Charles West
@pseudo-isidore
Edinburgh, dragged along by a spaniel 🐕 Latest book: Univ. website:
I almost wonder whether this confusion between the HEA and the British Academy is deliberate from @exeter.ac.uk (via @eicathomefinn.bsky.social )
Interestingly, Business Studies has been hit hard in the UK, according to the Guardian's analysis www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Six of the eight Lewis chess queens. The meaning of their gesture is debated.
A company of northern knights from the Lewis chess set, c. 1200. Note the devices on the shields.
From the top: Charlemagne's Aachen as it was; the physical remains; the area as it is now. From Ley and Schaub, 'The palace of Aachen'
Delighted to get my hands on this new book, offering a fresh take on early medieval English kinship by Alex Traves. www.routledge.com/Family-and-S...
It's fair to say that the heatwave isn't hitting Edinburgh *too* hard.
The #imc2026 was also often rather funny (that's not exclusive of the above!)
The MusLives project concert at #IMC2026 included the public recitation of a 13th-century Latin charter, bringing out the rhythms and cadences. Magical!
A treat at the end of a busy #IMC2026 day: Fiona Griffiths on the Cleric's Wife.
How many calves did you need for a manuscript? It could be a field full, for instance the 70 calves needed for this book. #IMC2026
If you are an expert, Jo shows you can see the ghost of the animal (calf) whose skin was used to write the text.
Really looking forward to this lecture by Jo Story on the @insularmss.bsky.social project, on insular manuscripts and cross-European connections. #IMC2026
"Charles, by the grace of God King of the Franks and the Romans and the Lombards": Charlemagne's first surviving act after his imperial coronation, March 801, revealing hesitations around the imperial title.
The false prophet, in the St-Sever Beatus (c. 1050) gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...
A simplified version of the St-Sever Beatus mappamundi, c. 1060 (from the book edited by Charlotte Denoel)
Maybe one for the blurb of the next edition? "A fascinating perspective on power, legitimacy, and state formation" - A definitely very real and not at all AI-bot-phishing reading group moderator named Krista.
And after all those faces, a hand: the hand of Eleanor of Aquitaine, no less, from a 12th-c. stained glass window.
An 11th-c. priest on a reliquary, designed to be carried on two poles, exhorts you to prayer.