Roger Pearse
@rogerpearse.bsky.social
📤 796
📥 222
📝 873
Patristics, texts & transmissions, ancient history.
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog
reposted by
Roger Pearse
Kate North
about 16 hours ago
An interesting hierarchy of elevations at New Court, Trinity College, Cambridge…fine ashlar on the main public-facing elevation, lime plaster lined out to look like ashlar on the internal court area and bare brick on the side elevation, facing onto the alley 😃
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Roger Pearse
James Coverley
about 17 hours ago
#Ancienthistory
#ancientbluesky
#history
In honour of the
#Olympics
, this is the 'Diploma of the Boxer' c. AD 180-190. The one but last signature (sixth to third line counting from the end) gives us the handwriting of the athlete Marcus Aurelius Demostratos Damas.
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It's easier to locate supplementum volumes to Migne's "Patrologia Latina" if you remember that the word in the title was spelled "Patrologiae": Patrologiæ cursus completus. Series Latina. Supplementum / a J.-P. Migne editus et Parisiis, anno domini 1844, excusus ; accurante Adalberto Hamman.
1 day ago
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Roger Pearse
Thomas Hendrickson
6 days ago
Well, our tiny open-access, non-profit publishing house finally shelled for a website that doesn't look like I made it in five minutes on wordpress:
pixeliapublishing.org
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Pixelia Publishing
https://pixeliapublishing.org
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Pseudo-Jerome, On the Solemnities of Passover - now online in English. More interesting than it sounds, on how Christ partly set aside the Jewish Law, and partly did not.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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De Solemnitatibus Paschae, "On the Solemnities of Passover" (CPL 2278) - online in English
I wrote in a previous post about CPL 2278, the anonymous 6th century text De Solemnitatibus Paschae, "On the Solemnities of Passover", which is also letter 149 of St Jerome, or rather pseudo-Jerome. ...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/02/07/de-solemnitatibus-paschae-on-the-solemnities-of-passover-cpl-2278-online-in-english/
1 day ago
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Roger Pearse
Andy Hilkens
2 days ago
Have you checked the digited microfilms at
www.loc.gov/collections/...
?
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Manuscripts in the Libraries of the Greek and Armenian Patriarchates in Jerusalem | The Library of Congress
Search results 1 - 25 of 1009.
https://www.loc.gov/collections/greek-and-armenian-patriarchates-of-jerusalem/
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Roger Pearse
The American Trust for the British Library
3 days ago
ATBL making our Bluesky debut to say: JOIN US March 9th and support
@britishlibrary.bsky.social
!
#medievalmanuscripts
, scholarly presentations, community, & more,
@nysoclib.bsky.social
. Tickets are $150 and will help digitize BL
#medieval
manuscripts.
@bldigischol.bsky.social
RSVP:
tinyurl.com/44
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reposted by
Roger Pearse
Adam Bremer-McCollum
3 days ago
Old Armenian word of the day գահ "throne, seat, chair" (cf. MP 𐫃𐫀𐫆, NP گاه /gāh/ [> Arb جاه /ǧāh]) as in Ełišē, ed. Tēr-Minassian, 83.14-15 զոր ես ինձէն իսկ յիշեմ առ հարդն իմով, որ նստէր ի մեծ գահոյն յայսմ "which I personally remember in the time of my father, when he sat on this great throne"
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Roger Pearse
HMML
3 days ago
Dr. Ani Shahinian, cataloger of
#Armenian
manuscripts at HMML, generously answered five questions to share insights into her experiences working with Armenian manuscript collections. Learn more:
hmml.org/stories/meet-dr-ani-shahinian
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Roger Pearse
Ennius
3 days ago
Initial 'P'(er) with stowaway Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 347(975); Eusebius Caesariensis, Historia ecclesiastica; 8th/9th century; Rätien; p.447 (
www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...
