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Andrew Ayton

@andrewayton.bsky.social

5.4K followers 2K following 880 posts

Historian (ret’d Univ of Hull, UK) working on late medieval military, maritime, soc & economic; & Napoleonic. MSS, prosopography, networks. Classical music, wildlife, cinema, coins, postal history, Dorset, France, Hungary. 🦋& #Shugborough Staffs pictures.

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Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · Jun 26

This is a splendid resource: just played Moses Finley. An exile from the US, interesting just at the moment.

Institute of Historical Research @ihr.bsky.social · Jun 26

We’ve launched a new collection of openly accessible videos, Interviews with Historians, in which prominent 20th century historians reflect on their lives and professional practices. Access the collection here:
www.history.ac.uk/library-digi...

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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 21m

We've two new titles forthcoming in our New Historical Perspectives book series:

> Gareth Roddy's 'Atlantic Isles' is published on 30 October bit.ly/3WFhpRg
> Rachael Harkes's 'Forging Fraternity' is available from 6 November bit.ly/4ogSm2H

Full details from @uolpress.bsky.social #Skystorians 1/2

Cover images for the two forthocming titles in the New Historical Perspectives book series:

'Atlantic Isles: Travel and Identity in the British and Irish West, 1880–1940', by Gareth Roddy

Forging Fraternity in Late Medieval Society. The Palmers' Guild of Ludlow, by Rachael Harkes

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Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 13h

The chestnuts become Gesztenye purée. Hungarian dessert.

Two tall glasses with layers of whipped cream and cooked, grated chestnuts.

Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 14h

That thought has crossed my mind a few times. My parents, bless them, never really understood what I was doing. But they engaged; back in 1986, my Mum, a bright lady who read voraciously, gave a talk on Domesday Book to the Women’s Institute, at a time that I was working on Hull Domesday Project.

Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 20h

The sheer bounty of sweet chestnuts at #Shugborough this year

Accumulation of shiny sweet chestnuts in a Portmeirion bowl.

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 20d

Publication day! My book on the Knights Hospitaller, 'Warrior Monks: Politics and Power in Medieval Britain' is now out. Available in all good and evil bookshops: www.amazon.co.uk/Warrior-Monk...

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 22h

On 24th November I'll be giving a free talk in central London on the English Hospitallers in the countryside and all the feuds and fights they got into. #medievalsky

www.orderofmalta.co.uk/events/chapt...

Chapter Room Talk: "Crusading on the Home Front: The English Hospitallers in the Countryside" — Grand Priory of England

The next in our series of Chapter Room Talks will be given by Dr Rory MacLellan on the topic “Crusading on the Home Front: The English Hospitallers in the Countryside”. Dr MacLellan is a Cataloguer an...

www.orderofmalta.co.uk

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Dr Jessamy Carlson @jessamycarlson.bsky.social · 1d

Want to learn more about tracing people in the past for your research? I’m running my life course tracing sessions again this year and more details are available here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/practical-...

Do come along and join in!

Practical Archival Skills Training: Life Course Tracing (19th and 20thC)

Eventbrite - The National Archives: for academic and research communities presents Practical Archival Skills Training: Life Course Tracing (19th and 20thC) - Thursday, 27 November 2025 - Find event an...

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Susan Klaiber @susanklaiber.bsky.social · 20d

Now available!

Bernini`s Architectural Drawings - An Extended Edition of Brauer and Wittkower’s Catalogue of 1931 (Römische Forschungen der Bibliotheca Hertziana, Band 38)

#earlymodern #baroque #architecture #drawings

www.hirmerverlag.de/de/titel-32-...

View of book covers for two-volume set of Bernini's Architectural Drawings, edited by Tod A. Marder and published by Hirmer on behalf of the Bibliotheca Hertziana. Volume 1 (visible) has ink and red chalk drawing for the crowning feature of the Baldacchino in St. Peter's.

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Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you!

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Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you. I shall turn in and reflect.

Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 2d

Out of interest, who wrote this and where? Apologies if you’ve already given the ref. It’s that time of day here: wine taken.

Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 2d

‘New system functioned’?

