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Early Medievalist
@earlymedievalist.bsky.social
Tim Clarkson. PhD, FRHistS. Historian and author.
Early medieval history and archaeology.
See my books at http://senchus.wordpress.com/my-books/
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The harbourmaster's office in the lovely village of St Abbs in the Scottish Borders. The name has ancient origins. In 635 a Northumbrian Princess who later became St Aebbe founded a monastery close to what is now St Abbs Head. More pics and info: www.undiscoveredscot...

#Scotland #ScottishBorders
December 1, 2025 at 5:01 PM
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Some of our funding schemes will close for submissions this Friday (5/12)! Whether you're thinking of doing fieldwork, organising a conference or workshop, or could use financial support in attending a relevant event, make sure to get your application in!
SSNS has now reopened its funding schemes, offering grants to eligible students and scholars at any stage in their career.

Our grants support fieldwork and publications, events, and travel costs. Deadlines in Dec and Jan.

For more details, see www.ssns.org.uk/funding/
December 1, 2025 at 9:29 AM
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Offline, I've been asked why the Dark Ages isn't an appropriate term for the Early Medieval period. Bottom line, you'd be hard pressed to make something as stunning as the Alfred Jewel if you couldn't see what you were doing. End of. www.ashmolean.org/alfred-jewel
ALFRED JEWEL
The Alfred Jewel is a masterpiece of goldsmith's work formed around a tear-shaped slice of rock crystal. Its inscription: AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN – 'Alfred ordered me to be made’ – connects the jewe...
www.ashmolean.org
November 30, 2025 at 3:40 PM
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Alright which one of you dumped a bunch of good stuff at your local used bookstore
December 1, 2025 at 5:33 PM
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Our next seminar is tomorrow - 2nd December with the superb @archaeonado.bsky.social on his recent research into Whithorn

6pm in the Sydney Smith Lecture Theatre
Me, tomorrow!

How to (re)build an early medieval church: new light on the Whithorn ‘minster’ and shrine

@firstmillennia.bsky.social 18:00, Tuesday 2 Dec
Sydney Smith Lecture Theatre, University of Edinburgh, Old Medical School, Teviot Place (enter via doorway 1)
December 1, 2025 at 12:14 PM
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www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Little-Kingd...

My third book, LITTLE KINGDOMS: AN A-Z OF EARLY MEDIEVAL BRITAIN, is now out

I couldn’t find a better way of explaining it than the old thread I made - so here it is preserved in amber! Happy reading! 🧵
December 1, 2025 at 2:43 PM
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Me, tomorrow!

How to (re)build an early medieval church: new light on the Whithorn ‘minster’ and shrine

@firstmillennia.bsky.social 18:00, Tuesday 2 Dec
Sydney Smith Lecture Theatre, University of Edinburgh, Old Medical School, Teviot Place (enter via doorway 1)
December 1, 2025 at 11:15 AM
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An exciting moment last week meeting the @rialibrary.bsky.social Cathach manuscript (MS 12 R 33)! Dated c. 560-600 CE and traditionally ascribed to St Colmcille, the manuscript is Ireland’s oldest surviving copy of the Latin Psalter 📜🎉
December 1, 2025 at 2:15 PM
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I'm asking for a moratorium on cool stuff to read until I've made it through my backlog, this looks great
December 1, 2025 at 4:36 PM
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Just in: the first review of my edited collection, Pre-Conquest History and its Medieval Reception: Writing England's Past. The reviewer states 'the variety of approaches and diverse materials discussed in this collection spark exciting possibilities and avenues for future research'. Perfect! (1/2)
November 28, 2025 at 5:48 AM
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📚 The Viking Age in Scotland: Studies in Scottish Scandinavian Archaeology 📚

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Get FIFTY PERCENT off:

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November 28, 2025 at 1:56 PM
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The brilliant Prof. Alex Woolf @standrewshist.bsky.social is back on the podcast to tell us what the Scandinavian diaspora got up to in the Middle Ages & why 'The Vikings' is a problematic concept. @maynoothuniversity.ie @researchireland.ie @tiagoovsilva.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/3ljZ...
Spotify – Web Player
open.spotify.com
November 28, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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Just out!

