A die stamp, potentially for making foils akin to those on the Sutton Hoo helmet has been found in Kent. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... The @findsorguk.bsky.social record is here: finds.org.uk/database/art...

Pleased to see that the July issue of @historytoday.com is out. I have a small contribution to their "Head to Head" segment on "How did the English arrive in Britain", in which I tried in c. 300 words to get across the complexity of the debate and what new evidence developments do and don't tell us.

Really enjoyed this article by @brackman1066.bsky.social in the new issue of @historytoday.com!

Rosamond McKitterick (1949-2026) A formidable scholar, an inspiring teacher, a generous spirit and a supportive colleague - truly, we have lost one of the great ones. @sidneysussex.bsky.social @camhistory.bsky.social @camedieval.bsky.social

German scholar of Japanese history writes a book about slavery in Korea despite the fact that he doesn't have adequate Korean reading skills so instead of collaborating with an actual human Korean expert, he turns to AI to translate thousands of pages of source material. 🤯😡

Really can't cope with the fact that Nottingham's now departed VC (now VC at Leeds - god help them) wasted £80 MILLION on a building it is now selling at a crushing loss (£14m), and is attempting to recoup some of that by sacking 100s of academics and decimating the institution. Absolutely criminal.

Oh wow. Greggs has made an 8-metre Bayeux Ta-pastry, on display this weekend 🤯 www.greggs.com/news/unveili...

OK, so there's a Kpop video that uses manuscript imagery and it's bothering me because I can't work it out! The credits say no ai and Korean law means they now have to declare it. But what are these referencing??

I was wrong: what the world really needs is a list of *101* queens on the move, 900-1150! List now updated: thanks very much to everyone who's chipped in.

Cool map of queens on the move in medieval Europe, from the mid tenth to mid twelfth century! #MedievalSky

JOB ALERT - Curator: Modern Archives and Manuscripts (1601-1950) at the British Library - full-time, permanent www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRR461/c...

This is bad. Bad for researchers. Bad for science. Bad for universities. Bad for professional associations. For example: 1. Every award would be vetted by political appointees, who could overrule peer reviewers and deny the award if it doesn't advance the president's priorities. 1/🧵

Bart Simpson: Hey is there a Seymour there...?

I've got to be honest: reading the excellent text by Stefan Collini in the LRB on the state of British Higher Education is leaving me a bit depressed. He is offering some solutions that would address the dilemma the marketisation of universities has placed us in, but this needs political will.

Here's the serious bit for anyone who'd rather skip the 4000 words of jokes

Some people may remember that the majority of series editors resigned last summer in protest against Amsterdam University Press' sale of their film and media program to Taylor & Francis/Routledge. T&F and Routledge, while formerly respectable publishers, are now / mediastudies.hypotheses.org/6850

Timid librarian in plea to save my workplace from making a huge mistake. A whole floor of Cardiff University's main library is under threat of being repurposed to teaching facilities with the removal of 7km of shelving holding valuable books. Pls share x you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...

When I was at school my French exchange penfriend was a Montgolfier. I stayed in the family chateau which had a museum attached - they didn't mention the sheep...

Recently, FamilySearch digitized and uploaded tons of microfilmed records, including many from 18th-century Massachsuetts. They're using some sort of AI to transcribe/summarize the handwritten documents. I've noticed that the AI strips out references to race and enslavement in 18thc documents.

The casting call for this preposterous Wordle TV show unveils what I presume to be the logo, and my favourite part is the grid in the background features a 🟨🟩🟩🟩🟩 row, a thing that cannot possibly happen in Wordle

Many congratulations to Rob Gallagher @hwaetspur.bsky.social on the publication of his brilliant book, The Written Word in Early Medieval England www.cambridge.org/core/books/w...

Ex-WHSmith high street business to shut up to 150 stores ft.trib.al/vILeedT

Aye. Heard today that my university is closing UG History, Philosophy, English Lit, Linguistics, and Creative Writing in one go.

2014 REF: 2026: closing UG History

Who was in charge of ruling & layout for this manuscript?! (Koblenz, Landeshauptarchiv, Bestland 701 Nr. 138; early 15th century) #MedievalSky

Currently accessing a vital resource hosted on a university site via the Wayback Machine because I got incredibly lucky...

"Scholars from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) uncovered the manuscript that contains Caedmon’s Hymn at the National Central Library of Rome." #MedievalSky #speirgorm #Spéirghorm www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

'Protecting what matters': a new government policy paper identifies history as central to social cohesion. At the same time, history teaching and research, in our schools and universities, is at risk as never before. To ensure cohesion, we must protect what matters: bit.ly/3QyZQCO #skystorians

History Today is looking for an experienced Copy Editor to assist in editing and proofing articles. The role is remote and part-time. Applications close this week. www.historytoday.com/jobs

Dear everyone, As per the post from the Bodleian librarian below, AI bots and scrapers are putting just about every website under great pressure, British History Online included. A lot of excellent tech staff are working hard to keep everything working, but outages and siruptions are inevitable.

Even @historytoday.com must be like, 'that is too much history, today.'

Following exciting Bluesky excursions on the Persian Wars and the Avignon Papacy, I am almost curious what special historical interest the Trump administration is going to activate through their stupidity next. Taking bets on: the Seleucid Empire, the Cathars, the Battle of Lepanto.

As if the world wasn't a dark enough place, just received world Averil Cameron has passed away. She was a scholar of monumental stature in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies. Her work on Procopius made a tremendous impression when I was still an MA student. And that's just the tip of iceberg.

we’ve got human beings on the dark side of the moon but microsoft word will still not let me add a comment to a footnote

Good news that the digitised Beowulf manuscript has survived the digital equivalent of the Cottonian Library fire, the British Library cyberattack of 2023

The mammoth thread by @garius.bsky.social on John Hodgson's overturning of 1500 years of received knowledge to show that Hadrian, not Severus, built the Roman Wall across Northumberland and Cumberland, has been quoted again in my feed, so I'm quoting it on. Always worth revisiting.

Anyone out there dealing with C16 punishments of pregnant women? I have a record that says that the court ordered the child to be provided for by speech ('prolem facu nutriri'). Any idea what this means in practice? There are a couple of crossings out, but I'm sure 'facu' is the word written. TIA

I have seen a lot of cursed stuff in my time in academia but this is among the *most* cursed. Grammarly is generating miniature LLMs based on academic work so that users can have their writing ‘reviewed’ by experts like David Abulafia, who died less than two months ago.

If you want to know how the British print news industry ends (which is, de facto, amazingly still what supports most newspaper websites) it's the distribution channels getting banjaxed. When you lose "TG Jones" etc even people who want a paper can't get one. That'll be the real start of the ending.

A whole JAR full of soldiers...

Now available, the British Academy memoir of Dame Jinty Nelson (1942-2024), historian and first female President of the Royal Historical Society: bit.ly/4qUa0ua The memoir is written by Professor Pauline Stafford @pstafford.bsky.social and available via @britishacademy.bsky.social #Skystorians

The problem is everything is interesting and important and I want to write about all of it but I CANNOT WRITE ABOUT ALL OF IT because I want people to be able to physically lift this book.

This has been a slog but I’m pleased to day that I’m currently checking the proofs, which means this book will soon be out in the wild!

The fragility of digital resources is not being rigorously enough addressed to stave off big problems in the near future (the Key to English Place-Names database is broken and I want to look something up)

Thoughtful Elizabethan secretary: 'Becaws I suppose this hand of Sergeant Manhood is scant legible . . . I there for write yt again as followeth/ viz: . . .

Very sad news indeed.