)
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Roger Pearse
Mina Monier
3 days ago
Hi, I am trying to access a manuscript held at the (Greek Orthodox) Jerusalem Patriarchal library. I wrote and received no response. Does anyone have experience with this library or know someone I can contact, please?
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Roger Pearse
Peter Tarras
4 days ago
My friend Vevian Zaki
@vevianzaki.bsky.social
has started a blog called "Margins speak: Hidden voices from Christian Arabic manuscripts". Big bonus: Posts are in both English and Arabic. Check out Vevian's fascinating first post on a "thief blessing":
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Reversing a Curse, Blessing a Thief
Ownership Notes in MS Sinai Arabic 441 In the library of Saint Catherine’s Monastery at Sinai, Egypt rests a manuscript known as MS Sinai Arabic 441, which contains a collection of saints’ lives, h…
https://vevianzaki.com/blog-post-1/
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A wonderful find of a new Syriac Chronicle covering the 7th century and much more. Arabic has treasures to share. All we have to do is go and look.
add a skeleton here at some point
3 days ago
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Roger Pearse
Norse Hagiography Network
19 days ago
Today, is the feast of St Agnes of Rome. She lived during Diocletian's reign, & was one of the first virgin martyrs to be widely venerated as a saint, largely due to the promotion of her cult by Ambrose of Milan. According to her legend, she refused to marry. (1/n)
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Roger Pearse
Steven Teasdale
13 days ago
The Internet Archive (
@archive.org
) has digitized 42 volumes of the Medioevo Latino annotated bibliography, an important reference and research tool for medieval studies.
#medievalsky
archive.org/details/pub_...
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reposted by
Roger Pearse
Alison Vacca
16 days ago
🎉 publication day! 🎉 editions & translations of the correspondence btw Umar b. Abd al-Aziz and Leo the Isaurian in medieval Latin, Christian Arabic, Muslim Arabic, Aljamiado, Armenian & early modern Latin. plus the intro to explain how they're all related! open access & available here:
add a skeleton here at some point
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Roger Pearse
Marijn van Putten
4 days ago
So my translations of al-Dani's Taysir is out! So what is this text about? It is a description of seven canonical reading traditions of the Quran authored by the Andalusi polymath ʾAbū ʿAmr ʿUṯmān b. Saʿīd al-Dānī (371/981–444/1053).
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Roger Pearse
Sarah E. Bond
5 days ago
February 4, 134 CE: A collective of nine scribes 🖋️ —named Diogenes, Euporos, Mystes, Marion, Sarapion, Sabinus, Herakleides, Harpokration, and Heliodoros—in Ptolemais Euergetis (Roman Egypt) sign a contract to copy gvmt tax & census lists (P. Mich 11 603):
papyri-prod.lib.duke.edu/ddbdp/p.mich...
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Can we do anything to get British Library manuscripts online? The absence is such a nuisance!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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Can we do anything to get British Library manuscripts back online?
I'm still working away at producing an English translation of the "letter 149" attributed falsely to St Jerome, De Solemnitatibus Paschae, which probably dates to the 6-7th century. This evening I ran...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/02/04/can-we-do-anything-to-get-british-library-manuscripts-back-online/
4 days ago
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Roger Pearse
Cambridge UL Special Collections
5 days ago
The MS is fully digitised
@camdiglib.bsky.social
:
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GG-0...
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Western Medieval Manuscripts : Compilation of classical, late antique and medieval poetic works (including the 'Cambridge Songs')
Introduction: the history of the manuscriptCopied by perhaps four scribes during the mid-11th century, this manuscript contains
https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GG-00005-00035/434
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Roger Pearse
Dr R. Alan Williams
6 days ago
Update on our archaeological excavations on St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall and the first direct evidence linking the island to the Bronze Age tin trade.
www.cambridge.org/core/blog/20...
