Prof. Ben Pohl
@benpohl.bsky.social
Professor of Medieval History, University of Bristol | Books with Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Boydell & Brewer (×2), Schnell & Steiner, ARC Humanities Press | Manuscript Detective™ 🕵️♂️ 📜 📖
Pinned
Prof. Ben Pohl
@benpohl.bsky.social
· Sep 5
Have had quite a few notifications saying people (no idea who) have been sending me DMs on here. I can’t/won’t read them because of the UK’s age-verification process, so please email me instead. Thanks!
Say hello to the Dept from their external examiner 😉
November 24, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Say hello to the Dept from their external examiner 😉
Absolute word salad. Meaningless drivel.
November 24, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Absolute word salad. Meaningless drivel.
Wundervoll! Ich freue mich riesig für dich! Glückwunsch!!!
November 21, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Wundervoll! Ich freue mich riesig für dich! Glückwunsch!!!
Love medieval manuscripts? Love public libraries? Love Bristol? Don’t miss this FREE exhibition: bristol.events.mylibrary.digital/event?id=250...
Medieval Manuscripts at Bristol Central Library
A rare opportunity to view a selection of medieval manuscripts from our collections. Highlights from this unique display include a richly decorated Book of Hours, a Missal made for St Augustine’...
bristol.events.mylibrary.digital
November 21, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Love medieval manuscripts? Love public libraries? Love Bristol? Don’t miss this FREE exhibition: bristol.events.mylibrary.digital/event?id=250...
A great service to scholarship! Bravissima!
November 21, 2025 at 3:54 PM
A great service to scholarship! Bravissima!
More concrete proof—if any were needed—that mindlessly shoehorning AI into everything, including Higher Education, causes not progress but decay.
‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:19 PM
More concrete proof—if any were needed—that mindlessly shoehorning AI into everything, including Higher Education, causes not progress but decay.
Congratulations, Shauna!!!
November 19, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Congratulations, Shauna!!!
The phrase "it could be argued that..." needs to be removed from the academic lexicon as a matter of urgency. Either go ahead and argue it or don't! UGH!
November 18, 2025 at 11:13 AM
The phrase "it could be argued that..." needs to be removed from the academic lexicon as a matter of urgency. Either go ahead and argue it or don't! UGH!
That’d be my guess, too, more specifically the Roman numeral 50 (e.g., 57 (lvii) and 54 (liiii) pounds (currency), respectively)…
November 17, 2025 at 8:47 PM
That’d be my guess, too, more specifically the Roman numeral 50 (e.g., 57 (lvii) and 54 (liiii) pounds (currency), respectively)…
“We’re scapegoating asylum seekers for the failures & political divisions caused by successive governments in the last 15 years—the failures of successive governments to address wealth inequality, funding for education, the cost of living & primary healthcare and infrastructure.” Well said, bishop!
Anglican bishop shaken ‘to the core’ by home secretary’s asylum seeker comments
Bishop of Edmonton says people coming to UK are being ‘scapegoated’ for years of policy failures
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:37 PM
“We’re scapegoating asylum seekers for the failures & political divisions caused by successive governments in the last 15 years—the failures of successive governments to address wealth inequality, funding for education, the cost of living & primary healthcare and infrastructure.” Well said, bishop!
The UK does not have an asylum problem. What it does have is a far-right problem. The govt is inventing the former to appease and deflect from the latter.
November 17, 2025 at 6:36 AM
The UK does not have an asylum problem. What it does have is a far-right problem. The govt is inventing the former to appease and deflect from the latter.
Reposted by Prof. Ben Pohl
Forscher irrten jahrelang: "Himmelsscheibe" von Nebra ist offenbar ein Pizza-Rezept www.der-postillon.com/2019/11/pizz...
