Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Charles West

@pseudo-isidore.bsky.social

4.3K followers 430 following 1.9K posts

Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/charles-west

Charles West (1816–1898) was a British physician, specialized in pediatrics and obstetrics, especially known as the founder of the first children's hospital in Great Britain, the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street, London. .. more

History 43%

Philosophy 19%

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Charles West

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 49m

‘When Asa Briggs left school, there were only fifty thousand university students in the whole of Britain. Today, to a substantial degree because of Briggs’s campaigns and ideas, there are more than three million in higher education.’

Neal Ascherson on the historian: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Neal Ascherson · Professor Heathrow: Asa Briggs says yes

Asa Briggs used sweeping educational change to increase equality in England. He helped to make history, as well as...

www.lrb.co.uk

7 16

Reposted by Charles West

Leonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 1h

Forvtheircweek on heritage and place, I took the MA Heritage students to 'Hear Us', the graffiti-style installation at Canterbury Cathedral. They were both receptive and critical. We had a great discussion of intention, inclusion/exclusion, theology of questions etc. 1/

Green Street art-style vinyl on the wall of Canterbury cathedral's ambulatory that reads 'What is the architecture of heaven?'

2 3 10

Reposted by Charles West

TKarney @pecunium.bsky.social · 2h

You’ve about a month before more goes up (for about a year)

apnews.com/article/gree...

Greece's famed Parthenon free of scaffolding for first time in decades

Visitors to Athens can now enjoy an unobstructed view of the Parthenon. The scaffolding on the western façade, set up for conservation work 20 years ago, has been removed.

apnews.com

2 1 4

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 5h

By a Nobel-Prize winning economist, no less...

Álvaro La Parra-Pérez @alvarolaparra.bsky.social · 16d

Econ history family: incoming book alert! press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Two Paths to Prosperity: Culture and Institutions in Europe and China, 1000–2000

Avner Greif, Joel Mokyr, and Guido Tabellini

How the social organization of Europe and China shaped their divergent economic and political trajectories over the past millennium

Price:
$39.95/£35.00
ISBN:
Published (US):
Nov 4, 2025
Published (UK):
Dec 30, 2025
Copyright:
2025
Pages:
544
Size:
6.13 x 9.25 in.
Illus:
16 b/w illus. 11 tables. 1 map.

Reposted by Charles West

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 7h

Hasn't this been available online for years already?

Ideas Roadshow @ideasroadshow.bsky.social · 8h

This #medieval illuminated manuscript has been digitized and is now available online #openaccess !

🗃️ #arthistory #skystorians #medievalsky 🏺

www.openculture.com/2025/10/the-...

The Aberdeen Bestiary, One of the Great Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts, Now Digitized in High Resolution & Made Available Online

For thousands of years, ordinary people all over the world not only worked side-by-side with domestic animals on a daily basis, they also observed the wild fauna around them to learn how to navigate a...

www.openculture.com

1 1 6

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 8h

If you're within striking distance of London this week, this sounds great.

IHR Earlier Middle Ages Seminar @earliermiddleages.bsky.social · 8h

This week we're back at the IHR on Weds 15 October, where we welcome Maroula Perisanidi (Leeds), speaking on "Beyond Punishment: Speech Difference, Sin and Disability in Byzantine Thought, c. 1000-1200". All welcome, please sign up here! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Beyond Punishment: Speech Difference, Sin and Disability in Byzantine Thought, c. 1000-1200

Earlier Middle Ages Seminar- Session 2

www.history.ac.uk

Reposted by Charles West

IHR Earlier Middle Ages Seminar @earliermiddleages.bsky.social · 8h

Beyond Punishment: Speech Difference, Sin and Disability in Byzantine Thought, c. 1000-1200

Earlier Middle Ages Seminar- Session 2

www.history.ac.uk

7 11

Reposted by Charles West

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 8h

Breaking news: Hamas freed the 20 remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza as US President Donald Trump prepared to address the Knesset after achieving a milestone in his push to end the two-year war in the enclave.

Read more in our live blog here: on.ft.com/4ncNNWw

3 13 45

Reposted by Charles West

Ideas Roadshow @ideasroadshow.bsky.social · 8h

This #medieval illuminated manuscript has been digitized and is now available online #openaccess !

🗃️ #arthistory #skystorians #medievalsky 🏺

www.openculture.com/2025/10/the-...

The Aberdeen Bestiary, One of the Great Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts, Now Digitized in High Resolution & Made Available Online

www.openculture.com

16 32

Reposted by Charles West

Transmediterranean History @transmedhistory.bsky.social · 10h

AotW: Sebastiano Arona, 971: The 'Decretum Venetorum de abrogando Saracenorum commercie' Prohibits Venetians from Trading with Muslims, in: TMH 4.1 (2022), DOI: doi.org/10.18148/tmh....

