Seb Falk

Since "La Luz de la Edad Media" came out in September, there are now 8 editions of #TheLightAges! I'm fascinated by each publisher's different approach to design – but thrilled by the results in every case. Feel free to judge this book by its covers!

A brilliant-looking new book from the brilliant Prof Truitt! Can't wait to get hold of this

Thanks to @bhgross144.bsky.social I am pleased to share that ALL of the LHL videos and programs are back online! Let's celebrate with some favorite ones I did, and this, with Nick Wilding on Galileo's Sidereus is still my top fav: #HistSTM #histsci 🗃️📜🔬 #libsky #rarebooks youtu.be/0pkJVR_C7XU?...

"La Edad Media no fue oscuridad, magia y superstición, sino interés por lo desconocido, curiosidad y necesidad de entendimiento" Victoria Rodríguez, presidenta d Asociación de Divulgación Científica de Alicante, nos recomienda este libro de @sebfalk.com👇 aecomunicacioncientifica.org/como-se-veia...

Lovely few days in Dublin for the launch of the new "Navigatio Sancti Brendani" at @dias.ie A great range of papers (in English & Irish). And exciting to see the conference get a write-up in the @irishtimes.com after the President gave Trump a copy of the book! www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

Want to learn how early medieval people living on the coast in Scotland hunted seals and seabirds? Or how collecting sea snails on the beach was part of new Christian practice? You should check out my new article in Water History! link.springer.com/article/10.1... #medievalsky

Looking forward to taking part in this symposium at @dias.ie in a few weeks. Open to all (but spaces limited) – so register now! (I'll be speaking about medieval navigation, of course ⛵ ) www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-voyage...

Looking forward to taking part in this symposium at @dias.ie in a few weeks. Open to all (but spaces limited) – so register now! (I'll be speaking about medieval navigation, of course ⛵ ) www.eventbrite.ie/e/the-voyage...

We have made the news! #eshs-hss (overlooking the blandly sweeping statements made about Edinburgh and #histSTM) www.heraldscotland.com/news/2627512...

Fabulous medieval postdoc opportunity on a brilliant project…

My review of Katherine Harvey, "The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living" & Peter Jones, "Self-Help from the Middle Ages", is out in the new issue of @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.com/history/medi...

Sweltering in the UK heatwave?? Why not visit your Local Archival Repository! Low temperatures and humidity GUARANTEED* And we throw in the history for free😍 *by regulatory standard BS4971:2017 Archives - Where the records are cool and so are you.

Job opportunity for an early-career scholar in politics/international relations of the Middle East / North Africa / South Asia. 3 years from 1 September. Apply by 4 June. Come and work with me at wonderful @girtoncollege.bsky.social! Full details: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/55579/

The replica Anglo-Saxon urn🏺⚱️I've been working on, based on one found in the grounds of @girtoncollege.bsky.social is now approaching completion #Archaeology One of my prime concerns when replicating archaeological artefacts, is to retain the spirit of the original and avoid over finishing it.

The Enlightenment is a C20 construct. Discuss.

Remarkable drawing by Frances Yates from 1952, as she was studying Giordano Bruno's art of memory. This is the lead image for Relics, a new student-curated exhibition at the @warburginstitute.bsky.social. Much looking forward to seeing this up close.... mailchi.mp/sas/news-fro....

✉️ Explore 145,000 medieval merchant letters as a live map: the correspondence network of Francesco di Marco Datini (c.1363–1412), spanning Florence to Barcelona to North Africa. Visualise routes, travel times & seasonality. docuracy.github.io/datini/ #DigitalHumanities #MedievalHistory

I’m pleased to share that 'Borders and the Norman World', which I co-edited with Áron Kecskés, @rozierhistorian.bsky.social, and @lvhicks.bsky.social , is now being released in paperback. It will be available in June and is currently open for pre-order: boydellandbrewer.com/book/borders...

Venetian hedgehog

Venetian camel

Easter Sunday at Fountains Abbey

From the same publisher, a new open-access edited volume on Proclus for historians of medieval mathematics & theology: www.mirabileweb.it/edgalluzzo/m... #HistSTM #MedievalSky

I keep seeing "all authors use AI, the real issue is they're being forced to be sneaky about it" headlines. Full stop No. This is a lie peddled for normalization. It's schoolyard-level pressure tactics "C'mon, all the cool kids are already doing it. We won't tell. It's fine. We're on your side."