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Excavating the British tin trade that shaped the Bronze Age « Archaeology# « Cambridge Core Blog
In 2025, we published an article in Antiquity, demonstrating through chemical and isotopic analyses that, c. 1300 BC, tin ingots made from tin ores in southwest Britain are found on shipwrecks off the...
https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2026/01/19/excavating-the-british-tin-trade-that-shaped-the-bronze-age/?ffbclid=IwY2xjawPuxSpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeKQGq7kpzZkMina8tddvtGSmgC2hiNy1QF6E1nI1C7pKVZL-UckpBMm_UYWI_aem_fyaCZ18TLTWTN4zr1ny8jw
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An online translation of Oecumenius, Commentary on the Apocalypse; plus Rob Bradshaw's tutorial on scanning books using a mobile phone!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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A new translation of Oecumenius' Commentary on Revelation, plus an article on using your phone to scan articles
A couple of interesting items have reached me this week. Firstly, John Litteral has prepared and published a translation of Oecumenius, "Commentary on the Apocalypse" (CPG 7470). It's based on the ed...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/02/04/a-new-translation-of-oecumenius-commentary-on-revelation-plus-an-article-on-using-your-phone-to-scan-articles/
5 days ago
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A new project at Oxford to edit and translate the Commentary on the Psalms by 11th century Baghdad Christian writer Ibn al-Tayyib. And maybe more Palestinian or other Christian Arabic texts!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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New project on Ibn al-Ṭayyib's commentary on the Psalms
Some fantastic news from Oxford! It seems that Steven Firmin is working with a team of cool dudes to create a critical edition with English translation of Ibn al-Tayyib's "Commentary on the Psalms"! ...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/02/04/new-project-on-ibn-al-%e1%b9%adayyibs-commentary-on-the-psalms/
5 days ago
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Roger Pearse
Helen Day
5 days ago
Ladybird cover stories. The four seasons books. Artist: C F Tunnicliffe
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reposted by
Roger Pearse
Dr Francis Young
5 days ago
Reading about an English Poor Clare who spent the French Revolution in Rouen with 4 loaded pistols hidden under her habit at all times
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reposted by
Roger Pearse
Adam Bremer-McCollum
5 days ago
Old Georgian word of the day ტკბილი sweet, pleasant as in Stephen of Thebes, Ascet., ed. Garitte, no. 91 იყავ ტკბილ ყოველთა მიმართ კაცთა "Be pleasant toward everybody"
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reposted by
Roger Pearse
Adam Bremer-McCollum
14 days ago
I'm giving a talk in DC (CUA) this Friday on Old Uyghur. Check it out, if you're around and interested! RSVP here
forms.gle/WhMQfr2UqbbU...
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Happiness is an empty inbox.
5 days ago
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Roger Pearse
Overhalenn
9 days ago
#Mithras
add a skeleton here at some point
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New Mithras project at the University of Szeged in Hungary, led by Csaba Szabo, to research all the material culture of the cult of Mithras on the middle and lower Danube, and get it digitised.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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New: The MTA–SZTE Momentum Mithras Research Group
An email reached me about a new initiative in Mithras studies. This is led by Dr. Csaba Szabo, who has just created a new research group in Hungary, at the university of Szeged. This will undertake ...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/01/31/new-the-mta-szte-momentum-mithras-research-group/
9 days ago
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Soon it will be "celebremus pascham!" But should it be "celebremus pascha?" Greek words in -a turning into first declension nouns, and neuter nouns at that. Strictly for those of us with schoolboy Latin! 😄
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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How do we decline the Latin word "pascha"?
In chapter 3 of "letter 149 of Jerome", de solemnitate paschae, the author accepts that different approaches to calculating the date of Easter have been used in the church: ... licet in hoc varietas...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/01/24/how-do-we-decline-the-latin-word-pascha/
15 days ago
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English translation of the Life of St Botolph.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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The Life of St Botolph by Folcard of St Bertin - Translation
Prologue. To my most beloved father and lord, and likewise most reverend bishop, Walkelin, the least of monks, Brother Folcard, offers his service with all devotion. I had no previous merit in life, ...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/01/21/the-life-of-st-botolph-by-folcard-of-st-bertin-translation/
19 days ago
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Roger Pearse
24 days ago
The End of
www.digizeitschriften.de
means that Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters is no longer available online...