*We are looking for authors: ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/transmed/ind... !*

#medievalists #medievalsky

Coronation of John Tzimiskes (969), from: John Skylitzes, Synopsis of Histories, Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Vitr. 26-2, fol. 159r (12th century; the famous 'Madrid Skylitzes‘)

5 4

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Charles West

Cordelia Beattie @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social · 22h

Firth of Forth today. #TimelineCleanse

Picture of blue sea merging with blue sky.

2 5 46

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 23h

He does indeed! But he may be disappointed in its lack of canine content...

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 1d

Cuthbert has a new favourite bookshop: the exquisitely well-stocked Toppings.

1 2 34

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 1d

www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Restitution row: how Nigeria’s new home for the Benin bronzes ended up with clay replicas

The public display of artefacts looted by British colonial forces at the new Museum of West African Art was supposed to be the crowning glory of a decades-long restitution effort. What went wrong?

www.theguardian.com

2 4 6

Reposted by Charles West, Catherine Harper, Pauline Stafford

Medieval Military Medicine @medmilmedicine.bsky.social · 1d

Sunday morning - Doodle in the margins of this 12th century manuscript, Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College - 101, fol. 97v

58 220

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 2d

Cuthbert completes his 13th Parkrun, in autumnal colours.

2 27

Reposted by David N. Thomas, Charles West, Lesley A. Hall , and 1 more David N. Thomas, Charles West, Lesley A. Hall, Simon Lester

Jonn Elledge @jonnelledge.bsky.social · 2d

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it is still shaping policy. So were we all wrong to leave?

Was the left wrong to leave X for BlueSky?

The platform formerly known as Twitter may be horrible, but it's still shaping policy

www.newstatesman.com

250 95 530

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 2d

How about this? www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/projects/cor...

Corpus of Early Medieval Latin Medicine (CEMLM)

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk

2 1 1

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d

Only one way to find out!

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Britons travelling to EU to undergo new biometric checks at border from Sunday

Most non-EU nationals entering Schengen area will have photo and fingerprints taken as part of entry-exit system

www.theguardian.com

1 1

Reposted by Martín Haspelmath, Charles West

Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 3d

A bit of linguistic cartography to brighten your day. This map shows how the words for camel 🐫 spread across the Old World.

4 31 100

Reposted by Charles West

Nic Morton @nicmorton.bsky.social · 3d

Online course alert!

"The Knights Templar: 1120-1314"

Starting in November I will be running a six session online course on the history of the Knights Templar in co-operation with @medievalists.bsky.social

For more information see link below:
medievalstudies.thinkific.com/courses/temp...

The Knights Templar 1120-1314

Explore the astonishing phenomenon of the Knights Templar. Trace the order’s development from the First Crusade’s aftermath, through its rise to enormous power, and then its dissolution, for a thoroug...

medievalstudies.thinkific.com

1 1

Reposted by Kris Inwood, Aidan O’Sullivan

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d

Dropped into the National Museum to say hello to some old friends.

3 7 52

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d

District Fire station, now a funeral parlour. Dousing the purgatorial flames?

Reposted by Charles West

John Sabapathy @jwwsabapathy.bsky.social · 3d

Amidst much junk about employability & 'rip-off' degrees, this @jburnmurdoch.ft.com article on.ft.com/47i1Bdo (sharing link) is excellent. Excellent further detail from @britishacademy.bsky.social at www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/policy-and-r....

What the graduate unemployment story gets wrong

People with a degree are faring better, not worse than their non-graduate counterparts

on.ft.com

1 2

Reposted by Charles West, Lesley A. Hall

Schools Week @schoolsweek.bsky.social · 3d

Exclusive: Teachers will use 'deepfake' technology to create an AI avatar of themselves to deliver catch-up lessons for pupils who have missed school

Watch one of the school’s ‘deepfake’ teachers in our story below

schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-trus...

'Deepfake' teacher avatars to help pupils catch up

Academy trust staff to use AI generator to introduce resources for pupils returning to school

schoolsweek.co.uk

36 5 6

Reposted by Charles West

Agenda des médiévistes @rmblf.bsky.social · 3d

Publication – « After the Feudal Revolution. Power, Local Societies, and Change from the Tenth to Twelfth Centuries », éd. Christoph Haack, Annette Grabowsky, Steffen Patzold

rmblf.be/2025/10/10/p...

Publication – « After the Feudal Revolution. Power, Local Societies, and Change from the Tenth to Twelfth Centuries », éd. Christoph Haack, Annette Grabowsky, Steffen Patzold

The 11th century stands as the watershed between the »early« and »high« Middle Ages. Exactly what this means is hotly debated by historians, but at some point between the 10th and 12th centuries, t…

rmblf.be

3 11

Reposted by Charles West

Helen Gittos @helengittos.bsky.social · 3d

Do colleagues have favourite readings to give graduate students to help them think about the problems as well as possibilties of doing inter-disciplinary work in medieval studies? I'd be grateful for suggestions please.

2 9 14

Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d

(Varouxakis in my reading is making a different, more specific argument: that the idea of 'the West' emerged in the 1820s because unlike 'Europe', it excluded Russia as well as the Ottomans)