Dorothy Dunnett Society

a drawing of a monk wearing dark glasses and rolling dice at a table

gambling monk, germany, 15th century

Cover image of the March 2026 issue of Whispering Gallery

Lymond is 500! This first issue of his quincentenary year features a talk Dunnett gave in 1997 on The Lymond Chronicles. Amongst other highlights: how the female characters drive the narrative of the novels; early maps and sea charts used by Dunnett’s heroes; priests and prophets 3, Niccolò.

Visual Enlightenment The benefits of opening your eyes

Read about the importance of looking closely at art and the many captivating details and connections you'll be able to discover.

🗃️ #arthistory #skystorians #renaissance #mosaicmonday #academia #art 🏺 #medievalsky

ideasroadshow.substack.com/p/visual-enl...

Iona Abbey between hills in the background and the sea in the foreground.

Mar 2: Feast of Sléibíne mac Congaile (†767), abbot of Iona. He enforced the Law of Colum Cille in Ireland in 757, which probably involved the formal bearing of the saint's relics on circuit in association with the collection of tax. Suibne succeeded him. 📸August Schwerdfeger #medievalsky

🚨 LATE SUBMISSION WINDOW OPEN 🚨

We've had a withdrawal from one of these sessions and would be very keen to include another paper - please do not hesitate to reach out if you're interested, and to help us spread the word. Many thanks!!

#skystorians #medieval #medievalsky #premodernrace #imc2026

Promotional Poster for the Long Middle Ages seminar on 12th March 17:15-19:00 in-person and online, with talks by Agnese Bargagna and Devon Sherwood.

Our next seminar will be on Thursday 12th March with talks by Agnese Bargagna (University of Edinburgh) and Devon Sherwood (University of Toronto)!
#medievalsky #thelongmiddleages
Registration Link here: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

A treasure of legal history for a medieval Monday - a splendid illuminated legal text - 'Bracton: the king’s duty to do justice' (BL MS Add 11353 fo 9. ©The British Library) #medievalsky

Deal with the Devil: On The Bretons' Alliance with the Loire Vikings. The Bretons realized that there was an opportunity to hire Viking mercenaries to fight the Franks, but at what cost?

Remember that time the Bretons allied with the Vikings, and they killed Robert the Strong? Tumultuous times...

open.substack.com/pub/cjadrien...

#medievalsky #vikingsky #history #france #medievalists

Elephant in reds and pinks, with an ear that looks like a trefoil, attacked by blue dragon wrapped around it. Aberdeen Bestiary, University of Aberdeen, MS 24

Medieval elephant!
Another in my series of images from medieval manuscripts
#SomethingBeautiful #MedievalSky #elephants

The 49th Latin and Palaeography Summer School, 27-31 July 2026 The School, formerly the Keele Latin and Palaeography Summer School, returns for its 49th year. In 2025 The Ranulf Higden Society took over the organisation of the Latin and Palaeography Summer Sch…

Calling #Skystorians #MedievalSky the 49th Latin and Palaeography Summer School (formerly the Keele summer school) is open for bookings. 27-31 July in Birmingham. 👇

palaeography.uk/study/short-...

Thirteenth-century miniature from a German chronicle depicting the defeat of the Stedinger army by the crusaders. The picture shows a confrontation between peasant fighters on the left and crusaders on the right. The Stedinger are shown barefoot, wearing knee-length tunics and long, full hair on their bare heads. They wield spears while the crusader army consists of fully armoured knights in mail shirts and chausses, with enclosed helmets, heraldic overcoats, shields, and swords. This difference in equipment was decisive when, after twenty years of resistance, the nobles violently disenfranchised the peasants of the Stedingerland. None of the demons lovingly described in the papal call for a crusade are in evidence here. They must have missed the battle.

Rüben - root vegetables - were the stereotypical rustic food of medieval Germany. Medieval rustics on at least one occasion required a crusade to subdue - the Stedingerkreuzzug of 1232-34.

www.culina-vetus.de/2026/03/02/f...

#culinaryhistory #foodhistory #medievalsky #eattherich

A view towards the altar inside Hexham Abbey.

Canons of Hexham Priory translated the relics of some of its saints to a space by the altar #OTD in 1154. The remains of Acca, Alchmund, Frithuberht and Tilberht were placed in a shrine coated with silver and gold and studded with gems. Eata was placed in another. 📸Paul Turner #medievalsky

A medieval manuscript image of two men holding hands. Annouces a Symposium in Gender in Medieval Insular Literature, held 29-30 May in Aberystwyth, Wales.

You're going to see this from me a lot for a while. Please share, and contribute if you are a medievalist working in this area! It's going to be great. #medievalsky #genderstudies
wp-research.aber.ac.uk/medievalgend...

My Eilmer of Malmesbury video discusses connections between a flying monk, Christ's Ascension, Halley's Comet, and the Norman Conquest, as well as why Eilmer may have wanted to try to fly. #medievalsky #medievalhistory

A stunning treasure of Norwegian medieval legal history - the Codex Hardenbergianus (GKS 1154 folio) - an illustrated law book with magnificent red and gold leaf in the illustrations. permalink.kb.dk/permalink/20...
#medievalsky

Hussites breaking the rules. A fifteenth-century drawing showing improvised field fortification defended by infantry. Four large wagons are drawn up in a perimeter around a tent. Several armoured men are shown defending the front wagons with flails, crossbows, a handgun, and thrown rocks. Larger guns and other weapons are shown on the rear wagons. An unarmoured man is standing inside the perimeter carrying what looks like a bundle of sticks, maybe spears. The front of the tent is marked with a chalice, the insignia of the Hussite rebellion representing their demand for receiving both bread and wine during Eucharist. Bohemian commoners fighting on foot inflicted a series of stinging defeats on successive crusading armies in 1420-1434 following the betrayal, arrest, and burning of theologian Jan Hus.

Grünkern was eaten in the mountainous areas of Bohemia and nearby. They also had a long tradition of throwing officials out of windows and not fighting fair.

www.culina-vetus.de/2026/03/03/f...

#culinaryhistory #foodhistory #medievalsky #crusadefail

A sepia-toned image of a woman wearing a jeweled hennin, perhaps from around the turn of the 20th century

Hey history hivemind, does anyone recognize this image? A student wants to use it in her capstone and is trying to track down both citation and context. The earliest version of it in a reverse image search is from a Harry Potter fandom tumblr post in 2013. #skystorians #medievalism #medievalsky 🗃️

A Greek nun holds the hand of a man on the deck of a ship in a storm. Their clothes and the ropes of the ship are blowing in the wind, waves crash behind them, and they are lit up as if lightning has just struck nearby. Paraskevi looks encouraging while the man looks shellshocked but hopeful. Golden Byzantine saints’ icons hang from around their necks and glitter in the light.

Here's my newest Women of 1000 piece! This is Paraskevi, also known as St Parascheva. She was a Byzantine hermit nun who defied her parents to live an ascetic life and travelled to the Holy Land as a pilgrim.

#medievalsky #skystorians 🗃️

Au-delà d’Excalibur : imaginaire de l’épée | Justine Breton – Colloque ICR 2026 YouTube video by Institut Catholique de Rennes - Officiel

Si vous aviez manqué le colloque hommage à Martin Aurell "Elites, violences et imaginaires médiévaux", les vidéos sont désormais en ligne !
De mon côté j'étais intervenue pour parler de la force de l'imaginaire de l'épée dans l'audiovisuel médiévaliste.
#medievalsky
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP6p...

#medievalsky #earlymodernsky #ancientsky #cfp #booksky
Hands up who wants to get involved with a cool online journal - or attend an equally fun online conference this April! #fame&fortune

Under the Viking Yoke: A History of Early Medieval Brittany Under the Viking Yoke: A History of Early Medieval Brittany - Kindle edition by Adrien, C.J.. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Under the Viking Yoke: A History of Early Medieval Brittany.

Was the sovereign Kingdom of Brittany a historical reality or a masterpiece of medieval propaganda? Join author and historian C.J. Adrien as he holds the grand, romanticized 19th-century narratives of Breton independence up to the light.

geni.us/vikingbrittany

#medievalsky #booksky #vikingsky

#maritimehistory #earlymodern

UPDATED DUE DATE!
📣✨ Two funded postdoc positions✨📣

Two fully funded postdoctoral positions are now open at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), beginning September 1, 2026, in History, Theory, and Heritage. Fellows will work closely with Cammy Brothers.
(1/5)

NEXT MONDAY!

Excited we get to welcome @sheilaghogilvie.bsky.social to the @ihr.bsky.social to talk about Epidemics and Institutions from the Black Death to Covid.

9 March, 17:30 (UK), in person & online -- sign up for the zoom link.

#EarlyModern #SkyStorians #HistSTM #HistMed

A tale of two roots: rhubarb in Chinese and European medicine An exploration of the introduction of rhubarb into European medicine by Lai Yan Wong, PhD student in the Department of English at King’s College London.

Delighted to share our fascinating blog post on #rhubarb as a medicine within #Chinese and #European pharmaceutical traditions by
@kingsenglish.bsky.social
doctoral researcher Lin Yan Wong herbalhistory.org/home/a-tale-... #histherb #earlymodern #medhums

This lineup is tough to beat #earlymodern

#earlymodern

Can’t wait for this! #earlymodern

Call for Proposals | Sixteenth Century Society Call for Proposals Chicago, Illinois, October 29—October 31, 2026 The Sixteenth Century Society (SCS) is pleased to invite proposals for individual presentations, panels, and roundtables for its annua...

CFP for the SCS conference in Chicago in October. Come join the most collegial gathering of early modernists that I know.
#earlymodern 🗃️

sixteenthcentury.org/call-for-pro...

A really useful course for any historians that might encounter #Medieval or #EarlyModern documents in their research. #Skystorians