, wine, the living dead and more, the #IMC2025 Late Call for Papers will close Wednesday 04 June 2025!🎉 You still have time to speak at #IMC2025! Click here: www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2025/lat... and see if your research could enhance a session!😊 #MedievalSky #SkyStorians

A queenly couple of days in London this week! Had a lovely CPD session talking about queen’s lands with my @teachmedwomen.bsky.social colleagues for the GDST on Friday followed by 1536 on stage today—a play where Anne Boleyn became an interesting plot device! 👸

Pleased to share that the first books of the new 'Courts and Courtiers' series from Brepols will soon emerge! Oskar Rojewski's monograph about Sittow, court painter to Isabella of Castile; and a collection of essays about Habsburg royal brothers, wives and bastards! www.brepols.net/products/IS-...

Here's something lovely for your Saturday morning (well, the text isn't lovely, it's about domestic violence, adultery, and imprisonment). It's the model for the extremely weird 3vv mass in the Biffoli-Sostegni manuscript, Antoine de Févin's Je le lerray puisqu'il me bat. #earlymodern #nuntastic 1/