Sophie Kelly
@sophiekelly59.bsky.social
Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Bristol; medievalist. Background in museums (British Museum, Royal Collection, Canterbury Cathedral). I run (slowly) 🏃♀️
Applications from students particularly welcome - the event is free, no need to be a BAA member and travel grants of up to £50 available!
Enter the ballot by emailing studydays@thebaa.org by 12th September ✨
#medievalsky
@chestercathedral.bsky.social
Enter the ballot by emailing studydays@thebaa.org by 12th September ✨
#medievalsky
@chestercathedral.bsky.social
Interested in #heritage & #medieval #architecture? Do think about coming along to the next British Archaeological Association study day, where we’ll be hearing about the project ‘Centring the Past: The People & Skills in Making Medieval English Vaults’ & exploring Chester Cathedral #medievalsky 👇
September 2, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Applications from students particularly welcome - the event is free, no need to be a BAA member and travel grants of up to £50 available!
Enter the ballot by emailing studydays@thebaa.org by 12th September ✨
#medievalsky
@chestercathedral.bsky.social
Enter the ballot by emailing studydays@thebaa.org by 12th September ✨
#medievalsky
@chestercathedral.bsky.social
Interested in #heritage & #medieval #architecture? Do think about coming along to the next British Archaeological Association study day, where we’ll be hearing about the project ‘Centring the Past: The People & Skills in Making Medieval English Vaults’ & exploring Chester Cathedral #medievalsky 👇
September 2, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Interested in #heritage & #medieval #architecture? Do think about coming along to the next British Archaeological Association study day, where we’ll be hearing about the project ‘Centring the Past: The People & Skills in Making Medieval English Vaults’ & exploring Chester Cathedral #medievalsky 👇
Reposted by Sophie Kelly
Anglo-Saxons with West African roots: DNA analysis of 7th century burials reported in @antiquity.ac.uk today reveals long-distance connections reached across continents and cultures. Read about it @science.org:
Youths buried in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries carried West African DNA
Despite bearing remarkably far-flung genetic origins, a girl and young man were buried just like their peers
www.science.org
August 13, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Anglo-Saxons with West African roots: DNA analysis of 7th century burials reported in @antiquity.ac.uk today reveals long-distance connections reached across continents and cultures. Read about it @science.org:
I have a new article in this latest issue of Manuscript Studies on early diagrams of the Shield of Faith (like this one!👇) It’s an adaption of some of my thesis ideas & was a pleasure to write. Huge thanks to the editorial team @sims-mss.bsky.social for their help in getting it to press #medievalsky
July 22, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I have a new article in this latest issue of Manuscript Studies on early diagrams of the Shield of Faith (like this one!👇) It’s an adaption of some of my thesis ideas & was a pleasure to write. Huge thanks to the editorial team @sims-mss.bsky.social for their help in getting it to press #medievalsky
Reposted by Sophie Kelly
New issue of Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social Vol. 10, No. 1 (2025) muse.jhu.edu/issue/55231 @projectmuse.bsky.social @pennpress.bsky.social #openaccess @sophiekelly59.bsky.social @themedievaldrk.bsky.social @ana0dias.bsky.social @madpoli.bsky.social
July 21, 2025 at 2:46 PM
New issue of Manuscript Studies @sims-mss.bsky.social Vol. 10, No. 1 (2025) muse.jhu.edu/issue/55231 @projectmuse.bsky.social @pennpress.bsky.social #openaccess @sophiekelly59.bsky.social @themedievaldrk.bsky.social @ana0dias.bsky.social @madpoli.bsky.social
Open to all students and ECRs, whether you’re a BAA member or not (though do think about becoming a member too, we’re nice and friendly)
#medievalsky
#medievalsky
The next British Archaeological Association Study Day is taking place in Coventry, where we’ll be looking at the results of some new infra-red surveys on the Guildhall’s Flemish tapestry & exploring Coventry’s other medieval riches (stained glass, Doom paintings, wooden sculpture). Come along!
January 30, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Open to all students and ECRs, whether you’re a BAA member or not (though do think about becoming a member too, we’re nice and friendly)
#medievalsky
#medievalsky
The next British Archaeological Association Study Day is taking place in Coventry, where we’ll be looking at the results of some new infra-red surveys on the Guildhall’s Flemish tapestry & exploring Coventry’s other medieval riches (stained glass, Doom paintings, wooden sculpture). Come along!
January 30, 2025 at 11:12 AM
The next British Archaeological Association Study Day is taking place in Coventry, where we’ll be looking at the results of some new infra-red surveys on the Guildhall’s Flemish tapestry & exploring Coventry’s other medieval riches (stained glass, Doom paintings, wooden sculpture). Come along!
