He keeps doing it. Every time somebody gets beheaded in this text, the word "head" is replaced with a little hand-drawn emoticon. And considering how many people get beheaded in this story, that's a lot of lil face drawings.

A+ abbreviation technique

The November page has a marginal autobiographical note in Willibrord's hand! See this ELMSS entry for Lowe's description of the manuscript's script and a transcription of the autograph note: elmss.nuigalway.ie/catalogue/975

“Some English reference books describe cynghanedd as ‘the ancient Welsh strict metres’. In so doing, they confine this most beautiful code to a prison with doors double-locked by bygone times and inflexible rules.” A lovely introduction to cynghanedd & the Eisteddfod by Mererid Hopwood from January

The #1 lesson from yesterday’s blowout: Humanities majors killed on the job market 1) Mamdani- Africana Studies 2) Spanberger -French 3) Sherill - Global History

We only rate dogs. This is spaghetti con salsiccia. Obviously has the noodles and the sausage, but is notably missing sauce. Please only send dogs. Thank you… 13/10 (IG: futrinka_tacsko)

Great example. I’ve often heard people say they believe medieval people discouraged or punished female literacy, whereas Mary is usually shown reading during the Annunciation, so every medieval person constantly saw images of the #1 female role model reading. The anti-learning Middle Ages is a myth.

What a great find! As a paleographer, I can't help but observe that if this were French I would have dated the not-yet-Gothic script to the mid-12th century. In Norway, the transition from Romanesque to Gothic happens later, hence the tentative 13th-c. date. www.sciencenorway.no/cultural-his...

Start sending your abstracts in! We are currently in want of Celtic studies abstracts in particular, don’t let the side down

This is Herman. He is a firm believer in keeping a consistent morning routine. No one said anything about efficient. 13/10 #SeniorPupSaturday (TT: rav_drift)

Turn-ip the spooky… 🎃👻 #Halloween #Samhain

Join us in Spring 26 for the Celtic Studies Association of North America's annual meeting in Nova Scotia!

Samhain night is upon us, and yours truly has been interviewed about it (as if I were an expert) for an article in the Austrian newspaper @derstandard.at. The article even mentions samoni, the Gaulish cognate of Samhain. www.derstandard.at/story/310000... Herzlichen Dank, Reinhard Kleindl.

Turn-ip the spooky… 🎃👻 #Halloween #Samhain

These terrifying bats are looking forward to #Halloween 🦇🦇🦇😱 Bodl. Library MS. Ashmole 304; 13th century; England, St. Albans; f.47v @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Turnips - roots of Halloween 🎃

Join us for another term of the Bonn+Marburg Celtic Seminar online! The first lecture will be on 03.11.2025 (18:00 CET): Michiel de Vaan (Universität Basel): "Gaulish and its role in the rise of complex yes/no-answers in Gallo-Romance and West Germanic." Email [email protected] to receive the link

Quietly waiting for Wales/Welsh to start trending…

Oct 28: Feast of Dorbéne mac Altaíni (†713), abbot of Iona. Scribe of the earliest surviving copy of Adomnán’s Life of Columba. Fáelchú mac Dorbéni succeeded him. 📸Stadtbibliothek Schaffhausen #medievalsky

the “dark” ages vs the “information age”

1/3 - Just in time for #Samhain night: a parallel text of two editions of the otherworldly Ulster Cycle tale of Echtra Nerai ‘Nera’s adventure’, along with Kuno Meyer’s (admittedly antiquated) translation into English : codecs.vanhamel.nl/Source:TEI/E...

Poster for this term's Oxford Celtic Seminar, held jointly with @yganolfangeltaidd.bsky.social now out! Croeso cynnes i bawb!

We are delighted to announce that the call for papers is now open on the theme of WOMEN AND THE WEIRD The deadline to submit an abstract is 10 November 2025, find the full details attached!

Ailill: Have you seen Fergus? He’s totally wasted. Medb: Oh yeah, he *had* to stop at every ale house on the way here. Ailill: Really? Medb: Well, it’s just a geis.

