Donna Trembinski
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medievalatx.bsky.social
Donna Trembinski
@medievalatx.bsky.social
390 followers 450 following 99 posts
New to bluesky! Finally leaving the darkside that was twitter.

Who I am:
Professor of Art and Material Culture at STFX
Settler living in Mi'kma'ki, unceded territory
Specialist training in medieval religion and medicine
Student of the global premodern
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medievalatx.bsky.social
I'm in a new department @stfx-university.bsky.social, Art and Material Cultures so I'm designing new courses like this one that looks at the social and architectural realities of building cathedrals and castles in the Middle Ages. So exciting to be teaching this in the fall! I'll see you in Art 395!
A page that explains what the course is (Art 395: Castles and Cathedrals, Rebuilding Notre Dame) and what it's about (materials, architecture, space, craft, economics, society, catastrophe, rebuilding, nostalgia) and the assessments planned for the course including planning and executing a day camp for kids, planning an art scheme for a portion of the cathedral and in class workshops.
June 16, 2025 at 2:37 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
I suspected this travel advisory was coming. Here we are. This is from is our the national union of university teachers in Canada, representing faculty from 120 universities. I'm sorry to be missing the Zoo for a while, but I, like most of my colleagues, hit at least 2 of those bullet points.
In bold green at the top: 2025 Supplement to the CAUT Advisory on Travel to the United States. Given the rapidly evolving political landscape in the United States and reports of individuals encountering difficulties crossing the border, CAUT is issuing a supplement to its 2019 and 2005 Travel Advisory. This Supplemental Advisory addresses recent developments at the U.S. border, as well as legislative and judicial developments in Canada. CAUT strongly recommends that academic staff travel to the U.S. only if essential and necessary. In addition, CAUT recommends that academics who fall into the following categories exercise particular caution: § Citizens or residents of a country identified in media reports as likely to be subject to a travel ban § Citizens or residents of a country where there are diplomatic tensions with the U.S. § Travelers with passport stamps evidencing recent travel to countries that may be subject to a travel ban or where there are diplomatic tensions with the U.S. § Those who have expressed negative opinions about the current U.S. administration or its policies § Those whose research could be seen as being at odds with the position of the current U.S. administration Travelers who identify as transgender or whose travel documents indicate a sex other than their sex assigned at birth.
April 14, 2025 at 9:12 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
And this is why I won't vote conservative. This is the very rhetoric Trump used and it has led cancelled funding in all disciplines from cancer research to classics. universityaffairs.ca/news/where-d...
From a University Affairs article outlining the positions of the federal parties on higher education. The section of the article in the photo reads Conservative Party of Canada Led by Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, the CPC would: End to the “imposition of woke ideology” in the federal civil service and in the allocation of federal funds for university research Incentivize federal funding to universities that have “implemented the Chicago Principles” to “protect free speech on campus.” Failure to protect free expression “would result in losing federal funding.” Implement a “competitive review process with enhanced transparency and accountability” to determine Tri-Council grant recipients and “restore merit” by directing hiring practices associated with research funding “away from ideology.”
April 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
I am a day late posting, but it was lovely to see our honours students in RLGS and HIST come together to talk about their thesis work at STFX. Charlotte Adams talking about the representation of women in Gnostic texts and Dionne Lynch working on a piece of a larger project on recipes for the eye.
Two manuscripts, the left in colour with red rubrication with the word scief on top and on the right a manuscript in black and white with the word cepho on top. Below is written that the left MS (which our working group calls Wolf for Wolfenüttel Herzog August MS Guelf.51.1 Aug 2o. uses scief to refer to a type of eye medicine. This word is closer to the original Arabic word than Caen (Bibliothèque Municipale MS 93) than Caen's cepho.
April 1, 2025 at 11:37 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
Cats and manuscripts. Nothing has changed since the Middle Ages. Thanks Jasper, with the help editing this transcription. Thank god for pencils, imagine this with ink. #medievalsky #catsbeingcats
A tabby cat standing in front of a monitor with a manuscript on it sitting on pages of type written text, A keyboard is on his left. A tabby cat standing with its mouth on a pencil, on top of a page of a transcribed and annotated manuscript. There are pencils and a keyboard on the background.
March 18, 2025 at 4:55 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
On the other hand, this is the front page of one of Canada's national papers today. HT to the BBC (and not the NYT or the WSJ) which, of all places, is where I saw it first.
Front page of the Globe and Mail for Wednesday March 5, 2025. The Globe and Mail in white with red background and a small maple leaf to the right. Below in small caps in black it says ONTARIO EDITION, the date and globeandmail.com. The rest of the page is blank with a thin red border with STRONG AND FREE centred above the fold.
March 5, 2025 at 7:38 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
Houston's government wants to directly influence what is taught in NS universities by increasing its direct say in research goals and noting that the gov't can withhold funds if the government does not agree with the uni's "sustainability plans". To protest, a rally at Province House tomorrow.
A poster advertising a rally at Province House. With Province House in the background on a cream page. In orange Highlights, "Special Interests" for DEMOCRACY. Below "Rally at Province House, Wednesday, March 5 12 pm. Below that, two handheld signs, one says "Houston, we have a problem" and the other says "Hands off our democracy"
March 4, 2025 at 1:04 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
Taking a moment to admire the lovely illumination on Wolfenbüttel Herzog August 51.1., f.2r. This is the beginning of Constantinus Africanus' De oculorum. Most of the manuscripts I work with are definitely not this pretty.
