Delighted and slightly emotional about this unexpected turn of events...😭 www.walpolesociety.org.uk/post/2025-be...

For one day only, the Blackadder Prayerbook – made for Glasgow’s first archbishop, Robert Blackadder, c. late 1400s – will be on display as part of Glasgow’s 850th birthday celebrations & @natlibscot.bsky.social’s centenary 29 Sept, Glasgow Cathedral. Free #medievalsky www.nls.uk/whats-on/bla...

Anyone interested in medieval fakes should plan a trip to Paris. The Musée Cluny has a show from 7 Oct. to 11 Jan., www.musee-moyenage.fr/activites/pr... and the Archives nationales has one from 15 Oct. to 2 Feb.:

More manuscripts are coming to the British Library's online site www.bl.uk/collection/d... And, erm, how can I say this nicely? If you have a cheeky script that downloads images from the site, please build in some delays so that you don't kill the servers. Play nice, innit!

A big run this morning and its nice to feel physically exhausted rather than just perpetually mentally exhausted... :)

The 2 speaker in the 2nd of our series of three summits on Royal Marriages in 15th & 16th century Europe will be @enortonhistory.bsky.social She will be talking about the m. between Emperor Charles V & Isabella of Portugal, necessary to keep the Castile-Portugal alliance alive.

I have spent the last two years researching - I can put it off no longer, I must now commit words to the page. Holding myself to account with #3000Fridays (writing day) where I try to get words on the page. Today 2868 - near enough🤷. Its going to be a TOUGH year🤦‍♂but I am nothing if not determined...

OUT NOW 'Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Extraordinary Art Collector' by Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth 'This must-read new book brings the inveterate art collector Charlotte Schreiber to life and secures her position as a great scholar of ceramics' –Patricia F Ferguson www.lundhumphries.com/collections/...

Student unearths 2,000-year-old stone that shows Pictish face carving www.independent.co.uk/news/science...

This manuscript by Anselmus Faust, dated 1612, is the oldest surviving European manual on bookbinding. Written in Latin & Dutch, it was created for the St Bernard's Abbey near Antwerp. What makes it especially unique is its rare dos à dos binding: 2 books bound back-to-back, sharing a single spine.

I'm mad at myself for not taking any photos, because we had out some great manuscripts and it was a full house, but I was overwhelmed and I didn't even think about it until this morning! We had a fantastic time, though. Next time I'll be ready with my phone. www.library.upenn.edu/sims/msig

📜 #REBPAF members @kaiyankele.bsky.social & Alena Minko (Bristol) were in Exeter for the first workshop of the GW4 project 'Medieval Studies Mobilising Digital Humanities', learning more about manuscripts and biocodicology! Details: gw4.ac.uk/community/me... #MSCA #BookHistory #DigitalHumanities

It was such a treat to be in a room full of people passionate about Scotland’s church heritage. Thank you for your talk about Arbuthnott church and its wonderful manuscripts Bryony!

Trying to complete a book chapter today on how illuminators felt about their work. My favourite visual evidence to date might be the sleepily content illuminator (left) & the VERY alarmed illuminator with Death (right)🥱🎨🖌️☠️ 15th C Flemish (left), French (right) manuscripts recently sold at Christies.

Upcoming workshop on the preservation and destruction of manuscripts #CFP marco.utk.edu/ms-workshop/

What a fantastic launch event yesterday for @churchheritage.bsky.social, our collaborative project with @socantscot.bsky.social supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund and Pilgrim Trust. Chaired by @lizzieswarbrick.bsky.social, we heard from 20 wonderful speakers followed by a panel discussion.

Thank you for coming and contributing to our lightning talk session! An amazing breadth of fascinating research going on across Scotland and we are really looking forward to working with everyone over the next two years on the @churchheritage.bsky.social project!

What an inspiring, interesting and broad ranging event this was! Some organisational magic must have gone on to get so many institutions in one room! Really brilliant work!

Scottish International Storytelling Festival: Lights of the North 22 Oct–1 Nov Tickets are on sale for the 2025 Scottish International Storytelling Festival, exploring Scotland’s northern identity – sharing tales, songs & myths from the world’s northern arc www.sisf.org.uk

If you LOVE Scottish church heritage and you're at loose end in Edinburgh tomorrow you can still book a free ticket for the launch of @churchheritage.bsky.social This is the Heritage Lottery Fund & Pilgrim Trust funded project we're working on with our lovely colleagues at @socantscot.bsky.social

Investigating Simon (illuminator) who was fined for trying to stab another illuminator with a dagger. In the same year Damian (bookbinder) was convicted for hitting Godevaard (illuminator) & Gheraert (printer) was murdered by Hendrick (punch maker) who gave master Gerard a ‘slight stab’ in the head😬

On strike with a great turnout at eca. I am on strike as a result of University of Edinburgh’s refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social

Edinburgh University staff set to walkout amid £140m cuts plan dispute www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottis...