As @sarahsemple.bsky.social says, '544 pages and 190 images of pure sculptural joy!'

A fantastic cast list and a tremendous achievement @ascorpus.bsky.social.

boydellandbrewer.com/book/early-m...
November 26, 2025 at 8:18 PM
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Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid, styled king of all Ireland in his obituary, died #OTD in 862. In 856, he had battled ‘heathens’ with the help of the Gallgoídil, ‘foreigner-Gaels’, a group thought to have been of mixed Scandinavian and Gaelic origin in both Scotland and Ireland. #medievalsky
November 27, 2025 at 9:04 AM
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Happening today! Still time to sign up!

It it helps, I can promise that a picture of a walrus will feature in the presentation.
We are really pleased with the response to our second Public Seminar for this week. Still time to book your free place. Families, Networks and Informants: The Making of Orkneyinga Saga by Tom Fairfax. Thursday 27th November 2025. 7.00pm - 8.30pm UK time.

tinyurl.com/s9fc3nyx
November 27, 2025 at 1:03 PM
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Fellows of the Society are elected for their 'original contribution to historical scholarship'.

Our new guide provides more on the many ways Fellows achieve this - with activities going well beyond publications bit.ly/48mpcJa We welcome Fellowship applications from historians of all kinds 1/2
November 27, 2025 at 12:46 PM
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@lollardfish.bsky.social has set in motion a positive social media trend urging authors to advertise their own book! too often it can feel like we do this too much, but perhaps it is never enough

Anyway, my new book! www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Little-Kingd...
Little Kingdoms
Before England, Wales, and Scotland were created, before Alfred the Great and the Great Viking Army, before even a raid on Lindisfarne, the kingdoms that…
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 7:24 AM
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Reposted by Early Medievalist
Delighted that our co-authored paper on Woodstown is in good company in the new Journal of Irish Archaeology! Thanks to Dr Kerri Cleary, Wordwell & @iaiarchaeo.bsky.social

It details what the recent geophysical surveys have revealed about Woodstown ... including *spoiler alert* 61 structures!
November 27, 2025 at 2:22 PM
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Professor Alex Sanmark & PhD candidate Peter Randall presented their research supported by students from Viking and Early Medieval Studies at the Scottish Society for Northern Studies Day Conference.

tinyurl.com/5h2ry4wr
INS Researchers Highlight Research at the Exciting SSNS 2025 Conference!
Staff and students from the University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies gathered at the Scottish Society for Northern Studies Day Conference in Arbroath on 22nd November …
institutefornorthernstudies.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:46 PM
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For anyone interested in vikings: a symposium on the impact of the viking Great Army, to be held at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on 24 April 2026.
November 27, 2025 at 3:29 PM
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Wow! @lollardfish.bsky.social & @profgabriele.com going all in on a new study using pollen to document biodiversity at & around the Abbey of St Gall in the Carolingian Age. buttondown.com/ModernMediev... #MedievalSky #interdisciplinarity
Carolingian Biodiversity
How Interdisciplinary Can and Should Work
buttondown.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:43 PM
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Today's knowledge commons free download "Vikings' Settlements in Ireland Before 1014" (2014) #ireland #vikings #medievalsky #history #archaeology
works.hcommons.org/records/4ae7...
November 24, 2025 at 10:28 PM
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🗣📹📼 Watch the recordings of Prof. Steve's Dalrymple Lectures!

Either click FOLLOW THIS LINK here:

www.gla.ac.uk/schools/huma...

Or, this link should take you to the recordings of both lectures:

echo360.org.uk/section/e305...
November 25, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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Máel Coluim (II) mac Cinaeda, king of Alba, died at Glamis, Angus, #OTD in 1034. He slew predecessor Cinaed (III) mac Duib at Monzievaird, Perthshire, in 1005, and, with Owain the Bald, king of Strat Clut (Strathclyde), crushed a Northumbrian army at the Battle of Carham in 1018. #medievalsky
November 25, 2025 at 8:57 AM