Myriah Williams

still #NoKings

18th October is the feast of St Luke the Evangelist who is depicted here with his symbol; and in the margins a probable 9th century record of the freeing of a female slave named Bleiddudd.

Lichfield Cathedral, MS Lich 01; St. Chad Gospels; c.730 CE; p.142 @lichfieldcathedral.bsky.social

An excellent free day of lectures about ancient Celtic, happening in Aberystwyth next week. One not to miss!

nation.cymru/news/univers...

Only one week to left to see the fantastic "Friotail thar Farraige / Words on the Wave" exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland @nmireland.bsky.social. Don't be the one who will have to tell your grandchildren that you missed it!
We went there today (again), first of all in order to...
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Two faces, grotesques, in ascenders stare at each other. The one on the left has a horn and something red spurting from his mouth. The one on the left is grimacing. Oxford, Jesus College MS 111, fol. 16v

When you’ve been staring at the same guy for 600 years and suddenly he sprouts a horn.

St. Gall, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 553, p. 169

St. Gall 553, meanwhile, contains the unique copy of the earliest life of St. Gall by Wetti of Reichenau.

Here is 553: www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/...
and here is 562: www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/...

If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education.

We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.

Two faces, grotesques, in ascenders stare at each other. The one on the left has a horn and something red spurting from his mouth. The one on the left is grimacing. Oxford, Jesus College MS 111, fol. 16v

When you’ve been staring at the same guy for 600 years and suddenly he sprouts a horn.

The Madog story of a Welsh medieval Welsh prince who sailed to America is absolutely fascinating (my book has a chapter on it!) - but the "America" part doesn't seem to enter the story, on available evidence, until it was a useful justification for Tudor imperialism in North America

YouTube video by Tarbat Discovery Centre Stories on Skins: Calligraphy

Thomas Keyes demonstrating how manuscripts like the Book of Kells and Lindisfarne Gospels were made. Videos from a Lottery funded project based at the Tarbat Discovery Centre. Thanks to @victoriawhitworth.bsky.social for the link www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSJd...

Croeso cynnes i Gyfeillion hen a newydd! Cysylltwch â cefnogi@geiriadur.ac.uk os hoffech fwy o wybodaeth #CyfeillionGPC

Facsimile – Penn Press An unprecedented cultural history of reproductions of medieval manuscriptsFacsimiles are, or claim to be, exact copies of objects, and medieval manuscripts h...

Published today! Facsimile: Making, Likeness, and Medieval Manuscripts, by Siân Echard.

Siân is not on here to promote it, but I will! #medievalsky #manuscripts #bookhistory

www.pennpress.org/978151282705...

This incredibly rich volume, "Écrire sur la pierre en langue gauloise", edited by Coline Ruiz-Darasse, just came through the letter box late this evening. (It's incredible €19, if you are interested). It's the main printed output of the RIIG project (riig.huma-num.fr).

Early medieval Celtic Britain | 12 | v3 | The early historic period | The vacuum created by the collapse of the Roman province of Britannia created a vortex of movement which would shape the centuries to come. Some Roman citizens

Publication alert! An all-too-rare collab with Prof Stephen Driscoll, updating his chapter for the venerable old Archaeology of Britain textbook in its shiny new 3rd edition. A snapshot of current work on early medieval Scotland and Wales. Put it on your reading lists!
doi.org/10.4324/9780...

Join us for CSANA's Fall online lecture:
Nicholas Wolf, "A Peak Diasporic Gaeldom? Estimating Levels of Irish Speaking among the Postfamine American Irish"

Thursday, October 30th, at 2:00 EST / 6:00 BST.

Registration and description below

A rectangle sub-divided into four rectangles in a meme format. The upper left says “medieval” opposite the upper right which consists of a manuscript opening (The Lichfield Gospels, pp. 140-141); the lower left says “‘mid’ evil” opposite the lower right which is a screenshot of the ‘AI Overview’ that appears at the top of many Google searches.

the “dark” ages vs the “information age”

Libraries Can’t Get Their Loaned Books Back Because of Trump’s Tariffs Libraries have shared their collections internationally for decades. Trump’s tariffs are throwing that system into chaos and can ‘hinder academic progress.’

Cool cool
📜📚

A tale of two parchments In this talk, Dr. Jiří Vnouček discusses differences in species choice and membrane preparation of 'Insular' and 'Continental' parchment used for book-making in the early Middle Ages.

Next Wednesday 8th October, 12.30-1.30: Jiří Vnouček on "A Tale of Two Parchments" - insular and continental parchment preparation.
In person: @bodleian.ox.ac.uk Weston Library, Lecture Theatre
Or livestreamed.
Free: book here visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/oct25/...

Please do!

A rectangle sub-divided into four rectangles in a meme format. The upper left says “medieval” opposite the upper right which consists of a manuscript opening (The Lichfield Gospels, pp. 140-141); the lower left says “‘mid’ evil” opposite the lower right which is a screenshot of the ‘AI Overview’ that appears at the top of many Google searches.

the “dark” ages vs the “information age”

Strong statement today from UC's Academic Senate:

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

Dean of the UC Berkeley Law School has seen the Trump Administration’s “compact” for universities to receive preferable consideration for federal funding and says it amounts to First Amendment violations in blistering op-ed — www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Saw someone say, “Stop hoarding books, we don’t need paper books anyway” and I can’t express how misguided this is. Online libraries disappear, digital books can be altered, and with Big Tech seeking to destroy history and literacy, print media has never been more essential.

🎶 It’s a fragmentary
textual history
lacuna matata 🎶

Cardiff University and the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature are pleased to announce a multi-disciplinary conference on medieval Wales, to be held at Cardiff University on the 25th and 26th of April 2026. The conference will provide a space for discussion and collaboration between scholars of all disciplinary backgrounds interested in medieval Wales. The conference programme will include the Medium Ævum annual lecture, which will be delivered by Professor Helen Fulton (University of Bristol). The Henry Loyn Memorial Lecture will be held on the evening of the 24th of April, and will be delivered by Professor John Hines (Cardiff University). We invite proposals for 20-minute presentations representing any specialization that sheds light on medieval Wales. We shall particularly welcome papers that discuss encounters between different languages and traditions and their consequences. Proposals are welcome from speakers at all career stages and papers can be delivered in English or Welsh. Proposals should include a title and an abstract (100–200 words) and should be submitted to Dr David Callander (callanderd@cardiff.ac.uk) by 30 November.

SSMLL are delighted to announce the opening of our Call for Papers for the 2026 Day Conference, Medieval Wales, which will be held at Cardiff University 25-26 April, 2026.

Proposals should be submitted to Dr David Callander (callanderd@cardiff.ac.uk) by 30 November.

Bilingual information regarding the *Widame conference, 7-8 November in Maynooth University. Register by October 10th.

*Widame (Proto-Celtic “we found out”), a conference for postgraduate scholars in Celtic Studies, will take place November 7th & 8th 2025 in 1.33 IONTAS in @maynoothuniversity.ie.

Conference schedule and registration is available here: buff.ly/b3GjydF

Register by the 10th of October 2025.

🎶 When there are gaps in your text
and there’s none else to check
that’s lacunae 🎶

...And you thought you were stretched too thin!
😬
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DD-0...

🎶 When there are gaps in your text
and there’s none else to check
that’s lacunae 🎶

Yes, there’s also O’Laughlin’s Journeys on the Edges: The Celtic Tradition, if you haven’t already come across it. (Also from 2000)