Forscher irrten jahrelang: "Himmelsscheibe" von Nebra ist offenbar ein Pizza-Rezept
Zwei Jahrzehnte lang galt die sogenannte Himmelsscheibe von Nebra als älteste bisher bekannte Himmelsdarstellung. Nun haben Wissenschaftler des Landesmuseums für Vorgeschichte in Halle festgestellt,…
www.der-postillon.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Forscher irrten jahrelang: "Himmelsscheibe" von Nebra ist offenbar ein Pizza-Rezept www.der-postillon.com/2019/11/pizz...
Reposted by Prof. Ben Pohl
For this week's CMS seminar, we are lucky enough to be joined by Bristol's own Dr Kathleen Thompson for a paper on 'Leperhouses and Lordship: Some Ideas from Medieval Bristol'. We can't wait to find out more! #medievalsky #skystorians
November 12, 2025 at 3:31 PM
For this week's CMS seminar, we are lucky enough to be joined by Bristol's own Dr Kathleen Thompson for a paper on 'Leperhouses and Lordship: Some Ideas from Medieval Bristol'. We can't wait to find out more! #medievalsky #skystorians
Very proud of my former PhD student, Dan Booker, whose important study on women and the law of the exchequer has just been published by @ihrlibrary.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Women and the law of the exchequer in the early thirteenth century*
Abstract. This article explores the status and treatment of women under the law of the exchequer in the early thirteenth century and more specifically duri
academic.oup.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Very proud of my former PhD student, Dan Booker, whose important study on women and the law of the exchequer has just been published by @ihrlibrary.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/histres/adva...
Did it allow free text in the form of emojis? 😉
November 10, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Did it allow free text in the form of emojis? 😉
At a glance, and judging from the low-res images reproduced in the article, the palaeographical evidence does not seem to point towards domestic production either…
November 9, 2025 at 6:54 PM
At a glance, and judging from the low-res images reproduced in the article, the palaeographical evidence does not seem to point towards domestic production either…
“Reeves said she would not duck the difficult choices ahead, even if they broke her pledge not to put up income tax, VAT or national insurance”—or you could just, I don’t know, oh yeah: 👏 tax 👏 the 👏 bloody 👏 rich! www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Rachel Reeves refuses to rule out tax rises as autumn budget looms
Chancellor says she needs to respond to challenges in speech intended to frame tough choices UK faces
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 7:26 PM
“Reeves said she would not duck the difficult choices ahead, even if they broke her pledge not to put up income tax, VAT or national insurance”—or you could just, I don’t know, oh yeah: 👏 tax 👏 the 👏 bloody 👏 rich! www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
I think it’s even worse: the lack of recognition that there even *is* such a thing as professional training in historical research!
November 1, 2025 at 9:51 AM
I think it’s even worse: the lack of recognition that there even *is* such a thing as professional training in historical research!
Reposted by Prof. Ben Pohl
It frustrates me that fields such as history are increasingly becoming something of a free-for-all. Imagine the reverse, in which a bona fide history professor publishes a polemic book claiming to ‘lift the veil on secrets’ of, say, structural engineering. It’d be considered absurd, and rightly so.
November 1, 2025 at 7:48 AM
It frustrates me that fields such as history are increasingly becoming something of a free-for-all. Imagine the reverse, in which a bona fide history professor publishes a polemic book claiming to ‘lift the veil on secrets’ of, say, structural engineering. It’d be considered absurd, and rightly so.
It frustrates me that fields such as history are increasingly becoming something of a free-for-all. Imagine the reverse, in which a bona fide history professor publishes a polemic book claiming to ‘lift the veil on secrets’ of, say, structural engineering. It’d be considered absurd, and rightly so.
November 1, 2025 at 7:48 AM
It frustrates me that fields such as history are increasingly becoming something of a free-for-all. Imagine the reverse, in which a bona fide history professor publishes a polemic book claiming to ‘lift the veil on secrets’ of, say, structural engineering. It’d be considered absurd, and rightly so.
A long but very worthwhile read
New on History for Atheists: my long awaited and rather long critical review of Alice Roberts' new book *Domination*:
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
historyforatheists.com/2025/10/revi...
November 1, 2025 at 6:13 AM
A long but very worthwhile read