@monumenta.bsky.social
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https://www.digizeitschriften.de
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It's amazing what gets printed in collected texts - today the supposed "letter 149" of Jerome - most likely in fact an Irish computistical text of the 7th century.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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Let’s talk about letter 149 of Jerome, de solemnitate paschae – or rather, about CPL 2278, Pseudo-Jerome on Easter
Among the letters of Saint Jerome in the Patrologia Latina (= PL) edition, vol. 22, columns 1220-1224, there is a curious text with the title “de solemnitatibus paschae”, “On the Easter ceremonies”. ...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/01/19/lets-talk-about-letter-149-of-jerome-de-solemnitate-paschae-or-rather-about-cpl-2278-pseudo-jerome-on-easter/
21 days ago
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Roger Pearse
HMML
24 days ago
Opening pages to a text for al-Isrāʼ wa-al-Miʻrāj, on the Prophet Muḥammad's night journey to Jerusalem & ascent into heaven. One of 1,307 manuscripts at Āl Budayrī Library in Jerusalem that are digitized, cataloged, & available in HMML Reading Room (
vhmml.org
). (ABLJ 00498):
https://bit.ly/4aFxBKP
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Jerome, Seven letters - PDF and .docx of letters 93, 94, and 150-154, now online. Spreadsheet of the translations of all Jerome's letters updated.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
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How many letters of St Jerome remain untranslated into English?
In my last post, I gave a few notes on the letters of St. Jerome, which number 154 in the Hilberg edition in the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum series, vols.54, 55 and 56. It seems that...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/12/09/how-many-letters-of-st-jerome-remain-untranslated-into-english/
about 1 month ago
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Blog download links in older posts were messed up while fixing the pharma spam hack last year - now fixed. What a nuisance these people are!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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Admin: Download links now fixed
A kind commenter noted that the downloads on older posts were giving "site not found" because they were downloading from "http://roger.local" instead of "https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog". I think...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/01/06/admin-download-links-now-fixed/
about 1 month ago
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Get your PDFs of the Vallarsi edition of the works of St Jerome (1734-1742) here!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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Links to the Vallarsi edition of the works of St Jerome (1734-1742)
The standard 18th century edition of the works of St Jerome was that of Dominico Vallarsi - "Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi stridonensis presbyteri operum ... / studio ac labore Dominici Vallarsii." It app...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/01/05/links-to-the-vallarsi-edition-of-the-works-of-st-jerome-1734-1742/
about 1 month ago
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Roger Pearse
Gavin Kelly
about 2 months ago
I have published a letter from the 17th-century classicist Johann Georg Graevius to his French colleague Adrien de Valois, about the latter's Ammianus edition, on the blog of the Last Historians of Rome project.
lasthistorians.shca.ed.ac.uk/blog/2025/12...
