Charlotte Gauthier
@faraiunvers.bsky.social
Historian of late medieval/early modern religious conflict and diplomacy. England and Christendom, the crusades, and the Reformation. Also: digital humanities, early music, historical theology, and public history. www.charlottegauthier.com
Join me next year at the #SSCLE conference in Porto, from 29 June-3 July 2025. Do please share this #CFP with anyone who studies the Later Crusades (post-1291) and would like to share their research with an enthusiastic and perceptive audience. #skystorians #medievalsky #earlymodernsky
October 7, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Join me next year at the #SSCLE conference in Porto, from 29 June-3 July 2025. Do please share this #CFP with anyone who studies the Later Crusades (post-1291) and would like to share their research with an enthusiastic and perceptive audience. #skystorians #medievalsky #earlymodernsky
I've just tried this with ChatGPT about a well-known event: the sinking of the Lusitania. The book references it spit out were actually real - though with the US rather than UK publishers. But it completely hallucinated all 5 of the "journal articles" it referenced. (No surprise there!)
September 12, 2025 at 3:27 PM
I've just tried this with ChatGPT about a well-known event: the sinking of the Lusitania. The book references it spit out were actually real - though with the US rather than UK publishers. But it completely hallucinated all 5 of the "journal articles" it referenced. (No surprise there!)
On this, the final weekend before what’s shaping up to be a brutal term, I’m in Hammersmith on a sort of pilgrimage.
August 23, 2025 at 2:29 PM
On this, the final weekend before what’s shaping up to be a brutal term, I’m in Hammersmith on a sort of pilgrimage.
Mine is absolutely tiny (107cm long) rather like my flat. It’s a copy of a c. 1620 instrument in the Mirrrey collection in Edinburgh. Triple-fretted, with a short octave in the bass end. It’s perfect for me as I don’t really play music written much after 1650, but some later pieces work too.
August 2, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Mine is absolutely tiny (107cm long) rather like my flat. It’s a copy of a c. 1620 instrument in the Mirrrey collection in Edinburgh. Triple-fretted, with a short octave in the bass end. It’s perfect for me as I don’t really play music written much after 1650, but some later pieces work too.
My Saturday project is doing a bit of conservation work on two 17th-century carved panels I’ve just acquired (rather cheaply, I may add). Treated them for woodworm just in case, and now comes the polishing.
August 2, 2025 at 12:10 PM
My Saturday project is doing a bit of conservation work on two 17th-century carved panels I’ve just acquired (rather cheaply, I may add). Treated them for woodworm just in case, and now comes the polishing.
Went to the National Gallery yesterday to experience the re-hang in the Sainsbury Wing. Came across this… interesting… potted history of the Reformation. Not quite sure it rises to the level of 1066 And All That.
June 23, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Went to the National Gallery yesterday to experience the re-hang in the Sainsbury Wing. Came across this… interesting… potted history of the Reformation. Not quite sure it rises to the level of 1066 And All That.
A certain well-known ebook database has added an AI-powered "Research Assistant" to its interface. No thank you.
Apologies for incinerating half a tree to generate a single inane point about Duns Scotus. My "Research Assistant" was meant to summarise a wide-ranging chapter about Scholasticism. 🤷♀️
Apologies for incinerating half a tree to generate a single inane point about Duns Scotus. My "Research Assistant" was meant to summarise a wide-ranging chapter about Scholasticism. 🤷♀️
June 8, 2025 at 5:16 PM
A certain well-known ebook database has added an AI-powered "Research Assistant" to its interface. No thank you.
Apologies for incinerating half a tree to generate a single inane point about Duns Scotus. My "Research Assistant" was meant to summarise a wide-ranging chapter about Scholasticism. 🤷♀️
Apologies for incinerating half a tree to generate a single inane point about Duns Scotus. My "Research Assistant" was meant to summarise a wide-ranging chapter about Scholasticism. 🤷♀️
Today at the @cemskcl.bsky.social conference I learned that ghosts are a Jesuit conspiracy. They stick candles on crabs, then release them into graveyards to convince the unwary of the doctrine of Purgatory. (Either that or they’re just chaps dressed up in bedsheets.)
June 6, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Today at the @cemskcl.bsky.social conference I learned that ghosts are a Jesuit conspiracy. They stick candles on crabs, then release them into graveyards to convince the unwary of the doctrine of Purgatory. (Either that or they’re just chaps dressed up in bedsheets.)
I think it’s jolly rude to send unsolicited auction catalogues to impecunious scholars who cannot purchase All The Old Books.
June 5, 2025 at 2:54 PM
I think it’s jolly rude to send unsolicited auction catalogues to impecunious scholars who cannot purchase All The Old Books.
Putting the finishing touches on some slides for tomorrow’s @cemskcl.bsky.social colloquium on early modern war narratives. It’s a great joy to return to the crusader I call ‘Bob’, whose story has been the jumping off point for so many fascinating lines of research since I first ‘met’ him in 2018.
June 5, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Putting the finishing touches on some slides for tomorrow’s @cemskcl.bsky.social colloquium on early modern war narratives. It’s a great joy to return to the crusader I call ‘Bob’, whose story has been the jumping off point for so many fascinating lines of research since I first ‘met’ him in 2018.
