Dr Rachael Harkes
LightNews LightNews
banner
latemedievalist.bsky.social
Dr Rachael Harkes
@latemedievalist.bsky.social
1.1K followers 450 following 45 posts
Medieval historian | postdoc @mappingthemarch.bsky.social | Interested in processes of decision-making, borders, networks, and digital humanities | Canadian in the UK | she/her
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
latemedievalist.bsky.social
Dr Rachael Harkes @latemedievalist.bsky.social · Nov 6
My book is out today! 🎉 I wrote a blog on what the book is about and why you should read it! blog.royalhistsoc.org/2025/11/06/f...

#skystorians #medievalsky 🗃️
royalhistsoc.org Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · Nov 6
Published today: 'Forging Fraternity in Late Medieval Society. The Palmers' Guild of Ludlow', by Rachael Harkes bit.ly/49CIDzC

Rachael's new book is the latest title in the Society's New Historical Perspectives series. It's now available free Open Access & paperback print @uolpress.bsky.social 1/2
Book cover for: 'Forging Fraternity in Late Medieval Society The Palmers' Guild of Ludlow', by Rachael Harkes
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
hannahelias.bsky.social
Another one for Sheffield-area historians: @royalhistsoc.org is hosting a lecture with Sheffield Hallam’s History Department next week 18 Feb on ‘History and Well-being’ with David Stack. Registration is free, wine reception to follow: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/history-an...
History and Well-Being: a Historian's Perspective
A public lecture as part of the Royal Historical Society's visit to historians at Sheffield Hallam University and University of Sheffield
www.eventbrite.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
mappingthemarch.bsky.social
Research Seminar - 23 Feb, 4pm (Hybrid)

Dr Alastair Ayton
Beyond a Borderland: The March of Wales and its Lords in Thirteenth-Century English Politics

Open to all!
Email mapping-the-march@bristol.ac.uk to register (online or in person).
February 11, 2026 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
mikej1971.bsky.social
Hello! It's two years since Thomas, my gorgeous son, died. Next month, Alison and I, along with around 30 friends and family, will be doing a memory walk in support of Children's Hospice South West. If you could spare a few quid in sponsorship, that would be 😍
www.justgiving.com/page/thomas-...
Thomas Jones Memory Walk for Children's Hospice South West
Help Alison Jones raise money to support Children's Hospice South West
www.justgiving.com
February 10, 2026 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
markhailwood.bsky.social
'I would set off, with some sense of what I might be looking for, and see what I stumbled across...'

Is going for a walk a valid methodology for a historian? And if so, how much theory do you need to read before you start?

Some thoughts in my latest blog post:
manyheadedmonster.com/2026/02/10/i...
Is Walking Research? A Methodological Ramble
Mark HailwoodI needed to try something to get me writing again. Blessed with a period of research leave to resume work on my book – Everyday Life in the Seventeenth Century English Village &#…
manyheadedmonster.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
kfduggan.bsky.social
PLEASE REPOST 🥺🙏

The Canadian Letters & Images Project is an online digital archive of Canadians’ experience during wartime at home & in battle. It contains thousands of personal letters & photos that reveal people’s experience through their own words & eyes.
www.canadianletters.ca/content/abou...
The homepage for the Canadian letters and images project. It shows soldiers posing for a photograph and there is a search bar in the centre. In the about section below, which cannot be seen in this image, it provides this information: The Canadian Letters and Images Project, created in 2000, is an online digital archive of the Canadian war experience, both home front and battlefront, from any conflict in which Canadians have participated. The focus of the project is on the personal materials of participants, such as letters and photographs, which permit us to experience the war through their eyes and their words. These are very often the stories of ordinary Canadians, largely forgotten and overlooked. Our mission is to digitally preserve and continue to make freely accessible this important part of Canada’s heritage for this generation and future generations. The vision of the project is to continue to expand this repository of Canadian archival materials by collaborating with Canadians to preserve and share the individual and collective stories that have shaped our past Accessibility to the past is key to understanding who we are as a nation. We are committed to free access for everyone to the materials of the project.
February 9, 2026 at 5:36 PM
latemedievalist.bsky.social
Last week @mappingthemarch.bsky.social held a launch for my new book and a new book by the brilliant @mattlampitt.bsky.social in the atmospheric crypt of The Mount Without. It was so much fun to celebrate with friends, family, and colleagues who have supported us along the way! #medievalsky #newbook
February 6, 2026 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
elizabethbiggs.bsky.social
I had great fun bringing together material from @virtualtreasury.bsky.social with the England's immigrants database to look at people immigrating to and between England and Ireland in the middle ages.
thenacbs.bsky.social TheNACBS @thenacbs.bsky.social · 25d
“Humans have been on the move to and among these islands for as long as we have records and as far back as we can see in the archaeology.”

