aelura
banner
aelura.bsky.social
aelura
@aelura.bsky.social
Kit: Celticist, medieval Welsh literature, Arthuriana. MSCA Fellow working on gender and pseudo-romantic language in medieval Welsh praise poetry. Opinions (and there are many of them) all my own.
Pinned
Now that I've decided to use this, guess an intro is in order? I'm a postdoc looking at the figure of the bard in medieval Welsh poetry, and the trope where he writes about himself as spouse of his patron. Well-documented in Irish, not in Welsh. Here for all the Celtic, gender & weird medieval shit.
I love this.
I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.
December 2, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by aelura
Only 23 #Manuscripts from the #Vatican this week
www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2025...
Petrarch, Sistine Music, Cicero, Suetonious, Arnold de Villanova, Aristotle, Ge'ez liturgy and amulets, and a Fransiscan Missale... and more
#MedievalSky #Skystorians
Vatican Manuscripts Added Week 48 of 2025
A total of twenty-three manuscripts were digitized in the past week. Unusually Capp.Sist contributed the most, with eight manuscripts digitized. Following that were the expected fonds, Ott.lat with s...
www.wiglaf.org
November 30, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Reposted by aelura
The people who are trying to destroy universities when it comes to inclusion around race and gender are also opposed to inclusion around disability. This bullshit gives them cover. Once again, legacy media laundering far right complaints because it makes elites feel smug.
The administration is extorting universities for billions of dollars and attempting to destroy free speech, academic freedom, and independent thought but the Atlantic talked to a few professors at elite universities who think the problem is that some students need a little extra time on exams
December 2, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Llongyfarchiadau mawr!
A little over six years since I began writing it, and probably about nine years since I started thinking about it, The Wolf and His King is out in the UK and Ireland today!

finnlongman.com/books/the-wo...
November 27, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Reposted by aelura
This is powerful.
An Autobiographical Essay by Caroline Walker Bynum.
'That very summer, with unpacked boxes all around me, I wrote the article that became the title essay of Jesus as Mother and I filed papers to adopt a child as a single parent.'
www.ias.edu/sites/defaul...
November 27, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by aelura
UK immigration consultation. Designed terribly and probably intentionally to make it difficult to disagree, but worth doing if you do.
November 22, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by aelura
Very much looking forward to the book review panel of my book at 4pm today! It’s S22-336 if anyone’s interested. With superstars @drmjcwarren.bsky.social @brownsmith.bsky.social and Acacia Chan. #aarsbl25 #sblaar25
November 22, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by aelura
🚨Eleanor Knott Memorial Lecture next Thursday!
🦅 Dr Emma Nic Chárthaigh (University College Cork) will speak on "Intertextual weavings in the Colloquy between Fintan mac Bóchrai and the Hawk of Achill".
🗓️ 27th November, Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, 6pm
🔗 www.tcd.ie/Irish/gaeilg...
Eleanor Knott Memorial Lecture - 27.11.2025 - Irish and Celtic Languages - Trinity College Dublin
www.tcd.ie
November 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by aelura
#FolkyFriday
Welsh still uses the word 'Gwyddbwyll' for modern chess, but there was once a much older game, similar to the Irish Fidchell.
Amongst the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain was a magical Gwyddbwyll board, made of gold and silver, who's enchanted pieces would play by themselves.
November 21, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by aelura
Honestly, I did NOT have "punching the air and going HELL YES to Chris Patten" on my bingo card today. But what he says is SO rarely said and needed saying SO badly!

"How shall we treat Mr Farage's concerns? Shall we hail Brexit a tremendous success? Something that has cost the country billions?"
SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten.

"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
November 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
It's a small joy, considering the world, but I'll take it. Dodgers!!!
November 2, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by aelura
New #WriterBeware blog post: an explainer on the huge Anthropic class action copyright settlement: what it is, how it happened, how writers with eligible infringed works may benefit financially, and what eligible writers should do next writerbeware.blog/2025/10/31/t...
The Anthropic Class Action Settlement: What You Need to Know Right Now - Writer Beware
One of the most urgent issues confronting writers and other creators right now is the use of copyrighted material for generative AI training. The large language models that power chatbots like OpenAI’...
writerbeware.blog
October 31, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by aelura
Explore the world of medieval travel with Going Places: Travel in the Middle Ages, on view at the Getty Center through November 30, 2025.

