Jesse Keskiaho

book cover

Congrats to @laurysarti.bsky.social on her new book on Merovingian Francia and the Roman Empire, open access and downloadable here (scroll to bottom of page) brill.com/display/titl...

Do colleagues have favourite readings to give graduate students to help them think about the problems as well as possibilties of doing inter-disciplinary work in medieval studies? I'd be grateful for suggestions please.

New in open access #medievalsky: Bede's Medical Books!

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Keepin' it Old School this time

Job Opportunity at the University of Kent: Postdoctoral Research Associate Are you passionate about early medieval Britain?  Do you have advanced knowledge of Medieval Latin and interested in the analysis of Latin letter-writing?  If yes, then you may be interested in this f...

Interested in letter-writing in early medieval Britain? A three-year postdoc on @francescatinti.bsky.social’s and my project is now available. Apps close on 17th Oct. Let me know if you have any questions and please circulate! 🙂 jobs.kent.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

Tämä ei ole hyvän mielen postaus, mutta ehkä syksyn tärkein postaukseni. Suosittelen kaikille tutkijoille ja tutkimusryhmille: käsitelkää törkyriskejä ja suunnitelkaa toimenpiteitä etukäteen yhdessä.

Lähiaikoina on tiettävästi odotettavissa törkyä tiedeyhteisöä kohtaan. Ketjusta muutama pikavinkki.

BAV Pal. lat. 277, fol. 56r

BAV Pal. lat. 277, fol. 56v

This is the feast of Theodore of Tarsus, d. 690, Archbishop of Canterbury. 🕯️ Let's look at a few early manuscripts of works that have been attributed to him. 🧵

The most securely-attributed work is the Laterculus Malalianus, seen here in the earlier of 2 surviving MSS, BAV Pal. lat. 277, 8c.

'sickos' vocitantur, de eo quod per fenestram ridentes, 'ha ha ha... sic!' clamant -Isidorus Hispalensis

2046: the american empire lies in ruins. in the east, the trump dynasty holds sway over the remains, united in the orthodoxy that charlie kirk is of one substance with the Father; in the west, barbarian successor kingdoms have recently converted to a heresy that holds him to be of similar substance

A two-line verse dedication:

"Non rodant mures, non ausint tollere fures
Librum, qui domino datus est a patre Frowino."

Engelberg, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 76; Expositio S. Hieronymi duodecim prophetarum; 1143-1178; Engelberg; f.1r
(www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...)

Well, BretPal is coming to a swift end as of 30 September. Between now and then, I'll be posting my favourite Breton manuscripts, starting with the iconic horse Mark from the Boulougne Gospels (Boulogne sur Mer, MS 8).

The last page of the first part of Gratian's Decretum, ending with D.101 d.p.c.1 in a manuscript from the 1190s, written in Bologna. The second gloss layer in the bottom contains a version of the apparatus "Ecce vicit leo" on C.1 authored before 1210 by Petrus Brito, professor in Paris. 1/

This is a tale of two castles

One of those buildings is fully original, an almost model example of its style; the other one is fake, built on the ruins of a medieval castle with a fully modern interior. 1/

Tariffs and Tolls in Early Medieval Europe: Early Medieval Europe Early Medieval Europe is an interdisciplinary medieval studies journal covering European history from the fall of the Roman Empire up until the 11th century.

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social has gone through EME’s back catalogue to create this timely virtual special issue on tariffs and tolls in early medieval Europe gathering five contributions originally published between 1992 and 2025. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

Page from the so-called Echternach Gospels (Paris, BnF, Lat. 9389, fol. 75v).

'In nomine Domini, Clemens Uuillibrordus anno sexcentessimo nonagessimo ab incarnatione Christi ueniebat ultra mare in Francea.'

A collection of all my posts related to my research on #Willibrord & early medieval #Echternach in one thread. #MedievalSky

Vase, reputed to be the one used by Saint Martin to collect the blood of the martyred Theban Legion - according to legend, it was brought to him by an angel for that very purpose.

In reality it's a Roman sardonyx vessel from around the year 0, set in a gold cloissoné mount from around the year 500.

We need a Star Trek episode about how the invention of the universal translator caused people to stop valuing actually learning languages, while they fatally overestimated the UT's accuracy and the resulting misunderstandings led to a massive war that tore the quadrant apart

Excellent news, congratulations!

I aced my early medieval palaeography exam in 2013. Can confirm.

Just described the Carolingians to a student as "boring glory" and I think I'm gonna stick with that.

Who I am I have always been passionate about history, but it was not my first choice. Originally I went to American University to study Political Science, before switching (first) to Computer Science and then ...

Apparently I need to spend money to make my dissertation Open Access on Proquest, so I've instead hosted it on my blog. If you want to read "From Usurper to Emperor: Political Practice and Dynastic Tradition in the Reign of Arnulf of Carinthia, 887-899" just follow this link:

#medievalsky

Corpus of Early Medieval Latin Medicine getting some attention today in the Times!

If you missed it last week our handlist of "new" pre-1000 medical manuscripts can be found here cemlm.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/handlist/

#medievalsky

Papyrus fragment with Coptic script and a drawing of a scorpion.

The Papyrus Museum of the Austrian National Library in Vienna is an underrated treasure with a spectacular collection of Coptic, Greek and Arabic papyri from Egypt. #papyrus #ancient #medieval Highlight 🧵 :

A Coptic amulet for protection against scorpions. (1/6)

when your boss throws a pizza party and it's the fourth century

Hey! My friend Emilia has written a piece on the headaches of being an international trans person - which are considerable. Do read and share around!

I am seeing posts that it is ostensibly World Goth Day, which surely cannot be correct as it is the anniversary of neither of their greatest victories, which were both in August.

I need to rant & praise re: folio numbers in digitized manuscript interfaces. Long boring 🧵 coming, unless you, too, obsess over niche usability matters.

Background: when I'm choosing MS images to use for my saints+manuscripts posts, I want to navigate to the page I want, download a high-res image,

Kaikkea parempaa!

#medievalsky
#seenbutwithoutthebird

Extremely difficult to read document in cursive script. Actually this is a charter of lady Clotilde, Paris AN/K//2/10, from 673

My therapist: Don’t worry, Merovingian cursive is not real, it can’t hurt you

Merovingian cursive:

Waiting for this Leo to randomly crown someone emperor on Christmas. Just wait for someone to kneel on the big red dot and BAM! CORONATION TIME!