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jstrider66.bsky.social
Medievalist, science fiction & fantasy book reviewer, crafter, traveller, and cat lover. I post book reviews & other things at scififanletter.blogspot.com Photos are mine unless otherwise indicated.
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Demon Swine.

Very interesting post on women who worked at the papal palace in Avignon. #medievalsky

Tried acrylic pouring for the first time. My first 2 attempts didn't produce any of the silicone oil cells, as I was doing it wrong, but I got a ton on my 3rd try.

Yes, it was so fun to collaborate on these diagrams! At first glance they may *look* like fairly ordinary "most history books have things like this" diagrams, but a lot of thoughtful & even subversive & progressive choices can go into such diagrams. The politics of diagramming, a thread: 1/?

Fascinating thread. I knew a few of these but there were some interesting surprises.

Join us on February 26 at 11 a.m. (CT). for “Inspired Grace: The Ethiopic Miracles of Mary,” with special guest Dr. Jeremy R. Brown.   This free, virtual event is part of HMML's four-part Winter Lecture Series. Learn more and RSVP: hmml.org/programs/eve...

I've posted my review of Eleanor Parker's WINTERS IN THE WORLD: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE ANGLO-SAXON YEAR. on my blog. It's full of Anglo-Saxon poetry and some beautiful imagery. Lots of evocative language of how they experienced the seasons. scififanletter.blogspot.com/2025/02/hist...

Visiting Cheb in Bohemia (German Eger) and found that the city museum has this wonderful antependium, made by the Poor Clares of the city by embroidering hundred of tiny beads, coral and pearls. It dates around 1300 and I've never seen anything quite like it.

I love imagery of the 4 Evangelical beasts in medieval art. The statue of Mark's Lion on the Gallus Portal on Basil's Munster (Cathedral) is one of my favourites. This lion has seen some sh*t, and Luke's ox seems very concerned about it. #medievalsky

I love that so many medieval manuscripts can be found online. Here's an image from a Flemish Apocalypse held by Chantilly Castle in France. I love the little wings on Mark's lion and all the eyes on the Lamb. #Medievalsky gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...

I've found comfort in historical comparisons last 10 years. Individually, I'm toast (I'm dead in 48 hours without meds) but knowing humans just... Do this, for some reason, in cycles, produces a ritual-like soothing effect, like watching the passage of the seasons. Humans are emergent systems

I use a photo AI program to salvage blurry photos. It’s an incredible program. So yeah, some differentiation between useful AI tools & things like chat gpt need to be made.

Let’s talk about resistance after a conqueror takes power. Specifically let’s talk about this bendy yellow building, and what it shows us about the moment the Florentine Republic finally fell to its kleptocratic/proto-capitalist banking-fortune Medici conquerors 1/?

The south portal at the Cathedral in Gniezno, Poland, is magnificent. It's got a lovely carved tympanum with archivolts and the oldest bronze casting in Poland, c1175 doors depicting the life of St Adalbert of Prague (or Wojciech). #medievalsky

I took the old city hall tour in Regensburg, Germany, and the guide mentioned how the city adopted the Italian style tall house towers and that the skyline as seen from the medieval Steinerne bridge shows where these towers used to be (lots of flat roofs).

I enjoyed this book. Looking forward to the sequel.

The monstrous races in medieval thought are so interesting.

My review of Seanan McGuire's 10th Wayward Children novel (can be read as a standalone), ADRIFT IN CURRENTS CLEAN AND CLEAR is up on my blog. It's part of an excellent urban fantasy series about kids returning to Earth after going to other worlds. scififanletter.blogspot.com/2025/01/book...

Great prompt, with some really good answers in the thread. Here are a few of my impactful, small habits: 1) put a plastic bag in every jacket + others by the door to stuff in my pants pocket, in case I end up doing some unexpected shopping on an exercise walk.

I wish I could split topics on my feed too.

The South side of St Paul's Dom in Munster, Germany, has a Paradise Portal. Inside the portal are a lot of medieval carvings. #medievalsky

Today's pick: Announcement to the Shepherds (1408-09) - Van Limburg brothers. Folio 52r from Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry. [..] #art #VanLimburgBrothers www.artbible.info/art/large/408.html

To those who celebrate today: Merry Christmas! Our Savior is born! 🌟🎄 Ethiopia, early 15th c. #StMary #BabyJesus #nativity #christmas  #joseph #salome #donkey #ox #africanart

The Nativity according to the 'The Maastricht Hours' BL Stowe MS 17; 'The Maastricht Hours'; 14th century; f.15v

The Nativity and bath time! Cotton MS Caligula A VII/1; 12th century; Painted miniatures probably from a Psalter; Northern France or Southern Netherlands; f.5r

#ChristmasEve #Christmas #MedievalManuscripts

Merry Christmas!! Here's the nativity on the wonderful roof of the church of St Martin in Zillis in Switzerland, one of the only surviving intact Romanesque church roofs, dating to the twelfth century and showing the whole Christian story in a range of panels.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it. :)

Are you writin' son? #MedievalSky (BAV Vat.gr.394 f.6v

79 #Manuscripts from the #Vatican, perhaps the last batch of the year www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2024... Includes a TON of Pontifical Choir Diari, a papal ordo Missae, a devotional work in Turkish, an Ethiopic gospel, and some Sire junk #MedievalSky

The Zielenca triptych at the Archbishopric museum in Gniezno, Poland, ca. 1400, showing Christ and the Coronation of Mary, with several saints on the wings to either side. #medievalsky

My review of Max Barry's science fiction novel PROVIDENCE is up on my blog. scififanletter.blogspot.com/2024/12/book...

This sounds very interesting. Open access too!

Some months ago, a collection of articles edited by Grzegorz Pac, myself, &Jón Viðar Sigurðsson was published by Brepols. The book is in open access, & can be found here: www.brepols.net/products/IS-....

The Second Coming: Christ bearing a staff, accompanied by a host of angels carrying the Book of Life and the instruments of the Passion BL Add 49598; Benedictional of Æthelwold; 963-984 CE; England, S; f.9v

East Meon church, Hampshire. Marvellous and justly famous C12 font of Tournai marble showing Adam and Eve’s creation, temptation and expulsion.

St Lambert's church, in Munster Germany.