Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
@samottewillsoulsby.bsky.social
Medieval historian and charismatic megafauna enthusiast at the University of Tübingen. Blogs at https://salutemmundo.wordpress.com/
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
Absolutely devastating for my blood sugar levels that when I simply cannot persuade myself to write something ove been procrastinating the only thing that works is to buy a big bag of haribo and eat it at my desk as I type, getting more and more antsy and typing faster and faster as the sugar hits.
November 9, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Absolutely devastating for my blood sugar levels that when I simply cannot persuade myself to write something ove been procrastinating the only thing that works is to buy a big bag of haribo and eat it at my desk as I type, getting more and more antsy and typing faster and faster as the sugar hits.
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
Another species no longer on the global Endangered list:
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
a man with a mustache says there be whales here in a dark room
Alt: Scotty from Star Trek Original Series (played by Jimmy Doohan) says there be whales here in a Klingon vessel's cargo hold.
media.tenor.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Another species no longer on the global Endangered list:
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
A few decades after a Star Trek movie where the central conflict was the total extinction of the humpback, their numbers are rising fast enough to put them at "Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List.
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
"But what about women in history?"
How Different Countries Teach History
YouTube video by Foil Arms and Hog
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:59 AM
"But what about women in history?"
Thousands of years after they went extinct in Europe, elephants are returning in the form of a reservation in Alentejo in Portugal! Primarily intended for retired circus and zoo animals, the first elephants arrive next year. #elephant 🐘
www.pangeatrust.org
www.pangeatrust.org
Home - Pangea Trust
www.pangeatrust.org
November 10, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Thousands of years after they went extinct in Europe, elephants are returning in the form of a reservation in Alentejo in Portugal! Primarily intended for retired circus and zoo animals, the first elephants arrive next year. #elephant 🐘
www.pangeatrust.org
www.pangeatrust.org
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
3 seasons digging, 2 summers filming, 1 forgotten groundplan of a medieval abbey, hints at Aelfric's Anglo-Saxon minster, @hugh-willmott.bsky.social gesticulating like a pro, me wielding a trowel, Martin Papworth @nationaltrust.org.uk, Walter the cat & Kate Adie...🧐👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY68...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY68...
NEW EPISODE! Cerne Abbas: Secrets Beneath The Giant | TIME TEAM (Dorset) 2025
YouTube video by Time Team Official
www.youtube.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM
3 seasons digging, 2 summers filming, 1 forgotten groundplan of a medieval abbey, hints at Aelfric's Anglo-Saxon minster, @hugh-willmott.bsky.social gesticulating like a pro, me wielding a trowel, Martin Papworth @nationaltrust.org.uk, Walter the cat & Kate Adie...🧐👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY68...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY68...
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
Siegfried Sassoon
November 9, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Siegfried Sassoon
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
As a white man, I hate AI for appropriating my culture of being confidently wrong about things while using Reddit as a primary source.
November 6, 2025 at 2:56 PM
As a white man, I hate AI for appropriating my culture of being confidently wrong about things while using Reddit as a primary source.
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
Exciting news! NWMS member @eddiemeehan99.bsky.social’s latest article Identity, exemplarity and the ideal king in early medieval Ireland has now been published in the Journal of Historical Research, academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
November 7, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Exciting news! NWMS member @eddiemeehan99.bsky.social’s latest article Identity, exemplarity and the ideal king in early medieval Ireland has now been published in the Journal of Historical Research, academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
PLEASE DO NOT ASK STAFF WHERE DRACULA’S GRAVE IS THERE ISN’T ONE.
Iconic sign from St Mary’s Church next to Whitby Abbey. I love that people think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a real person/vampire who lived and died in Whitby.
Iconic sign from St Mary’s Church next to Whitby Abbey. I love that people think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a real person/vampire who lived and died in Whitby.
November 8, 2025 at 10:15 AM
PLEASE DO NOT ASK STAFF WHERE DRACULA’S GRAVE IS THERE ISN’T ONE.
Iconic sign from St Mary’s Church next to Whitby Abbey. I love that people think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a real person/vampire who lived and died in Whitby.
Iconic sign from St Mary’s Church next to Whitby Abbey. I love that people think Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a real person/vampire who lived and died in Whitby.
