Catherine Fletcher
@cathfletcher.bsky.social
Writing history, usually in Manchester, when possible in Italy. 'Renaissance skulduggery' - The Guardian. THE ROADS TO ROME out now. Coming April 26: THE FIREARM REVOLUTION.
Reposted by Catherine Fletcher
Crisis at the Critic Sketchcasting Corporation!
Crisis at the CSC | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
From the desk of Lord Kronsteen, founder and proprietor of the Critic Sketchcasting Corporation. To all staff, It is with a heavy heart that I take pen in hand to inform you of the resignation of both…
thecritic.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Crisis at the Critic Sketchcasting Corporation!
Reposted by Catherine Fletcher
The 2nd speaker in the 3rd of our summits on Royal Marriages in 15th & 16th c. Europe will be @cathfletcher.bsky.social She will be talking about the marriage between Alessandro de’ Medici and Margaret of Parma, an essential element of Habsburg strategy. bit.ly/4oh2VUh
November 10, 2025 at 10:25 AM
The 2nd speaker in the 3rd of our summits on Royal Marriages in 15th & 16th c. Europe will be @cathfletcher.bsky.social She will be talking about the marriage between Alessandro de’ Medici and Margaret of Parma, an essential element of Habsburg strategy. bit.ly/4oh2VUh
Reposted by Catherine Fletcher
New on the Writer’s Bookshelf: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the brilliant @cathfletcher.bsky.social
The writer’s bookshelf: Catherine Fletcher
Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:41 AM
New on the Writer’s Bookshelf: eight questions about writers, books, and reading with the brilliant @cathfletcher.bsky.social
yes but can the Chinese security service hold up all the buses for twenty minutes and then make three come along at once?
UK investigates whether buses made in China can be turned off from afar
Investigation comes after Norway found Yutong vehicles could be ‘stopped or rendered inoperable’ by Chinese company
www.ft.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:26 AM
yes but can the Chinese security service hold up all the buses for twenty minutes and then make three come along at once?
just saying, Tess and Claudia are now available to be DG
November 9, 2025 at 7:08 PM
just saying, Tess and Claudia are now available to be DG
Can any Dutch speakers help me out with an indexing query please? Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen - does he get listed under Jacob or Cornelisz?
November 9, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Can any Dutch speakers help me out with an indexing query please? Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen - does he get listed under Jacob or Cornelisz?
I did a seminar on non-fiction publishing this week and felt very old explaining that I wasn't even on public social media when my first book came out, and that I joined Twitter in 2012 because my US publisher recommended it.
Several people have asked me for publishing advice recently and it's made me realise that my own experiences are completely non-replicable. The website where I learned to write is gone. Twitter is functionally gone. NaNo imploded. The mentorship programme I did doesn't exist any more. Etc.
November 9, 2025 at 9:59 AM
I did a seminar on non-fiction publishing this week and felt very old explaining that I wasn't even on public social media when my first book came out, and that I joined Twitter in 2012 because my US publisher recommended it.
Yes, but it was less memorable than getting to play China in the model United Nations towards the end of June 1989
Did you take part in a mock election at your UK school or college between 1983 and 2001?
Share your memories for a research project on young people and democracy in modern Britain!
Write to us about your experiences here: forms.office.com/e/FNAwjfFR7f
Share your memories for a research project on young people and democracy in modern Britain!
Write to us about your experiences here: forms.office.com/e/FNAwjfFR7f
November 7, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Yes, but it was less memorable than getting to play China in the model United Nations towards the end of June 1989
ICYMI yesterday afternoon a fantastic new digital resource pulling together data on the Roman road network has just launched. Explore at:
itiner-e
itiner-e.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:28 AM
ICYMI yesterday afternoon a fantastic new digital resource pulling together data on the Roman road network has just launched. Explore at:
last time I came across taqqiya I was studying the Spanish Inquisition but maybe that's an appropriate analogy here
Someone talking about "taqqiya" is something like a 99% accurate indicator that someone's had their brains cooked by the far right (either through proximity to it or by just being part of it).
Who has the best Zohran crashout screenshots?
November 7, 2025 at 7:18 AM
last time I came across taqqiya I was studying the Spanish Inquisition but maybe that's an appropriate analogy here
'being dismissive of Oxbridge dons' oh no, did they also use the wrong fork?
November 6, 2025 at 8:47 AM
'being dismissive of Oxbridge dons' oh no, did they also use the wrong fork?
Reposted by Catherine Fletcher
This book proposal webinar with @cathfletcher.bsky.social and me, hosted by @rsaorg.bsky.social, is tomorrow, Nov 6th, folks!
#renaissance #earlymodern #histsci #writingcommunity 💙📚 🗃
#renaissance #earlymodern #histsci #writingcommunity 💙📚 🗃
@cathfletcher.bsky.social and I are offering a webinar, Pitching a Nonfiction Book for General Readers, for @rsaorg.bsky.social's Professional Development webinar series.
Thurs, Nov 6, 2025, at 12-1pm. EST / 5-6pm GMT (& recorded)
#renaissance #earlymodern #histsci #writingcommunity 💙📚 🗃
1/
Thurs, Nov 6, 2025, at 12-1pm. EST / 5-6pm GMT (& recorded)
#renaissance #earlymodern #histsci #writingcommunity 💙📚 🗃
1/
November 5, 2025 at 6:25 PM
This book proposal webinar with @cathfletcher.bsky.social and me, hosted by @rsaorg.bsky.social, is tomorrow, Nov 6th, folks!