In the latest for Broadsides, @elizabethbiggs.bsky.social draws on the England's Immigrants Project to explore medieval migration to England & Ireland.
Medieval Migration
“Humans have been on the move to and among these islands for as long as we have records and as far back as we can see in the archaeology.”
www.nacbs.org
January 23, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
tomhulme.bsky.social
*drum roll*

Here is the cover for my book, which will be published by @cornellupress.bsky.social on 15 April 2026!

I thought it would be nice to share a bit of info on who these men were and how their lives and interests inspired the design...
A book cover, showing the title 'Belfastmen: An Intimate History of Life before Gay Liberation' by Tom Hulme. It is lavender coloured with yellow text, and shows two men sat on a bench, c. 1935.
February 2, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
vch-home.bsky.social
NEW *draft text* from our friends and colleagues @vchgloucester.bsky.social.

The parish of Preston near #Cirencester will form part of volume 16 for Gloucestershire.

All comments, additional information and corrections greatly appreciated. #Skystorians #LocalHistory
Gloucestershire vol. XVI - Cirencester and District
The research for the accounts of the prehistory of the area, the Abbey of Cirencester, the town and parish of Cirencester, Bagendon, Baunton, Daglingworth and Stratton.
www.history.ac.uk
February 2, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
richardasquith.bsky.social
#Historians, #ArtHistorians, and #Manuscript scholars - does anyone have a copy of J.G. Alexander, 'William Abell, Lymnour and fifteenth century English Illuminator’, in Kunstshistoriche Forschungen Otto Pacht Zu Seinem 70 Geburtstag (Salzburg, 1972), that they might be able to share with me? TIA! 📖
Detail of the fifteenth-century drawings of the deathbed of Richard Whittington, sometimes (but not always) attributed to the limnour William Abell.
January 29, 2026 at 10:47 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
abbiefray.bsky.social
The journal and conference #CFP for Volume 13 of Ceræ is now open!
Please share widely and spread the word to anyone who might be interested.
#medievalsky #earlymodernsky
ceraejournal.bsky.social Ceræ @ceraejournal.bsky.social · 21d
2026 Ceræ Call For Papers

We are pleased to announce that the theme for Volume 13 of Ceræ, as well as for our 3rd annual online Conference, is Fame and Fortune. We invite submissions to both the conference and the journal on this theme. Fame and fortune are slippery things. They can be welcome or…
2026 Ceræ Call For Papers
We are pleased to announce that the theme for Volume 13 of Ceræ, as well as for our 3rd annual online Conference, is Fame and Fortune. We invite submissions to both the conference and the journal on this theme. Fame and fortune are slippery things. They can be welcome or ironic, tangible or out of reach. Fame could be the due of the martyred saint; fortune could be a punishment, as when the hapless cleric in the Marian 
ceraejournal.com
January 28, 2026 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
thegozfather.bsky.social
Booking is now open for my @tudorstuartseminar.bsky.social talk on 16 February, examining Elizabethan Law and Litigation in light of the new catalogue descriptions available on The National Archives online catalogue. www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
Law and Litigation in the reign of Elizabeth I: new descriptions, new perspectives
www.history.ac.uk
January 14, 2026 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
arodsan95.bsky.social
Less then two weeks left for this CFP!!

Come and join us in London for an exciting research exchange on movements in late medieval and early modern cities. We are looking forward to getting to know about your work! 🤗🤗

#medievalsky #skystorians #callforpapers #medieval #earlymodern #history
January 19, 2026 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
gwentarchives.bsky.social
Bydd yn digwydd yn Archifau Gwent a gallwch gadw lle trwy enquiries@gwentarchives.gov.uk
~~
Taking place at Gwent Archives, you can book your place at enquiries@gwentarchives.gov.uk
January 16, 2026 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
onslies.bsky.social
Come & learn all things #LowCountries @ihr.bsky.social this term! We've got lace! We've got the future! We've got disability history! We've got divergence! We've got museums! Everything happens in the #LowCountries!

