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.

I've been reading about a 16th-century writer called Jan van der Noot and this is basically what the inside of my head has looked like all week.

Actually reported in the New York Times! Maybe the coolest thing I found.

This week is the 75th anniversary of History Today. For 34 of those years David Baddiel has been a constant companion, as this issue’s Glossary proves. To find out what else is in the 75th Anniversary special and where to buy it, head to buff.ly/34DOsLE

This week is the 75th anniversary of History Today. Past editors weren’t above the odd feud, as this issue’s Glossary proves. To find out what else is in the 75th Anniversary special and where to buy it, head to buff.ly/2bUa9kH

History Today was first published 75 years ago this week to make sense of a world undergoing ‘bewilderingly swift’ change. ✍️ Our editors reflect on the story so far www.historytoday.com/archive/75th...

Happy birthday to @historytoday.com! I didn't know that the current cover design so strongly echoed the magazine's early years.

History Today was launched 75 years ago today. The anniversary special is available now, featuring Cold War Yugoslavia, Oswald of Northumbria, Aurora Borealis, and a celebration of the magazine’s history. To find out what else is inside, head to www.historytoday.com/magazine

Barnabe Rich explaining that "bookes are like cheese"

"Listen, one more thing. That missionary we sent to Ethiopia." "The one preaching Anglicanism to the entire Horn of Africa?" "Him, yes. I just wanted to check that we sent someone with, you know, a normal name." "A normal name." "Ah. Who did we send?" "We sent the Reverend Ethelstan Cheese."

Judging a magazine by its cover with 75 years in pictures, as chosen by the team. Starting, of course, at the beginning: the 1950s. To find out what else is in the 75th Anniversary issue of History Today and where to buy it, head to www.historytoday.com/magazine

God I love the English translations of Asterix. And yes, they're the perfect example for why you need humans to actually understand the text and the purpose -- word-for-word translations simply do not work. See: how the initial translation failed, until translators adapted creatively:

Everything is fine

History Today is 75! A massive achievement for an independent magazine and one we're very proud of. Here's to the next 75!

For your collective delectation this holiday season: Quite possibly the silliest thing I've ever written (and definitely the most ridiculous graph I've ever made!) loreandordure.com/2025/12/16/j...

“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas” Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.

A blast from my past - the Medieval Soldier database takes nearly 300,000 military service records from 1369-1453 and makes them available as a searchable database. An invaluable resource for understanding medieval warfare, society and the English medieval state. Learn more in the link. 🗃️

It’s December! And I have a piece in this month’s @historytoday.com on (you guessed it) Hortense Mancini’s life, and what I learned about her as I prepared the first ever edition of her letters, which is out with Iter Press later this month. (Lots of other great stuff in HT Dec issue too)

Good news.

Reading letters from the Princess Liselotte of Palantine, the German sister-in-law of Louis XIV, and it's wild because she had this super informal writing style that almost sounds like modern texts Like at one point she goes "wish to god my son didn't love holding chunks of bread like a peasant"

Happy St Katherine's Day to all scholars, librarians, and Katherines. May you win an argument against an annoying man today, in the true spirit of Katherine herself.

If anyone's interested in History Today (the magazine, rather than *waves hands* The Events), they do a three month trial of print and digital for £5 (five pounds). Means you get the physical magazine AND can go wild with their archive.

My book is £9.65 on Amazon UK over the next week in a 'Black Friday Week Sale', despite Black Friday being a shopping-binge day that follows another country's national holiday Anyway, my book is available for cheaper, it's a decent book, and you may like to own it www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Needs-hi...

And also a linguist who can explain how translating unknown languages actually works. (hint: you don't just start at the top and work through word-by-word)

Some high school students attended my “Living standards before the Black Death” lecture at @viuniversity.bsky.social yesterday. The lecture included a bit about coins, so I had an opportunity to show off some medieval silver pennies, including this one from King John’s reign (1199–1216).

In the past week I watched all three series of Blue Lights and now there is no more Blue Lights. What do I dooo??

A radio programme like the Shipping Forecast but it’s called Bin Day and it just reads out every single council in the country’s bin schedule

I asked about this, and one of our excellent librarians discovered that in fact AI summaries/"Research Assistant" can be switched off at the level of the library. Something to request. support.proquest.com/s/article/Eb...

The Greek χλωρός (chlorós) means both 'grass-green' and 'pale, pallid'. In Tyndale's translation, therefore, Death, the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, rides 'a grene horsse'. And apparently it's now just a thing in some translations that Death has a green horse.

Delighted to discover a trend for early modern religious figures to disguise their names by rearranging the syllables. William Tyndale became Daltin, Hugh Latimer became Merlat, and Nicholas Shaxton became Tonshax. And in his will Shaxton mentioned his son Thomas 'Dratsab' - a bastard.

Just found out about this amazing example of #manuscript #recycling . The whole manuscript is made up from the margins of an earlier liturgical manuscript, cut out and rearranged (hence the unusual format), the (mostly) blank margins then used to copy various magical texts in the mid 16th century.

Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx 'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.' Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.

Last night, Peers voted against Swift bricks: rejecting a simple, proven way to help one of our fastest declining birds recover. ❌ We share @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social's disappointment & frustration. The vote came late, but with government refusing to back it, its fate was already sealed.

Really exciting book news out of Norway. And while the article focusses on the sealskin binding, I'm even more excited by the fact that these neumes are not square, which suggests a date well before 1200.

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.

"I DON'T NEED YOU TO FUCKING REWRITE WHAT I'VE JUST WRITTEN!"

The November issue of History Today is in all good newsagents from today! Featuring #medieval Mongols, slavery in #AncientRome, #Elizabethan theatre, #SecondWorldWar air quality, and more. Find out what else is inside and where to get it at www.historytoday.com/magazine

Dr Clare Gerada has been appointed a crossbench peer in the House of Lords and is now a baroness — I’ve put together a short thread about her involvement in #MECFS. twitter-thread.com/t/1981309222...

absolute workhorse of a reaction image from over 100 years ago

In the past two days I've read about a 15th-century affair (the witness gave evidence of the bed frame creaking), a cache of letters smuggled in the false bottom of a basket of food, 'de greatest fooker in Augsbourgh' (1607), and the names Wolfgang Musculus, Tuntybaldus Breton and Tangy Breton.