#renaissance #earlymodern #histsci #writingcommunity 💙📚 🗃
#renaissance #earlymodern #histsci #writingcommunity 💙📚 🗃
Ms Smith: So, class, today we're going to learn why, despite earning a teacher's salary, I still can't get a mortgage on any local house.
How depressing. Education also needs to be about the joy of learning and questioning, not just about how to be a good consumer drone, or how to protect yourself from tech bros with bad intentions. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Mortgages and AI to be added to the curriculum in English schools
Ministers are making the changes for children in England after a review of what is taught in schools.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Ms Smith: So, class, today we're going to learn why, despite earning a teacher's salary, I still can't get a mortgage on any local house.
Our PhD studentship applications are open for 2026 entry and I'm keen to hear from outstanding candidates in history of early modern conflict and/or creative histories.
November 5, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Our PhD studentship applications are open for 2026 entry and I'm keen to hear from outstanding candidates in history of early modern conflict and/or creative histories.
Reposted by Catherine Fletcher
Sheffield Hallam University complied with Beijing demand to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project on supply chains and forced labour being dropped. It was reinstated after threat of legal action but chilling effect remains www.theguardian.com/education/20...
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Sheffield Hallam University complied with Beijing demand to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project on supply chains and forced labour being dropped. It was reinstated after threat of legal action but chilling effect remains www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Reposted by Catherine Fletcher
🚨🚨🚨 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...
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
🚨🚨🚨 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...
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...
There once was a king nicknamed Ozy
And the mighty despaired of him 'cause he
Would sneer and command
Yet decaying in sand
He's now half sunk and shattered. Who was he?
And the mighty despaired of him 'cause he
Would sneer and command
Yet decaying in sand
He's now half sunk and shattered. Who was he?
October 30, 2025 at 8:16 PM
There once was a king nicknamed Ozy
And the mighty despaired of him 'cause he
Would sneer and command
Yet decaying in sand
He's now half sunk and shattered. Who was he?
And the mighty despaired of him 'cause he
Would sneer and command
Yet decaying in sand
He's now half sunk and shattered. Who was he?
This has prompted me to wonder if anyone has written an article "Against Critical Fabulation" or similar. Any #skystorians know?
Interesting conversation with a colleague about integrating elements of fiction into scholarly writing. My view: historians can deploy novelistic devices to tell the story, set the scene, make the actors vivid etc, but I don't actually want them to make stuff up (even if they say they're doing it)
October 30, 2025 at 12:51 PM
This has prompted me to wonder if anyone has written an article "Against Critical Fabulation" or similar. Any #skystorians know?
Reposted by Catherine Fletcher
The 3rd summit in our Royal Marriage Summit series will be on 15 November bit.ly/4oh2VUh This time we will be exploring Mary I & Philip II, Alessandro de’Medici and Margaret of Parma, and James VI and Anna of Denmark.
October 30, 2025 at 11:17 AM
The 3rd summit in our Royal Marriage Summit series will be on 15 November bit.ly/4oh2VUh This time we will be exploring Mary I & Philip II, Alessandro de’Medici and Margaret of Parma, and James VI and Anna of Denmark.
In this essay I will assess who, in fact, was the greatest f--- in Christendome...
Contender for @stemma.bsky.social Transcription Error* of the Day
* Not our error but something I found while cleaning
* Not our error but something I found while cleaning
October 30, 2025 at 10:17 AM
In this essay I will assess who, in fact, was the greatest f--- in Christendome...
Back to proof-reading today, and I'm delighted to share the cover of my new book, featuring an angel with an arquebus. Out in April 2026.
The Firearm Revolution
A groundbreaking account of how firearms changed Europe and the world
press.princeton.edu
October 30, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Back to proof-reading today, and I'm delighted to share the cover of my new book, featuring an angel with an arquebus. Out in April 2026.
It's really not hard to get this stuff right, and frankly I'd expect a Labour MP to be more aware of her local council's housing policy than the average person. No excuse.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves admits breaking housing rules by renting out home
Rachel Reeves refers herself to the PM's ethics adviser after
www.bbc.co.uk
October 29, 2025 at 10:11 PM
It's really not hard to get this stuff right, and frankly I'd expect a Labour MP to be more aware of her local council's housing policy than the average person. No excuse.
Contemplating the choice between £209 for a day trip to London by train or £68.50 plus hotel to travel the night before, and wondering if Travelodge is paying backhanders to Avanti
October 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Contemplating the choice between £209 for a day trip to London by train or £68.50 plus hotel to travel the night before, and wondering if Travelodge is paying backhanders to Avanti
I would genuinely ask how are they going to know? I had HEIF funding about ten years ago for public engagement activity that fed into a project that has since made money for my own company and informed commercial work by several other people. 1/2
'On 29 October, Research England revealed that a shake-up in the purpose of HEIF will see the programme—which distributes £280 million annually towards knowledge exchange activities in universities—narrow its funding focus towards activities that can be proven to drive economic growth.' 1/3
HEIF funding ‘refreshed’ to drive government’s growth mission.
Funding formula to be changed as part of shake-up, while institutions will demonstrate EDI commitments.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
Funding formula to be changed as part of shake-up, while institutions will demonstrate EDI commitments.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
October 29, 2025 at 8:33 AM
I would genuinely ask how are they going to know? I had HEIF funding about ten years ago for public engagement activity that fed into a project that has since made money for my own company and informed commercial work by several other people. 1/2
It's International Confusing Clocks Week
Something is wrong when I can watch a West Coast Blue Jays baseball game live in Berlin without getting up early.
October 28, 2025 at 6:46 AM
It's International Confusing Clocks Week