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Letter 92 of Jerome is the letter of the synod of Alexandria in 400 condemning "Origenism". Here's a translation of letter 93, the obedient response of the Jerusalem synod.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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Jerome, Letter 93 – online in English
Continuing the series of translations of previously untranslated letters of St Jerome, today we have letter 93. This is not a letter composed by St Jerome, but a translation made by him and included ...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/01/03/jerome-letter-93-online-in-english/
about 1 month ago
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Jerome's last letter, 154: a mixture of violent anti-heretical language, greetings to friends, and a confession that he is so weak that he can barely dictate the letter.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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Jerome, Letter 154, to Donatus – online in English
Continuing the series of translations of previously untranslated letters of St Jerome, today we have letter 154. We've just done 151, 152 and 153. 154 is the final letter in the collection. But we ...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/01/02/jerome-letter-154-to-donatus-online-in-english/
about 1 month ago
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English translation of Jerome, letter 153, to the newly elected Pope Boniface I. All Jerome's associates are dying, and the new generation has no taste for the Origenist disputes.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
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Jerome, Letter 153, to Pope Boniface I – online in English
Continuing the series of translations of previously untranslated letters of St Jerome, today we have letter 153, to Pope Boniface I (418-422). 153. To Boniface. Jerome, to the most blessed Pope Boniface. Your Reverence cannot doubt how much joy I have felt [on learning of] your ordination as
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/01/01/jerome-letter-153-to-pope-boniface-i-online-in-english/
about 1 month ago
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Letter 152 of Jerome - an English translation. Old and tired, Jerome doesn't want to write any more polemic.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
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Jerome, Letter 152, to Riparius – online in English
Another previously untranslated letter of St Jerome, to the same as last time. 152. To Riparius. To the truly holy lord and most worthy and longed-for brother Riparius, from Jerome. The arrival of t...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/12/31/jerome-letter-152-to-riparius-online-in-english/
about 1 month ago
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An English translation (the first?) of St. Jerome, Letter 151, to Riparius.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
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Jerome, Letter 151, to Riparius - online in English
I've just finished translating this previously untranslated letter, so I thought that I would post the results! I append the Latin text, which is that of Hilberg in the CSEL, with his weird spelling ...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/12/29/jerome-letter-151-to-riparius-online-in-english/
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Roger Pearse
Adam Bremer-McCollum
about 1 month ago
Parthian word of the day /frawēn-, frawēnād/ "foresee, prophesy" as in Sundermann, MKG 1835-1837 /manohmed rōšn frawēnag ast ud harw čē-š zānēd ud frawadēd/ "the light-nous is clairvoyant, and knows and understands everything"
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Some memories of staying in Luxor in Egypt in 2007, just before Christmas. Getting away to the sun!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
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More Christmas Memories of Luxor
Everybody likes pictures. I've found a directory of photos from one of my just-before-Christmas trips, back in December 2007. This is what you went for. And it was really very cheap! It wa...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/12/25/more-christmas-memories-of-luxor/
about 2 months ago
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Christmas thoughts, memories, and some musings on the letters of St Jerome.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
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Merry Christmas!
A very merry Christmas for 2025 to all my readers wherever you may be! If you are reading this on Christmas day, it is perhaps likely that you on your own today, old perhaps, or maybe sick, or sad, or...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/12/25/merry-christmas-3/
about 2 months ago
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Roger Pearse
Colleen Curran
5 months ago
When I started BretPal (almost two years ago 😪), I had one very clear research goal: to establish parameters for Breton Caroline minuscule (Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 85)
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The manuscripts catalogue at the British Library is back online!
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
@ccockburn.bsky.social
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British Library Manuscripts Catalogue back online
Via Bluesky (is this a first?) I learn that the British Library Manuscript catalogue is now back online, two years after the cyber-attack destroyed it. The post is from Calum Cockburn who is the cura...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/12/23/british-library-manuscripts-catalogue-back-online/
about 2 months ago
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An old hoax surfaces: the supposed Turkish Aramaic "gospel of Barnabas" from 2012 rides again! Thankfully Jim Davila and Peter Williams sorted it out back then. Less thankfully, google has forgotten them.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/...
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An old hoax: the Turkish Aramaic "gospel of Barnabas" forgery from 2012 resurfaces
An old hoax has re-emerged online this week. Here's one example, but an image search reveals that it's hanging around Muslim forums online. A groundbreaking discovery in Türkiye has unearthed a sup...
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2025/12/23/an-old-hoax-the-turkish-aramaic-gospel-of-barnabas-forgery-from-2012-resurfaces/
about 2 months ago
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