Altum quinque. (@magdalenoxford.bsky.social MS. lat. 109).

Thank you to Special Collections @kent.ac.uk for hosting @memsunikent.bsky.social MA students and showing such exciting items held in the library. You could tell how excited people were!

This is TODAY! Not too late to register. Hope to see you later.

I am late to this but I am very sad to learn of the death of my former colleague and friend, Tom Freeman, known to many as THE expert on Foxe's Book of Martyrs, but of so many other early modern and, indeed, medieval topics. And of Diet Coke. www.essex.ac.uk/news/2019/03...

First London Palaeography Seminar of 2026 coming up! Eyal Poleg, no less, speaking on 'The Science of Erasures' - Tuesday 3rd February, 5:30pm Senate House and online. To learn more and to register: ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Back home after the memorial event for Prof. Martin McLaughlin, about whom a few words: bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/c...

TEN DAYS TO GO until the deadline for this Call for Papers. We already have some great speakers lined up but we want YOU to be among them, so sharpen that pencil and get scribbling. (What, you mean some people don't use pencils anymore? O tempora).

In retrospect, Sonny Corleone had the makings of a great statesman.

He is probably best known to you as the author of Policraticus, that deathless classic of the C12 Renaissance:

The Sorbonne is not looking too shabby today.

'This appears to be a long document.'. It is 9 pages, including cover sheet. It is in single figures. It is not long. AI: do you need help building your attention span?

I'm not a fan of football but deep down I am a Macc lad so have to keep the celebrations going: BBC News - Stunned Macclesfield fans cheer biggest FA Cup shock in history - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Calling all fifteenth-century scholars: if you have not yet submitted your proposal for this year's conference hosted by @memsunikent.bsky.social, now is the time to do so. CfP open until 31st January.

I walked over to OUP - or perhaps I should say I went on a cranky crawl.

Who most needs an Epiphany?

Keep your beard out of my logic.

I got 'slapdash' and 'laughable'. Goodbye, meticulous scholarship with a furrowed brow - you are so last year.

I was so disappointed not to have known of the NYE event at Margate's Turner Gallery, until my wife explained it was not that type of Latin Party.

Nero liked a good fire.

My New Year's Day Gift to you: the latest version of the listing of the extant manuscripts once owned by Humfrey, duke of Gloucester, now standing at 51 items. bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/01/a...

Looking for some diverting reading over what remains of the break? Recommend John Banville's latest, a skilful and beautifully written wrong-stepping novel. Enjoy the allusions (including to his own Book of Evidence). PS Not for those who adore Venice.

Borges, it turns out, was not writing fantasy. He was a prophet.

Not a bad place to visit to talk manuscript #fragments.

Times New Roman has been trending. Some thoughts on the resonances it has: bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/r...

Sometimes you cannot fault medieval logic: sed non omnis bona causalis est bona consequentia, sicut ista causalis est bona “Thomas studet, quia vult esse clericus’, et tamen non est bona consequentia, quia non sequitur 'Thomas vult esse clericus; ergo, Thomas studet’. +

Palaeographers: you definitely should consider applying to this illustrious fund:

I am receiving emails offering 'last minute gift ideas'. I will not give in to buying Christmas presents so ridiculously early.

When a plain old manicula is not sufficient (@magdalenoxford.bsky.social MS. lat. 92).

Congratulations to @emallis.bsky.social on being this year's @memsunikent.bsky.social winner of the Jayne Wackett Dissertation Prize! research.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...

Final Palaeography session of the term for our @memsunikent.bsky.social MA students and, as a special treat, they are having #fragment fun at their second home, the Archives of @cburycathedral.bsky.social.

The back cover of the new issue of @mediumaevum.bsky.social features my predecessor, the late great Nigel Palmer, with an appeal for the travel fund being established in his name. For more on that, visit mediumaevum.org.uk/donate/palme... .

The latest issue of @mediumaevum.bsky.social in my editorial hands and soon to be in yours. It ranges from Beowulf to Henry VIII, from Sicily to Scandinavia, and includes articles by the likes of @edolmans.bsky.social, plus a review of recent Silk Roads exhibitions by @peterfrankopan.bsky.social.

What an inspiring session that was. As @laurajcleaver.bsky.social says, two highly impressive papers suggestive of great work ahead in late medieval/ Renaissance palaeography and codicology. Thank you to both speakers.

Bookmarks of yesteryear. A leaf between the leaves of this manuscript @magdalenoxford.bsky.social

Yesterday the latest cohort of @memsunikent.bsky.social MA students graduated. Congratulations to all of you on your success. I enjoyed teaching you and wish you all the best for your next adventures! research.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...

And the news is... We're recruiting! Applications are now open for our 2026 @leverhulme.ac.uk Doctoral Scholarships. So, if you want to study at PhD level pre-modern handwritten cultures and the organisation of knowledge and power within them, do investigate our refreshed website.

These are going from Baden to wurst.

How to tease:

Are you up for some more palaeographical excitement? Then ready yourself for next Tuesday's seminar in London's Senate House where we can offer you not one but two scintillating papers featuring new research from early career scholars. Register here: ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

When you know civilisation is coming to an end:

Are you a scholar of the fifteenth century and have an interest in the British Isles and its wider connections? If so, then you will want to know that @memsunikent.bsky.social will be hosting the 2026 Fifteenth Century Conference in Canterbury and the CfP is now open: www.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...

It was two months ago now, so a good moment to remember a highlight of our Austrian jaunt: a trip to Weiz, with its taborkirche (fortified church) dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury. That's Becket to us who obey Henry VIII's laws.

Next to Jesus Maria Johannes, another triad: amen amen amen. Unusually, the reason for invoking it thrice is explained: it is in honour of the Trinity as the superscript letters show (p[ater], f[ilius], s[spiritus sanctus]). @magdalenoxford.bsky.social MS. lat. 71.

More evidence of the fun we had at the @memsunikent.bsky.social led and @chase-dtp.bsky.social funded Bookscapes workshop on Traditions of Lettering - from calligraphy to needlework via print, epigraphy and stained glass. Quite a day. Thank you, @cburycathedral.bsky.social Archives for hosting us.

The latest @chase-dtp.bsky.social Bookscapes workshop is about to begin. It is on Traditions of Lettering, run by @memsunikent.bsky.social and hosted by our friends at @cburycathedral.bsky.social Archives.

The @memsunikent.bsky.social MA team are back in their second home, the Archives @cburycathedral.bsky.social for their first session of the term close up with manuscripts.

A meeting @cburycathedral.bsky.social to discuss the next @chase-dtp.bsky.social Bookscapes workshop on traditions of lettering, and had a few minutes to enjoy some of the new (and relevant) temporary display. Timeless questions in present dress. I found it thought-provoking. Thank you.

Louvre Treasure hunt latest ... #Paris #France

Medieval Latin teachers, help! Disaster for our @memsunikent.bsky.social Latin learners: the Memrise pages for Collins's Primer have disappeared. Do you know where they might be now and, crucially, what substitutes there are. I have seen pages on Quizlet and Brainscape. Recommendations?

A reminder that this is on this very afternoon, 21st instant: