Michael Pearce
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michaelpearce.bsky.social
Michael Pearce
@michaelpearce.bsky.social
3.1K followers 2.2K following 620 posts
History, Scotland. Probably writing about material culture, costume, household accounts, letters, recipe books, and the fine grain detail of Scottish royal revenue.
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michaelpearce.bsky.social
Michael Pearce @michaelpearce.bsky.social · 9d
The new Miscellany of the Scottish History Society XVII is out! I am grateful to the editors for this opportunity to write about the fat goods of Mary, Queen of Scots
Reposted by Michael Pearce
mikethemadbiol.bsky.social
this happens all the time with science and actual technology stories: reporters on the non-technical/science beats don't even know the basics, so they can't challenge the assumptions.
jwmason.bsky.social JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 19h
This would have been a good point for someone to have asked, is that really how things work? Or is vacuum in fact an excellent insulator? www.ft.com/content/a5cf...
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://help.ft.com/faq/gifting-and-sharing-an-article/what-is-a-gift-article/. https://www.ft.com/content/a5cf86ec-47cb-448f-b4a3-56ca6390ad8e Elon Musk is betting that AI’s future lies not on Earth, but in orbit — a claim he has put at the centre of his $1.25tn plan to merge SpaceX with his lossmaking start-up xAI. The tech billionaire, who aims to launch an initial public offering for the newly combined company this year, argues that vast fleets of satellites powered by solar energy and cooled by the vacuum of space will become the cheapest way to generate AI computing power. Musk believes this will happen within the next three years.
February 10, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
peterpaulrubens.bsky.social
Lots of early modern ‘hunting’ was basically theatre: here, hunt at Chatelet d’Aranjuez, painted by Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo, whose day is today.
February 10, 2026 at 4:45 PM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
The progresses of Mary, Queen of Scots, (1561-1565) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progres...
Progresses of Mary, Queen of Scots - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
February 9, 2026 at 11:07 PM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
Apparently, this carved stone with a castle at Inch House was brought from Bridgend Farmhouse in the 19th-century. Picture from the Inch House Community Centre facebook page
February 8, 2026 at 10:39 PM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
20 May 1619, Whitehall Palace, porcelain, Pericles, and the late queen's music: to the Queenes pryvy chamber, where French singinge was by the queenes musitians: after in the queenes bedd chamber, they hearde the Irish harpp, a violl, and Mr Lanyer, excellently singinge & playing on the lute
TNA SP 14/109 f.100, quoted David M. Bergeron, The Duke of Lennox (Edinburgh, 2020), p. 190. The harper was Donell Dubh Ó Cathail, or Daniel O'Cahill.
February 8, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
lilgemgem.bsky.social
This amused me greatly 😂 especially the fox painting 😂

Thank yoooo @cheekybudgie.bsky.social
February 7, 2026 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
katekane1542.bsky.social
Photos from the NLS of ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ and her ‘Four Maries’ at the Scottish Historical Pageant at Craigmillar Castle in 1927.
Photos from the album of Effie M. Brown stored at the NLS
February 6, 2026 at 1:03 PM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
'Item to a man in France callit Nicolas ?Langlois for the defuncts sones buird fourtie franks extending in Scottis money to xxx li', will of John Hunter, merchant in Flemish goods and French canvas, 1581, CC8/8/9 p. 176.
February 3, 2026 at 11:38 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
jillharrison1.bsky.social
Just received copies of our Anselm book, thank you Brepols!
Thanks too to co-editors and authors who made it such a great experience-can't wait to start on the next one. Suggestions please.
February 2, 2026 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
ystadaucymru.bsky.social
New blog by our MA student Issy Marston on Lady Margaret Verney née Hay-Williams (1844-1930), researched as part of our ‘Reinterpreting the Country House’ module @bangorhistory.bsky.social

www.bangor.ac.uk/iswe/news/la...
Lady Margaret Verney | Bangor University
www.bangor.ac.uk
February 3, 2026 at 8:52 PM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
Sleeve detail from a Flemish crucifixion, eBay: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30671424...
February 3, 2026 at 4:34 PM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
Russian diplomatic gifts of fur for Philip & Mary looted from a shipwreck at Pitsligo in December 1556, from Richard Hakluyt, Principall Navigations, p. 325: archive.org/details/cihm...
February 3, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
elenarossi.bsky.social
Need some help accessing medieval documents? I am available for freelance work in archives!

