Andy Hilkens

Part of a page of a medieval manuscript that had a hole cut into it. Underneath it is a restoration of a large decorated B, which would have been in this place, and which was restored by Eliza. The letter emulates the medieval style of script, but the image inside it is in a late 18th century style, showing a verdant tree standing against a green bucolic landscape.

In the 1790s a London woman named Eliza Denyer developed a modest reputation as a restorer of medieval manuscripts. She was forgotten by scholars and, in one case, her restorations were deliberately replaced by a man’s. I recovered her story & tracked all her known work here: tinyurl.com/2ktztx2e

Join us next Thursday, 12 March at 10 AM CET for the paper:

Gabrielle Russo (Ghent University)
•Regional Panegyric and the Tulunid Dynasty•

If you are not yet on our mailing list, please register w/
@andyhilkens.bsky.social

Day one is behind us - it was of course amazing. Today we move on to the Arabic, North African, Syriac and Western Iberian worlds.
There is a Zoom link to follow the conference online: oeaw-ac-at.zoom.us/.../reg.../s...

Later next week Lewis Read and I will be speaking about our work on the Armenian Synaxarion of Yovsep' at the conference on Sanctity and Ritual Remembrance!convened by Adrian Pirtea, Claudia Rapp and myself.
Two exciting days with fascinating talks lie ahead!

Animals and multi‐species considerations of well‐being 500–1100 Much of the scholarship on early medieval English medicinal ingredients has focussed on herbal remedies and the role of plants in healing activities. This approach detracts from the significance of a...

New in Early Medieval Europe: what role did animals play in early medieval medicinal and well-being practices? A study by Holly Miller and Christina Lee (£)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Idem in NO Belgisch Limburg in de betekenis van "vuil maken."

Catholic Library, Muslim Books In the 1950s and 1960s, the Dominicans in Cairo collected rare printed books in Arabic, particularly Muslim devotional works rarely found in other libraries.

"In the 1950s and 1960s, the Dominicans collected rare printed books in Arabic, particularly Muslim devotional works . . . These books are slim and ephemeral . . . Most other repositories of rare books in the Muslim world don’t think they’re worth collecting."

TeTra | Maria S. Thomas "Publishing in a Twelfth-Century Syriac Monastery" YouTube video by TeTra | Text and Transmission Research Seminar

If you missed yesterday's paper by @dekayra.bsky.social, the recording is now available on our YouTube channel
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TonM...

Un panneau extérieur rouge de l’Université d’Ottawa se dresse parmi des arbustes verts et des fleurs rouges. Le panneau présente le logo de l’université—un bâtiment stylisé avec des colonnes—ainsi que le texte « Université d’Ottawa » et « uOttawa ».

Antiquité grecque et romaine à l'UOttawa est le SEUL programme en Ontario où l'on peut étudier le grec ancien et le latin en français. L'université l'a re-suspendu. Les franco-ontarien·ne·s n'ont plus AUCUN accès aux langues classiques en français. #SOSÉtudesAnciennes #ONfr #uOttawa buff.ly/UtgW0vq

Next week!

Web – Mise en ligne en open-access des éditions du Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (volumes antérieurs à 2010) Using current philological methods and editorial techniques, members of the commission, collaborators and scholars from various countries have been producing editions of the writings of Christian L…

Web – Mise en ligne en open-access des éditions du Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (volumes antérieurs à 2010)

rmblf.be/2026/02/14/w...

Let's be more than Platonic. Let's be Neoplatonic.

Do you practice the hieratic arts of lamblichus? Because when you're with me l have theurge.

Are you a Persian soldier? Because you've found your way to my heart.

Are you a Persian soldier? Because you've found your way to my heart.

Have some Emperor Julian Valentines today for some hot & heavy Hellenism.

Conference Announcement!

Sanctity and Ritual Remembrance: Comparative Approaches to Christian Liturgical Memory from Medieval Iberia to Central Asia

ÖAW, Vienna |
5–6 March 2026

Oooh we are posting super bowls?

Here is an example from the British Museum's collection of incantation bowls. These would be inscribed by magicians for a client who would place it upside down on the corners or at the entrance to a house to ward off evil spirits. 6th to 8th century. Mandaic. Iraq.

Manuscripts in the Libraries of the Greek and Armenian Patriarchates in Jerusalem | The Library of Congress Search results 1 - 25 of 1009.

Have you checked the digited microfilms at www.loc.gov/collections/...?

Christ Circumcised – Penn Press In the first full-length study of the circumcision of Jesus, Andrew S. Jacobs turns to an unexpected symbol—the stereotypical mark of the Jewish covenant o...

Just a highlight for today: @drewjakeprof.bsky.social 's work is always so rich. I was going over some of his material from Christ Circumcised (2012) for my current book project and *chef's kiss* It is just so good each time I read it! www.pennpress.org/978081224397...

Due to unforeseen circumstances, tomorrow's paper cannot take place. It will be postponed until a later date.

The programme of the 2026 GenAut online seminar, with the general theme "The Followers of the Apostles in Cultic Contexts." It can be found online at https://genaut.univie.ac.at/?page_id=671.

We're thrilled to share with you the programme for the 2026 online seminar of the project! The series is curated by our colleague Maria S. Thomas (@dekayra.bsky.social).

All welcome! Let us know if you'd like to add you to the email list. genaut.univie.ac.at/?page_id=671

Extremely exciting!

Next week!!!

Later today!

Promotional image for UCL Press featuring their new open access eTextbook "Sahidic Coptic: An Introductory Textbook" by William Manley, set against a background of ancient Egyptian statues.

#OutNow: Sahidic Coptic by Bill Manley 📖

This new textbook offers students a clear and concise introduction to the grammar of Sahidic Coptic, as well as essential historical and cultural context.

Download the eTextbook for free.

Find out more: uclpress.co.uk/book/sahidic...

Nee, dat is bij mijn familie ook wel zo denk ik, behalve dat de meesten onder ons het zelf niet meer spreken behalve enkele woorden (maar wel nog volledig verstaan).

Interessant om te zien dat een aantal van de "verouderde" woorden nog altijd courant zijn in het Limburgs (hinne, vèrdig, kieës).

#CatchOfTheDay
#OpenAccess on
#MENAdoc:

"Die Kreuzzüge im Urteil syrischer und armenischer Quellen" by Anneliese Lüders

[Berlin: Akad.-Verl., 1964]

dx.doi.org/10.25673/101...

#crusades #armenian #francs #syria

#epigraphy

I predict time is going to fly in 2026. See you later this month for the next paper!

Many thanks to the @acdsociety.bsky.social for recognising @davehone.bsky.social and my chapter on Arthur Conan Doyle and Michael Crichton in "Palaeontology in Public"! For the Open Access volume, ed. by @chrismanias.bsky.social: uclpress.co.uk/book/palaeon...

Tomorrow!

Some people demean ‘to ax’ as a variant of ‘to ask’, but it’s at least 1200 years old.

It stems from Old English ‘ācsian’ with /ks/, a variant of ‘āscian’ with /sk/. Later, Chaucer used both ‘axen’ and ‘asken’.

Swapping two sounds is called metathesis.

More examples from English and its sisters: