Dorothea Preis
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doropreis.bsky.social
Dorothea Preis
@doropreis.bsky.social
Interested in history, particularly medieval history, and baking bread. Have lived in Germany, the UK, and now in Australia. MA University of Bonn.
Waiting impatiently for my copy of the Ricardian Bulletin to arrive at this side of the world. I knew what Jane Austen said about Richard III, but didn't know about the connection to Horace Walpole.
For the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth I couldn't resist sharing her observations on Richard III - we're all familiar with how Horace Walpole's 'Castle of Otranto' led to 'Northanger Abbey' but it seems his 'Historic Doubts' were discussed in the Austen household too.
The December Ricardian Bulletin, the Richard III Society's magazine for members, is on its way! Articles include 'The Indispensible Isabelle Despenser', & a research update on the Battle of Wakefield, challenging the traditional story of Richard, Duke of York's final hours.
December 4, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
There is still room in the Zoom talk this Saturday by Joe Robey on 'The Black Death 1348-9' for members of the Richard III Society. Joe Robey will give an introduction to the Black Death and the doctors who tried to fight it. Check your emails for details on how to sign up.
December 4, 2025 at 3:13 AM
On this day in 1154, a monk from St Albans Abbey, Nicholas Breakspear, was elected as pope. He chose the name Adrian IV. To date he has been the only English pope.
dottietales.wordpress.com/2015/12/04/n...
Nicholas Breakspear
An English Pope – Nicholas Breakspear chosen as pontiff On 4 December 1154, a new pope was elected, following the death of pope Anastasius IV.  The choice fell on Nicholas Breakspear, so far …
dottietales.wordpress.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
Niño durmiendo en la barca, Joaquin Sorolla, 1895
December 3, 2025 at 5:24 PM
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This deed of King Richard III from January 1485 came to us on deposit earlier this year. It's granting Sir James Tyrell (yes, that one!) the Lieutenancy of Guines Castle in the Marches of Calais. This meant he didn't take part in the Battle of Bosworth. #EYAMedieval
@exploreyourarchive.bsky.social
December 1, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
A woman teaching a child to stand. c.1635-1637
Rembrandt

Just beautiful.

(British Museum)
November 29, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Finally listened to the recording of this fascinating talk. Thank you, @richardasquith.bsky.social! And thank you to ‪@richardiiisociety.bsky.social‬ for the recording. It means I don't have to get up in the middle of the night!
Our thanks to @richardasquith.bsky.social for a fascinating talk. Members of the Richard III Society who missed it will have a chance to view a recording for a limited time.
November 29, 2025 at 3:35 AM
In 1423, Abbot Wheathampstead of St Albans and his fellow travellers stayed for 7 weeks in Cologne. They arrived in late November, and left again mid-January. A speculative post about their adventures in “holy Cologne”.
dottietales.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/a...
Abbot John of Wheathampstead visits Cologne
As we have seen in my last post, John of Wheathampstead, abbot of St Albans, travelled in 1423/24 to Italy to attend the Council of Pavia/Siena and to visit the Pope.  Both on his way to Italy and …
dottietales.wordpress.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:31 AM
After a short excursion into ebooks, I am very much back to printed ones. It's so much easier to page back to something you read earlier and didn't pay much attention to.
Should we ‘get over’ print books in the digital age – or are they more precious than ever?
theconversation.com/should-we-ge...
Should we ‘get over’ print books in the digital age – or are they more precious than ever?
Print books embody culture. We see it in social media trends for annotating books, community publishing and wartime destruction of books spanning the Nazis to Gaza.
theconversation.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:41 PM
An oak mantelpiece, which had once stood in More Hall, Brookmans Park, was found again in November 2019. Find out more about its former home and its history in a post from the archives. dottietales.wordpress.com/2023/02/16/m...
More on More Hall, Brookmans Park, Herts
A short post on More Hall, which once belonged to the family of Sir Thomas More.
dottietales.wordpress.com
November 21, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
The Times is at it again this week, insisting we disturb historical graves 'because DNA'. Here's me complaining back in 2015 about the same issue #richardiii

