The huge relief that the historian (i.e. me) feels when there is a change of staff in the Inquisition and a new notary with a much more legible hand starts to record the denunciations.

Today's anecdote from the Lisbon Inquisition probably sets a record for vindictive pettiness. In 1544 a woman is denounced because whilst giving birth she “did not call out to the Virgin Mary but to her [own] mother.”

The huge relief that the historian (i.e. me) feels when there is a change of staff in the Inquisition and a new notary with a much more legible hand starts to record the denunciations.

Today's anecdote from the Inquisition. Pedro Alvares, a cobbler from the Algarve, is denounced on 6 April 1543 because he claimed that "if God came and pinched his stuff then he would smash a pot on [God]'s head."

Today's anecdote from the Inquisition. Pedro Alvares, a cobbler from the Algarve, is denounced on 6 April 1543 because he claimed that "if God came and pinched his stuff then he would smash a pot on [God]'s head."

Relaxing on the University of New England campus. 🦘

We are stronger, and better historians, together. Historical societies abound in the UK, and we've listed 150 with BlueSky accounts in this updated Starter Pack. go.bsky.app/AZaYQDd Other societies appear on a new listing of subject societies on the RHS website bit.ly/4ebwP9r #Skystorians

17 September 1550: Englishman John Simons get read the riot act by the Inquisitors in Lisbon for having eaten a chicken on a fasting day, causing local people to denounce him and others to the Inquisition, thereby wasting the Inquisition's time.

17 September 1550: Englishman John Simons get read the riot act by the Inquisitors in Lisbon for having eaten a chicken on a fasting day, causing local people to denounce him and others to the Inquisition, thereby wasting the Inquisition's time.

Let's hear it for the unnamed man denounced to the Inquisition of Lisbon for blasphemy on 14 December 1537 and whom history will only remember because of their nickname: "stuffed bread" (pão relheno, perhaps because of their corpulence? Or because of their fondness for that food?)

Let's hear it for the unnamed man denounced to the Inquisition of Lisbon for blasphemy on 14 December 1537 and whom history will only remember because of their nickname: "stuffed bread" (pão relheno, perhaps because of their corpulence? Or because of their fondness for that food?)

For anyone interested in Tudor government or Elizabeth I in general, newly arrived in the library today are the Proceedings of the Privy Council, 1582-1583. It's now on the shelves in the first floor reading room - search.libraries.london.ac.uk/permalink/44...

Spanish-English Translations Database, 1500 – 1640 This freely accessible database records translation activity between England & Spain in the early modern period, with detailed title page transcriptions, copy specific details and index of dedicatees & printers. spanish-english-translation.ucl.ac.uk

Dude now lands on the drying line and looks into the kitchen forlornly until I feed him seeds. Apparently the new seed mix is not a big hit, so here I am trying to explain that there’s literally a picture of a King Parrot on it!

A very French event: surely the only world championship race where you get to eat the participants? 🐌🏁🍽️

One of the semi-feral cats in my parents' village in France (they've named this one "Filou", i.e. rascal), enjoying some downtime over the well in their garden.

It's been a very good year for pomegranates in northern NSW and we left a few on the tree for the parrots and other birds.

Interesting visitor outside my bedroom window: an Australian Saunders' case moth or the large bagworm (Metura elongatus). The caterpillars build elaborate, durable shelters with twigs which they carry around for up to two years before pupating.

The Australian government has decided that it prefers to purchase votes with promises of debt-relief for ex-students at election time (cost $16billion in 2025) rather than to reform and properly fund the university system. Sorry but that's how it is now. theconversation.com/50-000-arts-...

The Australian government has decided that it prefers to purchase votes with promises of debt-relief for ex-students at election time (cost $16billion in 2025) rather than to reform and properly fund the university system. Sorry but that's how it is now. theconversation.com/50-000-arts-...

It's official now. I have just signed the contract with Bloomsbury for my next book "Inquisition, Slavery and Transing Gender in Renaissance Portugal. The Trial of Antonio, alias Vitoria" and the manuscript is now with the press.

It's official now. I have just signed the contract with Bloomsbury for my next book "Inquisition, Slavery and Transing Gender in Renaissance Portugal. The Trial of Antonio, alias Vitoria" and the manuscript is now with the press.

Meet “ASU Atomic,” a subscription platform that claims to offer customized learning modules for fee-paying users. None of the ASU faculty whose course materials were harvested for the module I generated were aware that their image, lectures, lessons, or other teaching materials are being used.

My new post on the blog is an interview with @ericabuchberger.bsky.social in which we talk about her excellent recent article on identities in Visigothic Iberia #MedievalSky longhairedkingsblog.wordpress.com/2026/04/15/l...

High performing degrees taught by dedicated experts which support loads of students to be culled in the name of governmental shrugging and “adding value” managerial parasites bluffing their way through the next generic PowerPoint

Seville, 1743: the Spanish Inquisition investigates because flower-seller N. Lorenzo has a tattoo of Jesus Christ on his right arm along with word "Carajo" (trans. fu*k) written under it. Sacrilege, unfortunate juxtaposition or just poor taste? ES.28079.AHN/1.1.11.6.1.9//INQUISICIÓN,3733,Exp.343

No one expects... the Spanish Inquisition game.

Isaac Asimov, writing in 1957, was strangely prescient about the debates regarding the impact of AI on intellectual work.

Isaac Asimov, writing in 1957, was strangely prescient about the debates regarding the impact of AI on intellectual work.

For my sins, the FB algorithm has decided that NSW police will threaten me in Portuguese from now on.

Another fascinating anecdote from the archives of the Portuguese Inquisition. The Inquisition and ⚽🏐

This week’s horror is our introductory module, which examines the literature, art, music, dialect, film and TV from the region 1500-2025 being forcibly replaced by an entire ‘success in HE’ module featuring two weeks on how to use AI. I designed my module to incorporate proper study skills…

A big shout out to the scholars of medieval and early modern European paleography who not only mastered difficult scripts but then wrote instruction manuals for their successors. Real heroes! In my case Borges Nunes and their 1981 Abreviaturas Paleográficas Portuguesas. archive.org/details/nune...

A big shout out to the scholars of medieval and early modern European paleography who not only mastered difficult scripts but then wrote instruction manuals for their successors. Real heroes! In my case Borges Nunes and their 1981 Abreviaturas Paleográficas Portuguesas. archive.org/details/nune...

Another university getting rid of things you could only ever do at a university and replacing them with stuff a 13-year-old can do on a phone

Australia does dramatic sunrises very well (Armidale, NSW).

I do like the fact that a Spanish archivist's unfortunate error means that it is a matter of record that the Spanish Inquisition was arresting people from Molong in regional New South Wales, Australia, over a decade before the arrival of the First Fleet.

I do like the fact that a Spanish archivist's unfortunate error means that it is a matter of record that the Spanish Inquisition was arresting people from Molong in regional New South Wales, Australia, over a decade before the arrival of the First Fleet.

Meanwhile in Australia: Students paid up to $368 million extra in 2024 under the Job Ready Graduates Scheme but universities received $813 million less to teach and support students, due to reductions in funding under the policy. futurecampus.com.au/2026/03/13/s...

Hello Bluesky! My new book, THE FIREARM REVOLUTION, is out on 14 April. It’s about how a new technology changed society, and how hard it was to control. Here’s a little thread of what’s inside:

Sunrise Down Under. This morning at 6:30.

François Soyer, "Imperfect Sodomy: The Lisbon Inquisition and the Repression of Heterosexual Anal Intercourse in Portugal, 1580–1800." Journal of the History of Sexuality 35, no. 1 (2026), pp. 1-27. muse.jhu.edu/pub/15/artic...

François Soyer, "Imperfect Sodomy: The Lisbon Inquisition and the Repression of Heterosexual Anal Intercourse in Portugal, 1580–1800." Journal of the History of Sexuality 35, no. 1 (2026), pp. 1-27. muse.jhu.edu/pub/15/artic...

Hey! Scholars! If you're using someone's work in your class, sometimes it's nice to email them and tell them, because then they might feel good about their research instead of entirely crushed by the academic humanities' ongoing descent into the grave

NEW: This - on the signalling system that crossed Anatolia from Loulon to Constantinople -by @chrysoboullon.bsky.social is v cool. A 'trip wire' to alert Constantinople to the start of the Abbasid campaigning season. Tantalising hints that it 'employs knowledge of the longitudinal circumference... 👇

September 1550: some outraged Lisbon residents denounced some visiting Englishmen for roasting a duck on a fasting day. In the margin of the denunciation, the inquisitor wrote "concerning the Englishmen's duck" (do pato dos ingresses).

In the UK academic recession, you will be at one of these stages since many unis buy the same cuts model from the same consultancies. It is always the same process: *Talk of belt-tightening *Incidental savings (e.g. printing, refreshments) *Travel budgets cut *Promotion freeze (1/4)

OpenAI just released Prism, a LaTeX editor with embedded ChatGPT for free. Writing a paper has never been easier. Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline has never been easier. It took me 54 seconds to write up an experiment I did not actually conduct. prism.openai.com

I am very sorry to hear of the passing of my PhD supervisor at Cambridge Professor David Abulafia. A very talented historian as well as a great supervisor and mentor who gave me sound career advice when I needed it. May his memory be a blessing. www.cai.cam.ac.uk/news/david-a...

I am very sorry to hear of the passing of my PhD supervisor at Cambridge Professor David Abulafia. A very talented historian as well as a great supervisor and mentor who gave me sound career advice when I needed it. May his memory be a blessing. www.cai.cam.ac.uk/news/david-a...