Join me tomorrow at South Square in Bradford for Heritage Open Days, where I'll be telling the story of Mary Sykes, a woman who lived in Bradford almost 400 years ago that stood trial accused of witchcraft... #HeritageOpenDays #WomenInHistory #Witches

Join me for Heritage Open Days at South Square in Bradford! I'll be telling the story of Mary Sykes, a woman from Bradford accused of witchcraft in 1649, and uncovering the history of English witch trials. Totally free to attend and no need to book!

Back at Bolling Hall today delivering 3 family friendly talks about Mary Sykes, a Bradford woman accused of witchcraft in 1649. Really pleased to be doing this as part of the first ever Bradford Heritage Festival!

It's this weekend! On Saturday, I'll be at Bolling Hall museum telling the story of Mary Sykes who was accused of witchcraft in 1649. We'll be looking at what her neighbours said about her & the history of witchcraft in Yorkshire. Plus kids will learn about witch bottles & have a go at making one!

Our last panel of the conference, kicking off with Anna Kalkaeva taking us through female witches and male sorcerers in nineteenth century German folklore (Sagen) #MagicWitchCon

Another great keynote from Rita Voltmer on the many faces of the European witch, ending with a call for semantic respect for the accused who fought, often in vain, not to go down in history as a witch #MagicWitchCon

Proudest moment of #MagicWitchCon was definitely introducing @witchesetc.bsky.social to a new witch! I will never stop talking about Miracola...

Kicking off day 3 with an incredibly fascinating paper from Joanna Paschendag on the role of accusations of sorcery in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and colonisation in the US #MagicWitchCon

Concluding the day with another great panel! First up we had Paolo Portone on the development of the modern positive meaning of strega in Italy #MagicWitchCon

Too busy chairing the last panel to share about the papers individually, but some fascinating talks by @toujoursbizarre.bsky.social , Dan Harms and Neil Tarrant! #MagicWitchCon

Really fascinating talk from @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social on Unstoppering the Witch-Bottle

For the second panel of the day we have Maria Tsitsani discussing the importance of magical charms and spells in 4th century papyri for providing psychological reinforcement and symbolic authority to victims of injustice in often ineffective ancient legal systems #MagicWitchCon

Great morning so far at #MagicWitchCon in York! Some fascinating papers so far yesterday and today.

So excited to be part of the programme of the first ever Bradford Heritage Festival! I'll once again be bringing the story of Mary Sykes, a Bradford woman accused of witchcraft in 1649, to life, & talking about the historical context of the English witch trials bradfordheritageconnection.co.uk

So excited to be heading to York next month for this amazing conference! My paper will explore themes of sex, desire and embodiment in cultural depictions of witches in the seventeenth century. Online tickets also available!

I don't often post about my job, but sometimes it's just too cool not to share... I spent all of Friday with Blue Peter legend, Konnie Huq, talking to Bradford primary school children about writing, drawing & science. And thanks to the National Literacy Trust we were able to donate over 300 books!

Excited to speak at the Magic & Witchcraft Conference at @crems-york.bsky.social in June! My paper, "Sex Specific: The Witch, Desire & Embodiment in Early Modern Culture", will explore how witchcraft is written onto the bodies of the real accused women and literary fantasies of witches

Close Ups of the sketchbook pages! Writing is in the Alt Text. Featuring: @carmineclaire.bsky.social @katievernon.bsky.social @krheyam.bsky.social and @catsfstiles.bsky.social

I absolutely need this

Really excited to be back at @royalarmouries.bsky.social today as part of their LGBTQIA+ History Month. I'll be giving a talk later this afternoon about early modern bodies and masculinity (with added swords!)

This Saturday (1st March) I'll be speaking about bodies, sex, and gender (with added swords!) in the Tudor period as part of the Royal Armouries LGBTQIA+ History Month event 🏳️‍🌈 #LGBTQIAHistoryMonth royalarmouries.org/leeds/whats-...

Last week I was at Bolling Hall in Bradford sharing the history of English witch trials, and especially the story of Mary Sykes, the witch of Bowling with local families. And most importantly of all, they let me do it on costume 😂 #witchtrials #historian #bradford

I wrote a blog post about some of the hidden stories of gender we uncovered as part of Forgotten Battles at the Royal Armouries in Leeds! The exhibition (featuring my film with a drag king Henry VIII) and object trail are at the Armouries until November www.heritageopendays.org.uk/resource/for...