Early Irish research seminar today: Nia Wyn Jones is speaking about Trioedd Ynys Prydein, the legendary Welsh "Triads of Britain".

still #NoKings

18th October is the feast of St Luke the Evangelist who is depicted here with his symbol; and in the margins a probable 9th century record of the freeing of a female slave named Bleiddudd. Lichfield Cathedral, MS Lich 01; St. Chad Gospels; c.730 CE; p.142 @lichfieldcathedral.bsky.social

An excellent free day of lectures about ancient Celtic, happening in Aberystwyth next week. One not to miss! nation.cymru/news/univers...

Only one week to left to see the fantastic "Friotail thar Farraige / Words on the Wave" exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland @nmireland.bsky.social. Don't be the one who will have to tell your grandchildren that you missed it! We went there today (again), first of all in order to... /1

When you’ve been staring at the same guy for 600 years and suddenly he sprouts a horn.

St. Gall 553, meanwhile, contains the unique copy of the earliest life of St. Gall by Wetti of Reichenau. Here is 553: www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/... and here is 562: www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/...

If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education. We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.

When you’ve been staring at the same guy for 600 years and suddenly he sprouts a horn.

The Madog story of a Welsh medieval Welsh prince who sailed to America is absolutely fascinating (my book has a chapter on it!) - but the "America" part doesn't seem to enter the story, on available evidence, until it was a useful justification for Tudor imperialism in North America

Thomas Keyes demonstrating how manuscripts like the Book of Kells and Lindisfarne Gospels were made. Videos from a Lottery funded project based at the Tarbat Discovery Centre. Thanks to @victoriawhitworth.bsky.social for the link www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSJd...

Croeso cynnes i Gyfeillion hen a newydd! Cysylltwch â [email protected] os hoffech fwy o wybodaeth #CyfeillionGPC

Published today! Facsimile: Making, Likeness, and Medieval Manuscripts, by Siân Echard. Siân is not on here to promote it, but I will! #medievalsky #manuscripts #bookhistory www.pennpress.org/978151282705...

This incredibly rich volume, "Écrire sur la pierre en langue gauloise", edited by Coline Ruiz-Darasse, just came through the letter box late this evening. (It's incredible €19, if you are interested). It's the main printed output of the RIIG project (riig.huma-num.fr).

Publication alert! An all-too-rare collab with Prof Stephen Driscoll, updating his chapter for the venerable old Archaeology of Britain textbook in its shiny new 3rd edition. A snapshot of current work on early medieval Scotland and Wales. Put it on your reading lists! doi.org/10.4324/9780...

Join us for CSANA's Fall online lecture: Nicholas Wolf, "A Peak Diasporic Gaeldom? Estimating Levels of Irish Speaking among the Postfamine American Irish" Thursday, October 30th, at 2:00 EST / 6:00 BST. Registration and description below

Cool cool 📜📚

Next Wednesday 8th October, 12.30-1.30: Jiří Vnouček on "A Tale of Two Parchments" - insular and continental parchment preparation. In person: @bodleian.ox.ac.uk Weston Library, Lecture Theatre Or livestreamed. Free: book here visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/oct25/...

the “dark” ages vs the “information age”

Strong statement today from UC's Academic Senate:

Dean of the UC Berkeley Law School has seen the Trump Administration’s “compact” for universities to receive preferable consideration for federal funding and says it amounts to First Amendment violations in blistering op-ed — www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Saw someone say, “Stop hoarding books, we don’t need paper books anyway” and I can’t express how misguided this is. Online libraries disappear, digital books can be altered, and with Big Tech seeking to destroy history and literacy, print media has never been more essential.

SSMLL are delighted to announce the opening of our Call for Papers for the 2026 Day Conference, Medieval Wales, which will be held at Cardiff University 25-26 April, 2026. Proposals should be submitted to Dr David Callander ([email protected]) by 30 November.

*Widame (Proto-Celtic “we found out”), a conference for postgraduate scholars in Celtic Studies, will take place November 7th & 8th 2025 in 1.33 IONTAS in @maynoothuniversity.ie. Conference schedule and registration is available here: buff.ly/b3GjydF Register by the 10th of October 2025.

🎶 When there are gaps in your text and there’s none else to check that’s lacunae 🎶

...And you thought you were stretched too thin! 😬 cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DD-0...