That's a shame :(. It looks like my graduation is going to be in the morning of the day of the trips, so I won't be able to go on those.

There’s a bit of an environmental/Gerald of Wales theme to this year’s Battle Conference, with papers by Huw Pryce, @dollyjorgensen.bsky.social, and a trip to Manorbier. I’m greatly looking forward to this. Also, congrats to @areforbes.bsky.social for winning this year’s Chibnall essay! #MedievalSky

Lost seal of Edward the Confessor found after being missing for 40 years An 11th-century Anglo-Saxon seal belonging to Edward the Confessor has been rediscovered more than 40 years after being declared lost. The wax impression of the ‘Saint-Denis seal’ disappeared without ...

Exciting times for the study 11thC England: the 'lost' seal of Edward the Confessor has been rediscovered in the Archives nationales de France! #SkyStorians #MedievalSky

Thank you.

Thank you.

Viva prep will be au château for as long as this lovely weather lasts.

The Byzantine double church of SS Nicholas and Spyridon in Davelis Cave (Σπηλιά Νταβέλη), hewn into the marble-rich mountainside between the 10th and 12th century, with 13th-century wall paintings. What an amazing site!

The Byzantine mountainside monastery of Kaisariani (Μονή Καισαριανής), founded around 1100 and eventually closed in 1833, with the largely original church (καθολικόν), the monks‘ cells, the refectory, and an olive press—the latter now home to thousands of wild bees, as I discovered to my surprise!

The Byzantine monastery of Daphni (Δαφνί), founded in the late 6th and rebuilt in the 11th century, complete with a scriptorium, library room, early Komnenian mosaics, and antique spolia going back to the 4th century BC.

Gerald of Wales, in his Topographia Hibernica, writes of ‘the many kinds of crows’ that ‘these birds bring up small shell-fish into the air, and let them fall again so that they may be able to break by collision with a stone after a long fall the shell which they cannot break with their beak’.

Tapestry depiction of the discovery and excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship

A wooden ship under construction in a white shed. This is the Sutton Hoo experimental ship

The bow of a wooden ship under construction in a white shed. This is the Sutton Hoo experimental ship build

In the background and through the windows the bow of the wooden ship build at Woodbridge - replicating the Sutton Hoo ship. On the left a person with no dignity wearing a replica of the Coppergate helmet from York

What splendid progress in the Sutton Hoo ship build in Woodbridge. Great display of construction techniques, of tapestry work and also the Coppergate helmet . All followed by @timeteam.bsky.social as well #saxon #suttonhoo #experimentalarchaeology

Yes, it was quite an adventure 🙂

It’s an important distinction when we consider the ship technology of the period. This is a reconstruction of the longship (warship) Skuldelev 2. It has 60 crew who all have roles to fulfil. It has no space for passengers. It’s highly unlikely the Normans fighting at Hastings were also all sailors.

Not a silly q 🙂 There was contact between 10th-c Normandy and the wider Norse diaspora (see Abrams’ work in particular), and cross-Channel traffic did not start with the Norman invasion, it only increased. However, Norman military activity had been exclusively terrestrial for a generation pre-1066

I enjoyed this pun from Empires of the Normans by @proflroach.bsky.social. Charles Stanton’s work demonstrates that the Normans had to acquire their maritime abilities once they reached southern Italy, and I argue in my thesis that in 11th-c Normandy maritime military skills were in abeyance pre1066

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This is excellent news. Congratulations! 🥂

I hope you have good weather on Saturday 🙂

Thank you, Matt. It was lovely to see you.

Thanks, John.

I am greatly looking forward to today’s conference on the ‘Maritime and Political World of 1066’. It will be so nice to have other people to talk to about Normans and boats 😁 ⛵️🌊

My talk is ‘Wind of Change: Telling the tide and waiting for the wind in the Anglo-Norman world’.
#MedievalSky

Excellent

An early morning walk around New College, Oxford. Founded in 1379, New College incorporates part of the old city walls and was the first Oxford college to be designed around a main quadrangle.

I need to clarify that I didn’t make these. I did some of the rush weaving, but these were made by two very talented craftspeople I know.

I researched fisheries and whaling in eleventh-century Normandy for one of the chapters in my PhD and found it really fascinating. It is lovely to be able to look at these fish traps and think about how they were used. I also love the craftsmanship, they are such beautiful things.

While walking in my local wood earlier this week I came across this hagstone. It's an ideal type of weight for a medieval fish trap. It's relatively heavy, flat-bottomed, and the hole is perfectly located so it sits flat. I added some hemp rope I made when I worked at Guédelon 15 years ago. 2/3

As of this weekend, I now have two reconstructions of medieval fish traps. One is a copy of a fish trap found in the moat at the Tower of London and the other is a copy of the eel trap from the Luttrell Psalter. The Tower of London fish trap is willow woven with rushes. #MedievalSky 1/3

I have replied 🙂

I’m looking forward to hearing Tom present this research at the conference on Tuesday.
If you send me an email I will give you some details about the conference and who to contact to enquire about attendance.

Thank you for passing on my details, Leonie.