It's great to see this article in The Conversation up now! Link in the first comment.

Call for HAD Osterbrock Book Prize Nominations AAS Historical Astronomy Division (HAD) invites nominations for 2027 Donald E. Osterbrock Book Prize for Historical #Astronomy. Deadline: 1 March aas.org/posts/news/2... 📷 Seb Falk, 2025 Osterbrock Award winner at the 246th AAS meeting (Anchorage) 🔭

Hi guys. Please find attached my book. Some people say it will shape the idea of the English people. Don’t miss the section on the Synod of Whitby. My information is a little patchy, and I’m no fan of the Brits. Maybe you should supplement my work with archaeology? All the best, the Venerable Bede

So, um... this is bad. Really bad. I looked at the letters that were translated by the AI, and the very first one I found was almost entirely hallucination. Thread:

Authentic medieval "photograph" here 📸 accompanying this interesting @theguardian.com piece on some new (unpublished) research on the Battle of Hastings www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

@girtoncollege.bsky.social 'The Eagle' in Cambridge has Watson & Crick, but delighted 'The Golden Beam' Headingley, Leeds now has Girton alumnus & physicist Florence Bell on their wall who, whilst working in Dept. of Textiles here in 1938, first showed X-rays could be used to reveal DNA structure!

Timely: here's Baron Smith, rocking not one but two hats at his installation as Chancellor of Cambridge University (@cam.ac.uk) earlier this week For full 🎥 bsky.app/profile/cam....

We’re looking for freelance illustrators and designers! Join us in creating Dr Johnson’s Alphabet, a vibrant visual project introducing early years children to unusual and exciting words. Help us make language playful, engaging, and fun. www.drjohnsonshouse.org/jobs

Traveling by sea in the Middle Ages! Two bishops (under the watchful eye of a bird) sail to Rome to fulfill Edward the Confessor's oath to go on pilgrimage.

I never met Prof Abulafia. But having read a fair range of his work, I feel I can imagine his reaction to having his recently disincarnated spirit summoned in this way 😱

Fuckers.

Calling #Skystorians #MedievalSky the 49th Latin and Palaeography Summer School (formerly the Keele summer school) is open for bookings. 27-31 July in Birmingham. 👇 palaeography.uk/study/short-...

Why would a publisher with pride trust their audiobook to someone who understands little & cares less about what they're reading? My current listen is ruined by the reader! Misplaced emphasis; mispronunciations e.g. "ZOOlogy" & "centenARy", & howlers like the Hungarian struggle with "Australia" 🙉

The largest palace in the world: Late Baroque masterpiece inspired by Versailles, La Reggia di Caserta in Naples (with aqueduct) was designed by Luigi Vanvitelli, eminent Italian architect & engineer, died #OTD 1773. UNESCO World Heritage

The only surviving original Carolingian "littera formata", like a passport for a priest. Issued in Lucca, now in Pavia. archiviodigitale-icar.cultura.gov.it/it/185/ricer...

God's architect: AWN Pugin, led Gothic Revival in Victorian church architecture & designed interior of Houses of Parliament & Westminster ‘Big Ben’ clock tower (renamed Elizabeth Clock Tower); born #OTD 1812. @UKParliament | National Portrait Gallery

Why would a publisher with pride trust their audiobook to someone who understands little & cares less about what they're reading? My current listen is ruined by the reader! Misplaced emphasis; mispronunciations e.g. "ZOOlogy" & "centenARy", & howlers like the Hungarian struggle with "Australia" 🙉

For comparison, Greg Radick @hpsleeds.bsky.social recently posted about how he worked with biology colleagues to incorporate full lectures on the history of genetics, including risks of determinism & eugenics, into the department's main intro courses *before* students studied Mendelism.

To celebrate the BNA reaching 100 million pages, my colleague Claire O'Halloran has written a blog sharing some of our highlights. A huge achievement-well done to everyone involved at @britishlibrary.bsky.social & @findmypast.bsky.social Here’s to the next 100 million! www.bl.uk/stories/blog...