So glad this vid is doing the rounds again cause it’s one of the greatest things ever filmed, but also because I’ve never fully appreciated LL Cool J’s reactions - absolutely in awe of Tom Holland, as we all were in 2017 (and continue to be)
January 6, 2025 at 11:16 PM
So glad this vid is doing the rounds again cause it’s one of the greatest things ever filmed, but also because I’ve never fully appreciated LL Cool J’s reactions - absolutely in awe of Tom Holland, as we all were in 2017 (and continue to be)
Reposted by Sophie Kelly
Let us remember Thomas Becket on his feast day at his best: unencumbered with excommunication and politics, smoking a cigarette, arm in arm with Elisabeth Taylor.
December 29, 2024 at 9:08 AM
Let us remember Thomas Becket on his feast day at his best: unencumbered with excommunication and politics, smoking a cigarette, arm in arm with Elisabeth Taylor.
Reposted by Sophie Kelly
Exciting research coming out of @westminsterabbey.bsky.social ! Congrats to the team, can’t wait to hear more about their medieval seal bags 🙌
EXC: A tantalising mystery at Westminster Abbey
A silk bag at the church has been shown to be an exact match for Charlemagne’s burial shroud
Thus raising questions as to the Abbey’s connections with the Holy Roman Emperor & the wider continent
www.thetimes.com/article/27ce... #history #medieval
A silk bag at the church has been shown to be an exact match for Charlemagne’s burial shroud
Thus raising questions as to the Abbey’s connections with the Holy Roman Emperor & the wider continent
www.thetimes.com/article/27ce... #history #medieval
Westminster Abbey uncovers ‘tantalising’ link to Charlemagne
A fragment of silk from the reign of Henry III has been found to match the Holy Roman emperor’s burial shroud
www.thetimes.com
December 6, 2024 at 10:04 AM
Exciting research coming out of @westminsterabbey.bsky.social ! Congrats to the team, can’t wait to hear more about their medieval seal bags 🙌
Reposted by Sophie Kelly
📢Job alert! Postdoc (History) on Norse links with North America at the Arctic Centre of @unigroningen.bsky.social - part of the CONTACT ERC project (1.0 FTE, 12 months with expected 1.5 year extension, deadline 31 December)
www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...
www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...
December 4, 2024 at 1:11 PM
📢Job alert! Postdoc (History) on Norse links with North America at the Arctic Centre of @unigroningen.bsky.social - part of the CONTACT ERC project (1.0 FTE, 12 months with expected 1.5 year extension, deadline 31 December)
www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...
www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor...
A crucifix I stumbled upon in the Musée d’art in Perpignan last week, beautifully displayed so I could get right up close. I think these might be real nails? In any case, a superb, lifelike and slightly frightening Christ, from the Chapelle de la Trinité in Prunet-et-Belpuig in the Pyrenees, 14thC
December 3, 2024 at 1:46 PM
A crucifix I stumbled upon in the Musée d’art in Perpignan last week, beautifully displayed so I could get right up close. I think these might be real nails? In any case, a superb, lifelike and slightly frightening Christ, from the Chapelle de la Trinité in Prunet-et-Belpuig in the Pyrenees, 14thC
Fabulous article 👇
New on advance access: "The Cult of Gay Relics and Queer Medievalism in 1980s Sydney"
by Miles Pattenden (Deakin University, @ox.ac.uk) and Michael Barbezat (Australian Catholic University )
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
by Miles Pattenden (Deakin University, @ox.ac.uk) and Michael Barbezat (Australian Catholic University )
#OpenAccess
doi.org/10.1093/past...
The Cult of Gay Relics and Queer Medievalism in 1980s Sydney*
Abstract. This article explains how the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of radical queer nuns, created gay ‘religious relics’ in San Francisco and
doi.org
December 3, 2024 at 8:56 AM
Fabulous article 👇
It’s great! Give it a read!
A tour-de-force of scholarship and detective work: Fara Dabhoiwala reveals that a portrait of an 18th-century Black scientist, long dismissed as a caricature, is in fact a record of the man's mastery of Newtonian physics—and the only painting made in 1759 of the return of Halley's comet.
Fara Dabhoiwala · A Man of Parts and Learning: Francis Williams Gets His Due
The only certainty about the picture is that it shows Francis Williams. No one has ever been able to discover who...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 30, 2024 at 8:44 AM
It’s great! Give it a read!
Reposted by Sophie Kelly
Some of the amazing early medieval gold thread recovered by our Durham University/ DigVentures excavations at Lindisfarne (Holy Island)
November 27, 2024 at 9:51 PM
Some of the amazing early medieval gold thread recovered by our Durham University/ DigVentures excavations at Lindisfarne (Holy Island)
Reposted by Sophie Kelly
This might be a weird request, but does anyone on #medievalsky or 🏺 have any suggested readings about transporting cattle by boat?
