Our latest issue of #Diplomatica is out ! Volume 7.2 is here, with great contributions on topics such as Ferrante I of Naples, and Chinese literary diplomacy. It includes a debate around a manifesto for new diplomatic history written by some of our members. Check it out here: tinyurl.com/Diplomatica

The final speaker in the 3rd of our series of summits on Royal Marriages in 15th & 16th c. Europe will be @stevenveerapen.bsky.social He will be telling us about the complex relationship between James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, & Anna of Denmark. bit.ly/4oh2VUh

So proud of my @leidenhumanities.bsky.social colleague Lotte Fikkers, whose Open Access Book, Early Modern Women’s Life Writing & English law is out w/ @edinburghup.bsky.social ! A stunning achievement from our @erc.europa.eu project #FEATHERS. Don’t miss it www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2025...

'lime twigs are laid to catch both their hasty messengers', a memorable line from George Carey, September 1582. Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...

guys I was able to access a British Library digitized manuscript today for the first time in years. Check it out. www.bl.uk/collection/d... click on the pdf [save that!] and use its hyperlinks! + for the post I wrote for today's MEDIEVAL NATURE class

The Courtauld is offering a a new fully funded Peter Fergusson PhD Scholarship in English Medieval Architecture for eligible projects focusing on England from the eleventh to the early sixteenth centuries. Statement of intents are due by 17 November 2025.

The 1st speaker in the 3rd of our summits on Royal Marriages in 15th & 16th century Europe will be Prof. Alexander Samson, who will be looking at the marriage and co-monarchy of Mary I of England and Philip II of Spain. bit.ly/4oh2VUh #tudors #habsburgs #maryandphilip #anglospanishalliance

Imprisoned for nearly 20 years by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, fought her battles through words, sending and receiving coded letters. Historian Jade Scott @huntingrebels.bsky.social uncovers the human and political depths behind Mary’s captivity: www.folger.edu/podcasts/sha...

Mistress Young's Edinburgh macaroons c. 1640, 'beat 4 or 5 eggis the wheits of them with a tuig till it be all turned to fome', full recipe in ALT text

Exciting news! Next August I'll deliver a keynote lecture at the conference 'Carousels and Other Colonial Spectacles: Performing Race and Racialization at European Courts, ca. 1500-1700' at Copenhagen University, alongside Noémie Ndiaye. Call for papers is open now lnkd.in/e2ad7u7H (deadline 15/12)!

The Autumn 2025 issue of The Recipes Project is live! This issue, GLOBALIZING EARLY MODERN RECIPES, was co-edited by Lavinia Gambini, Lucy Havard, & Amanda Herbert. recipes.hypotheses.org

Hindlip Hall, 'as much of the plot was there hatch'd, so it was from thence that it came to be prevented'. Mary Habington and the Plot en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ha...

Lochleven Castle imagined for 'Le Chateau de Loch-Leven', an 1822 play by René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt, 1822. I suppose George Douglas is the one in white

One week till I'll be speaking on the Stuart consorts and their global entanglements @oxfordcourtstudies.bsky.social. Please come if you can!

Register for the second event in our Winter Lecture Series Our Secretary @huntingrebels.bsky.social will delve into 'The Accounts, Inventories, and Diet Books of Annas Keith, Countess of Moray and Argyll' Find out more at our website: scottishhistorysociety.com/records-from...

I am thrilled to share my new open-access article on John Evelyn, his wife Mary, eldest daughter Mall and their complex, multifaceted relationship with clothing has been published in @historicaljnl.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

James Murray of Pardewis: what was a rodomontade, where was Pardewis anyway?, new light on the mermaid and the hare en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M...

A force of nature: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

William Melville, Lord Tongland (died 1613), a somewhat forgotten Scottish diplomat sent to Henry of Navarre, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...

Quite an achievement for someone that young to work her way up to Queen.

The 3rd summit in our Royal Marriage Summit series will be on 15 November bit.ly/4oh2VUh This time we will be exploring Mary I & Philip II, Alessandro de’Medici and Margaret of Parma, and James VI and Anna of Denmark.

Clothes for Christian Stewart, a childhood companion of Lady Mary, from the accounts of Anne Gordon, Countess of Moray. May 1635

📣 New book series, “Court Cultures, 1000-1900”, 📚 launched by @historyboy30.bsky.social & @patrikpastrnak.bsky.social w/ @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. Series feat books exploring any & all aspects of global courts 👑 (all variations). CfP now open! Info & CfP: www.degruyterbrill.com/serial/cocu-...

Edinburgh folks — there’s still time to register for this Wednesday’s book launch of Race and the Scottish Enlightenment: A Colonial History, 1750–1820 and the accompanying symposium at IASH (for more info see below). Warm welcome! #skystorians

Very shortly, my current role ends: if anyone needs a temporary tutor in early modern history or any freelance research work done please do drop me a message. I have over a decade's experience in teaching and in archival research.

