Delighted to have got my hands on this new book by @jbwaagmeester.bsky.social!

A great line-up of medieval seminars for @cmrsedinburgh.bsky.social in Edinburgh, including @medievaljay.bsky.social, "Raiders of the Lost Patriarchs: Hebron and Crusader Jerusalem"... hca.ed.ac.uk/centre-medie...

Skating On The Yorkshire Wolds ( yesterday ) Off for a few days , back soon , best wishes , James ⛸️

What a time to be alive & out of the EU 🙄

We should set aside talk of ICE, Border Patrol, and other federal officers being poorly trained, and recognize instead what they're being trained to do. Aggressive, provocative tactics are deliberate. Efforts to frame protesters in situations where officers claim they were assaulted is a pattern.

A recent post from @sims-mss.bsky.social reminded me of a really cool UPenn manuscript that I keep meeting to write about. It's UPenn Ms. Codex 1056, a lovely Book of Hours for the Use of Rouen. colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/8143...

Many Books of Hours from this place and time (15th-c. France) illustrate the Calendar pages with the Labor of the Month on one side and the Zodiac on the other. Like several other Rouen Books of Hours I've seen, however, this one uses Biblical analogues instead of the Zodiac!

My letter @thetimes.com today. Trump can achieve ALL his security objectives in Greenland by cooperating with Denmark (under their 1951 Treaty) and NATO. To show that Arctic security is a genuine NATO endeavour, the UK, France and others should also make military deployments in and around Greenland

“What? … You mean no one brought the buns?”

I think most of us who've spent years visiting the capital for a variety of reasons but have never been able to afford to live there envy rather than pity you! What London definitely does not need is Laila Cunningham!

Apparently, I’m Supposed to be Pitied for Living in London open.substack.com/pub/iratusur...

German national research funding agency allows the use of AI in evaluating projects. What could possibly go wrong?

Trump’s America: - ICE agents murder US citizen driving away from them - kidnaps foreign head of state - threatens to invade allies - soft on Russian invasion of Ukraine - unilaterally tears up trade agreements - backs far-right parties in Europe - sabotages climate treaties - leaves WHO

I understand the pressures on the BBC, but Radio 4's coverage of the Minneapolis shooting is an example of "bad balance". It's all "the Trump regime says she was a terrorist, but Democrats say it was murder". The BBC has the footage. It doesn't have to treat truth and falsehood as equally valid.

I think it really does matter that, in the world's flagship democracy - on which we depend economically and militarily - a paramilitary force is shooting people in the streets & lying about it. Esp. when our own Opposition party says it wants a British ICE. As democrats, we should care about this.

And Jesus was not separated from his parents and put into a cage. Joseph didn't get sent into an el-salvadorian death camp. Mary didn't get beat up by an immigration agent. How is this part of Christ's life story not shaking certain people to their core?

The Flight into Egypt; BL Cotton MS Nero C IV; 'Winchester Psalter'; f.14r

'Da mihi sub pedibus posse iacere tuis.' BnF MS Latin 12033; Amalarius Metensis, Liber officialis; Corbie, France; 12th c; f.Av @gallicabnf.bsky.social B.16.3; Rabanus,De Laude Crucis; 10th c; f.30v @trincolllibcam.bsky.social MS Arundel 155; 'The Eadui Psalter';11th c; f.133r

Seven more detections of BA.3.2 from US wastewater. It's fanning out, this week it includes detections in CA, UT, and NYC.

It’s worth a 5 minute walk west of the village car park in #Corbridge to see the Roman bridge stones which carried Dere Street over the river Tyne. The stones have been moved from their excavation site to better protect and display then. #HadriansWall #archaeology

Paleography peeps: I'm collecting examples of premodern descriptive or evaluative (sc. judgy) language about script. E.g. Boniface requesting a book "claris et absolutis litteris scripti" because he can't read "minutas litteras ac connexas" anymore. #medievalsky 🧵

The orange beast is certainly making his presence felt in the world. BnF Français 958; Frère Laurent d'Orléans, Le Livre des vices et des vertus ou Somme le Roi; 1464; France (Bretagne); f.6v @gallicabnf.bsky.social

You can see it coming... Trump will want Greenland as the price for Ukraine security It's time for the UK & Europe to really step up. Europe can be a superpower too, but for good. Never mind 3% or 5% defence spending, we need 10% & people need to be told why. We should never depend on America again.

I spent Christmas thinking about Greco-Bactrian kings and Greek texts in Nubia, and now you can too! If you'd welcome some distraction from Armageddon, here's my January mega-post, all about the Greek language's life beyond Europe. dannybate.com/2026/01/06/g...