St Alphonsus obviously never read the BCP. So if grandpa is a BCP-type Anglican, go right ahead.
May 24, 2025 at 7:47 PM
St Alphonsus obviously never read the BCP. So if grandpa is a BCP-type Anglican, go right ahead.
I was rather grumpy this morning at having to get up to teach a class after a long and tiring week away at a conference. Then my students (a different class) surprised me with a bouquet and a lovely card. I’m very grateful for them - the students as well as the flowers.
March 29, 2025 at 12:23 PM
I was rather grumpy this morning at having to get up to teach a class after a long and tiring week away at a conference. Then my students (a different class) surprised me with a bouquet and a lovely card. I’m very grateful for them - the students as well as the flowers.
Arrived at work today to find this card and gift on my desk from a group I taught last term at theological college. Well that’s made my day!
March 13, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Arrived at work today to find this card and gift on my desk from a group I taught last term at theological college. Well that’s made my day!
Excuse me for re-posting Russian propaganda, but it does make a point. My money is on Putin in single-combat. (All winnings go to the Ukrainians.)
March 9, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Excuse me for re-posting Russian propaganda, but it does make a point. My money is on Putin in single-combat. (All winnings go to the Ukrainians.)
Re-reading the Lord of the Rings for the first time in about 15 years, and like a journey on Shadowfax it’s flying by. I’m very taken with this handsome cloth-bound four-volume set with nice substantial paper. It’s a small thing but makes such a difference to the experience.
February 5, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Re-reading the Lord of the Rings for the first time in about 15 years, and like a journey on Shadowfax it’s flying by. I’m very taken with this handsome cloth-bound four-volume set with nice substantial paper. It’s a small thing but makes such a difference to the experience.
Preparing a lecture on the Reformations and have come across this photo of Philip Melanchthon’s room in Wittenberg. Unironically want this for my own study - albeit with more bookcases.
January 27, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Preparing a lecture on the Reformations and have come across this photo of Philip Melanchthon’s room in Wittenberg. Unironically want this for my own study - albeit with more bookcases.
It’s always fun seeing mutuals’ books in the wild. Here’s @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social’s latest at the Southwark Cathedral bookshop this morning.
January 23, 2025 at 11:12 AM
It’s always fun seeing mutuals’ books in the wild. Here’s @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social’s latest at the Southwark Cathedral bookshop this morning.
Why thank you.
January 1, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Why thank you.
Machines - both technological and bureaucratic - are presently in the ascendancy, mostly for the worse. DH Lawrence reminds us that at some point, the machines will stop.
December 21, 2024 at 7:13 PM
Machines - both technological and bureaucratic - are presently in the ascendancy, mostly for the worse. DH Lawrence reminds us that at some point, the machines will stop.
I’m in the Sinterklaas partisan camp. I have no idea who the guy in the red and white outfit is, though. Santa looks like this:
December 16, 2024 at 2:12 PM
I’m in the Sinterklaas partisan camp. I have no idea who the guy in the red and white outfit is, though. Santa looks like this:
Dropped by St Paul’s today to visit my boy John.
December 13, 2024 at 5:39 PM
Dropped by St Paul’s today to visit my boy John.
I love a book launch! Fabulous party at Yale HQ tonight.
Andrew Jotischky’s new book The Monastic World covers 1200 years of monasticism - East and West, male and female. So looking forward to reading it.
#skystorians #medieval #nuntastic
Andrew Jotischky’s new book The Monastic World covers 1200 years of monasticism - East and West, male and female. So looking forward to reading it.
#skystorians #medieval #nuntastic
November 27, 2024 at 7:16 PM
I love a book launch! Fabulous party at Yale HQ tonight.
Andrew Jotischky’s new book The Monastic World covers 1200 years of monasticism - East and West, male and female. So looking forward to reading it.
#skystorians #medieval #nuntastic
Andrew Jotischky’s new book The Monastic World covers 1200 years of monasticism - East and West, male and female. So looking forward to reading it.
#skystorians #medieval #nuntastic
It’s a lovely morning for a walk to work.
November 25, 2024 at 10:38 AM
It’s a lovely morning for a walk to work.
Only when singing Good King Wenceslas.
November 22, 2024 at 7:05 PM
Only when singing Good King Wenceslas.
This morning’s task is preparing a lecture on digital approaches to history - using GIS, AI, etc in historical research.
I’m telling them what I try to tell my colleagues: These methods are not an end in themselves. They’re useful, but the minute you’re using them for their own sake, you’re losing.
I’m telling them what I try to tell my colleagues: These methods are not an end in themselves. They’re useful, but the minute you’re using them for their own sake, you’re losing.
November 22, 2024 at 10:28 AM
This morning’s task is preparing a lecture on digital approaches to history - using GIS, AI, etc in historical research.
I’m telling them what I try to tell my colleagues: These methods are not an end in themselves. They’re useful, but the minute you’re using them for their own sake, you’re losing.
I’m telling them what I try to tell my colleagues: These methods are not an end in themselves. They’re useful, but the minute you’re using them for their own sake, you’re losing.