Dr Victoria Leonard

The Alfred Jewel is believed to be an aestel, a pointer, used to actively follow a text. This would reinforce King Alfred's reputation as an erudite man. The dragon-like head forms a socket, in which a pointer (possibly made of ivory) would be fixed with a rivet. Rock crystal protects the figure, possibly a symbol of sight (& thus relevant to the practice of close reading) that is rendered in cloisonné enamel. This historically significant piece (created c. 871-899) is housed in the Ashmolean Museum

This golden inscription states: "Aelfred mec heht gewyrcan"/ "Alfred ordered me to be made". In keeping with the Old English riddling tradition, a voice is given to an artefact, in this case the Alfred Jewel. The dragon, also wrought in gold, perhaps protects the figure
#WyrdWednesday #MedievalSky

Two attendants from a banqueting scene from the South West Palace at Nineveh. The panel dates from 700-692 BC, and is part of the collections at the British Museum. 📸 My own. #ReliefWednesday

Carmen Alfaro Asins - Wikipedia

Back editing with the #WCCWiki crew today after a phd-related hiatus. Started an article for Carmen Alfaro Asins who was head of numismatics at Museo Arqueológico Nacional in Madrid. She sounds PHENOMENAL - two sylloges, reinvigorated the whole dept, medallist 🪙🩷🪙
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_...

This is the biggest act of cultural and political vandalism in the UK in recent history. It will lead to unprecedented damage. Unnecessarily but ideologically committed against one of the few sectors in which UK remained world leading. Labour have deliberately allowed this to happen.

"The ideal academic is now officially defined ... as being capable of working without time limits and without primary care responsibilities. The new capitalist academy imposes expectations of performativity that only a care-less worker can fully satisfy“. (Lynch, 2010)

doi.org/10.1177/1474...

Fantastic to see you Katherine, and great work on a new page for Prof. Rachel Mairs who has been on our list for such a long time!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_... ✨ #WCCWiki

I only managed to turn up for the last 45 mins of this, but so glad I did! #WCCWiki

#WCCWiki editing session online today!

Wow!

A stone axe with a light-colored, roughly shaped stone blade mounted horizontally on a wooden handle made of several jointed segments, displayed upright against a dark background.

This ca. 5,000-year-old Neolithic polished flint axe with its original ash wood handle is remarkable well preserved.

During the Neolithic period in Denmark, as agriculture began to expand, farmers had to clear the forests, which involved felling trees and burning away brushwood in...🧵1/2

📷me
🏺

UCL axes ‘utopian’ Institute of Advanced Studies Interdisciplinary research hub focused on arts and humanities will shut in July amid financial sustainability issues

'A statement on 23 February explained the Bloomsbury-based research institute will be “disbanded” at the end of July 2026 because it “in its current form is not sustainable”.'

Goodbye utopia, hello myopia?

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise cloud communications.

#WCCWiki meet-up is tomorrow, 12.00-14.00 GMT. All warmly welcome. Editing session on Zoom.

Join Zoom Meeting us06web.zoom.us/j/85192010168. Email womensclassicalcommittee@gmail.com for more information.

@womeninclassicsuk.bsky.social

Medieval Women and the Book This course reviews some of the evidence for the role of women – as scribes, illuminators, patrons and authors – in the creation of medieval manuscripts in the western world.

The amazing Michelle Brown is running her summer school course on Medieval Women at #LRBS this year. In person, in London, book now 👇 #MedievalSky #BookSky #BookHistory

ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...

I’ll be 51 soon and sometimes I just want to scream and shout and yesss for young people, freer to be gay or bi or trans or whatever, proud to be disabiled to be different when Generation X like me were made to feel ashamed. I’ve waited so long to see this.

Bessie Stringfield in stylish white overalls and a peaked cap, standing next to her motorcycle in B&W photo

Bessie Stringfield, Motorcycle Queen of Miami US motorcyclist 1st African-American woman to ride across US solo, starting in 1930. #WWII 1 of few civilian motorcycle dispatch riders for US crossing US 8 times. Inducted in2 Motorcycle Hall of Fame d. #OTD 16 Feb 1993 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_...

The Buried Roman City of Forum Aemilii Comes to Light: The Forum and a Monumental Theater Identified at a Strategic Site Along the Appian Way The archaeological research campaign recently carried out in the territory of Flumeri, in the Italian province of Avellino, has yielded results of exceptional significance for the understanding of the...

