Mark Empey

Dugdale was very interested in, and subsequently influenced by, Gerard Boate’s Ireland’s Naturall History (1652). Revealing letter by him to Irish historian Sir James Ware enquiring about obtit in 1658 in Calendar of the manuscripts of the Marquis of Bath

Fascinating subject Esther. I hope this will be in print sometime for those who can’t attend

The very striking late #medieval Tholsel in Carlingford, Co. Louth. This fifteenth-century construction brought visitors into the main street but its designs were as much defensive as they were for collecting tax. A handy reminder to those who had other ideas…

The Age of Christ, 525. The twenty-second year of Muircheartach. Saint Brighit, virgin, Abbess of Cill Dara, died. It was to her Cill Dara was first granted, and by her it was founded. Brighit was she who never turned her mind or attention from the Lord for the space of one hour, but was constantly meditating and thinking of him in her heart and mind, as is evident in her own Life, and in the Life of St. Brenainn, Bishop of Cluain Fearta. She spent her time diligently serving the Lord, performing wonders and miracles, healing every disease and every malady, as her Life relates, until she resigned her spirit to heaven, the first day of the month of February; and her body was interred at Dun, in the same tomb with Patrick, with honour and veneration.

St Brigid's Day is #OTD. Brigid's actual existence is debated. She is given different birth and death dates. UCD-OFM MS A13, provides one of her death dates: 525. The full Irish text and translation may be found online as part of the CELT project (celt.ucc.ie).

Call for Papers - Sailing: Introduction to the Atlantic Written in the Waves is excited to announce that we are launching our first volume, Sailing! We are inviting graduate and undergraduate students (min. 4th year), as well as early scholars, to explore ...

Call for Papers – Sailing: Introduction to the Atlantic

Written in the Waves – Atlantic History, Written by Women
Deadline: 1 March 2026

Written in the Waves is excited to announce that we are launching our first volume, Sailing!

niche-canada.org/2026/01/28/c...

#envhist #coastalhistory #cdnhist

Many congratulations. I’m a big admirer of your research. Looking forward to hearing and reading about the progress of your project. An exciting topic

Just one week left to submit papers for the 5th Early Modern British and Irish Catholicism conference! Proposals are welcome from researchers at all career stages working on the 16th to the late 18th century
#skystorians #CathHist #history #bookhistory #catholicism #nuntastic

Picture of eighteen-century estate at Castletown, Kildare

Image of a stark yet striking tree on the Castletown estate. Winter beauty

Looking out on the Castletown estate with frost and fog evident in the fields

Beauty amid the bleakness: the recent cold snap showing the #18thc Castletown estate in all its glory #Kildare. Once the home of William Conolly, speaker of the Irish House of Commons (1715-29), now a fabulous public accessible wonderland

Interesting to see Sir David Foulis there. Made his fortune thanks to James but faced the full wrath of Wentworth in 1633 (v interesting insight into W’s taste for authoritarian rule which I’m writing about)

You guys need to redirect your research efforts to working on a flux capacitor and buying a DeLorean

Thanks, that would be great. But honestly no rush. I asked publishers, and so did editors, but got no response. Never knew it was out. I’ll send you DM

Would you be able to send me a copy of my article if I popped my email via DM? I’ve heard nothing from the publishers

Any luck Bob?

This is such a good #HerBook read on the formidable Bathsua Makin. Showcasing her in a different light by the discovery of books attributed to her, it also touches on the female influence on children via book gifts, a subject I’ve been tipping away at via findings from our website!

UK will rejoin Erasmus student scheme in 2027 The UK left in December 2020 as part of the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU negotiated by Boris Johnson.

Hidden away in BBC’s news items is news of UK rejoining the Erasmus programme for one year in 2027. Rather than starting with the huge benefits, it focuses on cost with a generic sound bite by Priti Patel that lacks substance. All feeds into current ill informed narrative
www.bbc.com/news/article...

On Thursday 12 Feb. we will be sponsoring a conference on THE ULSTER PLANTATION, linked to the 'People of Plantation Ulster' database project (QUB/Maynooth). This is a free event open to all, held at PRONI (11-4). Registration and programme is at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/conference...

Glorious backdrop with a fitting slide for the picture!

And Porto by day 🌞

Female Book Ownership (c. 1500–1700) The study of female book ownership is undergoing rapid change. Manuscript booklists are being unearthed thanks to the detective work of scholars mining archives, while an increasing interest in owners...

It’s in the Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Early Modern Women’s Writing and appears to have been published going by this link (link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/...) but I’ve neither received any info or pdf copy! Could send you the proofed copy of you’d like Bob?

Porto at night…

The standing remains of the largely #16thc castle of Dunluce #Antrim. Home to the MacDonnells from the 1550s it boasts some of the most spectacular scenes in Ireland. Despite the Baltic temperatures 🥶 this was one day well spent #earlymodern

Letter from Edward, Lord Conway, to Sir Thomas Wentworth (lord deputy of Ireland) reporting how notable figures in England are all 'ill satisfied'

It appears everybody is 'ill satisfied' in January 1637, at least in the eyes of the second viscount Conway anyway. Something tells me he's not entirely the life of the party #earlymodern

Great look into the comprehensiveness of EEBO and EEBO-TCP and what that means for using those tools. Highly recommend for all computational bibliographers and early modernists doing large-scale work with EEBO

Conference poster featuring excerpts from a painting: a man in a tunic (Apollo) chasing a woman (Daphne); Apollo looks imploring, while Daphne, walking away from him, looks exasperated. Their figures repeat in miniature on the background of the poster, and in the center in a purple circle is the following text: "January 5-7, 2026, Victorial College Chapel and Online, Early Modern Asexualities"

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Conference on "Early Modern Asexualities," in person at Victoria College at the University of Toronto (and streamed online), January 5-7, 2026.

Get previews of chapters in the collection edited by myself, @catherineclifford.bsky.social, and @omaraphd.bsky.social. 💜🤍🌪️🖤

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Proofs of new chapter coming out on Female Book Ownership 1500-1700

In good news (well, for a small minority) I’ve been given permission to return to Bluesky.

In better news for #earlymodern folk, it’s a timely return as I’ve got proofs for my latest #bookhistory work on female book ownership 1500-1700 #HerBook

They’ll all be copying Kneecap next by wearing Union Jack balaclavas

Are you curious about the potential for archival practices to shape the study of emotion; why there are letters in the English State Papers labelled 'mad'; or how the culture & politics of Elizabethan England shaped people's experience of distress? Find out here! doi.org/10.1017/S008... #earlymodern

You could add “obviously” and maybe “inevitably” to a list of hated academic phrases, which I fear could grow quite quickly if I put further thought on this debate

Can’t help but be engrossed by this. Not just the quality or attention to detail but how the desk is presented, the meticulous research, the anguish of research (??), and the hints de Heem left for the viewer to interpret and reflect on. Fabulous