www.historicalreputation.au/the-princes-...
The Princes in the Urn: Why it’s Time to Let Go of the Westminster Abbey Myth
www.historicalreputation.au
November 18, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
A few photos from Godstow Abbey yesterday! Now in ruin, Godstow Abbey was founded in around 1115 by Ediva of Winchester. Rosamund Clifford is buried nearby, though the exact location of her grave is unknown.
November 17, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
Are you interested in the roads and bridges of #medieval England and Wales? In our latest #blogpost, Dr David Harrison discusses his fascinating new map that provides crucial insights into the road network as it existed in the 15th century yorkisthistorytrust.org/2025/11/10/a... #Skystorians
A Road Map of the Yorkist Age
The Trust On…A Road Map of the Yorkist Age In a slight departure from our normal blogposts, here we present a guest post: Dr David Harrison discussing his fascinating new publication, Histori…
yorkisthistorytrust.org
November 10, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
Members of the Richard III Society will be pleased to know that there are places available for the talk by @richardasquith.bsky.social on 'Death of a Yorkist Mayor: Executing the Will of Sir Ralph Verney (d. 1478)' This zoom meeting is on 22 November. Check your email for details on how to register.
November 17, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
Just added an article I wrote back in 2022 after watching Netflix's new adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion. With Netflix's new 'progressive' Pride and Prejudice coming up, I am still asking the same questions (and of course Shakespeare gets a mention)
From ‘Pride and Prejudice’ to ‘Persuasion’: Can Jane Austen Survive the Millennium?
www.historicalreputation.au
November 17, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Today we remember William Bingham, the founder of God’s House in Cambridge, who died on 17 November 1451. The college is regarded as “the first secondary school training college in England. dottietales.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/w...
William Bingham
William Bingham – the founder of God’s House, “the first secondary school training college in England” While researching something completely different, I made the acquaintance of…
dottietales.wordpress.com
November 16, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
"Why are we all so pleased about digging up a king? Perhaps because the present is paying some of the debt it owes to the past, and science has come to the aid of history."
Hilary Mantel on the finding of Richard III
Here's Hilary Mantel , writing in the London Review of Books, 21 February 2013: Royal bodies do change after death, and not just as a conseq...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:14 PM
On 12 November 1949, the Kennedy Bridge in Bonn was officially opened. It replaced a 19th-century bridge, which had been destroyed during WWII. dottietales.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/b...
Bonn’s bridges across the Rhine
Bonn’s bridges across the Rhine – Connecting Bonn to its eastern neighbours Bonn is situated on the western side of the river Rhine.  Understandably, a way to cross the river has been importa…
dottietales.wordpress.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:50 PM
11 November is St Martin’s Day. In Bonn, you can find a series of 4 bronze reliefs by artist Ernemann Sander telling the saint’s story. dottietales.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/s...
St Martin in Bonn
St Martin in Bonn – Ernemann Sander tells the story of the saint in reliefs at the Bonn Minster  This time of the year brings a lot of memories of my childhood.  11 November is St Martin’s Da…
dottietales.wordpress.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:16 PM
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November 7, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
New open access (free to download) monograph published in New Historical Perspectives series. #Skystorians
Forging Fraternity in Late Medieval Society - University of London Press
Forging Fraternity in Late Medieval Society is an ambitious and innovative study of the social, political and religious histories of medieval England and Wales. Using the Palmers’ Guild of Ludlow as a...
uolpress.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
In this week’s Miscellanies: how #medieval scribes balanced the books.

📬 Sign up for our newsletter at mailchi.mp/historytoday... and we’ll send you the article on Thursday.
November 3, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Tonight's supermoon. As luck would have it, the whole day, the sky was completely clear, and then in the evening, some clouds came up.
November 5, 2025 at 11:10 AM
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I am delighted to announce that my co-authored article on Mamluk maqamas on #BlackDeath has just been published in a lovely special issue of JAIS. journals.uio.no/JAIS/article...
#plague #MedievalSky #GlobalMiddleAges #EnvironmentalHistory #histmed 1/2
Mamluk Maqāmas on the Black Death | Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies
journals.uio.no
November 4, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Dorothea Preis
No hurry.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
November 3, 2025 at 8:46 PM