Notice, #earlymodern #skystorians, the logo at the middle of the photo? The VOC (Dutch East India Company). All the more reason to reckon with the legacies of these companies and how they integrate (or don't) with shifting ideas of globalisation, integration, capitalism, and national identity.

I'd do work but there's a grasshopper on my laptop

I'd do work but then this photo appeared

I'm very pleased to announce that the call for proposed Special Issues of the Historical Journal is now live, with a deadline of 12th December. Please do spread widely among your networks — @saracaputo.bsky.social and I look forward to reading your submissions! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Anyone interested in medieval fakes should plan a trip to Paris. The Musée Cluny has a show from 7 Oct. to 11 Jan., www.musee-moyenage.fr/activites/pr... and the Archives nationales has one from 15 Oct. to 2 Feb.:

by this point if the rapture comes it'll probably just feel like an average Wednesday

hehe

Als u in de loop van dit najaar wat ongemakkelijk voorbij of zelfs over mensen die liggen te slapen in een station of aan meterohalte moet stappen, denk hier dan nog eens aan.

I'd do work but I have to stake out the hole that has appeared in the garden

Ultranationalisten en fascisten strijden voor Nederland en de Nederlandse taal.

great, just great, I'm going to write another book

is frans de spin

Ik schreef enkele weken geleden een essay (waar ik best blij mee ben) dat vandaag in de krant staat dat ook aan dit sentiment raakt. Het is buitengewoon frustrerend, als journalist en gewoon als mens, om dit soort vervlakking te zien. Gevaarlijk ook. www.demorgen.be/nieuws/sprin...

another one for the orca essay

Join me for a workshop on archival research in the Environmental Humanities at The National Archives! We're seeking early career participants - apply to attend to hear from speakers, view original documents, and help test our research guidance. #envhum #envhist www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archival-r...

This is gonna age well.

Rare books people! Following some lively & productive discussion at the @livesandletters.bsky.social conference last week, I have a question: how would you describe inscriptions like these?

oh hello little hornet in my offiaaaaaaaaaaaargh

he he he

what if people won't recognise me anymore

Blue iguana climbs back from the brink. Grand Cayman’s blue iguana, once down to fewer than 25 individuals, now numbers more than 1,000 in the wild. Captive breeding, habitat restoration and community engagement reversed what was nearly a Caribbean extinction. CNN buff.ly/GKiJpcz #ShareGoodNewsToo

If I had a nickel for every time the hosts of mega-hit podcast "The Rest Is History" said rape allegations weren't credible because everyone else said he was such a nice guy, then I'd have almost as many nickels as the hosts of mega-hit podcast "The Rest Is History"

Are there any specialists in Spanish religious architecture who can tell me about what I’ve noticed on the Camino? Lots of standing stone crosses with Mary on one side and Jesus on the other. Provincial churches all following a similar template, especially the bell towers (not really towers?!?).

my latest, an interview with the inimitable @alinaetc.bsky.social

you'll have to watch the full advert before the fridge decides to open

"was someone killed by a curse?" is a question one might not expect in a mainstream newspaper but if anything it's more likely to appear in print in 2025 than it would've been in 1925

Enfin, er zijn wel meer rode lijnen waar je rekening mee moet houden als onderzoeker en me dunkt dat ze aan de UGent nogal soepel zijn bsky.app/profile/mari...

Jesus Christ.

As a Satan influencer in the 1550s, one needed drastic selfies to stay in the social media game. On this #HistSelfie you see the devil himself trying to rob a woman. Bonus points for the knee caps of the devil.

sleepless nights because I picked a new pair of glasses that are a very different shape

The historie of serpents… Edward Topsell, 1608.

one day I will rue overestimating the authoritative power of the zebra crossing

I thought I'd do a grim little thread on a cursed bird. Here it is. It doesn't know it's cursed, and it isn't it's fault, but it is.

“Cataclysmically bad” This new series of ECR blog posts on the French History Network makes for grim reading, perhaps grimmer even than some in UK #FrenchHistory might have realised. 1st post, anon ECRs in French History on what it’s like right now out there: frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6691/ 🗃️

all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago

Grumpy jay, shell-shocked owl, from natural history dictionary by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, 1586. Today is his day.

curling up and up, becoming as dense as a black hole

ok, I will admit to being excited about a good new heresy debate.

Our medieval curator Alison Ray introduces Rawlinson Bodleian Library MS. Rawl. D. 252...a 15th Century necromancer's journal. This manuscript contains spells written in Latin and Middle English, and would have served as a reference for a professional sorcerer. #MedievalMonday

Here is the first clear photograph of Andromeda, the closest galaxy to our Milky Way. It was taken by Welshman Isaac Roberts in 1888 #Astronomy 🔭 #Science 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Les droits de l'homme... et des femmes? Vanessa Van Puyvelde schrijft over hoe de Franse Revolutie niet alleen een politiek keerpunt was, maar ook op het vlak van vrouwelijk auteurschap voor verandering zorgde.📜 ▶️ cultuurgeschiedenis.be/de-franse-re...

very few things feel as flattering as when I have to read out the little letters projected on the wall and the eye doctor says 'very good Kristof, really very good'

Tegenwoordig leven we in een land waarbij een kwaaie mail sturen naar de premier kan leiden tot een strafklacht. Het woord getrouw dat ge onbevreesd moogt spreken, mogen we dus schrappen uit de Brabançonne met Vlaams-nationalisten aan de macht.

zolang dit de pecking order blijft is het oké www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/20...

today: finish article on the occult, prep lecture on history of science+body, roast a fennel, plan a secret research thing, eat a fennel

finally

I’ve had an amazing week in Ingolstadt for two inspiring conferences with wonderful people. And, of course, the Münster has this amazing transi tomb of Johannes Permetter, showing his corpse consumed by worms. Permetter died in 1505

My 2yo tried fish sticks before she ever tried chicken nuggets, so she calls chicken nuggets “chicken fish sticks.” Today this food product entered our home and does anyone have contact info for Baudrillard

One day, nearly 2000 years ago, a cat dashed across some drying tiles, somewhere near Hadrian's Wall. It's immortality of a kind, isn't it?

"We have to cancel kristallnacht 2.0 because the guy was one of the people we were grooming to take part in it" is a heck of a twist to be sure