Tuija Ainonen

Medieval Manuscripts Seminar The seminar covers current research into the intellectual history of book production in the Middle Ages

The first medieval manuscripts seminar of the term is next Tuesday. It’s a hybrid lecture. Eyal Poleg will be talking about The Science of Erasures #MedievalSky 👇
ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

March 6 is the deadline to apply for Introduction to #Arabic #Manuscript Studies—a virtual, one-week intensive course held from June 22 to 26, 2026.

Apply today: hmml.org/programs/arabic-mss-studies

French pronunciation truly horrifies me, coming from language tradition where everything that is written is pronounced!

'Ail' in all its forms remains unpronouncable to me.
I feel the agony of medieval scribes who heard and understood the word, and then tried to figure out how to write it out

It's fun to go down these rabbit holes 🐰🕳️ when avoi... when making minor tweaks to the Parker Library On the Web manuscript descriptions

Today I'll correct the misattribution of: Bull granting Thomas Becket (was: Bourgchier) archbishop of Canterbury license to canonize Anselm of Canterbury

plain black text on white background providing typographical variants for Middle French 'ail' aka garlic

The amazing @a-ndictionary.bsky.social was invaluable for understanding this:
anglo-norman.net/entry/ail

The variety of plural forms for 'ail' is staggering. If you thought modern French spelling was challenging, it's always fun to discover Middle French!

Excerpt of a page in medieval manuscript containing information about herbs and their uses. Right hand column contains the text in brownish-black ink, with a capital S in red with blue pen-flourishes that starts the paragraph on 'allia' / garlic. Left hand column contains summary of main medical uses of garlic, written in red ink by the same hand has the main text. Left column is occasionally intersperced with translation glosses of the main headword, added by a later hand. Black ink reads 'Haus .Garlec.' to indicate the Middle French and Middle English words for 'allia'. The Parker Library, CCCC MS 438, f. 21v

Trilingualism in action: Latin book on herbs & their uses gets translation annotations of some head words to French & English

Things I learned: 'haus' (Middle French) is a (rare) plural form of 'allia' (Latin), aka 'garlec' (Middle English)

CCCC MS 438, f. 21v
parker.stanford.edu/parker/catal...

Medieval image of 2 herons in the water. The one in the back has it's beak in the water, looking for eels. And the one in the front is shown in two different poses: 1 with it's head up, and an eel in its beak; and 1 where it is grabbing an eel that is coming from its bottom. The eels are drawn standing in greenish water, and the whole thing is in a circle. You can just see text surrounding the circle, so you can tell that the image is part of a book. In fact, it's from a bestiary, and you can see, in red letters, the word "Ardea", meaning heron. The text doesn't name the herons in the image, but we can imagine that the one in front is called Willyon, & the other is Sarawiskers. You'd like to think that Willyon's behavior would make him an outcast, because it's what would happen to you if you tried that sort of thing among friends. But herons are more open-minded, and Sarawiskers isn't going to judge him. We could all use a friend like that. Image is from: BL Harley MS 4751, 41r

It's Tuesday. So let's talk about birds eating eels, passing them, and eating them again.

It's a THING that shows up in art & language. Here for example, is a lovely 13th C. image of a heron, shown in various stages of eating and...um...recycling eels. Or, at least, an eel. 1/4
🗃️🧪

Digital Tools for Manuscript Studies

If you have graduate students working with medieval manuscripts this free online training might be useful 👇
www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Delighted to be advertising three new vacancies in Collections at Glasgow University Library. This is an exciting time to join a world-class collection and team. Find out more at: www.gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs...

The Extraordinary, Ordinary Work of Building a Digital Library Wayne Torborg, Dr. Catherine Walsh, and John Meyerhofer January 28 from 11 a.m.–12 p.m. (CT) Free, virtual Winter Lecture Series RSVP at HMML.org

How do you transform a fragile book into carefully maintained digital images & provide free, round-the-clock access for anyone, anywhere in the world?

On January 28 at 11am (CT), join us for “The Extraordinary, Ordinary Work of Building a Digital Library,” a free, virtual program: hmml.org/events

International Fellowships 2026 The International Fellowships Programme enables researchers to work for two years at a UK institution with the aim of building a globally connected, mobile research and innovation workforce. Funding status Open for applications Career stage Early-career

Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research.

We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Gothic letter U with penwork decoration depicting a face on the right, sticking out a red tongue and two rabbits on red background inside the bow of the U The Parker Library, CCCC MS 079, f. 134v (c. 1400-1425)

Gothic letter O with penwork decoration depicting a face on the right, sticking out a red tongue, two rabbits on red background inside the circle of the O and one (parrot-like) bird sitting on top. The Parker Library, CCCC MS 079, f. 214v (c. 1400-1425)

Luxurious miniature of a seated bishop in blue chasuble lined in red, red and gold mitre, holding a red book in his lap. Bishops throne is gold, background patterned with pink and white, framed in golden border, golden corner decorations linked with blue bars decorted with delicate white penwork. Another gold, blue and pink decorative border visible at the edges of this image. The Parker Library, CCCC MS 079, f. 25r (c. 1400-1425)

The most elaborate Pontifical (liturgical handbook for bishops) to survive from medieval England contains gilt images of bishops at work & careful notation.
The playful initials could so easily be missed! 😛🎵🐇

CCCC MS 079, ff. 134v, 214v (c.1400-25)
parker.stanford.edu/parker/catal...
#medievalmss

Munby Fellowship in Bibliography 2026 - 2027 at University of Cambridge Searching for an academic job? Explore this Munby Fellowship in Bibliography 2026 - 2027 opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

Munby Fellowship in Bibliography based @theul.bsky.social in Cambridge - closes on 1 February, so still time to apply.