The Buried Roman City of Forum Aemilii Comes to Light: The Forum and a Monumental Theater Identified at a Strategic Site Along the Appian Way www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2026/02/t...

Image of a flying airship with the words "Vote for Women".

On 17 February 1909 Muriel Matters, Australian-born suffrage supporter, organised an airship emblazoned with "Votes for Women" to distribute Women’s Freedom League leaflets over parliament for the state opening.

#WomensHistory #GenderHist #OTD

Image: Wikimedia Commons

#WCCWiki is not today, but is actually one week today! See you then!

I had an entire Livejournal tag for “samuel pepys is a dick”

My favourite is where he tries to feel up a girl in church and only stops when he sees her take pins out of her sleeve to stab him

Inclusive Collections, Inclusive Libraries Inclusive Collections, Inclusive Libraries is an RLUK programme of events that aims to foster conversation around decolonisation and inclusive practice in collecting, describing, presenting, and engag...

Sharing this: Online talk on the 10th March "The Neurodiverse Museum – thinking about neurodivergence & the cultural sector differently!"
www.rluk.ac.uk/icil/

Inclusive Collections, Inclusive Libraries #RLUKICIL

#GLAM
#Neurodivergent
#Neurodiversity
#History
#Heritage
#HiddenDisability

A rusted iron head of a fire dog in a museum

#FindsFriday The stunning head of the Capel Garmon firedog, dug up from a peat bog in north Wales in 1852

A masterpiece of Late Iron Age forging & smithing, with bull's horns & plaited equine mane representing a composite animal

More here: coflein.gov.uk/en/site/800314

📷 My own, NMW St Fagans

One of my favourite pieces of Welsh folklore 🔮

In certain regions of Wales, daffodils are called 'babies' bells.' It's said that only infants and very young children can hear their ringing 🛎

#Wales #History

Detail of a 1717 printed printer's device from Johann Christoph Tarnow, a Leipzig-based printer, showing a handpress waiting for action. The motto "ex fumo in lucem" is positioned above the printing press. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/yalelawlibrary/51063240612/in/album-72157715339319198

EX FUMO IN LUCEM, from the dark to the light.

This #earlymodern printing press is waiting for action. The motto was a marketing thing, as many publishers thought of themselves as bringers of light. To be more precise: they thought of themselves as sellers of enlightened paper goods. #bookhistory

Nostalgia and Radical Politics, Past and Present - CALL FOR PAPERS - RHS Nostalgia and Radical Politics, Past and Present Workshop - University of Northampton, 15 June 2026. Call for papers deadline - 22 February 2026. Nostalgia, defined most simply as a wistful or sentime...

Did you read all the way through your @royalhistsoc.org newsletter? If not you may have missed my CFP! royalhistsoc.org/calendar/nos...

It's St Gobnait's feast day so who was Cork's medieval beekeeper? St Gobnait was an Irish female saint associated with bees in the Middle Ages and is still celebrated by local communities today

It's St Gobnait's feast day, so who was Cork's medieval beekeeper @liber-ray.bsky.social @ria.ie looks at the life and times of Ireland's lesser-known patron saint of bees and beekeeping www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

Medieval manuscript image of rain pouring down and deep water filled with the corpses of humans and animals that go all the way down to the ground.

grund, m.n: bottom, lowest part of anything; solid bottom or earth underlying something; abyss, hell; ground. (GRUND / ˈgrʌnd)
Image: Noah’s Flood, William de Brailes; England (Oxford), c. 1230; Walters Art Museum, W.106.3R.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Hey, Bluesky history nerds! Who are your favorite pre-modern historians on here?

Two new LEGO Chinese Festivals sets are rumoured for later this year, said to be recreating icons from Chinese history and mythology.

www.brickfanatics.com/two-new-lego...

#LEGO #LEGONews

Refugee Narratives on The Reunion Episodes of BBC Radio 4 programme The Reunion have given refugees to Britain opportunities to narrate their stories in dialogue with each other, but within parameters it also set.

New post: On the way refugees' narratives are told on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Reunion, focusing on episodes on 'Kindertransport', 'Ugandan Asians', and 'Vietnamese Boat People'. A 🧵 on its themes...

#skystorians 🗃️ #polisky

Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943-) is a Northern Irish physicist who, while conducting research for her doctorate, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. This discovery earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974, but not to her - the prize was awarded to her (male) supervisor. #CelebratingWomen