I am on the trail of my very own manuscript studies chortlemuffin (™️Drimmer). Everyone says that the last dated papal bull on papyrus was issued in 1057 but I cannot find a shelfmark or incipit or image or any supporting evidence for this statement. I will get to the bottom of it, I assure you.

In other #fragmentology news, here is this year's @fragmentarium.bsky.social resequencing project by my Simmons School of Library Science students: the Hours of St. Alexis! fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-2... 🧵

SO excited to see this! Lots of fragmentological goodness, including @lizhebbard.bsky.social 's survey of in situ binding fragments at Yale. I am thrilled to see my own study of two fragments of Augustine written by my old friend Gottschalk of Lambach! www.fragmentology.ms/issue/view/8...

Highly recommend!

BEAUVAIS MISSAL ALERT! I am so excited that @rarebookschool.bsky.social acquired this leaf! Here's its record in @fragmentarium.bsky.social , updated with the new location! Can't wait to use this for teaching in '26! fragmentarium.ms/overview/F-0...

MAJOR congratulations to all of the contributors and editors of this issue of Speculum, commemorating one hundred years of the @medievalacademy.bsky.social journal! Dozens of short essays on the past, present, and future of Medieval Studies. It's SO good! www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/spc/curr...

Interested in Greek Palaeography? You might be interested in treating yourself to our short course with Dr Laura Franco 4-6 February. Find out more and sign up here: buff.ly/XSr1Krk #GreekPalaeography #ShortCourse

Reading about Ethel #Voynich (1864-1960) today for some writing and wow, what a life! Her father George Boole developed the idea of Boolean Logic. Her mother Mary was the librarian at Queen's College London. Four sisters, all math geniuses.

Played it twice now. First time, we realized at the end that we were doing it wrong which is why it didn't make sense. Second time, we got out the wine & reread the instructions & played it correctly & it was really fun! (even though we didn't "solve" the #Voynich Manuscript...maybe next time!) 🧵

Away message ON! See you next year!

Happy #solstice! 10th-c. monk/scholar Aelfric reminds us that the winter solstice heralds spring: "...but when [the sun] turns [northward] again, it drives away the winter chill with its hot rays." (British Library Cotton MS Caligula A XV f. 146r) #MedievalSky

It is so wonderful to see this project come to fruition! When Melissa Conway & I compiled our "Directory of Collections in the US & Canada with Pre-1600 Manuscript Holdings," @peripheralmss.bsky.social was exactly what we hoped would happen next: onsite discovery and online cataloguing of mss!

I got it in 4, but only because I'm a medievalist who wrote a dissertation that was partly about the Magi...

Here's a lovely story about mentoring and manuscripts! I was contacted a few weeks ago by Senior at Florida State University in Tallahassee who was looking for career advice about Library Science programs. Naturally we started talking about medieval manuscripts, as one does...

Happy Hannukah from me and the @bostonbruins.bsky.social!

So excited to share my latest work on sorting out the almost-certainly-mixed-up pages of the #Voynich Manuscript!

woot!

First candle. Gotta keep lighting those lights to break up the darkness.

Looking for a last-minute gift for the hard-to-please medievalist in your life? I've got just the thing! #MedievalSky

OK #MedievalSky, what in the world is going on in this miniature from the St. Alexis Hours? It doesn't fit into the other narratives we're rebuilt (Life of St. Alexis and the Life of St. Katherine). The iconography is a mystery! St. Apollonia? But why?

*spits coffee while laughing*

A rare 15th-century Jewish prayer book, confiscated from the Rothschild banking dynasty during the Holocaust, has been returned by Austria to the Rothschild family. It will be sold at Sotheby's next year for an estimated $5 million to $7 million.

Look what my awesome @simmonsuniversity.bsky.social Library Science students did! This year, we studied a manuscript broken in the 1980s (likely by Ferrini, but we don't know for sure). It's generally known as the Hours of St. Alexis because many of the roundels illustrate scenes from his Vita...

