My research subject ‘in person’! In my latest article, Agnes de Valance is a major figure and here she is at the right of the reconstructed 1280 supper at Pembroke Castle.

The Society will write up a summary for History for next week. Key points at this stage include: > 11% decline (-440 FPE) across all History staff between 2018/19 and 2024/25, compared with a 7% decline across all humanities > loss of 140 FPE History roles 2022/23 to 2024/25 #Skystorians 1/3

To the inevitable cries of “just digitize everything, then;” not an answer. Making digital facsimiles accessible requires huge investment: staff, metadata, preservation. Orgs are currently not funded to meet these needs. While digital objects are great, they’ll never replace looking at originals.

Loved being at #IMC2026, but snuck off this afternoon to see the brilliant Genghis Khan exhibition at the Royal Armouries before heading home. Because I’m a serious historian, I had to try the replica wooden saddle. I definitely would not have lasted long in the Mongol horde!

I’ve been at #IMC2026 for three hours and have already picked up some books I’ve been looking for, run into people and been to Bundobust for Indian food. Already an excellent conference and it’s not even started officially.

With so many completely ridiculous bookshelf photos and news, check out this brilliant Berlin happening (as satirical as it's full of gravitas) organized by @cabinetmagazine.bsky.social to make books look read and re-read inside and out www.cabinetmagazine.org/events/chaou...

Thrilled to hear this afternoon that my article on medieval women interacting with English government in Ireland is now live at Speculum! It was all due to the resources @virtualtreasury.bsky.social 50 people can access it for free here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/VCYQU...

Thrilled to hear this afternoon that my article on medieval women interacting with English government in Ireland is now live at Speculum! It was all due to the resources @virtualtreasury.bsky.social 50 people can access it for free here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/eprint/VCYQU...

More records, more collections + new research tools in our 2026 New Releases. www.tcd.ie/news_events/... Hear about some of the great stories being made available: 📻️ 👇️ www.rte.ie/radio/radio1... Jump in and go Hunting ! 😊 New to the VRTI? Check out our help Page: virtualtreasury.ie/help

Almost 200,000 historical records have been released online by the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland. The release of the records will cover seven centuries of Irish history and will make over half a million documents free and permanently available to the public

Crossness pumping station is such a fun site and amazing Victorian engineering. The "granddads having fun problem solving" vibes (there's a narrow-gauge railway and a route master bus to take you to the station) made me wish I could have taken my grampa, a civil engineer. He'd have loved it to bits.

UK-based early career historian in need of up to £2,000 to complete a project? Deadline for the Royal Historical Society's scheme is 4 September: royalhistorical.smapply.io/prog/early_c...

Please turn the weather off and on again: the song of a disgruntled fluffy dog.

I see general discourse about what heritage jobs pay in London. Of course they should be much higher, given the skills and experience involved, but the London Living Wage is currently equivalent to £27k, which is the baseline for living in the city. www.livingwage.org.uk/what-real-li...

Spare a thought in this weather for the Samoyed who really really would like her normal walk but it's far too hot. So far, she has whinged, had a puzzle mat, been into the garden (boring), and is now trying to sabotage my computer.

Job alert! British Library seeks a Curator for their Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts DL 12 July tinyurl.com/25fs9kun #medievalMSS

Demain, Simonne Vidal va entrer au Panthéon aux côtés de son mari Marc Bloch. Elle sera la 7e femme panthéonnisée et la 2e en tant que "femme de". Je comprends les familles ne voulant pas séparer, même symboliquement, les couples, ms quelle tristesse de voir qu'elle reste finalement ds l'ombre 1/11

smittenkitchen.com/2026/06/stra... Back on my baking nonsense this week (after a busy few weeks) and thinking I'll try making this since it's the height of strawberry season.

Is anyone else having issues logging into British History Online version of the Parliament Rolls of Medieval England? I'm getting a bad link when I try to connect via the library and the direct login on the BHO site doesn't work for me at the moment.

It's hot and sticky in London, so Juno the Samoyed has just rolled over with a disgruntled huff that the humans haven't turned the weather off and tried again for an acceptable temperature. Meanwhile, I am living for iced coffee and perfect strawberries.

The reading is piling up today at the British Library as I try to get to grips with Jersey Norman law. Send coffee?

Weekend baking time! I turned sad bananas into banana-bread-with-chocolate-chips in muffin form. Can definitely recommend!

One for anyone interested in Jewish history: a debt recognisance from 13th century Rouen with a signature in Hebrew script, copied in the nineteenth century from the records of Mont St Michel then at St Lô. TNA PRO 31/8/140B p. 304.

