Dr David Rundle
@drdavidrundle.bsky.social
Historian, palaeographer, Renaissance man. Managing Editor, @mediumaevum.bsky.social . Found in libraries or restaurants.
Given how long I have spent in the same room with it, I could write a tale: The Wig and I.
This daguerreotype of Magdalen's President Martin Routh was taken on his 99th birthday on 18 September 1854. In it, he can be seen wearing his famous wig, more typical of fashions of the 1750s than the 1850s.
See this, and the wig itself, in our Old Library.
📍Old Library
📆🕑 OPEN Today, 2-4:30pm
See this, and the wig itself, in our Old Library.
📍Old Library
📆🕑 OPEN Today, 2-4:30pm
February 11, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Given how long I have spent in the same room with it, I could write a tale: The Wig and I.
Altum quinque. (@magdalenoxford.bsky.social MS. lat. 109).
February 10, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Altum quinque. (@magdalenoxford.bsky.social MS. lat. 109).
Thank you to Special Collections @kent.ac.uk for hosting @memsunikent.bsky.social MA students and showing such exciting items held in the library. You could tell how excited people were!
February 6, 2026 at 10:02 AM
Thank you to Special Collections @kent.ac.uk for hosting @memsunikent.bsky.social MA students and showing such exciting items held in the library. You could tell how excited people were!
This is TODAY! Not too late to register. Hope to see you later.
First London Palaeography Seminar of 2026 coming up! Eyal Poleg, no less, speaking on 'The Science of Erasures' - Tuesday 3rd February, 5:30pm Senate House and online. To learn more and to register:
ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
February 3, 2026 at 7:24 AM
This is TODAY! Not too late to register. Hope to see you later.
I am late to this but I am very sad to learn of the death of my former colleague and friend, Tom Freeman, known to many as THE expert on Foxe's Book of Martyrs, but of so many other early modern and, indeed, medieval topics. And of Diet Coke.
www.essex.ac.uk/news/2019/03...
www.essex.ac.uk/news/2019/03...
Historian in focus: Thomas Freeman | University of Essex
www.essex.ac.uk
January 30, 2026 at 7:47 AM
I am late to this but I am very sad to learn of the death of my former colleague and friend, Tom Freeman, known to many as THE expert on Foxe's Book of Martyrs, but of so many other early modern and, indeed, medieval topics. And of Diet Coke.
www.essex.ac.uk/news/2019/03...
www.essex.ac.uk/news/2019/03...
First London Palaeography Seminar of 2026 coming up! Eyal Poleg, no less, speaking on 'The Science of Erasures' - Tuesday 3rd February, 5:30pm Senate House and online. To learn more and to register:
ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
January 26, 2026 at 10:37 AM
First London Palaeography Seminar of 2026 coming up! Eyal Poleg, no less, speaking on 'The Science of Erasures' - Tuesday 3rd February, 5:30pm Senate House and online. To learn more and to register:
ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
Back home after the memorial event for Prof. Martin McLaughlin, about whom a few words:
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/c...
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/c...
Classic McLaughlin
I was in Oxford yesterday for the memorial event held in honour of the great Italianist, Martin McLaughlin. That description, ‘great Italianist’, does not in fact do justice to his greatness, even …
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com
January 25, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Back home after the memorial event for Prof. Martin McLaughlin, about whom a few words:
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/c...
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/c...
TEN DAYS TO GO until the deadline for this Call for Papers. We already have some great speakers lined up but we want YOU to be among them, so sharpen that pencil and get scribbling.
(What, you mean some people don't use pencils anymore? O tempora).
(What, you mean some people don't use pencils anymore? O tempora).
Calling all fifteenth-century scholars: if you have not yet submitted your proposal for this year's conference hosted by @memsunikent.bsky.social, now is the time to do so. CfP open until 31st January.
Are you a scholar of the fifteenth century and have an interest in the British Isles and its wider connections? If so, then you will want to know that @memsunikent.bsky.social will be hosting the 2026 Fifteenth Century Conference in Canterbury and the CfP is now open: www.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...
January 21, 2026 at 8:25 AM
TEN DAYS TO GO until the deadline for this Call for Papers. We already have some great speakers lined up but we want YOU to be among them, so sharpen that pencil and get scribbling.
(What, you mean some people don't use pencils anymore? O tempora).
(What, you mean some people don't use pencils anymore? O tempora).
In retrospect, Sonny Corleone had the makings of a great statesman.
January 19, 2026 at 1:54 PM
In retrospect, Sonny Corleone had the makings of a great statesman.
He is probably best known to you as the author of Policraticus, that deathless classic of the C12 Renaissance:
January 19, 2026 at 7:34 AM
He is probably best known to you as the author of Policraticus, that deathless classic of the C12 Renaissance:
The Sorbonne is not looking too shabby today.
