John Theibault
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John Theibault
@jtheibault.bsky.social
Thirty Years War. Digital Humanities. Other Stuff.
Reposted by John Theibault
4.1.1626
Tilly / beiderseits streifendes Kriegsvolk / Dänische überfallen Städtlein Elbaren in Braunschweig / 120 Kaiserl. darin niedergehauen / Rittmeister Planckart mit Weib und Kind gefangen

aus:
brema.suub.uni-bremen.de/zeitungen17/...
January 4, 2026 at 10:12 AM
Finally made it to the Monet and Venice exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. Very enjoyable.
But it prompted a random line of thought. The catalog identifies all 37 paintings by Monet depicting Venice, 29 exhibited in 1912 and 8 not exhibited but sold later. It includes the first purchaser. 1/2
January 3, 2026 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
I think this is the best take on the Hankins business. There's a certain brand of conservative academic that has bought into the culture-wars myth, even though the real threat to higher education never came from the "woke left."
The politics here are reprehensible but also really sad. He was a great scholar once. He had philological skills that no one has anymore. There are very few people who could produce that kind of work today. And to some extent, that's what this is about. He's mad that our field lost its former status
The reason this Harvard history professor decided he was done with one of the best and most privileged jobs in the world was, in his own words, because he was forced to lecture in a mask during peak Covid.

I’m not making this up.
December 31, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
Dänisches Quartier bei Hannover, 28. Dec 1625
Dem Herzog von Weimar (der jüngst mit 9.000 Mann ausgezogen) ist ein Braunschweiger Obrist mit noch 12.000 gefolgt, um den Tilly anzugreifen.
Da Tilly aber nach Hessen passiert, haben sie ihn nicht angetroffen. ... 1/2
December 30, 2025 at 8:26 AM
There was a pretty big centennial commemoration of Luther's 95 Theses in 1617, but I have always been struck that the centennial of the Peasants War also received a lot of attention (while peasants were revolting in Upper Austria).
And here is the #earlymodern broadside with the likely - about one hundred years later - incorrectly remembered #earlymodern fighter detail, printed in 1627 Augsburg, in full glory:
December 28, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
Should you trust a historian to do surveys? No you should not.
December 24, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
One small reason it’s too bad we live in such degraded times is that there’s quite a lot of potential for good-natured and well-informed interdisciplinary paintball about the nonsense other departments get up to; but of course instead we all have to suffer gobshite fascism à la romanhelmetguy.
December 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
Merry Christmas and Happy Thirty Years War!
December 24, 2025 at 9:25 AM
It's a bit frustrating that I can no longer access the wonderful collection of local letters from the Werra region that was put online several years ago: thirty-years-war-online.projekte.thulb.uni-jena.de/quellen/briefe

I wanted to check their dates in relation to this period of occupation.
Briefe
thirty-years-war-online.projekte.thulb.uni-jena.de
December 23, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
Bremen, 23. Dec 1625
Obwohl die Gesandten Kursachsen und Brandenburg sich sehr um einen Frieden bemühen, wollen die Niedersachsen sich nicht einlassen - vor allem der Herzog von Braunschweig, dessen Land fast alles verwüstet! ...1/3
December 23, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by John Theibault
Hessen, 23. Dec 1625
* Obrist Plarer Regiment ins Stift Hirschfeld
* Gerüchte, Dänemarker will seine Armee Schweden überlassen
* Mansfeld, Christian und Styrum sollen eine Armee gegen Wallenstein zusammenbringen ... 1/2
December 23, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by John Theibault
In the late 1970s, Carolyn Lougee of Stanford was doing early digital history work, creating a database of her research.

In 1980, Stanford's IT dept *erased* her database. #Oops. And they couldn't restore it.

(how do I know this? from a paper archive at Stanford. don't just worship the digital!) 🗃️
Also, the impermanence of the digital really bothers me. Sure, paper burns and libraries and archives are susceptible to fire, water, and neglect. BUT so much of the early Internet is gone and we're supposed to just ignore that.