Early medieval or ancient contexts would be especially appreciated!
Early medieval or ancient contexts would be especially appreciated!
November 25, 2024 at 8:43 PM
This might be a weird request, but does anyone on #medievalsky or 🏺 have any suggested readings about transporting cattle by boat?
Early medieval or ancient contexts would be especially appreciated!
Early medieval or ancient contexts would be especially appreciated!
A fabulous article about new research on the V&A’s portrait of the 18thC scientist and polymath Francis Williams- worth reading to the end, where Dabhoiwala outlines the significance of Halley’s Comet in understanding Williams’ intentions for his portrait ☄️
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Fara Dabhoiwala · A Man of Parts and Learning: Francis Williams Gets His Due
The only certainty about the picture is that it shows Francis Williams. No one has ever been able to discover who...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 26, 2024 at 1:07 PM
A fabulous article about new research on the V&A’s portrait of the 18thC scientist and polymath Francis Williams- worth reading to the end, where Dabhoiwala outlines the significance of Halley’s Comet in understanding Williams’ intentions for his portrait ☄️
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
All things the wonderful @bbombi.bsky.social introduced me to many years ago!
And finally (little undergraduate me would have been excited about this) - the records of confessions made before the inquisitors Ferrier and Gary; Bernard le Caux and Jean de St-Pierre; and Nicholas d’Abbeville & Bernard de Castenet; and finally the inquisitor’s manual by Bernard Gui
#medievalsky
#medievalsky
November 25, 2024 at 4:02 PM
All things the wonderful @bbombi.bsky.social introduced me to many years ago!
The Cathars exhibition in Toulouse was fab in lots of ways, but I was particularly struck at how well the show broke down some complicated historiography in an interesting (but totally necessary) way, via 19thC historians like Schmidt, Peyrat etc. & the nationalist ideas that run through their work
November 25, 2024 at 8:41 AM
The Cathars exhibition in Toulouse was fab in lots of ways, but I was particularly struck at how well the show broke down some complicated historiography in an interesting (but totally necessary) way, via 19thC historians like Schmidt, Peyrat etc. & the nationalist ideas that run through their work
Wherever I go, there’s a weird painting of the Trinity waiting for me…
This one is particularly wonderful though. It was made for Perpignan’s Loge de Mer, the town hall & commercial court (last 2 pics) where the sea consulate met, the body that controlled the region’s maritime trade
#medievalsky
This one is particularly wonderful though. It was made for Perpignan’s Loge de Mer, the town hall & commercial court (last 2 pics) where the sea consulate met, the body that controlled the region’s maritime trade
#medievalsky
November 21, 2024 at 4:01 PM
Wherever I go, there’s a weird painting of the Trinity waiting for me…
This one is particularly wonderful though. It was made for Perpignan’s Loge de Mer, the town hall & commercial court (last 2 pics) where the sea consulate met, the body that controlled the region’s maritime trade
#medievalsky
This one is particularly wonderful though. It was made for Perpignan’s Loge de Mer, the town hall & commercial court (last 2 pics) where the sea consulate met, the body that controlled the region’s maritime trade
#medievalsky
Reposted by Sophie Kelly
more users are joining
and the hog grows longer
and the hog grows longer
November 21, 2024 at 12:51 PM
more users are joining
and the hog grows longer
and the hog grows longer
Béziers today, and the wonderful Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire, looking fortified and imposing, as intended
#medievalsky
#medievalsky
November 20, 2024 at 7:06 PM
Béziers today, and the wonderful Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire, looking fortified and imposing, as intended
#medievalsky
#medievalsky
Reposted by Sophie Kelly
The testimony of Eleanor Rykener - the earliest surviving record of a trans person in the English language. She began living as a woman in the 1390s, working as a seamstress & sex worker, until her arrest and imprisonment by the Mayor of London. She may have later escaped prison in 1399.
November 18, 2024 at 4:58 PM
The testimony of Eleanor Rykener - the earliest surviving record of a trans person in the English language. She began living as a woman in the 1390s, working as a seamstress & sex worker, until her arrest and imprisonment by the Mayor of London. She may have later escaped prison in 1399.
Also I need your help with this slightly bonkers image #medievalsky: the catalogue says ‘Virgin & Child surrounded by saints’ but which saints? And… why?? Slightly weird iconography, no? Would appreciate pointers/other examples
November 19, 2024 at 1:57 PM
Also I need your help with this slightly bonkers image #medievalsky: the catalogue says ‘Virgin & Child surrounded by saints’ but which saints? And… why?? Slightly weird iconography, no? Would appreciate pointers/other examples