January 16, 2026 at 9:45 AM
The Sorbonne is not looking too shabby today.
'This appears to be a long document.'. It is 9 pages, including cover sheet. It is in single figures. It is not long. AI: do you need help building your attention span?
January 15, 2026 at 4:20 PM
'This appears to be a long document.'. It is 9 pages, including cover sheet. It is in single figures. It is not long. AI: do you need help building your attention span?
I'm not a fan of football but deep down I am a Macc lad so have to keep the celebrations going:
BBC News - Stunned Macclesfield fans cheer biggest FA Cup shock in history - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News - Stunned Macclesfield fans cheer biggest FA Cup shock in history - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Stunned Macclesfield fans cheer biggest FA Cup shock in history
Macclesfield, from the sixth tier of English football, stun the FA Cup holders Crystal Palace.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 11, 2026 at 8:03 AM
I'm not a fan of football but deep down I am a Macc lad so have to keep the celebrations going:
BBC News - Stunned Macclesfield fans cheer biggest FA Cup shock in history - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News - Stunned Macclesfield fans cheer biggest FA Cup shock in history - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Calling all fifteenth-century scholars: if you have not yet submitted your proposal for this year's conference hosted by @memsunikent.bsky.social, now is the time to do so. CfP open until 31st January.
Are you a scholar of the fifteenth century and have an interest in the British Isles and its wider connections? If so, then you will want to know that @memsunikent.bsky.social will be hosting the 2026 Fifteenth Century Conference in Canterbury and the CfP is now open: www.kent.ac.uk/medieval-ear...
MEMS to Host the Fifteenth Century Conference 2026
www.kent.ac.uk
January 9, 2026 at 8:42 AM
Calling all fifteenth-century scholars: if you have not yet submitted your proposal for this year's conference hosted by @memsunikent.bsky.social, now is the time to do so. CfP open until 31st January.
I walked over to OUP - or perhaps I should say I went on a cranky crawl.
January 8, 2026 at 9:43 AM
I walked over to OUP - or perhaps I should say I went on a cranky crawl.
Who most needs an Epiphany?
January 6, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Who most needs an Epiphany?
Keep your beard out of my logic.
January 6, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Keep your beard out of my logic.
I got 'slapdash' and 'laughable'. Goodbye, meticulous scholarship with a furrowed brow - you are so last year.
I’ll take it
January 6, 2026 at 1:19 PM
I got 'slapdash' and 'laughable'. Goodbye, meticulous scholarship with a furrowed brow - you are so last year.
I was so disappointed not to have known of the NYE event at Margate's Turner Gallery, until my wife explained it was not that type of Latin Party.
January 3, 2026 at 12:53 PM
I was so disappointed not to have known of the NYE event at Margate's Turner Gallery, until my wife explained it was not that type of Latin Party.
Nero liked a good fire.
January 3, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Nero liked a good fire.
My New Year's Day Gift to you: the latest version of the listing of the extant manuscripts once owned by Humfrey, duke of Gloucester, now standing at 51 items.
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/01/a...
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/01/a...
A New Listing of Manuscripts from the Library of Humfrey, duke of Gloucester
As it is New Year, it is appropriate that I should have a gift for you. It is the latest version of the listing of the known extant manuscripts once owned by Humfrey, duke of Gloucester; it include…
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com
January 1, 2026 at 12:59 PM
My New Year's Day Gift to you: the latest version of the listing of the extant manuscripts once owned by Humfrey, duke of Gloucester, now standing at 51 items.
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/01/a...
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2026/01/01/a...
Looking for some diverting reading over what remains of the break? Recommend John Banville's latest, a skilful and beautifully written wrong-stepping novel. Enjoy the allusions (including to his own Book of Evidence).
PS Not for those who adore Venice.
PS Not for those who adore Venice.
December 31, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Looking for some diverting reading over what remains of the break? Recommend John Banville's latest, a skilful and beautifully written wrong-stepping novel. Enjoy the allusions (including to his own Book of Evidence).
PS Not for those who adore Venice.
PS Not for those who adore Venice.
Borges, it turns out, was not writing fantasy. He was a prophet.
Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 21, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Borges, it turns out, was not writing fantasy. He was a prophet.
Not a bad place to visit to talk manuscript #fragments.
December 18, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Not a bad place to visit to talk manuscript #fragments.
Times New Roman has been trending. Some thoughts on the resonances it has:
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/r...
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/r...
Radical Times New Roman
It is good to see Times New Roman making headlines (presented in a variety of fonts). The coverage makes me think of its radical origins. That may seem an odd claim for a typeface designed explicit…
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com
December 15, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Times New Roman has been trending. Some thoughts on the resonances it has:
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/r...
bonaelitterae.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/r...