The 12th-century Romanesque nave at Ely Cathedral rarely steals the spotlight (thanks to that lantern tower), but it’s absolutely jaw-dropping

I love to see this angle on textiles showing up in more places! It's core to my argument about how running a Textile Makerspace is digital humanities. Humanities students especially are so scared of failure, and it's less intimidating when you start with thread before moving to computers. #DHmakes

Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up. I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.

just emailed all my colleagues but instead of attaching the correct file with the pertinent details i seem to have sent all twenty of them this image of robin gibb:

Idly wondered what the cat was up to. Think he’s enjoying the indoor camping setup more than Small is.

This is my standard conference look, so I’m glad to hear it also passes for my attempt at dress code parity.

So yeah, my MA project gets the static site treatment. sharonhoward.org/defamation/

It’s my Nan’s birthday. She’s been dead 3 Christmases, which seems like a nonsense. I was making breakfast &, having a peculiar moment, wished her Happy Birthday. The cat chose that moment to take a dump & smear it over the floor. Guess Nan doesn’t like heavenly regards. HB Nan, nevertheless.

@melissaterras.bsky.social @jamescummings.bsky.social Following on from the ouija/LLM comment the other night!

Fucking Hell, the first 10 minutes of Conclave go hard. Is the whole film like this? Not sure I can cope with this level of anxiety on a Friday night.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. We’ve been awake since 4:50am so I’m praying for an early(ish) night. Biscuit got a new laser light & some crinkly, catnip-laced fish toys; Small was spoiled in the nicest way, with one of her most loved gifts being a bee rescue kit. Contentment abounds here.

How delicately a Romanesque angel uses the lightest touch of a finger to wake one of the magi, snuggled with the other 2 under their embroidered circular blanket at St Lazare, Autun, c1130 (& how beautifully the textures of pillow & blanket are represented). Season's greetings to you all!

And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. •Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.”

The most honest part of It’s A Wonderful Life is when Bert the cop tries to murder George Bailey just for causing a scene in public

My article in Speculum went live today! Thrilled to be thinking about where/how VR might be used next in medieval studies! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Did medieval people buy each other Christmas gifts? New Year's Day was the main gifting day, but little is known about everyday people's present giving. Our project on London's customs records has uncovered a wealth of affordable items imported around this time: gloves and hats to toys and rattles🧵

When I was a librarian at Purdue, an archivist colleague showed me a standard foil blisterpack of antinausea pills where 1 pill had been removed—by an (Apollo?) astronaut while they were in space (Purdue Archives has great flight+space stuff!)

Archivists/librarians please share the coolest thing in your collections that will never be digitized.

Insomnia kicking in hard at the moment, so here’s some pre-Christmas shenanigans with La Smol, & an obligatory Elder Millennial selfie to round it all off. My favourite time of year. Hopefully the big guy will deliver me a full night’s sleep when we’re home next week.

If you know someone like me who isn't actually me and you're wondering what book to get them for Christmas, then this might help.

Had a poor night’s sleep & am still fighting off a cold & so am taking the day for self-care. Small is in school & I am in bed with the cat, finally watching Oppenheimer. The whole thing is just incredible, I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like to film it. It’s so taut & anxiety-inducing.

Publication – Siân Echard, « Facsimile. Making, Likeness, and Medieval Manuscripts » rmblf.be/2025/12/13/p...

Ahmed al Ahmed, 43, has been identified as the man who disarmed one of the Sydney attackers. Ahmed was shot by the second shooter, who was firing from a bridge. He suffered 2 gunshot wounds and is undergoing surgery.

An early medieval organ, drawn c. 825 (perhaps that sent by the Byzantine emperor to Pippin III in 757, suggests Erik Goosmann).

The ad for the second postdoctoral position on our @leverhulme.ac.uk Britain’s Early Medieval Letters project is now live. We’re looking for an Old English specialist (who also works with Latin). 32-month FT post. Deadline for apps is 16 Jan 🙂 jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

As Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album turns 50 years old, here’s a blog post of mine from the summer of 2023 on Floyd’s titular track, & the materiality of absence. Feel free to raise a glass of your finest to the palimpsest people, our absent friends. kerilthomas.wordpress.com/2023/07/28/w...

