One bright spot this week: the reopening of Geneseo's college library after a major renovation. I brought some of the students in my upper-level course on medieval urban history there today. Teaching without library access for the past four years has been tough, but the new building is a stunner.
One of the perils of updating class slides is losing time to just admiring a beautiful manuscript. The lavish Stockholm Codex Aureus has alternating undyed and purple-dyed vellum leaves
The manuscript dates to ca. 750 and was likely made in Canterbury, England.
Now National Library of Sweden, MS A. 135.
I was talking to my dad today about various Irish heritage attractions over the years, & I'm pretty sure he thought I was making up Celtworld. But no! This myth-themed "educational" tourist attraction was indeed where the nuns dragged us on a primary school trip in the 90s. Few surviving pics, but more than enough to confirm its existence.
The animatronic Cú Chulainn shown in his ríastrad (body-warping battle frenzy) loomed out over the audience, which was terrifying. Peer closely at the map at point number 4, and you'll see the tree that had talking severed heads on it.
Good educational family fun!
This morning's class took a little swerve—it happens—from discussing the connections between power & sensory experiences in medieval Paris to teling my students about the bedazzled "catacomb saints" of central Europe. To be fair, they *are* attention grabbing.
An excellent choice! I was fortunate enough to once meet Eavan Boland briefly, and tell her how much her poetry meant to me. So pleased to think a building I spent a lot of time in as an undergrad will now bear her name.
https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2024/1009/1474490-trinity-library/
"The skeletons, discovered near Denmark's third-largest city Odense, were kept intact by high water levels and favourable soil conditions that prevented them from decomposing."
https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2024/0927/1472340-viking-denmark/
What you get when you cross a giraffe and a noodle.
From a 15th-century German copy of the "Travels of Sir John Mandeville." Now St. Gallen, Stiftsarchiv, Cod. Fab. XVI, fol. 95v. (https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/ssg/0016/95v/0/Sequence-1056)
A reminder about the upcoming online workshop, "#Medieval Women’s Networks: Exploring Techniques and Tools for Digital Analysis" which will take place on Oct. 17/18! I'm looking forward to taking part.
For more info and to register, visit https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTBgj3Q13gVS2vCrxeFsDUFask1fb1-Xp9XNdMnYwwLiTGoU61TOhsPxZvVl7kHm9DB9QvZ-noW9yYQ/pub
I have neither artistic skill nor hand-eye coordination, so I'm always super impressed by miniature pieces of art. This charmingly carved piece of whale bone stands just 4.4cm (1.75 in) tall, and would have once adorned a #medieval bishop's crozier.
Now Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1929.8.240.2
I would love her multi-tasking abilities.
Fortune appearing to a seated Boccaccio, from a late 15th c. manuscript of "On the Fates of Famous Men".
BL Royal MS 14 E V, fol. 291r.
I'm bracing myself for re-entry as the new semester begins tomorrow for me. My syllabi are printed at least, and as we know, getting the printer to cooperate is always the first big hurdle to clear.
This is a lovely glimpse at how skilled #medieval craftspeople worked, showing a modern recreation of a plaque from an enamelled reliquary chest made in France ca. 1180. I always wonder at the amount of trial/error and time it must have taken to first develop these complex techniques.
No one can say that Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae, didn't know how to make a point.
Per Herodotus, she killed the warmongering emperor Cyrus, then dunked his severed head in blood saying "drink your fill."
Newberry Lib., Vault Case Ms 40, f.31r. (https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/nby_dig/id/34932)
I have a lot of questions about this "medieval museum" house, currently on sale in San Francisco.
Questions like, "how does a Catholic priest end up with a $1.2m, 3br house?", and also "why would you hang a piece of parchment in the most humid room in the house?"
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/999-Portola-Dr-San-Francisco-CA-94127/15134670_zpid
A mischievous little dragon tries to gobble up all the light (אוֹר) in this page from the beautifully decorated Rothschild Mahzor, which was made in Florence in 1490.
Now Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, NY, MS 8892. (https://makor.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/view/BookReaderViewer/01JTS_INST/1257205910007706)