Lovely find in the IHR today- their copy of the Cartulaire des Iles Normandes has two loose letters from Ethel Stokes, who had a business as a researcher at the public record office, asking LC Loyd about the Paynel family. She wants to borrow one of the about-to-be-destroyed records at St-Lô 😭😭

and you can see this document (and around 75 others telling the story of the American Revolution) in our exhibition ‘Revolution 250’ at The National Archives - opens 24/06! www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/whats-on/exh... #skystorians

Only for a year but still a peach of a job for a medievalist / early modernist with skill in Palaeography and an appetite to teach Latin: the most engaged students you can hope for, a supportive community @memsunikent.bsky.social, in the beautiful city of Canterbury: jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

I need to distract myself tonight, so am plotting cake. A friend asked for red velvet cake with orange-chocolate mousse filling. I can see the possibilities here, but does anyone have a recipe they swear by for red velvet cake? I've not been impressed with the ones I've had.

My uncle sent me a description of some family letters that he's been going through, largely about or by my great-grandfather, John Biggs, who as the chief judge of the 3rd circuit court of appeals, based in Delaware, was called a "one-man Ministry of Justice" by Chief Justice Warren.

‘Immigrants could be found in every corner of the Irish Free State….the 1920s were quite a globalised world’. (John Gibney)

Exactly what I and a friend did in March - highly recommend taking the train from London to San Sebastián via Bordeaux for a chill beach and foodie holiday.

Three very different plays over the last week from an anti-hero Henry V to the moral dilemmas of Heisenberg and Bohr, and finally the sheer silly joy of a musical retelling of Ursula from the Little Mermaid.

I don't yet have a uni email (working on it), but from today I'm a research fellow at Swansea University working on the medieval and early modern fiefs of Jersey. Please send me Jersey tourist recommendations and any lost court records or copies you may have in your attics.

Our programme for summer seminars @ihr.bsky.social is up now! Featuring a v timely paper on American citizenship + immigration at the founding; ancient Greek refugeedom; gypsy and Roma mobility; & cross-confessional solidarity with refugees in early 20thC Britain tinyurl.com/3bxsdy32

Do you know of someone who might be interested in doing a #PhD on the urban, architectural and environmental history of the University of Liverpool? If so could you point them in my direction?

Early Medieval England Saw Continuous Migration, Study Finds www.medievalists.net/2026/01/earl... #englishhistory

This PhD post looks amazing and the kind of thing I'd love to do if I didn't already have a PhD. So much British and Irish medieval history is conditioned by the decisions made then and the early PRO publications.

Lecturer in Medieval & Early Modern History The School of History at the ANU seeks to appoint a Lecturer in History. Applicants working at the forefront of gender history between the 12th & 18th centuries, and on regions beyond Europe & Australia, are encouraged to apply. Applications due 19 April.

It is a sign of how much I like Tetote Factory’s amazing Japanese pastries and bread and how much I’m going to miss them when it closes that I’m willingly queuing 😭😭

​Who wants a last-minute trip to Gibraltar? ✈️☀️ ​We have a rare, paid opening for an Irish History expert to join the Spirit of Adventure this Sunday. If you have your passport ready and the gift of the gab, we want to hear from you! 🇮🇪 ​Details in the graphic below. 👇 📧 [email protected]

We have an incredible new PhD placement opportunity to help support the development and curation of our major exhibition on the Norman Conquest, opening in October 2027. Learn more and apply through the link below! www.bl.uk/services/res...

OMG- this looks like it could be an amazing project to work on!

One member of the Clerk of Works’ team used to carry an angel’s foot around with her. Said foot fell from the heavens (aka ceiling) and she hoped this concrete example would demonstrate the urgency of repairs. Didn’t help.

A staffie has won the hero award at Crufts for being the best girl and a companion to a kid 🥰 It's so so sweet @hagenilda.bsky.social

To mark International Women's Day, meet Lt Cmdr. Madeleine Barclay. First Officer on HMS Fidelity. To my knowledge, the first woman to officially serve as First Officer on a Royal Navy vessel deployed on combat duty. Achieving this involved a three-way war between Navy, SOE and the WRNS /1 🧵 #IWD

Hi #EarlyModern Bluesky - did you know that someone brilliant has built working printing presses using Lego and they are trying to get enough supporters so that Lego will release it as a kit? They look so cool! beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

I returned the copy edits for my article on women as part of the medieval political community on Friday. This week I’ll be trying to finish writing another article on medieval women and the economy. Feels very appropriate for #IWD2026

Continuing with medieval women, money, property and politics for #IWD2026 here is a taster of @elizabethbiggs.bsky.social research. Elizabeth's full journal article is due out later this year. Rediscovering the Women of the Medieval Irish Exchequer www.virtualtreasury.ie/archive-feve...

How's your Friday going? I've been to the dentist, walked the dogs in pitching rain and now am trying to work out if I need to report an ill pigeon to DEFRA as suspected bird flu. But in good things, I'm very nearly done with copyedits on an article I'm very excited about and can't wait to share.

There is a vacancy in our project 'Pages of Prayer: The Ecosystem of Vernacular Prayer Books in the Late Medieval Low Countries, c. 1380-1550' for a junior or postdoctoral researcher! #medievalsky careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/Junior-R...