Reposted by Andrew Ayton

Dr. Angry Anarchist (Free 🇵🇸) @archhelmer.bsky.social · 2d

Giving a lecture on settlement archaeology this week so you KNOW I had to include my favorite archaeological book cover of all time 😂🏺

The original cover art for Lewis Binford's book "In Pursuit of the Past: Decoding the Archaeological Record" which features a scene of 4 people outside, 2 in traditional Inuit clothing. In the foreground is a photo of the author, a white man in his 60s with white hair and a beard wearing a sweater vest and big 1980s-era glasses who is gesturing like he is mid-lecture. (He looks like a dweeb)

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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 3d

#RomanSiteSaturday - The Porta Nigra of the Roman city of Augusta Treverorum in Gallia Belgica (Trier, Germany). The monument is the best-preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps. Constructed in grey sandstone around AD 170, it guarded the northern entry to the Roman town of Augusta Treverorum.

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Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 4d

Our medlars are coming on quite well this year.

Single medlar fruit surrounded by green foliage.

Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 4d

A nice summary by James Meek in his ‘On the search for Artificial General Intelligence’ in the current @lrb.co.uk #AI

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Kathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 5d

*screaming*
(This is US distributor. The Concordia UP pre-order page AND DISCOUNT CODE go live next month, when I'll start up the promo machine. But lookee that covvvver 🤤)

Illuminating Media

Reveals the hidden power of medieval manuscript decoration and its lasting influence today. The overlooked art of late medieval English manuscript illumination—its initials, borders, and non-figurativ...

press.uchicago.edu

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Andrew Ayton @andrewayton.bsky.social · 5d

Yep. I’ll go to my grave never having accessed any of these ‘tools’. If I can’t think and string words together any more, I’ll sort my stamp/postal history collection. That’ll keep me contented. Oh, and listening to music and the birds.

Reposted by Andrew Ayton

Karen Graubart @kbgraubart.bsky.social · 5d

Writing is literally finding these transitions, thinking through the big picture and the little, making sense of the events. The idea of handing off this process to AI is just shocking, and the fact that AI guys don't understand that suggests they do not understand much about art or writing.

Juno Rylee Schultz @junoryleejournalism.com · 6d

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems...
SIMON: What?
SHAPIRO: ...Or saying...
SIMON: You imagine that?
SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over.
SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level.
SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this.
SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 6d

László Krasznahorkai wins the Nobel prize in literature 2025

The author was announced as winner at a ceremony in Stockholm • Nobel prize in literature 2025 live: László Krasznahorkai wins ‘for his compelling and visionary oeuvre’ The Nobel prize in literature for 2025 has been awarded to Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, the Swedish Academy has announced. The Academy cited the 71-year-old’s “compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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jembenham.bsky.social @jembenham.bsky.social · 6d

Fantastic celebration of @gawainsmum.bsky.social festschrift. Lovely to see so many colleagues and students current and past, which speaks to Helen's contribution as a scholar, colleague, and friend. @webstermedieval.bsky.social

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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 8d

Delighted to see the open access publication of Crossings: Migrant Knowledges, Migrant Forms -- a superb volume featuring artists, poets, scholars, and a short essay by me on Dutch- and French-speaking women in 16th-century London telling their stories of migration. punctumbooks.com/titles/cross...

Crossings: Migrant Knowledges, Migrant Forms – punctum books

punctumbooks.com

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Stef Espeel @stefespeel.bsky.social · 9d

New book publication ❗ 📖

Last month, my first monograph was published by the Académie royale de Belgique.

It is a slightly reworked version of my PhD, focusing on the grain prices and the grain economy of 14th-C Flanders 🌿

#medievalsky #graineconomy #MiddleAges

For the contents, see below 👇

Prices and Crises

academie-editions.be

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Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 11d

#MedievalSky #EarlyModernists you may not be aware that I offer several services: transcription (no hand too tricky), archival visits and more. I’m happiest in the period 1200-1700 but will consider anything. Get in touch via my website!

joanneedge.co.uk/freelance-wo...

Freelance Work

Transcription, scholarly editing, archival visits Joanne is available for freelance work: transcriptions and editions of late medieval and early modern Latin, English and Anglo-Norman manuscript te…

joanneedge.co.uk

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Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 11d

A short section of the late 3rd century AD stone wall encircling the #Roman Town of CORINIVM DOBVNNORVM (Cirencester) with projecting polygonal tower

Originally extending for 2 miles (3.2 km), enclosing an area of 240 acres (97 ha), this is the only bit exposed today

📷 Oct 2025

#RomanSiteSaturday

Lower courses of stone built wall with foundations of projecting tower on the right and internal square tower to the left. Surrounded by grass. Trees in the background

Squared facing stones of a Roman wall with rubble core exposed. Grass in foreground, trees and sky behind

Interpretation board set up to explain the Roman walls of Cirencester

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