Sara Charles

Christmas choir at Senate House 🥰

Reading Rooms at the British Library are closed *all week* because so many of its workers refuse to work for pitiful wages in a contemptuously authoritarian and obliviously managed environment.
We need leaders who get it and are big enough to sort it out!
It’s a mess and a disgrace.
Lift it up!!

It’s very much a work in progress atm!

That’s a shame. I will be at Leeds too, hopefully with a stall displaying manuscript materials, so do come and say hi 😊

London International Palaeography School The London International Palaeography School is a series of intensive courses in Palaeography and Manuscript Studies.

Ah, sorry, just realised I didn’t include the date 😳. It’s actually 8-12 June 2026 ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...

Introduction to Making Medieval Manuscripts (Practice Based) This course introduces students to the complicated and messy processes of production through which pre-modern manuscripts were created

Booking is now open for Making Medieval Manuscripts! A practice-based course where we make ink, cut quills, illuminate, make pigments and bookbind, using #medieval techniques and materials. We also explore early medieval art. No experience necessary! #bookhistory ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...

London International Palaeography School The London International Palaeography School is a series of intensive courses in Palaeography and Manuscript Studies.

📣Booking is now open for the London International Palaeography School 2026 📣

We are running five 5-day courses, from practical hands-on 'making medieval manuscripts' to an introduction to Arabic manuscripts - don't miss out!

10% discount if you book before 23 Jan!

ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...

part of the Annunciation miniature, fol 1r of the Amesbury Psalter

Part of an antiphon with musical notation on staves

One of the changes made by John Grandisson, bishop of Exeter, to the psalter, the addition of St Richard of Chichester to the calendar

Another of Grandisson's additions, fol. 167v (old 169v), a note on the origin of the Te Deum

#DigiBodAdvent day 2, the so-called Amesbury Psalter (All Souls College MS 6). Come for the prefatory miniatures, stay for notated antiphons and extensive evidence of the book's use by John Grandisson bishop of Exeter (d. 1369)
digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/4c70...

Are you bored of advent calendars yet? I hope not, because I'll be highlighting 25 of the amazing medieval manuscripts added to Digital Bodleian @bodleian.ox.ac.uk this year. #DigiBodAdvent

So excited to be among such eloquent writers for this panel on writing books for a general audience #IMC2026

Sara J Charles, The Medieval Scriptorium

Anthony Bale, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages

Catherine Clarke, A History of England in 25 Poems

Eleanor Baker, Book Curses

#IMC2026, Weds, 8 July, 7pm! Four medievalists who've published 'trade' books will discuss the process - from finding an agent to working with publishers & beyond. Sponsored by @ihr.bsky.social. @realmandeville.bsky.social @saracharles.bsky.social @eleanormaybaker.bsky.social @imc-leeds.bsky.social

You can't beat a bit of practice-based research!

Advocating for History by Doing History - On History This blog was written by Claire Langhamer, Director of the IHR Historians are very good at crafting arguments and in recent times very many people have advanced very many arguments about why history…

New blog from IHR Director @clairelanghamer@bsky.social reflecting on how historians can advocate for history through our practice, and defend the important historical work that goes on within universities as well as beyond them. blog.history.ac.uk/2025/11/advo...

Historical Research Lecture 2025 | Can popular history be radical? Historical research and writing for the public Historical Research Lecture 2025

I'm delighted to say that the recording my Historical Research lecture for @ihr.bsky.social (4 November, 2025) is now available to view online. I reflect on my own experience of writing a 'trade' book, and conclude with a manifesto for #radical #popular #history.
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Queen 👑

Mappa Mundi & Chained Library Museum. Shaping Early Medieval Faith: The Hereford Gospels. Monday 30 March-Saturday 12 September 2026. Discover the inner life of the oldest manuscript at Hereford Cathedral, the Hereford Gospels. Made circa 800AD, the Hereford Gospels symbolise the continuity of the the community at Hereford Cathedral. Shaping Early Medieval Faith explores how the Gospels were created through the centuries. It shares the results of new scientific imaging which has revealed secrets hidden within the manuscript's pages. Alongside the Gospels themselves are some of the oldest texts in the chained library, chosen to show what early medieval Christians might have been listening to or reading. Monday-Saturday, 10am-5 pm.

