Dr Francis Young
@drfrancisyoung.bsky.social
Historian of religion and belief | folklorist | Balticist | indexer | lay canon @stedscath.bsky.social | series editor for @universitypress.cambridge.org
Illustrations from ‘The Gates of Horn’ (1926) by Bernard Sleigh, a novel about a fictional Fairy Investigation Society that inspired the creation of the real Fairy Investigation Society 🧚♀️ #ostension
November 11, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Illustrations from ‘The Gates of Horn’ (1926) by Bernard Sleigh, a novel about a fictional Fairy Investigation Society that inspired the creation of the real Fairy Investigation Society 🧚♀️ #ostension
This is such nonsense, Athanasius Kircher wrote a whole book about them showing that they are living creatures
November 10, 2025 at 9:36 PM
This is such nonsense, Athanasius Kircher wrote a whole book about them showing that they are living creatures
I’m delighted that ‘Silence of the Gods’ is one of
@universitypress.cambridge.org's Books of the Year! Currently on display at @cambridgebookshop.bsky.social, and on special offer online too: www.cambridgebookshop.co.uk/products/sal... 📚
@universitypress.cambridge.org's Books of the Year! Currently on display at @cambridgebookshop.bsky.social, and on special offer online too: www.cambridgebookshop.co.uk/products/sal... 📚
November 10, 2025 at 5:24 PM
I’m delighted that ‘Silence of the Gods’ is one of
@universitypress.cambridge.org's Books of the Year! Currently on display at @cambridgebookshop.bsky.social, and on special offer online too: www.cambridgebookshop.co.uk/products/sal... 📚
@universitypress.cambridge.org's Books of the Year! Currently on display at @cambridgebookshop.bsky.social, and on special offer online too: www.cambridgebookshop.co.uk/products/sal... 📚
£90 for a Barabi-Chan the Baltic forest mushroom pin badge on Ebay, when will affordable merch become publicly available? Asking for a friend
November 10, 2025 at 3:09 PM
£90 for a Barabi-Chan the Baltic forest mushroom pin badge on Ebay, when will affordable merch become publicly available? Asking for a friend
This eldritch marshmallow entity is the worst Christmas decoration I’ve seen so far this year
November 8, 2025 at 4:35 PM
This eldritch marshmallow entity is the worst Christmas decoration I’ve seen so far this year
I found the shamanic gonks
November 8, 2025 at 4:26 PM
I found the shamanic gonks
It's weird that the small Roman town between Lackford and Icklingham (Camboritum) isn't on any known Roman road
November 6, 2025 at 8:13 PM
It's weird that the small Roman town between Lackford and Icklingham (Camboritum) isn't on any known Roman road
In my area people gather on the highest point of ground to watch the fireworks go off - and since we’re in the Fens you can see them a long way off 🎆🎇
November 5, 2025 at 7:40 PM
In my area people gather on the highest point of ground to watch the fireworks go off - and since we’re in the Fens you can see them a long way off 🎆🎇
I don’t want to be *that Guy*, but…
November 5, 2025 at 6:08 PM
I don’t want to be *that Guy*, but…
The latest @folkloresociety.bsky.social newsletter FLS News is out today, and contains a CFP from me and @magicnotwitches.bsky.social inviting proposals for our new @universitypress.cambridge.org series 'Elements in Folklore':
November 5, 2025 at 11:48 AM
The latest @folkloresociety.bsky.social newsletter FLS News is out today, and contains a CFP from me and @magicnotwitches.bsky.social inviting proposals for our new @universitypress.cambridge.org series 'Elements in Folklore':
A rather beautiful book too - not sure when I last saw this sort of gold tooling on a new book
November 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
A rather beautiful book too - not sure when I last saw this sort of gold tooling on a new book
Hugely excited to get hold of a copy of Sigitas Narbutas’s new translation of the Latin epic Virtus Dexterae Domini (1674) which was the subject of my recent paper at Vilnius University
November 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Hugely excited to get hold of a copy of Sigitas Narbutas’s new translation of the Latin epic Virtus Dexterae Domini (1674) which was the subject of my recent paper at Vilnius University
It's the little Christmas-tree cherub like a bauble from a garden centre that really makes it 👌 www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...
November 4, 2025 at 1:38 PM
It's the little Christmas-tree cherub like a bauble from a garden centre that really makes it 👌 www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...
Epos de S. Casimiro (Epic about St Casimir) by Vilnius University student Jan Kraykowski (1604). The publication date is quite cleverly done...
November 4, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Epos de S. Casimiro (Epic about St Casimir) by Vilnius University student Jan Kraykowski (1604). The publication date is quite cleverly done...
Aleksander Ludwik Radziwiłł has the feel of a guy you wouldn't mess with
November 4, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Aleksander Ludwik Radziwiłł has the feel of a guy you wouldn't mess with
#OTD in 1539 Abbot John Reeve surrendered the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds to the King's commissioners, 519 years after the foundation of the Abbey and 650 years after the establishment of the shrine of St Edmund there
November 4, 2025 at 9:03 AM
#OTD in 1539 Abbot John Reeve surrendered the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds to the King's commissioners, 519 years after the foundation of the Abbey and 650 years after the establishment of the shrine of St Edmund there
It is of course the Rushton crucifixion, commissioned in 1577 by Sir Thomas Tresham, the sole surviving post-Reformation English crucifixion scene
October 31, 2025 at 2:33 PM
It is of course the Rushton crucifixion, commissioned in 1577 by Sir Thomas Tresham, the sole surviving post-Reformation English crucifixion scene
Behind this door lies an absolutely unique piece of English church art. It is an extraordinary survivor of the dark days of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics, and I’ve longed to see it for years
October 31, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Behind this door lies an absolutely unique piece of English church art. It is an extraordinary survivor of the dark days of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics, and I’ve longed to see it for years
Pleased to report that I survived the night without any visitations, I just had a vivid dream that I was sent to Minsk as a secret agent to track down Litvinist extremists
October 31, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Pleased to report that I survived the night without any visitations, I just had a vivid dream that I was sent to Minsk as a secret agent to track down Litvinist extremists
Tonight I am staying in Sir Thomas Tresham’s gaff #TresTestimoniumDant ♣️♣️♣️
October 30, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Tonight I am staying in Sir Thomas Tresham’s gaff #TresTestimoniumDant ♣️♣️♣️
I think I found my favourite Old Prussian compound adjective, ‘gruntpowirpingin’ 🐧
October 30, 2025 at 7:49 AM
I think I found my favourite Old Prussian compound adjective, ‘gruntpowirpingin’ 🐧
Baroque gallery
October 29, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Baroque gallery