🚣‍♂️ gty.art/going_places

📖 Alexander the Great in the Air (detail) from Weltchronik, about 1400–10, German. Getty Museum. Ms. 33 (88.MP.70), fol. 220v
November 1, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by aelura
It will also make this world a slightly better place. 🌍 We need PhDs, #ModernCelts! 🎓✊ #ScienceMatters
The reason to do a PhD is because you desperately want to. It will not make you rich. It will not make jobs easier to get. It will not make your life easier. It may make your life *better*, and that only you can decide. I don't regret mine; it's the best thing I've ever done, but it is HARD.
I sincerely wish that the people who defend PhD education were better at it.

A: this is objectively untrue.
B: the author’s premise is that critical thinking/deep reading/PhD soft skills are valuable career skills, so it’s all fine. (Nevermind that even though they are, they’re not golden tickets).
November 1, 2025 at 12:49 AM
The reason to do a PhD is because you desperately want to. It will not make you rich. It will not make jobs easier to get. It will not make your life easier. It may make your life *better*, and that only you can decide. I don't regret mine; it's the best thing I've ever done, but it is HARD.
I sincerely wish that the people who defend PhD education were better at it.

A: this is objectively untrue.
B: the author’s premise is that critical thinking/deep reading/PhD soft skills are valuable career skills, so it’s all fine. (Nevermind that even though they are, they’re not golden tickets).
October 31, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by aelura
Martin Luther: the original Halloween decorator
It's 31 October. Most people will be thinking about Halloween. Historians, of course, will be thinking about Martin Luther, who nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg on this day in 1517. 1/4
October 31, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by aelura
🚨🚨🚨 Major announcement!!!
I am extremely pleased to announce that HAA is searching for a senior, endowed position in premodern art or architecture. The subfield is wide open. Please spread the word and encourage curious scholars to write to me with questions! 🚨🚨🚨

cfopitt.taleo.net/careersectio...
William S. Dietrich II Professor of Premodern Arts and/or Architecture
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
cfopitt.taleo.net
October 30, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by aelura
If you're more interested in the later middle ages, Jocelyn Wogan-Browne's elegant, rich and evocative lectures on French in Medieval Britain are available online here: www.history.ox.ac.uk/event/the-ja...
French in Medieval Britain: Cultural Politics and Social History, c. 1100-c. 1500
Professor Jocelyn Wogan-Browne (Fordham University)
www.history.ox.ac.uk
October 30, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Been quiet on here because I've spent the past month in conflict with the US healthcare system, advocating for someone who has Medicare and good insurance and still was being bullied into giving up necessary care. It's been infuriating and exhausting. This system is so messed up.
October 30, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by aelura
ladies and gentlemen...we got him
October 30, 2025 at 7:10 PM
First day of HCC is a wrap! I got in late last night, didn’t realise my paper was today, uploaded the wrong slides (but fixed them) and am jet lagged in both directions but it was still a good day. 😆
October 11, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Reposted by aelura
Let’s talk about AI art.

theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art
A cartoonist's review of AI art - The Oatmeal
This is a comic about AI art.
theoatmeal.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by aelura
AMAZING JOB ALERT!!! Dorset Council are recruiting a World Heritage Officer to support the management of the Jurassic Coast! Would suit an Earth Science graduate with an interest in digital comms and content: deets here: www.jobs.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/vacancies/32...
World Heritage Officer in Dorchester | Dorset Council
View details and apply for this World Heritage Officer vacancy in Dorchester. Join a passionate and collaborative team at the heart of Dorset's environmental and heritage work. As part of the Dor...
www.jobs.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
September 30, 2025 at 10:54 AM