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tyguson.bsky.social
PhD student at University of Bristol; RHS Marshall Fellow (2024-25) at Institute of Historical Research; 11th-century Normandy, maritime and riverine environments, the Norman invasion fleet. https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/rebecca-tyson
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Visited the #MedievalWomen exhibition at the #BritshLibrary? Learn more about Mathilda of Flanders in the upcoming book, The Queenship of Mathilda of Flanders, c. 1031-1083 by Laura L Gathagan. Now available to pre-order. https://buff.ly/4i6x8BE

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

I’ve been reading about sailors’ chapels this morning. So poignant: they lowered their eyes and climbed barefoot the great hill of the Virgin.They read in their pale faces, in their tear-filled eyes and in their profound silence that they were victims whom Mary had snatched from the arms of death.

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

In February 2022 I cycled around part of Lower Normandy and up the Seine to Rouen. It was one of the best adventures I've ever had (wet though)! In places the cycle path had been reclaimed by the Seine so it gave me a great understanding of Norman geography and the river despite centuries of change.

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

#Kentmere boat at #Kendal museum. The dugout #boat was found in the sediments of Kentmere Tarn #Cumbria in 1959. Radiocarbon dates give a 95.4% probability it is late 10th to mid-12th century. #vikingsky #medievalsky

submitted 25 days ago • 2 comments

#medievalsky

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

This is a phenomenal example of what my friend Rosa Rodriguez Porto at the University of Santiago de Compostela has called Atlantic connections. The walrus ivory was likely from Greenland, & shipped via Norway & then possibly via Flanders or France to Spain.

submitted 34 days ago • 2 comments

I'm trying to be positive today, and as I'm currently writing about 11th-century Fécamp I was reminded of when I bought this (almost) too-adorable-to-eat tortoise croissant on a visit in 2016. I ate it sat on the wall of the ruined ducal palace in the sun with the place almost to myself. Good times.

submitted 36 days ago • 2 comments

Today’s a big day in the local traditional calendar: the March of the Bone Horses (aka the Mari Lwyd and Wassail).

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

For the final episode of this series of #DiggingforBritain for me it had to be the Black Burnished Ware handle as it has such a lovely shape. That completes my offering for this year’s #DrawingDiggingforBritain and a lovely positive start to the new year with amazing discoveries and creativity.

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

Llantwit Major was one of the most important early Christian sites in the British Isles. Saint Illtud established a monastery and school, of which Saint David was allegedly an alumnus, and the nearby coast highlights the importance of waterways in the spread of Christianity #DrawingDiggingforBritain

submitted 41 days ago • 1 comment

I’ve been struggling with poor lighting this evening but here is today’s #DrawingDiggingforBritain: the exquisite knife from Bishop Auckland with a decorated elephant ivory handle.

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

This is spectacular! #Medievalsky

submitted 47 days ago • 0 comments

An absolutely fantastic #Roman barge, "De Meern 1", lenght 25m. It was wrecked in a winding tributary of the Rhine around the year 190 AD, possibly due to navigational error. Much of the barge's interior and the captain's personal belongings were preserved in...🧵1/2 📷 taken by me 🏺 AncientBluesky

submitted 47 days ago • 16 comments

Andrew Jennings from @insuhi.bsky.social gave a paper on the Kame of Isbister at the Norse and the Sea Conference in October last year and talked about the extreme challenges of excavating at an almost inaccessible headland that is on its way to becoming a sea stack. #DrawingDiggingforBritain

submitted 47 days ago • 0 comments

In a moment of madness/inspiration I decided to sketch the Roman mosaic from episode 2 of Digging for Britain. #DrawingDiggingforBritain

submitted 48 days ago • 1 comment

So many amazing discoveries in the first episode of the new series of Digging for Britain, but I settled on the 5th-century Anglo-Saxon/Scandinavian wrist claps because the colours were so vibrant even after so many centuries and the craftsmanship is so beautiful #DrawingDiggingforBritain

submitted 49 days ago • 1 comment

I’m looking forward the new series of Digging for Britain tonight and seeing the recent discoveries. I’m also really glad that #DrawingDiggingforBritain has migrated to Bluesky. I really enjoyed taking part last year (see attached), though I’ve mislaid my colouring pencils so I’m off to buy more.

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

Hoard of 11th Century coins found at Sizewell C www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 50 days ago • 4 comments

This is excellent, and it’s good to see the orcas in the seas around the Iberian peninsula, active c. 2020-24, were continuing a 6th-century tradition (www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...). For more on the story, see en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyr....

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

The frost and light this morning are just perfect!

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee, O sylvan Wye! Thou wanderer through the woods (Wordsworth, Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey). Blowing away the cobwebs of 2024 with a walk to the Devil’s Pulpit above Tintern Abbey, where the devil is said to have preached to tempt the monks.

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

#2025 will be the 100th birthday of the #ShippingForecast. Here's my paean to that institution: norseandviking.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-...

submitted 57 days ago • 4 comments

This quiet stretch of river was once the site of a Roman bridge at the lowest crossing point on the River Wye, linking the Roman Road to Gloucester with the Roman Road to Caerwent. I was part of the team that rediscovered the bridge in 2023, and a timber sample has now been dated to 1st century AD.

submitted 61 days ago • 2 comments

This year’s post-prandial pastime was a game of Sub Terra II, where there was both an archaeologist character card (à la Indiana Jones) and an artefact to ‘rescue’. My family were only spared cries of “it belongs in a museum” as the artefact was a Roman dodecahedron, which I thought was rather neat.

submitted 62 days ago • 0 comments

Now available from Journal of Medieval History: ‘“Compassion Alone Moved Me to Tell this Story”: Orderic Vitalis on the Wreck of the White Ship’ by Harriet Claire Strahl. 🗃️#medievalsky www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

submitted 69 days ago • 0 comments

Is this ancient evidence of a sore loser at board games?! 😂 About 1,000 years ago, this beautifully carved 'Tables' game was smashed to pieces with an axe and thrown into a rubbish pit at Gloucester Castle! Excavated in 1983, it's the world's oldest complete tables gaming set. #Archaeology

submitted 69 days ago • 12 comments

I finished another thesis chapter draft today, so with that weight off my mind I can now look forward to Christmas. I did a little painting of a winter scene and watched The Snowman to celebrate ⛄️❄️

submitted 74 days ago • 0 comments

Gloucester Cathedral is beautiful, especially at Christmas. It is also the burial place of Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William the Conqueror who became duke of Normandy on his father’s death but was unsuccessful in his claim to England and imprisoned by his brother Henry for almost 30 years.

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

I visited the excellent Medieval Women in their own words exhibition @britishlibrary.bsky.social this morning. I really loved all the scripts on the thirteenth-century Mortuary Roll of Lucy, prioress of Hedingham, and I look forward to learning more about Licoricia of Winchester.

submitted 82 days ago • 1 comment