Today, the #IMEMSSpotlight is on Gary Bankhead! 🔍

Find out more about Gary's latest publication, Pilgrim Souvenirs, Devotional and Other Objects of Faith (2025): www.diveintodurham.uk/publications...

Week 2 of our Latin Palaeography course @imems.bsky.social started today…Caroline Minuscule galore!

Last week, our director Ita Mac Carthy attended the second last in a programme of readings of Matteo Maria Boiardo’s The Innamoramento di Orlando (1494) in Florence 🌏

The last event will be in June at @durhamuniversity.bsky.social, where we'll welcome the organising committee (pictured).

If you're a @durham.ac.uk researcher or student, or you're based at another institution within travelling distance of Durham, sign up for to receive our weekly bulletin with the latest events and opportunities in the world of MEMS! 📧 mailchi.mp/5a3c2ffd8f0d...

We kick off our 2-week Latin Palaeography course today @imems.bsky.social. Meeting a new cohort is always a highlight✨

Congratulations to IMEMS' @tombhamilton.bsky.social, who has been awarded a @britishacademy.bsky.social Mid-Career Fellowship to work on 'The Social Roots of Religious Violence in Sixteenth-Century Paris'!🎉

Read Tom's recent article in French Historical Studies: read.dukeupress.edu/french-histo...

Legacies of Violence?: Catholic Militancy in Paris After the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre Abstract. This article traces continuities and changes in Parisian Catholic militancy after the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre (Aug. 24, 1572). It evaluates the rites of violence later reactivated by some of the killers, alongside a radicalized faction of their colleagues in the civic militia, who belonged to a younger generation and played a significant role in the later religious wars. Pursuing a forensic examination of the surviving manuscript sources, it provides a new perspective on the killers on Saint Bartholomew's Day by showing how these men were shaped by, and in turn reshaped, the transformation of Parisian society in the sixteenth century.

'Legacies of Violence? Catholic Militancy in Paris After the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre'

Robert Descimon and I have pubished our article with French Historical Studies (@sfhs.bsky.social), with special thanks to colleagues at @crh.ehess.fr @durhamhistory.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1215/0016...

It’s here! My latest short course for IMEMS, an introduction to the key scripts used in Medieval Iberia 📜

Thinking about @durham.ac.uk's MA in Medieval and Early Modern Studies?

👩‍🏫 Train with subject experts and industry professionals
📈 Build experience for a career in the heritage sector
🎓 Prepare for PhD study

Apply now: www.durham.ac.uk/study/course...

@durhammemsa.bsky.social

The project investigates the vibrant production of French romance in England just when the impact of Francophone culture is thought to diminish, emphasising late-medieval English literary identities defined by multilingual and international perspectives.

Congratulations to Dr Venetia Bridges, our Co-Director for Early Career Researchers, who been awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship for next year to work on 'The Triumph of Englishness? French Romance in Later Medieval England’. 📖👏 @leverhulme.ac.uk @durham.ac.uk @durhammemsa.bsky.social

Learn to read the scripts of Medieval Iberia with our newest short course, Reading Medieval Spanish Manuscripts. 📖

Book now: imemsdurhamlearn.com/reading-medi...

💻8 weeks of online access
⏱️Entirely flexible to your schedule
💬Optional Q&A sessions with your tutor

Come and take the MA in Medieval and Early Modern Studies at one of the @QS World University Rankings Top 100 universities for 2026! 🎓

Apply: www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

Carolingian bling ✨ Just one more week to apply to our 2 week online short course, Latin European Medieval Palaeography, running 13-24 April! 💻

Learn more and apply here: imemsdurhamlearn.com/latin-mediev...

Manuscript: Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbliothek, Cod. 1861, f.53.

Thomas H Crofts explores how the Middle English Sir Tristrem transforms the legendary romance of Tristan and Iseult into a vibrant tale crafted for performance, rich with adventure, humour, and emotional depth. Read the blog ➡️ buff.ly/SLLi6tq @hypermetrix.bsky.social @imems.bsky.social

This looks like a great event, put on by the Scena Mundi theatre company and @durham.ac.uk , directed by Durham PhD student Cecilia Istria-Dorland. All welcome!

📅28/3/26
🕐4-4.30pm
📍St Oswalds Church
🎟️FREE

On Thurs 26 March, we're hosting a lunchtime seminar providing historians' insights on Modern Iran.

'Historical Context' is a new RHS event series, with historians bringing their expertise to current events. Booking for this online Webinar now open #Skystorians

🎟️ Book here: bit.ly/40zrMbt

Egerton MS 3127 at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social. Beautiful, isn't it? ✒️

Thinking about @durham.ac.uk's MA in Medieval and Early Modern Studies?

👩‍🏫 Train with subject experts and industry professionals
📈 Build experience for a career in the heritage sector
🎓 Prepare for PhD study

Apply now: www.durham.ac.uk/study/course...

@durhammemsa.bsky.social

Calling all students, academics, researchers, librarians, archivists and curators: come and take an IMEMS short course! 🖋️📜

- Fully online
- Flexible to your schedule
- £100 per course
- Optional live Q&As with your tutor

Explore and book here: imemsdurhamlearn.com/ourcourses/

Early modern handwriting = real life time travel. ⏳These memories of Anne Boleyn, recorded in 1610 by Rose Lok, can be read today at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social.

Take our 2-wk online course (13-24 April) & learn to get the most from early modern handwriting: tinyurl.com/32hfbm6m 💻

X marks the spot! ✒️✖️

Spaces are filling up fast on our Latin European Medieval Palaeography course, running 13-24 April 2026. Now is the time to get your application in!

Apply here: imemsdurhamlearn.com/latin-mediev...

It's been a busy term of events at IMEMS @durham.ac.uk, including our research showcase w/ Marie Legendre from @edinburghuni.bsky.social's Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies department.📄Marie's paper was on early Caliphate tax regimes - read about her work: edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/mari...

Photo of Marie Legendre giving a paper on early Caliphate tax regimes

Fantastic to hear Marie Legendre's paper on early Caliphate tax regimes at @imems.bsky.social. It included a great story about the keeper of a cheetah in Abbasid Egypt who was paid in honey...

You can see me there looking intently at all your applications!

Join us and learn Latin or Early Modern English Palaeography. There will be many manuscripts, many videos, and many live sessions.

Book now!

#medievalsky #palaeography #manuscripts #online #course

📢 Applications are now open for our 2-week online palaeography courses!

📆 13-24th April 2026
💻 Fully Online
👥 Daily Live Sessions

Latin European Medieval Palaeography: imemsdurhamlearn.com/latin-mediev...
Reading English Handwriting 1500-1700: imemsdurhamlearn.com/early-modern...

🎉 The latest publication from the IMEMS Press with @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social is this annotated diary, ed. & translated by Sara Ayres! 📚

Order here: boydellandbrewer.com/book/the-gra...

Papers below, including Amanda's, a collaboration with Prof. Zara Anishanslin, 'Elizabeth I's Wardrobe as a Cabinet of Curiosities' and IMEMS' Professor Natalie Mears', 'Queering Elizabeth'.

Today sees the beginning of a two-day conference hosted by @thehuntington.bsky.social, organised by Dr Vanessa Wilkie and IMEMS member Dr Amanda Herbert, 'United Queendom: Legacies of Gendered Power in the Early Modern British World'. 👑

An exciting release from the IMEMS Press with @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social! Many congratulation to its author, Dr Sara Ayres.