The 2nd speaker in the 3rd of our summits on Royal Marriages in 15th & 16th c. Europe will be @cathfletcher.bsky.social She will be talking about the marriage between Alessandro de’ Medici and Margaret of Parma, an essential element of Habsburg strategy. bit.ly/4oh2VUh

Join us next Thursday (30/10, 5.30 pm) for Dr Emily Vine’s (@emilymayvine.bsky.social) talk on ‘Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London’! You can sign up to join in-person (IHR Wolfson Room, NB02) or online via Zoom here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Delighted to be working on the III Colloquium on Late Medieval and Early Modern Cities with @arodsan95.bsky.social and @emmaolson5.bsky.social. Excited to see the proposals and the conversations that develop. 😊 Deadline for submissions 31 Jan 2026 Please do get in touch with questions or queries!

The 1st speaker in the 3rd of our summits on Royal Marriages in 15th & 16th century Europe will be Prof. Alexander Samson talking about the marriage of Mary I and Philip II. bit.ly/4oh2VUh

The 3rd summit in our Royal Marriage Summit series will be on 15 November bit.ly/4oh2VUh This time we will be exploring Mary I and Philip II; Alessandro de’Medici and Margaret of Parma; and James VI and Anna of Denmark.

I'm giving a talk this evening for @scothistorysociety.bsky.social on editing Margaret Tudor's letters at 5.30pm on Zoom. If anyone is interested in attending, you can register here: scottishhistorysociety.com/editing-the-...

Find out more about @hnewsome-chandler.bsky.social's lecture on Wednesday 22 October 2025. We're thrilled to have her kick off our new Winter Lecture Series with 'Editing the Letters of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots (1489-1541)' Register below! scottishhistorysociety.com/editing-the-...

Love the look of @marloavidon.bsky.social and Ælfred Hillman's CFP for a late Stuart court symposium in April in Cambridge. Please share widely! ❤️

August 1589, Margaret Thomsoun sells copies of Edward Hutchins 'David's Sling' at 13s 4d (Scots), bookbinding by John Norton presumably extra (her will NRS CC8/8/21 p.1)

Linguists and Arms and Armour specialists: can I ask your advice? This is an object in the Aberystwyth School of Art museum collection; a clasp knife of 412mm when opened. Made of bone (ivory?) and an unidentified metal. Does anyone out there recognise the script? We know next to nothing!

Our next Digital Seminar Series seminar is TOMORROW at 6pm UK time. Join Julia Hamilton’s talk on ‘All that’s Rich’: The Intended Meanings of Luxury Goods in Stuart Interiors. To attend, you must register before TONIGHT via the link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dss-octobe...

Renowned cryptologist Robert Langdon waited by his phone. Surely, the French authorities would call him, a renowned cryptologist, to solve this mystery he thought in italics.

Tonight, 9pm on BBC Scotland & Monday 20/10, 9pm on BBC Two: ‘The Secret Letters of Mary, Queen of Scots’. Featuring some lovely shots of @selwyn1882.bsky.social and a word or two from me about my friends George, Norbert and Satoshi’s phenomenal discovery. #StuartSaturday #earlymodern

I'm in the November issue of History Today, with a piece inspired by the work I did for my recent AHRC postdoc and ongoing museum curation work 🙂

It's 4 whole months since we last posted about our Greater #Glasgow Heritage & History starter pack, created waaaay back to make it easier for folk to find local nourishment here... 💚 New additions inc @clydevalleyarf.bsky.social @weesue7.bsky.social @mininglandscapes.bsky.social go.bsky.app/M4Dezri

Sweets from Master Thomas for Mary, Queen of Scots, the ambassador will pay, c'est a dire chiches rouge et du sucre candie, NLS Adv. MS 29.2.5 f.89

I'm hosting a celebration to launch my new book #Ruthless on 6 November at Daunt Books on Cheapside. There are still some spaces left and if anyone would like an invite please drop me a message and I will add you to the guest list! Wine, books and history - what better way to spend an evening!

a tiny bit of good news is that we have secured funding to digitize john milton's copy of holinshed's CHRONICLES (1587). the images will form part of MILTON'S LIBRARY, an open-access site featuring the 10 books positively identified as milton's w/ transcriptions/translations of his marginal notes.

In case anyone is in Edinburgh and free a week on Thursday: www.ifecosse.org.uk/events-agend...

June 1560, Mary of Guise 'was very weak; she had eaten nothing for the last seven or eight days but had taken drinks constantly; her mind began to wander.' Extracts from the household book

Our next Digital Seminar Series seminar is on October 20 (changed date from the 21st) at 6pm UK time. Join Julia Hamilton’s talk on ‘All that’s Rich’: The Intended Meanings of Luxury Goods in Stuart Interiors. Register before October 19 via the link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dss-octobe...

The National Trust for Scotland has a new Curator position open! Deadline: 26 October 2025 and more info👇 www.asva.co.uk/jobs/curator... cc @edfuturesinstitute.bsky.social @edinburgharchaeo.bsky.social @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social

On this day in 1677 Cornelius Vermuyden died in London, a Dutch-born engineer who had been tasked with draining the watery fens and levels of eastern England. As I wrote last year, Vermuyden’s fenland exploits provide a cautionary tale for those wading into unfamiliar landscapes.

📙 Bluesky is the only platform where I haven’t circulated my book, as I’d recently joined and was waiting for the physical copy. So here it is (last book post, I promise) 📙 ☀️ Sunbed in Britain: Tanning Culture from Fad to Fear is free to download via: dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781...