Fridays, 17:30, in person & on zoom: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #SkyStorians
IHR Low Countries programme 30 January David Hopkin: Christ in the Flemish Lace Schools: Craft, Gender and Religion 13 February Jeroen Puttevils: Back to the Future: What can we Learn about Future Thinking from Late Medieval and Early Modern Merchant Correspondences from the Low Countries 27 February Feike Dietz: Blindness, Writing and Knowing: Visually Impaired Female Authors in the Netherlands (1770-1840) 13 March Sam Geens: Reassessing the Little Divergence: Evidence from the Medieval Southern Low Countries 22 May Valika Smeulders: The Rijksmuseum: New Horizons
January 15, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
durhamhistory.bsky.social
Talitha Ilacqua has won the Society for the Study of French History Book Prize for her book *Inventing the Modern Region: Basque Identity and the French Nation-State* (MUP, 2024). Congratulations!!

frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/prizes/winne...

@manchesterup.bsky.social
@frenchhistory.bsky.social
Winners of the SSFH Book Prize – SSFH
frenchhistorysociety.co.uk
January 14, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
mappingthemarch.bsky.social
Some of you may be interested in BALH’s series of online talks in partnership with the Historic Towns Trust.

Prof Helen Fulton will be talking about medieval Brecon on Tuesday 31 March at 7.00pm.

Click here for further details and registration: www.balh.org.uk/events
Forthcoming Local History Events | British Association For Local History
www.balh.org.uk
January 14, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
chppc.bsky.social
New year - new #history experiences and discovery! Join us for one of our new @ihr.bsky.social Discovery Courses. Learning, enrichment and inspiration - all welcome! 2 days teaching + 1 optional add-on day of guided research time @ihrlibrary.bsky.social. Info: www.history.ac.uk/study-traini...
Three Discovery Courses on Historic Maps: Interpreting Stories of Place Townscape and Architecture in History Archaeology for Local History: Living in a Material World https://www.history.ac.uk/study-training/research-training-short-courses
January 7, 2026 at 3:12 PM
latemedievalist.bsky.social
Two new books on the Welsh Marches! Come celebrate with me and @mattlampitt.bsky.social 🎉
mappingthemarch.bsky.social Mapping the March: Medieval Wales and England, c.1282-1550 @mappingthemarch.bsky.social · Jan 7
Double book launch 📚

Celebrating new books by @latemedievalist.bsky.social and @mattlampitt.bsky.social, with introductions by Professor Christian Liddy & Professor Miranda Griffin.

Food and drinks provided.

🗓 26 Jan 2026, 5–7pm
📍 The Mount Without, The Crypt, Bristol

All welcome to attend!
Poster showing the details of the book launch event with a gradient green background, with each book cover featured in the centre of the page
January 7, 2026 at 12:23 PM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
hannah-boston.bsky.social
Delighted to bring you the programme for the third Medieval Loyalty Workshop, online on 24th January, under the command of the terrific @katybennett.bsky.social and @mediev-el.bsky.social

All are very welcome!

Details here: medievalloyalty.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2026/01/06/t...
 The 3rd Medieval Loyalty Research Network Workshop, 24th January 2026  – Loyalty in the Medieval World
medievalloyalty.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk
January 6, 2026 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
boydellandbrewer.bsky.social
Explore the history of Bangor Cathedral and hear from Dr Shaun McGuinness, editor of Bangor Episcopal Acta, 1092-1306, in this BBC Sounds episode to celebrate the cathedral's 1500 anniversary. 🎧 Listen here:
Bangor Cathedral at 1,500 - BBC Sounds
Dr Erin Lloyd Jones explores 1,500 years of history at Bangor Cathedral.
buff.ly
December 19, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
abbiefray.bsky.social
One month left to submit your abstracts for Fissures: Gender and Political Crisis, @pembroke1347.bsky.social (17–18 Sept 2026).

See the full #CFP below.

#Fissures2026 #medievalsky #skystorians #medieval #GenderHistory #PoliticalHistory
CFP: Fissures: Gender and Political Crisis. Pembroke College, Cambridge, 17–18 Sept 2026. Abstracts due 16 Jan 2026.
December 16, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
chppc.bsky.social
Join us in 2026 for our new @ihr.bsky.social Discovery Courses!
- Historic Maps: Interpreting Stories of Place
- Townscape & Architecture in History
- Archaeology for (Local) History
Each 2 days + optional free extra day of guided research @ihrlibrary.bsky.social.
www.history.ac.uk/study-traini...
https://www.history.ac.uk/study-training/research-training-short-courses
December 15, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Dr Rachael Harkes
uobartsmatter.bsky.social
✍️🗻 Dr @stevedehailes.bsky.social (@bristolunienglish.bsky.social) tells us about his Medieval Mountain AHRC project which seeks to raise awareness of our historical relationship to mountains & our continued role in their preservation

Read more about the project 👉 brnw.ch/21wXUsn
November 28, 2025 at 3:27 PM