We must continue to use analog communication alongside digital.
December 22, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
Eisenach, 21. Dec 1625
Truppenbewegungen Miel, Bischoferoda, Neukirchen, Lupnitz, Dörfer ... 50 Pferde an Eisenach vorüber, die Degen bloß, ein Heerwagen ohne Deck dabei, nach Margksula über Nacht, Rtg Stift Würzburg übern Harz gezogen, führen keine Fähnlein mit sich, ... 1/2
December 22, 2025 at 9:10 AM
I saw Hike and Tina Turner once. Tina sang River Deep -- Mountain High while Hike pulled out the route map to figure out how far they had left to go.
I saw Mike and Tina Turner once. Tina performed all her great hits while Mike didn't do much at all; later on, he was replaced by a St Bernard called Shnorbitz.
I saw Pike and Tina Turner once. Tina was belting out Simply The Best while Pike just stood there as some guy in a captain's uniform kept muttering, "you stupid boy."
December 22, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
Hessen, 21. Dec 1625
Der hessische Kanzler und Hofmeister hat nicht vie lausrichten können beim Obristen Paurier / Stift Hirschfeld / Regiment nur 400 stark / 1 Trompeter zum General Tilly gesandt / General Fridland [Wallenstein] von Landgraf Moritz abermals Quartier ...
December 21, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by John Theibault
If this is already the normal procedure everywhere, i.e. a google scholar import, universities’ library catalogues will be useless tomorrow.
When viewing the fake article in Google scholar on my university network, there is a link to access the article via my uni's library. That link sends me to a library page that makes fake article appear real... Turns out library page is made programmatically from info on Google scholar 🤦
December 21, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Unless I just hallucinated it, we actually read R.U.R. in my high school English class and covered that point. Did anyone else? I only now marveled at how they decided to have us read that.
(As a historian of early modern rural society I'm familiar with the earlier usage of the word robot.)
You all knew this? Embarrassingly I had no idea that the term 'robot' was so recent. Apparently it comes from the word robota, which means serf labour.
December 21, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
Our tribute to Natalie Zemon Davis, in the Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte. Please share widely!

www.degruyterbrill.com/journal/key/...
Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte - Archive for Reformation History Volume 116 Issue 1
Volume 116, issue 1 of the journal Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte - Archive for Reformation History was published in 2025.
www.degruyterbrill.com
December 20, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by John Theibault
Le déclin progressif de l'histoire régionale, qui avait pourtant été l'occasion d'une relative conjonction entre un public, des archives accessibles et des auteurs... avec le risque qu'un changement d'échelle (non plus l'Oberpfalz, mais par exemple la Bavière) n'y change rien.
Traurige Nachrichten aus der #Oberpfalz. Wieder wird ein heimatgeschichtliches Publikationsorgan eingestellt, wobei mehr nach als der Rückgang der Abonnement der Rückgang an Autorinnen und Autoren angeführt wird.
#Bayern #Landesgeschichte
December 20, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Reposted by John Theibault
Traurige Nachrichten aus der #Oberpfalz. Wieder wird ein heimatgeschichtliches Publikationsorgan eingestellt, wobei mehr nach als der Rückgang der Abonnement der Rückgang an Autorinnen und Autoren angeführt wird.
#Bayern #Landesgeschichte
December 20, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by John Theibault
For anyone interested in war and gender, check out the MKGD's Early Career Researcher initiative at mkgd.hypotheses.org/early-career...
Early Career Initiative
MKGD Early Career Initiative     Masters’ students, PhD candidates, recent PhDs, and PostDocs The role of gender and diversity in warfare and the military is currently being debated in an emerging int...
mkgd.hypotheses.org
December 18, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by John Theibault
Very happy to introduce a new tool, BookReconciler!

You can take spreadsheets with book data and add subject headings, descriptions, ISBNs, HathiTrust IDs, & more. You can also cluster editions & variations of the same "Work."

Led by @thisismattmiller.com and supported by @post45data.bsky.social.
December 17, 2025 at 9:37 PM
fyi Lisa
I love the fucking internet, part 972964386: "One Night In Bangkok" arranged and performed as a 16th century chanson. youtu.be/i3jHv0GZB9U?...
One Night in Bangkok but it's a 16th century chanson
YouTube video by Jonasquin
youtu.be
December 18, 2025 at 1:36 PM
A nice tribute thread.
I thought I’d start posting with a little story about a colleague and his research. (Warning: a long thread ensues) (1/14)
December 17, 2025 at 10:50 PM