My find of the day: I’ve been researching how bishops used croziers in Ottonian Germany (don’t ask). This prayer is for the consecration of a church & instructs bishops to write the alphabet on the church floor with their crozier during the blessing. But just in case you didn’t know your alphabet…

Lovely ramble around some Norfolk churches last week, including the beautiful church at Cley- full of medieval surprises, my fave being a very characterful sculpted St George 🐉 ✨ #medievalsky

🧵Following Andrew's arrest there's been a lot of talk in different media about this being 'unprecedented'. It most certainly is NOT! It might be in the modern age, but not before the 18C. I have identified 49 close relatives of the monarch put in custody from 1066.

Something compelled me to make this

📻 Dr Laurence Publicover (@bristolunienglish.bsky.social) joins BBC Radio 4 #InOurTime to discuss Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 with @oldfortunatus.bsky.social, @lucycmunro.bsky.social & Misha Glenny Listen to the full programme 👉 brnw.ch/21wZOlR @bristolcms.bsky.social

Labour MPs on the radio this morning

Gravé dans le cristal 🔮 Ce petit cabochon en cristal de roche, finement gravé, est une œuvre rare du début du Moyen Âge. La scène représente une Crucifixion, selon les codes des 9e et 10e siècles. ☀️🌙

Applications from students particularly welcome - the event is free, no need to be a BAA member and travel grants of up to £50 available! Enter the ballot by emailing [email protected] by 12th September ✨ #medievalsky @chestercathedral.bsky.social

Interested in #heritage & #medieval #architecture? Do think about coming along to the next British Archaeological Association study day, where we’ll be hearing about the project ‘Centring the Past: The People & Skills in Making Medieval English Vaults’ & exploring Chester Cathedral #medievalsky 👇

Anglo-Saxons with West African roots: DNA analysis of 7th century burials reported in @antiquity.ac.uk today reveals long-distance connections reached across continents and cultures. Read about it @science.org:

I have a new article in this latest issue of Manuscript Studies on early diagrams of the Shield of Faith (like this one!👇) It’s an adaption of some of my thesis ideas & was a pleasure to write. Huge thanks to the editorial team @sims-mss.bsky.social for their help in getting it to press #medievalsky

New issue of Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social Vol. 10, No. 1 (2025) muse.jhu.edu/issue/55231 @projectmuse.bsky.social @pennpress.bsky.social #openaccess @sophiekelly59.bsky.social @themedievaldrk.bsky.social @ana0dias.bsky.social @madpoli.bsky.social

Open to all students and ECRs, whether you’re a BAA member or not (though do think about becoming a member too, we’re nice and friendly) #medievalsky

The next British Archaeological Association Study Day is taking place in Coventry, where we’ll be looking at the results of some new infra-red surveys on the Guildhall’s Flemish tapestry & exploring Coventry’s other medieval riches (stained glass, Doom paintings, wooden sculpture). Come along!

So glad this vid is doing the rounds again cause it’s one of the greatest things ever filmed, but also because I’ve never fully appreciated LL Cool J’s reactions - absolutely in awe of Tom Holland, as we all were in 2017 (and continue to be)

Let us remember Thomas Becket on his feast day at his best: unencumbered with excommunication and politics, smoking a cigarette, arm in arm with Elisabeth Taylor.

#medievalsky #kent www.theguardian.com/science/2024...

Exciting research coming out of @westminsterabbey.bsky.social ! Congrats to the team, can’t wait to hear more about their medieval seal bags 🙌

📢Job alert! Postdoc (History) on Norse links with North America at the Arctic Centre of @unigroningen.bsky.social - part of the CONTACT ERC project (1.0 FTE, 12 months with expected 1.5 year extension, deadline 31 December) www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...

A crucifix I stumbled upon in the Musée d’art in Perpignan last week, beautifully displayed so I could get right up close. I think these might be real nails? In any case, a superb, lifelike and slightly frightening Christ, from the Chapelle de la Trinité in Prunet-et-Belpuig in the Pyrenees, 14thC

Fabulous article 👇

It’s great! Give it a read!

Some of the amazing early medieval gold thread recovered by our Durham University/ DigVentures excavations at Lindisfarne (Holy Island)

This might be a weird request, but does anyone on #medievalsky or 🏺 have any suggested readings about transporting cattle by boat? Early medieval or ancient contexts would be especially appreciated!

A fabulous article about new research on the V&A’s portrait of the 18thC scientist and polymath Francis Williams- worth reading to the end, where Dabhoiwala outlines the significance of Halley’s Comet in understanding Williams’ intentions for his portrait ☄️ www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

All things the wonderful @bbombi.bsky.social introduced me to many years ago!

The Cathars exhibition in Toulouse was fab in lots of ways, but I was particularly struck at how well the show broke down some complicated historiography in an interesting (but totally necessary) way, via 19thC historians like Schmidt, Peyrat etc. & the nationalist ideas that run through their work

Wherever I go, there’s a weird painting of the Trinity waiting for me… This one is particularly wonderful though. It was made for Perpignan’s Loge de Mer, the town hall & commercial court (last 2 pics) where the sea consulate met, the body that controlled the region’s maritime trade #medievalsky

more users are joining and the hog grows longer

Béziers today, and the wonderful Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire, looking fortified and imposing, as intended #medievalsky

The testimony of Eleanor Rykener - the earliest surviving record of a trans person in the English language. She began living as a woman in the 1390s, working as a seamstress & sex worker, until her arrest and imprisonment by the Mayor of London. She may have later escaped prison in 1399.

Also I need your help with this slightly bonkers image #medievalsky: the catalogue says ‘Virgin & Child surrounded by saints’ but which saints? And… why?? Slightly weird iconography, no? Would appreciate pointers/other examples

I’m in Perpignan to see this lovely manuscript, a 12thC book of the Gospels with a riot of beasties and naked guys - and a (less colourful) image of the Trinity, the bit I’m *technically* here for (though obvs the elephants and peacocks are absorbing all my attention) #medievalsky

Bonjour Perpignan ☀️

A flying visit to Toulouse and the lovely church of Saint-Sernin. Delighted to run into its remarkably well preserved 12th century wall paintings

Petition to bring back the name ‘Gybylygabyly’ (love how this word somehow still makes sense 700+ years later)