Image of a Latin manuscript written in gothic textualis. There is a red rubric at the top, and an illustration of a raven? (a mostly black bird with some white on the wing) holding a red disc. He is standing on a trefoil leaf. To his left is face with a horn and legs and below that is a dragon/serpent. Both of these are done in reds, beiges and blues. There is also a decorated initial, a Q in blues, reds and greens.
January 28, 2025 at 7:51 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
Thesis Day Presentations for
@HistoryatX
! Congrats to Clara who is transcribing, translating and analysing a medieval manuscript and to Emily, who is exploring how periodical articles about a benchmark case intersected with and changed culture. Undergrad research for the win!
The word Hooray! spelled in different coloured dots on a white background. The dots are also in the background.
March 25, 2024 at 12:05 AM
medievalatx.bsky.social
Spent yesterday listening to talks @stfxuniversity. First Sutapa Chattopadhyay introduced her new edited collection then Matthew Anderson talked about Jerome's problematic "frontier masculinity" and then I listened to my student practice her talk on Oxford Bod. Rawlinson C. 817.
An image for Sutapa's book launch. The cover of her book is at the top in red; the book is called "Handbook for Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements". The poster also announces teh book launch on March 21. Image of Oxford, Bodleian Rawlinson C 817, f. 4r. The page is written in Gothic textualis book hand with a boarder of eaves and flowers at the top and left side. There is a foliate initial at the top, a C. Rubrics are in red and there is quite a bit of parchment left blank on the right and bottom of the writing.
March 22, 2024 at 12:45 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
@StFXRELS
Delighted to be heading to a book launch for FOUR of my colleagues in Religious Studies Congratulations Doctors Hashemi, Park, Anderson and Kennedy!
A poster celebrating a four person book launch, Images of authors and books on a yellow background which reads at the top "Celebrating Hew Research in Religious Studies". Below it says "You're Invited. Friday March 8 2024. Nicholson Tower, 8th Floor Lounge. 4-6pm. On the side it says Refreshments in a black banner.
March 8, 2024 at 7:54 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
Hello Fellow Medievalists! Please see attached a CFP for a special issue of Florilegium dedicated to EDIA in all aspects, edited by Michael Kightley and myself. I hope you will consider submitting an abstract! Happy to send the call directly or chat about it, just email or DM!
An image of typing that says: Call for Papers A Special Issue of Florilegium, Dedicated to EDIA in the Middle Ages and Medieval Studies Florilegium is an international, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the study of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (c. 500-1500) broadly defined from a geographic and cultural perspective. The journal is currently seeking proposals for a special issue devoted to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Middle Ages and in Medieval Studies, to be guest edited by Donna Trembinski and Michael Kightley.  The issue is open to non-traditional forms and genres of scholarly publication. The issue will be published in print and open access online.  The digital format will adhere to principles of universal design. Send any enquiries to edia.florilegium@gmail.com. For a full CFP (since I have run out of space) email! A image of text that reads: Proposals should be approximately 500 words in .doc or .pdf formats.  The review of proposals will be anonymized: please include your name and contact information in your submission email but not in the proposal filename or file itself Proposals will be reviewed by May 30, 2024. For accepted proposals, we hope to have completed articles by October 15, 2024. Manuscripts, written in English or French, should be submitted electronically as Microsoft Word documents to the journal management system. Articles should normally not exceed 8,000-9,000 words, including footnotes, and should be formatted according to Chicago style. A brief abstract (one or two sentences) should be included with the submission. Florilegium’s website at the University of Toronto Press can be found at http://www.utpjournals.press/loi/flor  Florilegium’s Open Access website (for vols. 1-29) can be found here: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/flor
March 6, 2024 at 7:07 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
I've been away too long! Upheaval on the home and work front, but I THINK things are finally settling down. Popping in to announce that I will be giving A Stokes Paper at Dalhousie on my new research project on Friday! Looking so forward to it!
A PowerPoint Slide with a green circle in mosaic tile on the left that fades to white as it moves to the right. The title "Who was David Armenicus? A Preliminary Exploration into Intercultural Knowledge About Eye Care is above the name Donna Trembinski, Professor of Medieval History, St. Francis Xavier University
February 28, 2024 at 5:47 PM
medievalatx.bsky.social
I didn't know Natalie Zemon Davis well beyond her work, but friends who did remind me that she was a wonderful scholar but also a wonderful mentor. She is a huge loss, for her scholarship AND for her unfailing support of young (often female) scholars. She will be missed.
Book Cover of The Return of Martin Guerre by Natalie Zemon Davis. Blue background with gold floral arrangements in squares down the side. The title is at the top and NZD's name at the bottom. In the middle, a scene of pastoral life with two farmers with scythes working in the field, a man in pink separating the wheat, another person in the background sowing.
October 24, 2023 at 11:50 AM
medievalatx.bsky.social
It seems fitting that my first full day on BlueSky is the Feast Day of Francis of Assisi. I'm looking forward to teaching this day as well, teaching feminist disability theory in the Middle Ages with Tory Pearman and Rosemary Garland-Thomson. Below, an early image of Francis from Subiaco.
And image of Saint Francis of Assisi done in muted browns. There is a light brown border around a darker brown background, which Francis breaks out of at the top. He's a young man in this image, bearded, with his usual brown tunic knotted with rope. He is holding his left hand to his body open pal to the tunic. His name FRĀNCISCU is on the right in two lines. The S is missing. Interestingly, this picture has been noted for demonstrating his tearing eye. Thanks to Meredith Bacola who pointed this out to me, and yes, it IS the image on the over of Augustine Thompson's bio of Francis.
October 4, 2023 at 2:09 AM