This project is so cool

#BeauvaisMissal sighting! The Kansas nuns who own this leaf reproduced it on the cover of an album of Gregorian Chant their choir recorded in the 1970s...which I own, naturally!

The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored all previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge "Restoration of these grants is a massive win for libraries of all kinds in all states."

PSA: this is not an invitation! Truth is, I cannot possibly take the time to carefully read and review every #Voynich "solution" sent to me, & most are definitely not worth the trouble as they are AI-generated slop. If you've got a "solution", post it to a forum & you'll get plenty of feedback!

Total number of #Voynich solutions received in November = 18. Can we break that record in December? I've received two already this month, so I'm well on my way...

One of the things I love about Uber and Lyft is when drivers introduce me to new music. Today I heard Dimash Qudaibergen for the first time and my life will never be the same. Damn, that man can sing.

I'm writing a textbook for the study of medieval manuscripts in the 21st century & am developing a framework that will be referenced throughout the book: ten touchpoints for medieval book history in Europe with six drivers of change. Here's how it will play out... (image: Codex Amiatinus) 🧵

Just got this very cool @saltandpeppergames.bsky.social tabletop RPG (h/t @stewartbrookes.bsky.social)! The designers did a great job re-imagining the images, and gameplay is divided into the manuscript's six sections. #Voynich himself is a character! Can't wait to try it with my family.

XVIII (seriously, I got one this morning, making EIGHTEEN #Voynich solutions I've received this month!)

So excited for #IMC2026! Guess what I'm going to be talking about...it starts with [V] & ends with [h] & isn't "vanish" or "varnish"! You'll also find me moderating a @digitalmedievalist.bsky.social roundtable on open data, & introducing the @medievalacademy.bsky.social lecture. See you in July!

We've got some HUGE news! We've DOUBLED in size overnight! Not only have we added "some" more Cairo Genizah fragments, but "ALL" of them @theul.bsky.social !!! This now brings the total number of items in Cambridge Digital Library to OVER 160,000! cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/...

Technically this is no. XVII for me this month, but it's SUPER interesting and intriguing! Bonus points to @michaelgreshko.bsky.social for going the extra mile to make sure this #Voynich article is open access.

Thank you for your service, @fakehistoryhunter.net! #BlamePetrarch

Tomorrow is #Voynich Day in my @simmonsuniversity.bsky.social Library Science class! Is 188 slides too many?

XVI

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@monicamedhist.bsky.social for the win! This thread is pure awesomeness and a fantastic example of 1) #ImagingProblems 2) what can happen when we deign to imagine the possibility that medieval women (gasp) had thoughts and knowledge and wrote things!

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Here's the direct link: www.archaeologypodcastnetwork.com/teabreak/41

It’s part 2 of Matilda’s chat with expert paleographer Dr Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social over on Tea-break Archaeology, as we dive deeper into the fascinating research that has been done on the Voynich Manuscript.

My @simmonsuniversity.bsky.social Library Science students kicked off this year's final project today: studying and rebuilding this gorgeous fragmented manuscript known as The St. Alexius Hours!

Due to a worldwide disruption of Cloudfare internet security services, the Medieval Academy website is currently down. We apologize for the inconvenience and will inform you when the service has been restored.

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Incredibly cool stuff from my brother @danfagin.bsky.social in today's @nytimes.com: scientists can now track individual Monarchs as they migrate to Mexico! www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/s...

Check it out! In addition to essays about digital paleography, non-invasive imaging techniques, and tracing the complex provenance of a Middle Eastern family collection, among others, here's my update to the list of scroll manuscripts of the Chronique Anonyme Universelle:

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JOB POSTING! 📚📜 Catalog/Metadata Librarian (Arabic Language) at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University The salary range is $68,000—$145,250 (depending on experience). careers.yale.edu/us/en/job/13...