We’re in an era of back-yardism. Trump’s takeover of Venezuela & maybe Greenland means he can’t logically object to Putin’s desire to take back Ukraine in Russia’s back-yard, or Xi grabbing Taiwan. The US, once the world’s moral super-power, shrinks to policeman for the Americas.

Good night all! 😴 Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 004: The Dover Bible, Volume 2; 12th century; f.277r @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social

St Francis receiving a vision of the city of Assisi threatened by a dragon BL Add 15710; St Bonaventure, Legenda Sancti Francisci, illuminated by Sister Sibilla von Bondorf; Germany, S.W.; 15th century; f.30v

Vision of Ezekiel BL Add 11639; 'The Northern French Miscellany'; 1277-1324; France,N; f.354v

The Tiburtine Sybil revealing to Caesar Augustus a vision of the Virgin and Child BL Harley 4431; Christine de Pizan, L'Épître Othéa; c.1410 CE-c.1414 CE; France, Central (Paris); f.141r

Daniel's vision of the angel over the River Tigris BL Add 11695; Jerome, Commentary on Daniel; 1091-1109CE; Spain, N; f.252r

Bocaccio in his study, with his vision of Fortune as a crowned lady with many arms BL Royal 20 C IV; Giovanni Boccaccio, De casibus virorum illustrium translated into French by Laurent de Premierfait (Des Cas des nobles hommes et femmes) 15th c; France; f.198r

Gabriel explaining the vision to Daniel BL Add 11695; Jerome, Commentary on Daniel; 1091-1109 CE; Spain, N; f.245r

Miniature of the Veil of Veronica BL Arundel MS 157; Psalter of the Virgin Mary; 1200-1210; f.2r

The feast of Epiphany. B.11.3 mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B... #epiphany #magi

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany #Epiphany BL Add MS 49598; 963 CE-984 CE; The Benedictional of St Æthelwold; England, S.; f.24v

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. Here is depicted the epiphany of the divine in the three gifts of the Magi, and the transformation of water into wine at Cana. #Epiphany Bamberg State Library Msc.Lit. 1; Sacramentary; early 11th century; Fulda; f.30r

Baptism of Christ in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, surrounded by angels and with a golden dove of the Holy Spirit descending, preceding the benediction for Epiphany (6 January) #Epiphany BL Add 49598; Benedictional of Æthelwold; 963-984 CE; England S; ff.25r-25v

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. Here is depicted the Adoration of the Magi and the departure of the Magi. #Epiphany BL Egerton 1139; The 'Melisende Psalter'; 12th century; Eastern Mediterranean (Jerusalem); f.2v

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. #Epiphany BL Or. 481; Octateuch, Gospels, & Ecclesiastical Works; 17th century; Ethiopia; f.101r

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. Just look at the expressions of the Magi. #Epiphany MS Thott 143 2º; 'The Copenhagen Psalter'; Det Kongelige Bibliotek; 12th century, f. 11r

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. #Epiphany BnF MS 1186; Psalter of St Louis & Blanche de Castille; 13th century; f.18r @gallicabnf.bsky.social

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany which is depicted in the initial 'D'(eus) of the Collect for Epiphany. #Epiphany BnF MS Latin 9428; Sacramentary of Drogo; 9th century (between 826/837 CE & 855 CE); Metz; f.34v @gallicabnf.bsky.social

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. "Deus qui hodierna die unigenitum tuum gentibus stella duce revelasti....." #Epiphany BL Yates Thompson 2; 'The Ottobeuren Collectar'; 12th century; Germany, S. (Ottobeuren); f.62v

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. #Epiphany München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, BSB Clm 4453; 'Evangeliary of Otto III'; c.1000 CE; Reichenau; p.27

The Collect for the Epiphany (6th January) with the depiction of the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan #Epiphany Staatsbibliothek Bamberg Msc.Lit. 1; Sacramentary; early 11th century; Fulda; f.30v

Follow the star to the feast of the Epiphany on 6th January! #Epiphany BL Add MS 37472, f.1r

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. Here is depicted the Adoration of the Magi; Joseph's Doubt; & Joseph leading Mary into his house München, #Epiphany Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, BSB Clm 23631; Purple Gospels; 1st quarter of the 9th century; Augsburg (?); f.24r

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. Here is depicted the Adoration of the Magi. #Epiphany BSB Clm 2939; Gospel Lectionary; 1st third of the 12th century; Southern Germany (Tegernsee?); f.6v

6th January is the feast of the Epiphany. Here is depicted the Magi in adoration and then departing. #Epiphany BL Add MS 39627; The Gospels of Tsar Ivan Alexander; 1355 CE- 1356 CE; Bulgaria; f.10r