I have extensive experience transcribing medieval documents in Latin, Middle French, Middle English and Italian from 1200 to 1500.
February 2, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
brodiewaddell.bsky.social
‘Tasting History: Researching and Experiencing the Development of the Cheese Trade’, with @cheesetastingco.bsky.social and @cheeseandpeople.bsky.social, hosted by Birkbeck's Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Feb 24th!

Register here: www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...
Tasting History Researching and Experiencing the Development of the Cheese Trade Keynes Library, Gordon Square Tuesday 24 February 2026 1500-1730 This interactive, experiential event will include a discussion with Ned Palmer, author of A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles, and Alasdair McNeill, a Birkbeck doctoral student researching the early modern cheese trade. It will be accompanied by a free tasting of six historic cheeses. Ned will introduce each cheese by placing it in its historical context, and the tastings will be interspersed with a conversation between Ned and Alasdair about the development of the trade and its importance to broader histories of commercialisation, labour relations, and women’s social and economic role. They will also discuss the value, and limits, of experiential food studies. How can the history of cheese – from milking to mongering – illuminate the role of ordinary women and men in their local communities and wider society? How can producing and tasting historic foods help us understand their histories?
February 3, 2026 at 10:23 AM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
A Harbour Scene attributed to William Smeall, Edinburgh City Art Centre
February 2, 2026 at 11:05 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
curatorkate.bsky.social
Inside the incredible Skelmorlie Aisle, Largs, North Ayrshire. Commissioned in 1636 by Sir Robert Montgomerie & Dame Margaret Douglas, it was a private chapel and burial place. The main church was demolished in the C19 but the aisle survived - and thank goodness, because it’s an absolute gem! 😍
February 2, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
stuartsymposium.bsky.social
We are absolutely thrilled to share our Draft Programme for the Late Stuart Court Symposium - We have an amazing lineup of speakers!

If you are interested in joining us in-person or online, sign up now using our Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1980806533...
February 2, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
pengzell.bsky.social
Being interdisciplinary mostly means everyone agrees your work is interesting but not for their journal.
February 2, 2026 at 10:39 AM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
Morrison's Haven
February 1, 2026 at 11:27 PM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
The new Miscellany of the Scottish History Society XVII is out! I am grateful to the editors for this opportunity to write about the fat goods of Mary, Queen of Scots
February 1, 2026 at 1:48 PM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
A jewel auctioned at Edinburgh’s Mercat Cross in 1599
vanishedcomforts.org/2026/01/31/a...
A jewel auction at Edinburgh’s Mercat Cross in 1599
In Edinburgh, a court of baillies met regularly to hear complaints of bad debts and non-payments. The judgements were recorded in ledgers known as the ‘Books of Decreets’ which survive …
vanishedcomforts.org
January 31, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
voicestcd.bsky.social
Bridgett, Briggett, Brigid, Brigitt, Brigitte: these are a few of the Brigids who lived in C17th Ireland. They were pregnant widows, rebels who stole sheep, and daughters who lost mothers to smallpox. As we celebrate St Brigid’s Day, here are some of their stories.
voicesproject.ie/impact/blog-...
Blog 10: VOICES of Brigid - VOICES
Dr Claire McNulty* Introduction Bridgett, Briggett, Brigid, Brigitt, Brigitte: these are just some of the Brigids known to have lived in seventeenth-century Ireland. They were pregnant widows in the a...
voicesproject.ie
January 30, 2026 at 4:25 PM
michaelpearce.bsky.social
Blanche Swansted, 'perruquière' to Anna of Denmark in 1619
January 30, 2026 at 1:09 AM
Reposted by Michael Pearce
edinburghwh.bsky.social
3/ We hope to increase the visibility of the text carved into the ground at the monument’s base and are exploring ways to deepen onlookers’ understanding of both the Covenanters and the memorial’s heritage importance.

Photos: conservation work in progress (Nic Boyes)
January 29, 2026 at 1:49 PM