Well that’s me never being allowed in America again.

#DigiBodAdvent day 10, one for the Middle English and Scots fans, the Sinclair manuscript (MS. Arch. Selden. B. 24). The earliest Scottish vernacular verse anthology and the unique witness to "The Kingis Quair" attributed to James I. digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/ea06...

I live in Wales and today received my Join Us letter from Reform UK, complete with SAE which I posted back to them, immediately, empty. If every other person in Wales did this, Reform would spend over £1.5 million on postage. Not sorry. Join me Cymru.

Took Small to @librarywales.bsky.social to catch their new portrait exhibition, then home afterwards for hot chocolate & a movie. Absolutely knackered at the moment but there are 2 weeks off on the horizon & I’m very excited for them.

medieval European monk finally getting to illustrate his manuscript with horny eggplant marginalia after the introduction of the eggplant to Europe via the Abbasid caliphate

If anybody wants to drop a fat envelope of cash through my front door, today would be the day for it. Prepared to sell state secrets if required (spoiler alert, I have none).

Attention creative medievalists! Eleanor Barraclough & I are co-editing a special issue of Public Humanities entitled CREATING THE MEDIEVAL NOW! See the cfp for details: essays of 2,000-3,000 words due 1 May 2026. (Amazing artwork by @hellomizk.bsky.social). 1/ www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Medieval Genealogical Roll Goes Online www.medievalists.net/2025/12/medi... #medieval #medievalmanuscripts

#medievalsky, don't forget to submit your papers! #CFP !!! We want to hear all about your favorite antagonists, outlaws and troublemakers! @leedsims.bsky.social Last day for sending them in is Dec 8th!

“The National AIDS Memorial, through a partnership with the AIDS Quilt Touch team, presents all 50,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in an interactive experience so people around the world can experience the beauty of the Quilt and witness the love and stories stitched into each panel.”

I’ve just spilled almost an entire cup of coffee over the table I’m sitting at in the library. Now have soaking wet gloves and hat. On the plus side, essay has 1,500 more words than it did this morning & I smell like an espresso, which isn’t such a bad thing.

I'm literally just living a normal life while also experiencing a theophany via communication with the satellite called VALIS.

Tomorrow, Wednesday 26 November, #Canterbury - open to the public and all welcome! www.canterbury.ac.uk/events/2025/...

Are you up for some more palaeographical excitement? Then ready yourself for next Tuesday's seminar in London's Senate House where we can offer you not one but two scintillating papers featuring new research from early career scholars. Register here: ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Come and apply to be the Professor of Bibliography & Modern Book History @engfacoutreach.bsky.social & @jesusoxford.bsky.social (and work closely with us @bodleian.ox.ac.uk). Following a long line of great scholars: Don McKenzie, Kathryn Sutherland, & Dirk van Hulle ... my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?

We've come a long ways as a species but some things stay the same. Artwork is by Onionpwder! www.deviantart.com/o... #mlp #mlpfim #art

Goodnight from Faith Milbury, noticing the Dark Glam night at The Shambala Rooms is more akin to Murky Garishness. Goodnight from Sadie Ringrose, wishing yet again that her second sight wasn’t interfering with her attempts to enjoy first dates. Goodnight from Hookland.

The Small has gone to a birthday party so I’ve seized the opportunity to visit @librarywales.bsky.social for their Portrait & Power exhibition. Lovely to see @jonpountney1.bsky.social on the walls, & I’ve had an introduction to the work of Sue Williams & Taiye Omokore. A cwtch for my brain.

Back home late from a lecture tonight, with a feint #aurora & the plough visible in the northern sky. No towns up there to cause a glow - just the mountains of Eryri/ Snowdonia

Well lads, I did it. The book is submitted. Fuck. A whole year of juggling writing, parenting, & a BSc in nursing. Going to have a very long lie down. Please tread lightly if you’re going past the house.

Nobody who should fuck off actually fucks off anymore. We're stuck with all these fucking people.