📢 Staff at the University of Edinburgh are on strike against £140m cuts. Show your support to colleagues at Edinburgh university ✊

On strike with a great turnout at eca. I am on strike as a result of University of Edinburgh’s refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social

🔴 The union said its members had “no choice” but to take industrial action www.scotsman.com/education/ed...

Delighted to learn that this book by Siân Echard, which I had the pleasure of reading & blurbing, is now out in the world. One of those books that takes a scholar w a hyper particular blend of skills, knowledge of different fields, & intellectual flair to write. www.pennpress.org/978151282705...

Novelty hats available on Edinburgh's High Street in 1570, broad hats £6-10s, slight hats half lined £6-10s, unlined 3s-d, and Catholic hats with strings 20s. (will of Jonet Fleming)

Question for historians of Scotland: I am following a style guide that asks for first names but I cannot find one. Can anyone help me? Finlayson, W. H., ‘The Boyds in Bruges’, Scottish Historical Review (1949). Does anyone know what the W stands for? I can only ever find: W. H. Finlayson- Thank you!

Believe it or not, this is a parish register from the seventeenth century that was damaged during a fire! 🔥 Heat causes the collagen fibres in the parchment to denature and shrink and eventually turn to gelatine, which sometimes has a ‘glassy’ appearance. #EarlyModern #Skystorians

We [almost] have a book! 📖✨🎉 @jillharrison1.bsky.social, Giovanna Guidicini and I could not be more excited to see this out in the world soon. #gettingthere www.brepols.net/products/IS-...

I've been talking about this network a lot recently! If you're a UK ECR (you have your PhD in hand), sign up for it! You don't need an affiliation. You get access to their brilliant events (they fund your travel so you can attend), offer biannual conference funding, + access to larger funding opps.

I can see a project coming on...

"A mural of the Statue of Liberty in shame" by JDL Street Ar in Lille , Roubaix France 🇫🇷

Eek today 😥 One chapter sent off to the editors. Two sets of proofs received. Another chapter begun and another two talks underway. Trying to squeeze all the research commitments into one day. Meanwhile I have various image requests & copyright clearances at different stages ... spinning plates!

The KTP is a community-based transcription project, aiming to fully transcribe and eventually publish a critical edition of the Records of the Kirkwall Incorporation of Tailors, 1669-1772. Their minute book, formerly on display in Orkney Museum, is being photographed by @orkneylibrary.bsky.social .

Love this. Real experiential learning in practice - 'because it’s how I like to work, with my hands. Simple as that.' 'We have the time to try, fail, try again. And so far, we’ve never not found a solution.' www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

This week I have read 135,000 words of marking - tomorrow is my research day and, wow, do I need a break from marking 🫣Tomorrow I will be back to my 15th C manuscript pigments & I am very much looking forward to a bit of research time...🎨🔍

Publication – Scandinavia and the Low Countries (The Medieval Low Countries, 11, 2024) rmblf.be/2025/08/20/p...

The Library of the Dukes of Burgundy: a centuries-old treasure now accessible online...

'Diasporic documents from the Gaelic Atlantic' - a one-day, in-person workshop at the University of Edinburgh on 5 September. Tuilleadh fiosrachaidh | More information 👇

Research for 'Scotland on Parchment' is taking me to lots of book and MS collections in the UK and abroad. My favourites though have to be the ones where a small museum or library just have a couple of real treasures ✨ tucked away. Today was Montrose and it was a delight! #nottechnicallyonparchment

Printed in Paris, paid for in Antwerp. In 1497, Parisian printer Johann Higman produced a richly illustrated book of hours in Dutch for Antwerp bookseller Willem Houtmaert. A perfect example of cross-border collaboration in the early print trade. #earlymodern #bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Heritage of the Printed Book Database (HPB) – unified access to early European printed works (c.1455–1830) from major European and North American libraries. Open access, with growing links to digitised copies. Explore via: www.cerl.org/resources/hp...

Back in the game. UK is now has the most successful applicant for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and 2nd most for ERC. To a very significant extent, this success rests on and reflects excellence in researchers & in research in universities. Will we squander or sustain them in the next 12 months?

1/ Reading about AI because I want to understand more about why we call things AI when they are not 'intelligent' in the slightest. it might be a sophisticated automated system, but it has no context or awareness - no intelligence at all... hence all the weird mistakes it makes. This is especially..

My book, Love and anti-Judaism in medieval English romance: Typologies of violence and desire, with @manchesterup.bsky.social, is coming out next month! I would be delighted if you might consider ordering a copy for your libraries 💚

Fabulous! ✨