Maya Soifer Irish
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msoiferirish.bsky.social
Maya Soifer Irish
@msoiferirish.bsky.social
1.2K followers 440 following 160 posts
History professor at Rice University. Russian-Jewish American, "rootless cosmopolitan." I study medieval Iberia and its history of religious coexistence and confrontation. I love cats, nature, art, historical fiction, travel, and classical music. 📚🖼️🌊🎼🌸🐈
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msoiferirish.bsky.social
Maya Soifer Irish @msoiferirish.bsky.social · Nov 25
Hello new followers! I'm an academic historian studying medieval Spain, especially Jewish-Christian relations in Castile. My first book was published in 2016. At Rice University, I teach the history of Europe and the Mediterranean ca. 300 to ca. 1500. www.cuapress.org/978081323633...
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
princetonupress.bsky.social
Tune in to this WORT-FM Monday 8 O'Clock Buzz interview with Daniel Lord Smail, author of Magdalena Coline: A Life Beyond Slavery in Mediterranean Europe:
Magdalena Coline: A Life Beyond Slavery - WORT-FM 89.9
Historian Daniel Lord Smail joins us with the compelling story of Magdalena Coline, a 14th century Mediterranean slave who ended up successfully suing her slavemaster in court.
www.wortfm.org
February 13, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
princetonupress.bsky.social
Tomorrow (Feb 11) at 6:30 pm EST, head to @literatibookstore.bsky.social to see Elizabeth F. S. Roberts, author of In Praise of Addiction! With Neda Ulaby, she will explore her transformative way of understanding addiction and how dependency can serve as a binding force.

Learn more: buff.ly/Ijx7j64
In Praise of Addiction: Or How We Can Learn to Love Dependency in a Damaged World by Elizabeth F. S. Roberts Elizabeth F. S. Roberts
February 10, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
nicholasguyatt.bsky.social
Friends, can I ask you to spread the word that we have a THREE-YEAR postdoc in American history at Cambridge up for grabs - ANY field, but applications are due March 1 so don't delay - apply, apply, apply! networks.h-net.org/jobs/69790/u...
February 10, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
mjcbac.bsky.social
Job posting: Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies, Hamilton College. Applications due February 23, 2026 maryjahariscenter.org/blog/visitin...
Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies, Hamilton College | Mary Jaharis Center
maryjahariscenter.org
February 10, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
princetonupress.bsky.social
Next week, on February 17th at 5:15 pm EST, @upenn.edu's Jewish Studies Program welcomes Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach for a discussion of their book, A Woman Is Responsible for Everything.

This is a free, in-person event. Register here: buff.ly/o3T2ZFt
A Woman Is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe by Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach, event on Tuesday, February 17th 2026 at the University of Pennsylvania Jewish Studies Program
February 10, 2026 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
lemonde.fr
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
La date du 16 juin avait été dans un premier temps pressentie pour son entrée au Panthéon, mais la cérémonie a dû être décalée de quelques jours en raison du G7 à Evian-les-Bains.
www.lemonde.fr
February 8, 2026 at 6:00 PM
msoiferirish.bsky.social
A shy-looking #superbOwl from the Battle of Pavia (1525) tapestries (as seen at the #MFAH exhibit in 2025).
February 8, 2026 at 6:37 PM
msoiferirish.bsky.social
And here is another beautiful #superbowl. Egypt, 14th century. From the Art of the Islamic World collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. #MFAH
February 8, 2026 at 6:03 PM
msoiferirish.bsky.social
Love seeing all the #superbowls !
msoiferirish.bsky.social Maya Soifer Irish @msoiferirish.bsky.social · 6d
More of a super-plate than a bowl?... "Mudejar" pottery made in Paterna (Toledo) in the 14-15th c. National Archeological Museum, Madrid. I have a Toledo-made modern imitation of this plate hanging in my kitchen.
February 8, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
med-ljewishstnow.bsky.social
New article by Julie A. Harris: "A Leap of Faith: Yitzhak Caro’s “Tefillin Case” and the Quest for Sephardic Material Culture," in Medieval Treasures of Toledo Cathedral (2026).
#jewishstudies
mjsnow.hypotheses.org/20522
February 8, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
brandonwhawk.bsky.social
Here's an object not unlike a super bowl: I present this 6th-century pyxis with scenes from the infancy of Christ, derived from biblical #apocrypha.

More info at www.nasscal.com/materiae-apo...
Photo of pyxis with scenes from the infancy of Christ; Berlin, Staatliche Museen preussischer Kulturbestiz, Fruhchristlich-Byzantinische Sammlung, 585.
February 8, 2026 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
princetonupress.bsky.social
In An Enchanted World, Michael L. Satlow uncovers the vibrant spiritual life of Late Antiquity.

Out now (31 March UK pub)!

Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

#History #LateAntiquity
An Enchanted World: The Shared Religious Landscape of Late Antiquity by Michael L. Satlow
February 3, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
leedsims.bsky.social
Delighted to announce this semester's public seminars and lectures. To come to the first one by Elaine Treharne register forms.office.com/e/iP5qRb5GSk (hybrid) All welcome
Leeds Institute for Medieval Studies Research Seminars, Semester 2 Tuesday 10 February, 5.30 pm, Laidlaw Library (hybrid seminar) Elaine Treharne (Stanford): Small Details, Big Data: Male and Female Scribal Communities in a Thirteenth-Century Mortuary Roll Wednesday 4 March, 4 pm (online only) Nuria Silleras-Fernandez (University of Colorado, Boulder) (jointly run with the Leeds Centre for the History of Ibero-America): When the Political is Personal: Gendering Mourning in the Royal Courts of Castile and Portugal  Thursday 26 March, 5.30 pm Parkinson 1.08 (hybrid lecture): Shaun Tougher (Cardiff University), annual IMS/Classics lecture: Sex and the City: The Eunuchs of Constantinople Tuesday 5 May, 2 pm: Mark Chambers (Durham University) (joint seminar with the Health Histories research group):  title and location tbc (hybrid)
February 2, 2026 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
drdanielletw.bsky.social
For those interested in pursuing a PhD

PhD Studentship: Sir Henry Thomas Scholarship for Hispanic Studies

University of Birmingham - University of Birmingham, College of Arts and Law

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQG221/p...
PhD Studentship: Sir Henry Thomas Scholarship for Postgraduate Hispanic Studies at University of Birmingham
jobs.ac.uk now advertising a PhD Studentship: Sir Henry Thomas Scholarship for Postgraduate Hispanic Studies Visit jobs.ac.uk to apply and to browse more PhD opportunities.
www.jobs.ac.uk
February 2, 2026 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
adapalmer.bsky.social
In Medieval Europe ships called cogs revolutionised shipping simply by their size. A cog named Svælget 2 was recently found off the coast of Copenhagen: it’s 28 metres from bow to stern and, preserved under sand, its rigging is still intact. buff.ly/tqiJIJQ
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Archaeologists find a supersized medieval shipwreck in Denmark
The sunken ship reveals that the medieval European economy was growing fast.
buff.ly
February 2, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
katefarrantshaw.bsky.social
For a medieval Monday, a magnificent hidden treasure of Welsh legal history- a beautifully illustrated manuscript of the Welsh text of the laws of Hywel Dda #medievalsky
February 2, 2026 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
eccleshistsoc.bsky.social
Our #CfP for our Summer Conference 2026 @royalholloway.bsky.social is now open!

More details: ecclesiasticalhistorysociety.com/26summer/
February 1, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
rorynaismith.bsky.social
More very sad news for medievalists … www.cai.cam.ac.uk/news/david-a...
www.cai.cam.ac.uk
January 25, 2026 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
flcorral.bsky.social
En pocas semanas saldrá publicado esta monografía de #SoniaVital que nos acerca a Urraca. Una buena oportunidad para revisitar el siglo XII
January 16, 2026 at 2:23 PM
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writinghelena.bsky.social
The Brill Companion to Rome, c. 400- c. 1050, co-edited by Caroline Goodson and myself, will be published on 22 January (online) and on 19 February (print).

There will be a hybrid book launch on the eve of the online publication.

More info here
👇
www.uni-erfurt.de/fileadmin/Bi...
www.uni-erfurt.de
January 12, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
davidwacks.bsky.social
Shared Storyworlds in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Retellings of the Hebrew Bible in Medieval Iberia (author's Open Access postprint) works.hcommons.org/records/e77y...
Shared Storyworlds in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Retellings of the Hebrew Bible in Medieval Iberia
Medieval Iberians of all three religions participated in common culture retellings of material from the Hebrew Bible that fused the doctrines of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity with the vernacular la...
works.hcommons.org
January 2, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
antiquity.ac.uk
NEW #Neolithic axe-heads from the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney. One of the most iconic tools of Europe's first farmers, macroscopic wear analysis reveals they were treated in diverse ways, used for cutting wood, chiselling stone, scraping hides and more.

🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

🏺 #Archaeology
A pile of polished stone axe-heads, ranging in colour from black to brown.
January 2, 2026 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Something lovely for the weekend!

The Dorestad Brooch, c. AD 800.

This beautiful Carolingian brooch was found at the bottom of a well in the Netherlands in 1969!

Gold inlaid with almandines, pearls, glass, and enamel. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden 📷 AlexanderVanLoon www.rmo.nl/en/collectio...
A large Carolingian gilded disc brooch intricately decorated with cloisonné inlay; that is tiny gold cells inlaid with semi-precious red almandine stones, white pearls, and red, white, green, and blue glass and enamel. The inlay is arranged to form a cross. At the centre of the brooch is a large oval red almandine in a gold fitting. Around the rim are four smaller almandines (one missing), four relatively large pearls, and sixteen smaller pearls. The brooch measures 8.5 centimetres in diameter. Large brooches like this were used to fasten a cloak, so this one was both functional and decorative. Analysis shows that the brooch was modified in antiquity. The remains of the attachment pin on the reverse was hammered flat to take small nails to attach the brooch to another object, perhaps a book or casket
January 3, 2026 at 6:49 PM
msoiferirish.bsky.social
It’s good to know the context of this implosion.
appuhn.bsky.social Karl Appuhn @appuhn.bsky.social · Dec 31
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
nkalamb.bsky.social Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · Dec 31
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 8:21 PM
Reposted by Maya Soifer Irish
medievalists.bsky.social
Our choice for Book of the Year is The Hungry City: A Year in the Life of Medieval Barcelona, by Marie A. Kelleher www.medievalists.net/2025/12/medi... #BookoftheYear #Books #medieval
Medieval Book of the Year: The Hungry City - Medievalists.net
Medievalists.net's choice for the Book of the Year! This book offers a compelling account of the famine that struck Barcelona in 1333–34, reconstructed through the records of the city’s government.…
www.medievalists.net
December 28, 2025 at 11:36 PM