David Defries
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ddefries.bsky.social
David Defries
@ddefries.bsky.social
Early medievalist studying collective memory, hagiography and Flanders. Working on a collaboration to look at early medieval Flanders from a global perspective.
Reposted by David Defries
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Reposted by David Defries
And we are offering 20% off pre-orders for Kathleen E. Kennedy's 𝘐𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 with the code KENNEDY2026:
www.concordia.ca/press/illumi...
November 25, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by David Defries
And engaging in this kind of pedagogy is simply the entry-level version of when scholars do this, which I wrote about here. www.artforum.com/features/gen...
November 24, 2025 at 1:32 PM
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If you love insular manuscripts & have always wanted to visit Hereford Cathedral's chained library, 2026 is the year to come! Shaping Early Medieval Faith: The Hereford Gospels will run 30 March-12 September 2026. More details, including about the manuscript's palimpsest, coming soon.
November 19, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by David Defries
Oh wow! This is what happens when you're photographing MSS & don't capture the text in the inner gutter. 1st, here's the photograph (made about 100 yrs ago) of the Codex Salernitanus, f. 82ra. Although that big tear of the page is obvious, the inner gutter hasn't been fully captured in the photo.
November 18, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by David Defries
www.sidestone.com/books/dorest...

Delighted to share that the proceedings of the Fourth Dorestad Congress are out now, available to read for free online!

This was a great conference to be a part of during Jan 2024, w/ @amwillemsen.bsky.social @scoupland.bsky.social @ccooijmans.bsky.social !
Dorestad and Everything After @ Sidestone Press
Dorestad was the largest town of the Low Countries in the Carolingian era. As an inland port on the edge of the Frankish Empire, it functioned as an international hub, connecting the North Sea World w...
www.sidestone.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Reposted by David Defries
Uploaded: "The Zuidbarge and Zuidlaren hoards of 1860 and the Italian coinage of the late ninth century" (NC 2023) works.hcommons.org/records/mefb...
The Zuidbarge and Zuidlaren hoards of 1860 and the Italian coinage of the late ninth century
In early 1860 two late ninth-century coin hoards, both consisting primarily of large-flan Italian deniers, turned up in the eastern Dutch province of Drenthe. The similarity of the two deposits soon l...
works.hcommons.org
November 14, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by David Defries
Will you be in Vienna in mid-December? If so, you can come hear me give the annual IMAFO lecture on editing the East Frankish royal charters! You know you want to... #charterrific
November 13, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by David Defries
Today (Thursday, 13 November, 4.45 p.m.) at Warsaw Late Antique Seminar: Stuart Airlie (University of Glasgow), Body Horror of the Empress and Dark Palaces of the Emperor: Rulers and Resentment c.400-c.1100. In-persona and on Zoom.
November 13, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by David Defries
Oh hey, that's me! Very much looking forward to giving this talk at ITU next week!
Friends! On November 19th at 16:00, in Auditorium 3 at the ITU, we are hosting a talk by Florence Smith Nicholls. The talk is titled How to be a video game archaeologist. You can read about it here: digitalplay.itu.dk/event/floren...
How To Be A Video Game Archaeologist - A talk by Florence Smith Nicholls | Center for Digital Play
How To Be A Video Game Archaeologist - A talk by Florence Smith Nicholls
digitalplay.itu.dk
November 10, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by David Defries
Here is Mahmood Mamdani describing the time in 1965 when the FBI inadvertently introduced him to Karl Marx. This took place in Pittsburgh, and was in response to a SNCC visit to Alabama during which he met Martin Luther King.
November 9, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by David Defries
Omg this is great. The initial reading is so bananas

www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa...
November 6, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Reposted by David Defries
this great article by @debtcollective.bsky.social lays out really clearly what's been on my mind all day: everybody better get real familiar with municipal finance real quick

www.inthered.org/p/zohran-won...
Zohran Won Main Street—Now He Must Face Wall Street
Mamdani will face a looming threat to his progressive agenda: debt
www.inthered.org
November 5, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by David Defries
What historians see when people claim AI is solving mysteries that have baffled historians for years.
just....enjoy this
November 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
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@biblioracle.bsky.social:
“The root challenge of this dilemma is the transactional model of school, which emphasizes the product that can be graded as more important than the experience of learning.” www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Writing Classes Are About Writing, Not AI-Aided Production
If we want students to learn to write, AI tools shouldn’t have much of a role. If we don’t think students need to learn to write anymore, I’m not sure what we’re doing here.
www.insidehighered.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by David Defries
There is a whole series of Italian fakes from this period, and I would very much place this coin alongside them with a large question mark!
November 2, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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A silver coin issued by Duke Grimoald III in southern Italy, c. 788, showing his and Charlemagne's monogram.
November 2, 2025 at 10:03 AM
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Today may be the feast of All Saints, but it is also specifically the feast of Audomar, d. ca. 670. That's Saint Omer to you and me. This is one of those cases where I'd completely failed to reason through the French deletion of superfluous consonants from Latin name to French name...
November 1, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Reposted by David Defries
Some shameless self promotion if anyone happens to be in Chicago and wants a beer and a talk on medieval manuscripts.
October 31, 2025 at 5:43 PM
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The @thinkuhi.bsky.social Institute for Northern Studies is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Judith Jesch as Visiting Professor to the expanding team of research staff at the institute.

institutefornorthernstudies.com/2025/10/30/n...
New Visiting Professor at the UHI Institute for Northern Studies Publishes a New Translation of the Orkneyinga Saga.
The University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Judith Jesch as Visiting Professor to the expanding team of research…
institutefornorthernstudies.com
October 30, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by David Defries
In the wake of its older sibling last month, the 23-meter Gokstad Ship will also be making its 94-meter journey into the new Viking Ship museum today!

www.vikingtidsmuseet.no/english/relo...
October 29, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by David Defries
I'm afraid there's a lot wrong with the expert assessment of this fragment, let alone the claim of supposed uniqueness of finding neums in a late ninth century manuscript that's getting press. Liturgical fragments get sold quite often so auction houses could try a bit harder
Some of the earliest written notes in western musical history discovered in Pennsylvania
Ninth-century manuscript for Easter services remained ‘out of sight’ for years in hands of private collector
www.theguardian.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by David Defries
Assistant Professor of British Medieval and Early Modern Literature (Univ. of Scranton):

#medievalsky #earlymodern

memorients.com/news/assista...
Assistant Professor of British Medieval and Early Modern Literature (Univ. of Scranton) | MEMOs
British Medieval and Early Modern Literature (Univ. of Scranton)
memorients.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Reposted by David Defries
The Snorri Sturluson Icelandic Fellowships invite writers, translators, and scholars in the humanities from around the world to spend at least three months in Iceland. Fellows receive support for travel and living expenses during their stay. Apply by 1 December.

arnastofnun.is/en/snorri-st...
Snorri Sturluson Icelandic Fellowships
Annually The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies invites applications for the Snorri Sturluson Icelandic Fellowships.
arnastofnun.is
October 20, 2025 at 1:13 PM