Madden1826 Frederic Madden's Journal, 1826

The life of Frederic Madden, in his words, 200 years after the events described. Transcribed from his journal by students @ies-sas.bsky.social. Released daily in 2026.👇
madden1826.com

Screenshot with a banner text 'The hermit's best-seller' in pink and 'The only surviving original version of one of late medieval England's most popular works of literature reveals its secrets' in white on black background and a medieval painting of two men. Below the banner is an image of Dr Glover on the right and text 'Parker Library Research Fellow reveals the secrets of one of England's most popular works of medieval literature' on the left.

Exciting news for fans of Richard Rolle of the 'The Fire of Love' fame ❤️‍🔥

Dr Timothy Glover, recently Parker Library Early-Career Research Fellow, has made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery that brings us closer to the beloved mystic, hermit and author Richard Rolle (d.1349)

tinyurl.com/e3266str

A circle drawn with black, red and white ink and gold-filled background presents a person in green shirt and hooded red cloak who sits in front of a large pot on a fire, while hooking a slab of meat(?) out of the pot with a claw-like tool. The toes of their left feet are uncomfortably close to the fire. Image copied from Parker Library manuscript CCCC MS 53, f. 1v

Perfect day for stirring soups and stews in front of roaring fireplace - watch out those toes!

CCCC MS 53, f. 1v
parker.stanford.edu/parker/catal...

#medievalmss

A new digital library full of manuscripts and incunabula to discover! 📜

#medievalsky #DigitalHumanities

Here's what it looked like on my return to work this morning - beautiful red brick gabled building of Girton's Hall, with a dusting of snow on the grass in front.

JOB ALERT!

3-year postdoc at @girtoncollege.bsky.social - research anything you like in History, Archaeology or Anthropology in a wonderful, welcoming scholarly community.

PLEASE SHARE! Closes 12 January

www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...

I posted this👇 to a claim that genAI is better than Ctl+F to search historical docs. @tristanpalmgren.bsky.social replied with a genAI summary of my document and @bookllyfr.bsky.social asked if it was accurate.

It turns out that it did exactly what genAI does: made stuff up & got stuff wrong.🧵

So, you're a medieval manuscript librarian? Oh, that's nice. I guess it's good that someone looks after those old dusty books

Medieval Calendar image for January, roundel with black-blue-white frame and gilded background portrays a crowned three-faced person dressed in green robe and red cape, at table, drinking and eating. Table covered in white cloth holds drink and food, including a boar's head. The Peterborough Psalter and Bestiary, early 14th century, now CCCC MS 053, f. 1r https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/catalog/gs233db8425

It is time to feast!

Our annual winter closure is here. We will return back for our regular hours on Monday 5 January, 2026

Parker Library On the Web will continue to fullfil your medieval manuscript desires: parker.stanford.edu/parker

CCCC MS 053, f.65r
tinyurl.com/vuyr92pt

Happy holidays!

Very interesting position at ASNC for a Celticist: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assista...

Mirator Vol 25 Nro 2 (2025): Between Science and Magic

The latest issue of Mirator, a multidisciplinary journal for medieval studies, is out!

It's a thematic issue on #Science and #Magic in the Middle Ages.

#MedievalSky

journal.fi/mirator/issu...

A screenshot of a search input in the British Library's interim Explore Archives and Manuscripts catalogue.

An interim version of the Explore Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue is now available through the BL website: searcharchives.bl.uk

It contains all the catalogue data from the eve of the 2023 cyberattack, and features embedded links to all currently available digitised content within the records.

DOI not found ...

With Adam Poznański, we discovered a previously unknown treatise against Waldensians in a Wrocław manuscript. The edition is now out: doi.org/10.31743/ams...

#MedievalSky #Heresy #Waldensians

We are still accepting applications to the Neil Ker Memorial Fund 2026, open to both early career and established scholars of any nationality. Awards are tenable for a maximum of 12 months. Find out more and apply: https://bit.ly/4hO0Oo1

Job Opportunity at the University of Kent: Postdoctoral Research Associate Are you passionate about early medieval Britain?  Do you have advanced knowledge of Old English and proficiency in Medieval Latin?  If yes, then you may be interested in this fixed term full time post...

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...

fol. 5v showing text, display capitals and initial with added 14th century heading "liber j"

A type 1 initial (in Francis Wormald's scheme) from fol. 5r

Another type 1 initial from fol. 4r

#DigiBodAdvent day 9 is the Tanner Bede (MS. Tanner 10). In a slightly sorry state owing to submersion near Wallingford in the 18th century but still a priceless example of the renewal of English book culture in the early 10th century. 📜
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/6285...

detail of the Trinity miniature (Gnadenstuhl or Throne of Mercy type) on fol. 9v

Detail of a border showing pilgrim badges with stitching as if they have been sewn onto the parchment

#DigiBodAdvent day 5 - the sumptuous Hours of Louis Quarré, MS. Douce 311. Savour the delicate colours of the Trinity or admire the trompe l'oeil effects of the pilgrim badge border (fol. 21v with bonus detail, not shown here, on the reverse, fol. 21r). digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/d23d... 📜