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
A campus novel/speculative fiction about a university whose computer systems become so hopelessly infected by viruses that the school returns to paper. Strangely, everyone becomes smarter and happier until they are eaten by wolves.
November 7, 2025 at 11:37 AM
A campus novel/speculative fiction about a university whose computer systems become so hopelessly infected by viruses that the school returns to paper. Strangely, everyone becomes smarter and happier until they are eaten by wolves.
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
Pedagogical highlight of the week: (1) discussing Ammianus Marcellinus' account
of the death of Valentinian I, in which the emperor, in his fatal seizure, attempts to communicate by flailing his arms like a boxer; and (2) having one of the students voluntarily acting out what this looked like.
of the death of Valentinian I, in which the emperor, in his fatal seizure, attempts to communicate by flailing his arms like a boxer; and (2) having one of the students voluntarily acting out what this looked like.
November 7, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Pedagogical highlight of the week: (1) discussing Ammianus Marcellinus' account
of the death of Valentinian I, in which the emperor, in his fatal seizure, attempts to communicate by flailing his arms like a boxer; and (2) having one of the students voluntarily acting out what this looked like.
of the death of Valentinian I, in which the emperor, in his fatal seizure, attempts to communicate by flailing his arms like a boxer; and (2) having one of the students voluntarily acting out what this looked like.
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
writing a journal article
proportion of time taken writing the article: 20%
proportion of time taken learning an entirely new reference system you'll never use again: 80%
proportion of time taken writing the article: 20%
proportion of time taken learning an entirely new reference system you'll never use again: 80%
November 7, 2025 at 4:10 PM
writing a journal article
proportion of time taken writing the article: 20%
proportion of time taken learning an entirely new reference system you'll never use again: 80%
proportion of time taken writing the article: 20%
proportion of time taken learning an entirely new reference system you'll never use again: 80%
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
Made a site where you can practise Old English scansion. You get given a half-line and have to select which of Sievers's five types it belongs to.
Just Beowulf for now, but that's 6364 half-lines to be getting on with: dgplacenames.github.io/scansion/
[Data: clasp.ell.ox.ac.uk/]
Just Beowulf for now, but that's 6364 half-lines to be getting on with: dgplacenames.github.io/scansion/
[Data: clasp.ell.ox.ac.uk/]
November 7, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Made a site where you can practise Old English scansion. You get given a half-line and have to select which of Sievers's five types it belongs to.
Just Beowulf for now, but that's 6364 half-lines to be getting on with: dgplacenames.github.io/scansion/
[Data: clasp.ell.ox.ac.uk/]
Just Beowulf for now, but that's 6364 half-lines to be getting on with: dgplacenames.github.io/scansion/
[Data: clasp.ell.ox.ac.uk/]
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
If you've not read it, you should: Henry Parkes's landmark article on Emperor Henry II, which has had a significant impact on scholarship internationally.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/P9YSAI...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/P9YSAI...
November 6, 2025 at 8:54 PM
If you've not read it, you should: Henry Parkes's landmark article on Emperor Henry II, which has had a significant impact on scholarship internationally.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/P9YSAI...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/P9YSAI...
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
I'm lucky to have worked with one of the many brilliant people in these departments. Henry Parkes in Music is one of the cleverest, most insightful and inspirational historians I know - and one of the finest teachers too. Don't waste such talent @uniofnottingham.bsky.social.
Well this is awful news: tinyurl.com/yr65mjkx
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
'All modern language and music courses are being suspended for new students at the University of Nottingham.'
Nottingham friends: please be assured that we will join you in protesting against this decision in the strongest possible terms. Solidarity.
Music and modern languages courses suspended at University of Nottingham
In a statement the institution also says it is
www.bbc.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I'm lucky to have worked with one of the many brilliant people in these departments. Henry Parkes in Music is one of the cleverest, most insightful and inspirational historians I know - and one of the finest teachers too. Don't waste such talent @uniofnottingham.bsky.social.
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
Just found out about this amazing example of #manuscript #recycling . The whole manuscript is made up from the margins of an earlier liturgical manuscript, cut out and rearranged (hence the unusual format), the (mostly) blank margins then used to copy various magical texts in the mid 16th century.
