On my way to Cambridge now! Very much looking forward to the #earlymodern @emodcam.bsky.social seminar tomorrow, especially as Cambridge has been such a hub for early modern Catholic studies!

Glad to see this out! It's a mighty tome, relevant to archaeologists, folklorists, #hextag peeps and more. And an impressive effort even if the functionalist argument doesn't always hold (I think, anyway).

I passed my viva with minor corrections! A huge thank you to my examiners @janmachielsen.bsky.social and @profelainechalus.bsky.social for such a positive and constructive experience!

Congratulations @janmachielsen.bsky.social on the publication of The Cambridge Companion to Counter Reformation Sanctity! Great to see this come out! #earlymodern #history #skystorians

Looking forward to a trip to Cambridge next month!

Not #earlymodern but this abandoned church served a leprosy colony in the 1940s. And the graffiti of the diabolical bishop is delightful!

Highlight of today's home. View of La Gomera and El Hierro from the south side of Teide. The islands almost seem to float in the air.

My mum, partner and I hiked a wonderful stretch of the Wales Coast Path today, in memory of my dad who wanted to complete it. Hopefully one day we will.

Just my sort of Christmas! 🤪

Ha. This feels so predictable somehow... www.nytimes.com/2025/12/13/b...

Very pleased that we got to publish this Comment in the TRHS! And many thanks @chriscampbell1.bsky.social for pitching it. Further reflections on this and other subjects are certainly welcome. 😊 🗃️

If anyone is wondering what the right time is to put up a Christmas tree, the Vatican is still busy putting up theirs.

Another public transport strike so I just had to walk to work today. 😋 (It's all going to be over by the end of next week so just let me be. 😅)

The Milvian bridge just now. No crosses in the sky unfortunately.

Boo!

Jerome translating the Bible by Hendrick van Somer in the Palazzo Barberini. As the sign says, "the challenge of the text becomes hands-on combat". One for @tntwining.bsky.social 😊 #earlymodern

Saint Luke healing a child, while painting the Virgin and experiencing some sort of ecstasy. Who says that men can't multitask? 🤪 By Giovanni Lanfranco, in the Palazzo Barberini

Lorenzo Lotto's Mystica marriage of St Catherine... Love How Jerome is reading through the thing and that he brought his lion! #earlymodern

Hell, to paraphrase Sartre, is other tourists.

I can't help but feel really curious about Christ's genitalia now. 🤪 A statue by Michelangelo in the Domine, Quo Vadis. #earlymodern

The @royalhistsoc.org is running a charitable donation campaign to fund the research of historians who lack support. The number of applications we're seeing is way up. I've been very lucky to have a career as a historian, I've donated, and I think this Christmas you should too. Pay it forward.

Went to see the altar of Joseph of Copertino in the Santissimi Apostoli today. If you want hear more about him and his flights, come to my talk at Sapienza tomorrow at 10am. 😊 #earlymodern

Job Klaxon: Assistant or Associate Professorship in Public History with a specialisation in Modern History at Aarhus.

As an #earlymodern historian of old religious things it is easy to feel at home in Rome. Abominations such as 👇 are reminders that Catholicism is a living faith and that the Renaissance art I adore was new when it was made.

🚨#History #envhist Job Alert: My Department is hiring an Assistant Professor in Environmental History. 🗃️ Come work with us at Warwick. You'll get both excellent colleagues and great students! See details below... And do not hesitate to spread the word... 👇👇👇 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPK289/a...

I'm giving a #monkabulous talk next week Friday at the Sapienza on the flying friar Joseph of Copertino. And it just occurred to me... What better place to share the details than :: hum :: BlueSky? Everyone is very welcome!

When you don't know who to leave your money to, you can always make the Virgin Mary your heir! #earlymodern

Joop is glashelder: 'De PVV kreeg 8,5 procent van de buitenlandstemmen. Die stemmen werden uitgebracht door Nederlanders in het buitenland die vinden dat al die buitenlanders in hun eigen land moeten blijven. Omdat er stemgeheim bestaat, kan deze mensen geen psychische hulp worden geboden.' 😆

Thanks to Lizzy McNeill of BBC's 'More or Less' (@timharford.ft.com) and to @janmachielsen.bsky.social of @royalhistsoc.org for this opportunity!

Quite excited to see one the #medievalsky articles we published in the Transactions @royalhistsoc.org make it onto BBC Sounds! 🗃️ An excellent Halloween themed More or Less episode counting the stakes used by Vlad the Impaler. Have a listen! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

An English (St George?) flag waving Virgin... For all the Reformers on here. 😝 Chiesa della Trinità, Bologna.

Mary (as I keep on saying) is always reading. (But I don't think I've ever seen her this young?? And the angel too for that matter.)

This is a very Goth virgin. Surprised she doesn't have fangs! 🤪

"You know I climbed up this hill and then God gave me these tablets telling you all to listen to me. And now I'm here!" (Fragment of a fresco from the church of Mezzarata)

This seems more appropriate for the spooky season... Is it a female devil giving birth? Or any devil just shitting out humans?

Don't get me wrong, I love me some Giotto. But this dragon just looks like it is sucking through a straw rather than being slain... 😝

Escaping while keeping your halo intact is no mean feat. 🤪 (If any #medievalsky scholar can tell me what St Anthony got up to here, I'd love to hear it! 😅)

Saint George is really going for it. (Pinacoteca nazionale di Bologna)

Just boosting @webstermedieval.bsky.social 's #medievalsky #earlymodern post on 🎃👻🕸️ Halloween. If you're interested in witchy #hextag stuff, then our article and the blog posts by our @witchmapproject.bsky.social interns are an excellent starting point. 😊

Great to have a piece in The Conversation about the @witchmapproject.bsky.social I was part of with @janmachielsen.bsky.social and our brilliant student interns Abi and Gabriel. #hextag #earlymodern #skystorians theconversation.com/witch-memori...

Assisi is even better at night when all the tourists have left.

Always good to be in Assisi, especially when the sun comes out.

"My name is Stefano ... I am about 14 years old. My job is to go to school and do tasks around the house." Possibly my youngest #monkabulous canonisation trial witness so far, testifying to a miracle basically involving a beating on the school yard.

#earlymodern scholars, take note.

San Lorenzo on the barbecue. The #earlymodern altar of San Lorenzo in Panisperna. What is remarkable about Rome is how, despite the mass tourism, you can still find places to be totally alone with amazing art.

An #earlymodern memorial to an 18 year old cardinal (Roberto de' Nobili) who died much too young. (In San Bernardo alle Terme)

Good to know that the traffic in Rome has always been bad. 😝

Behold Clio, the muse of history, happily reading! (From the Museo di Roma)