all these universities kept axing medieval history departments as if they thought tyrants beefing with the Pope was going to stop being relevant

FFS. Outdated within 24 hours of publication. What are the chances, etc

A white two-storey house. In one corner of the top storey, a triangular niche has been cut. In it is an effigy of a woman of Tudor appearance wearing a black dress with a gold capital letter B on it.

I wasn’t going to post this, on the grounds that it was a little niche. But then I thought: “Actually, it’s quite a big one, and it’s got an effigy of Anne Boleyn in it…”

#Carshalton

Three Card Trick: Things may not be what they seem

On The Thread of her Tale, I wrote about three things that make the truth shimmer out of focus: a drowned village, a house with my family name; a purple coat.

Learned a new word today: sloppergänger.

If a.i. uses your words and arguments, and talks for you, you have created a virtual #sloppergänger echoing you.

9 Mar 1540: A commission investigating the Pale of #Calais reports on 13 'heretics' there #otd - 5 were protégées of Thomas Cromwell. This was very bad news for him.

18th century portrait of Henry Wyatt, dressed in a heavy robe with a chain of office and black cap with ear flaps. He is an older man, jowls. Next to him an angry looking grey tabby cat paws at a pigeon that is stuck in the bars of a window.

I am reading the will of Sir Henry Wyatt, who leaves a cup with his arms on to Thomas Cromwell and makes him one of his executors.

Henry was imprisoned for opposing Richard III, then supported Henry Tudor's claim & became courtier under him (Henry VII).

Here he is in prison with a nice cat:

Stitched representations of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Anna of Cleves. All are quilted on cream calico fabric abc are presented in outline.

Four strong women for #InternationalWomensDay. More than wives and bodies. Political advisors. Religious reformers. Diplomatic negotiators. International players. Women in their own right.

(Also remembering Katherine Howard and Catherine Parr; but I can only stitch the queens Cromwell knew.)

What a horrendous age when 'human-rights obsessed' is understood by some as a sort of insult rather than the standard by which we should seek to operate ...

Much of this also applies to creating artwork. The space between the thoughts and the material result.

Especially for @whitstabletail.bsky.social

A red sofa with a long quilted piece arranged on top of it.

The first Wolf Hall Quilt - all 46 ft of it - has its own sofa this week.

A laptop with the screen showing details of a lecture entitled “Stitching the World within and without Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell Trilogy”

Today we talk Stitching Cromwell @worcesteruni.bsky.social

If you are in the Worcestershire area and would like to join us you can book a place here: www.worcestershire.gov.uk/events/engin...

The exhibition accompanies @drelvey.bsky.social 's contribution to the University of Worcester's Institute of Arts and Humanities 'Engine Room Lecture Series'. 'Stitching the World Within and Without Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy', which takes place 4th March 4:30-6pm at the Hive!

Beyond delighted that @drelvey.bsky.social has bought her beautiful work to the Hive at the University of Worcester in this collaborative exhibition 'In the Weave: From Text to Textile - Stitching Hilary Mantel's Cromwell Trilogy'

Stitching Cromwell in Worcester I am writing this piece from The Hive in Worcester, where I am supposed to be stitching for the week, alongside my Stitching Cromwell exhibition.

Having a good time at The Hive @worcesteruni.bsky.social with Stitching Cromwell.

Hilary Mantel | Home Lucy Arnold is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature (Contemporary) at the University of Worcester. She specialises in contemporary gothic, narratives of haunting, contemporary women’s writing and psychoanalytic criticism.

Happy publication day to 'Hilary Mantel', published by @livunipress.bsky.social Thrilled to have been able to undertake this project with the support of the excellent LUP team. It's currently 20% off on the LUP website too! www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

A white woman wearing a brightly patterned dress stands next to a large quilted piece of textile art, which is black handwritten scrawl on cream calico, increased in size.

Today I saw the Cromwell Textile Cloth - a representation of a list of textiles in Thomas Cromwell’s hand - hanging properly for the first time. In 22 years of quilting, I have made precisely two pieces I am completely happy with. This is one of them.

this policy is cruel and will make minimal difference to immigration numbers (as refugees are only a small % of overall immigrants, and most of them come from countries that aren't going to be safe any time soon [e.g. eritrea;afghanistan]).

It will actively harm integration and finding work.

Artist Unveils Cromwell-Inspired Textiles in Major Exhibition at The Hive | Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce A decade-long journey of creativity, literature, and archival discovery will be unveiled at The Hive in Worcester, as textile artist Dr Lucie Bea Dutton

I suspect Cromwell would approve of the Chamber of Commerce taking an interest in the Stitching Cromwell exhibition..

A stitched portrait of a Tudor man, with long hair wearing a cap. He is in profile.

Thomas Cromwell looks into his future.

Never did any lady conduct herself with greater prudence and dignity than this ill-treated princess Reading Agnes Strickland’s Lives of the Queen’s of England

I wrote about Anna of Cleves, Agnes Strickland, and stitching an admirable lady.

Very much looking forward to exhibiting #StitchingCromwell @worcesteruni.bsky.social next week! Come along and see me; I’ll be stitching in The Hive Monday to Friday.

Limited seats still available for June, we’re almost full for event.

While we're on historical parallels, I'm thinking today of Tudor lord Walter Hungerford, whose wife's complaints of domestic abuse were ignored until his patron Thomas Cromwell got in trouble. Only then did people start paying attention. He went to the block in 1540 alongside Cromwell.

oh god. It's going to be a day in which we are forced to tap the 'the world didn't start in 1900' sign every five minutes, isn't it?

Anyway, stop firing your premodernists, stop making them feel irrelevant, stop making them do just the introduction sessions of 'the real' history.

Tfw you didn't study much medieval history at school

Nicky’s constant calls for “Cousin Eleanor”… oh dear. What have they done to one of my favourite characters!

Oh goodness. I had to read the shooting script for the #ReluctantWidow for a book chapter I wrote a few years ago. The script is even more bizarre than the final film. I seem to recall that it started with a shot of Napoleon. All very odd.