November 6, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Just found out about this amazing example of #manuscript #recycling . The whole manuscript is made up from the margins of an earlier liturgical manuscript, cut out and rearranged (hence the unusual format), the (mostly) blank margins then used to copy various magical texts in the mid 16th century.
Today in unexpected academic epigraphs. At least now there is no uncertainty about what's going to be going round and round in my head for the next few days.
November 6, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Today in unexpected academic epigraphs. At least now there is no uncertainty about what's going to be going round and round in my head for the next few days.
A masterclass in diplomatic gift giving and soft power from the Danes!
egyptianstreets.com/2025/11/03/d...
egyptianstreets.com/2025/11/03/d...
Danish Foreign Minister Gifts LEGO Pyramid to Celebrate Grand Egyptian Museum Opening
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen gifted Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty a LEGO model of the Great Pyramid of Khufu during their meeting in Cairo on Saturday, 1 November, during
egyptianstreets.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:04 PM
A masterclass in diplomatic gift giving and soft power from the Danes!
egyptianstreets.com/2025/11/03/d...
egyptianstreets.com/2025/11/03/d...
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
How a misread Arabic tale misled generations of historians about the Black Death's rapid spread
Paper: Mamluk Maqāmas on the Black Death. (2025). Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, 25(4), 151-181. doi.org/10.5617/jais...
Paper: Mamluk Maqāmas on the Black Death. (2025). Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, 25(4), 151-181. doi.org/10.5617/jais...
How a misread Arabic tale misled generations of historians about the Black Death's rapid spread
Myths about how the Black Death traveled quickly across Asia, ravaging Silk Route communities, date back to a single fourteenth-century source, experts have found.
phys.org
November 4, 2025 at 1:09 PM
How a misread Arabic tale misled generations of historians about the Black Death's rapid spread
Paper: Mamluk Maqāmas on the Black Death. (2025). Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, 25(4), 151-181. doi.org/10.5617/jais...
Paper: Mamluk Maqāmas on the Black Death. (2025). Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, 25(4), 151-181. doi.org/10.5617/jais...
High point of the day - successfully writing Kyrgyzstan without checking the spelling beforehand! 🇰🇬
November 4, 2025 at 3:35 PM
High point of the day - successfully writing Kyrgyzstan without checking the spelling beforehand! 🇰🇬
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
In case you, like me, missed @magistraetmater.bsky.social's recent post on the unmemorable queen.
magistraetmater.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/t...
magistraetmater.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/t...
The unmemorable queen
There’s been much recent scholarly interest in queenship, and this inevitably leads to the recurring historical question: what changed in medieval queenship and when? To answer this. it’s often use…
magistraetmater.wordpress.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:56 AM
In case you, like me, missed @magistraetmater.bsky.social's recent post on the unmemorable queen.
magistraetmater.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/t...
magistraetmater.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/t...
Delighted by this generous review of The Emperor and the Elephant by Giuseppe Albertoni in the latest issue of @lemoyenage.bsky.social
#medievalsky (Tübingen doesn’t have online access so I had to read it as God and Nature intended).
#medievalsky (Tübingen doesn’t have online access so I had to read it as God and Nature intended).
November 4, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Delighted by this generous review of The Emperor and the Elephant by Giuseppe Albertoni in the latest issue of @lemoyenage.bsky.social
#medievalsky (Tübingen doesn’t have online access so I had to read it as God and Nature intended).
#medievalsky (Tübingen doesn’t have online access so I had to read it as God and Nature intended).
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
For the francophones, a podcast on forged medieval charters 😍
Voilà. Une belle émission du Cours de l'Histoire sur le faux en dialogue avec Solène Girard. Merci @xaviermauduit.bsky.social - on s'est bien amusés! www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...
Forgeries médiévales, fausses chartes et vraies duperies : épisode du podcast Histoires de faux, créer pour duper
AUDIO • Histoires de faux, créer pour duper, épisode : Forgeries médiévales, fausses chartes et vraies duperies. Une série inédite proposée par France Culture. Écoutez Le Cours de l'histoire, et déco...
www.radiofrance.fr
November 4, 2025 at 10:28 AM
For the francophones, a podcast on forged medieval charters 😍
Reposted by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby
