medieval marginalia

can't talk, shopping for hildegard of bingen soup

SOMEONE PLEASE NERD OUT WITH ME ABOUT THE TERROR

🙄 saint margaret of antioch, grandes heures d’anne de bretagne, bnf latin 9474

SPEAKING of early online communities… cut my teeth online on a redwall MUCK back in the day

skeletons in the de lisle psalter, 14th century

I miss the old internet :’) substack.com/@medievalmar...

I’m constantly asking this

woman holding [redacted], southern france, 14th century MS 0372, f. 45v

oh, yeah, well what are YOU doing on a Saturday night??

how your email finds me, 15th century

Man in a gilet stood on platform 12 gives up on reading the display and asks ChatGPT out loud if he is on the right platform for his train. I don’t want to be dramatic about it but Eratosthenes figured out the circumference of the Earth using a stick and knowledge of a distant well.

medieval toilet habits, get 'em while they're hot substack.com/@medievalmar...

The information below comes from England in the 1200s. Gallows were not usually in the centre of a town. They were often erected beyond town walls or on the outskirts of villages & manors. People didn’t want to see a person being killed nor did they want to see a dead body hanging from the gallows.

Pilgrim's Badge with Bust of a Bishop https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/469968

these are mine — I feel old!

Guys, my buddy Gail has a new book out and I must insist you go get it right now, today, immediately. It has it all: Medieval British Jews! Murder! Brave Children! And she wrote “Ella, Enchanted,” so c’mon already, what more can I say. #booksky

Mary Magdalene receiving holy communion from an angel. San Domenico Maggiore, Naples. Pietro Cavallini, 1309.

“To everyone’s relief, William I died if dysentery in 1166…” You know it’s bad when people are rooting for dysentery.

fall of the damned (detail), dieric bouts, 1470

oh this one stings

[Exit Queen.]

oops, all frogs. germany, 15th c

If the world wasn't burning to ash, this aspect of climate change--revealing the past, the bones in riverbeds, the inscriptions on rocks, "ghost gardens"--would be really cool. As it stands, it feels like a bad omen.

100 times more willing to order Jungle Joose from a menu like this

blessed to be friends with Norse philologist Eirik Storesund (@brutenorse elsewhere), who takes me to springs blessed by medieval Icelandic bishop Guðmundur the Good

inexplicably, a crab on a guard rail in Iceland

This incredibly preserved Roman legionary’s boot was found at Vindolanda, a fort on Hadrian’s Wall. It fully enclosed the foot and would have had a sturdy sole with hobnails in it. The hobnails protected the boot on long marches and perhaps were also useful in battle for stamping on prone enemies.

drop me in a country in europe, I will find a medieval well. 📌crljivica, croatia

jersey shore really delivered

@medievalmarginalia.com hi! Just wanted to say how much I LOVED the anchoress talk yesterday. One of the most interesting talks I've been to in a long time. I hope you manage to give the talk you hinted at about female devotional practice - I'd be super keen to learn more!

Sold out! Would there be interest in me hosting a virtual event of this discussion?

me: *looks at my child* child: “…portcullis” (slightly menacing tone)

update from this week’s heat dome bodleian library, ms douce 134

Garffeld

all eyes on Uta! substack.com/@medievalmar...

Fascinating detail here about how and why women, rather than men, became telephone operators.

god, I love browsing the internet

london! come listen to me yap about anchoresses july 9! www.tickettailor.com/events/pints...

“That looks like the Monster Energy drink logo.”

DON'T MAKE ME TAP THE SIGN

something personal today ❤️ medievalmarginalia.substack.com/p/walter-f-m...