If you love insular manuscripts & have always wanted to visit Hereford Cathedral's chained library, 2026 is the year to come! Shaping Early Medieval Faith: The Hereford Gospels will run 30 March-12 September 2026. More details, including about the manuscript's palimpsest, coming soon.

Flyer for the book presentation, with the text reads as the following. Left-hand side: Book Presentation, 3 December 2025, KB, National Library, Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5, The Hague Right-hand side: Programme 14:00 Walk-in 14:30 Welcome and opening, Esther van Gelder (KB, nationale bibliotheek), Editors of series Emergence of Natural History and De Gruyter Brill. 14:50 Book presentation, Jessie Wei-Hsuan Chen (Huygens Instituut/KNAW). 15:10 Gifting of physical copies 15:15 Panel discussion: State of the field(s) and practical knowledge Moderator: Marieke Hendriksen (Huygens Instituut/KNAW) Panelists: Marlise Rijks (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Sietske Fransen (Bibliotheca Hertziana/Max Planck Institute), Trude Dijkstra (Universiteit van Amsterdam), Jessie Wei-Hsuan Chen (Huygens Instituut/KNAW). 16:00 Introduction to pop-up show. Display of reconstructions and creative projects related to the book. 16:15 Drinks / Borrel, Opportunity to see the pop-up show and book table featuring volumes from the Emergence of Natural History series. 17:00 End of event Free admission with limited space. Please register at https://tickets.kb.nl/nl-NL/Show/Details/Book-presentation- Everlasting-Flower-Between-the-Pages--3-dec-134063. Link to book: https://brill.com/display/title/70483

Photograph of almost two hundred sheets of paper with dots painted with many colours.

Photograph of an arrangement of, in clockwise order, a colour sample book, a watercolour of a tulip bouquet on paper, an album of monochromatic flower pictures, and a watercolour on parchment that shows several kinds of colourful flowers and the used colour palette on a separate piece of parchment.

Photograph of an arrangement of objects, including a box, two trays from the box, the spread of colour swatches from one of the volumes in the collection, colour tests from the process book, and a watercolour of two purple autumn crocuses displayed on a book stand.

Join us in The Hague on 3 December for my book presentation! 🌷🌻🌵

Look forward to sharing some findings, an exciting panel on practical knowledge with amazing colleagues, and a pop-up show on reconstructions/creative works from the project.

Register: tickets.kb.nl/nl-NL/Show/D...

See you there! 🌺

Very interesting!

The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care? The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity

www.cityam.com/the-british-...

The truth about Vikings and mead might disappoint modern enthusiasts The standard drink was far more likely to be ale.

I've written about mead and its popular perception for The Conversation. theconversation.com/the-truth-ab... Mildly concerned that by pointing out that the Vikings (probably) didn't drink (much) mead, I will have annoyed all the re-enactors, many of whom have swords oh dear.

Actually 6pm GMT (I think)

Still time to register for this free online talk tomorrow on making medieval manuscripts #bookhistory #medievalsky

Jess Hodgkinson from the @insularmss.bsky.social project discussing dry point annotations in Insular mss and photometric stereo imaging as a cutting edge technology to retrieve them!

#heritagescienceandmanuscripts
has just started!
Brilliant first talk by Brent Seales addressing technologies to retrieve writing and the Vesuvius project.

Artificial Intelligence: A Warning for History Does A.I. have the potential to simplify, and ultimately impoverish, our study of the past? Gordon McKelvie considers the recent explosion in A.I. and what it means for historians facing the current H...

"Historical analysis is fundamentally different and more complex than producing a mass of visualizations and statistics that are the lifeblood of many A.I. programmes."

Gordon McKelvie @gordonmckelvie.bsky.social on the problematic use of A.I. within historical research.

New merch for you @quietriotpod.bsky.social ?

Does Britain value culture any more? Ask the striking workers at the British Library | Zadie Smith The dispute over pay at this great national institution gets to the heart of our misplaced priorities, says novelist Zadie Smith

Does Britain value culture any more? Ask the striking workers at the British Library | Zadie Smith www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Furiously finalising my campaign so I can press "launch". One last chance to sign up for first dibs (the limited rewards are very limited); the next reminder will be once the campaign is already live!

Excellent work 👏

Ragdoll cat laying louchy on a plan of Catte Street

A cat on Catte Street. I’m building a model to help with my research of Catte Street, Oxford. Leoba is helping via physical manifestation (not to scale)