Dr Eleanor Baker
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eleanormaybaker.bsky.social
Dr Eleanor Baker
@eleanormaybaker.bsky.social
820 followers 810 following 370 posts
📖Writing and teaching on Middle English literature in Oxford
💀Wrote BOOK CURSES for Bodleian Publishing
✏️Being creatively critical @guildmedmak.bsky.social‬
🍂Liker of university access and outreach, folk horror, and print making
She/her
Posts Replies Media Videos
eleanormaybaker.bsky.social
Last night was the Yule Feast at @queenscollegeox.bsky.social, so I and @leahveronese.bsky.social finally got to wear our medieval mummers masks! We sang the Boar's Head Carol while trailing after a large papier mache boars head from WWII, and dined on a medieval-inspired menu.
November 26, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
cjfaraday.bsky.social
A bit of a departure for me in @apollo-magazine.com’s December issue, where I look at what M. R. James's ghost stories can tell us about the pleasing terror of studying art and objects...
A photo of the cover of the December 2025 Apollo Magazine with a close up of a painting by Lippi of Joseph with grey hair and a halo, leaning on a staff, caption in white on his blue cloak reading “Getting Lippi in Rome” with a sub caption “the ghostly world of M R James” Double page spread of Apollo “Raising the Dead” in gothic writing against a sepia photo of the entrance to the Fitzwilliam Museum in the late 19th century when M. R. James was director, against a patterned red tablecloth. A photo of the end of the article reading: “Baxter was only too literal in his desire to “look through dead man's eyes” filling the binoculars with liquid made from boiled bones. But the dead, who 'didn't like having their bones boiled, finally come to carry Baxter off 'whither he would not'. An unfortunate end for Baxter, but what greater fantasy for students of the past than seeing history first-hand? Historians of all kinds - but especially art historians - devote their lives, by different means, to exactly this cause. What else is Michael Baxandall's famous concept of the 'period eye' - his attempt to recover the culturally shaped modes of vision specific to certain times and places - than a more respectable attempt to look through dead men's eyes? James was writing at a time when professional historians were anxious to distance their quasi-scientific approaches from the whimsical studies of antiquaries. But his stories reveal that he understood only too well what many students of art and history feel when faced with the remains of the past. The creeping feeling that we are never quite alone with the objects we study, that we are always somehow accompanied by the people who once made, viewed and used them, and that their intentions and desires are still deeply embedded in the objects that survive them. Drawing out these intentions, accounting for the humanity of the long dead, is a task that can cause the scholar considerable anxiety - accompanied or not by the fear that, should we get it wrong, the dead will find a way to return, to put us right.” Christina J. Faraday is an affiliated lecturer in history of art at the University of Cambridge and author of The Story of Tudor Art (Head of Zeus).
November 25, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
alicemarples.bsky.social
Deadline for HEI supervisor applications THIS FRIDAY 5pm:

- 'Dispersal of Manuscripts From the Cotton Library'
- 'Libraries, Literacy, and Learning in Leeds'
- 'New Sources & Perspectives on Sarah Sophia Banks'
- 'Cold-War Socialism, Non-Alignment & Anti-Colonialism in Yugoslav Press, 1961-1979'
alicemarples.bsky.social Alice Marples @alicemarples.bsky.social · Sep 10
Absolutely delighted to invite applications from prospective HEI supervisors for four Collaborative Doctoral Partnership opportunities, to start October 2026.

Deadline for applications Fri 28th Nov, 5pm.

Further details below and here: www.bl.uk/services/res...
Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships
The Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships scheme offers PhD studentships fully funded by the AHRC and supervised jointly by a university and the British Library.
www.bl.uk
November 25, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
mediumaevum.bsky.social
Polish your prose, signpost your paragraphs, and check your references, because just one week remains for graduate students and those who have recently graduated with a higher degree to submit their work to the Medium Ævum Essay Prize 2026🖋️

Find out more by visiting mediumaevum.org.uk/essayprize
November 24, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
guildmedmak.bsky.social
'I crumbed together my research into North Sea fish species, North Atlantic trade, and late-medieval environmental crisis around the medieval North Sea basin with my embodied experience of walking in the fens south of Grimsby.'

Our latest MMM blog post by poet Becca Drake is out now! 👇
Meet a Medievalist Maker: Becca Drake — The Guild of Medievalist Makers
“ Meet a Medievalist Maker ” is an ongoing series of blog posts introducing our members and the work they are doing. Each post is organized around our Four P’s: a project they are working on...
www.guildmedmak.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
jonathanfruoco.bsky.social
Chaucer in the Age of Medievalism needs you! In the wake of our conference, we are now preparing a collective volume and seeking additional chapters to complement the proceedings. Please share widely!

#medievalsky

modmed.hypotheses.org/8517
Appel à articles : Chaucer in the Age of Medievalism
Following the Chaucer: Here and Now exhibition (2023–2024) at the Bodleian Library, the conference Chaucer in the Age of Medievalism—sponsored by the Modernités médiévales association and the New Chau...
modmed.hypotheses.org
November 21, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
richove.bsky.social
Come and apply to be the Professor of Bibliography & Modern Book History @engfacoutreach.bsky.social & @jesusoxford.bsky.social (and work closely with us @bodleian.ox.ac.uk). Following a long line of great scholars: Don McKenzie, Kathryn Sutherland, & Dirk van Hulle ... my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
my.corehr.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:37 PM
eleanormaybaker.bsky.social
I'm scrappily testing my Christmas card design for this year, which is the Green Knight holding his 'holyn bobbe'. Its modelled on this little medieval love token replica I have.
November 23, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
guildmedmak.bsky.social
'The provisionality and dynamism of play enables creative thinking and dispenses with fears of failure'.

Read our new blogpost discussing the 'Creativity in the Classroom' workshop run by @drlauravarnam.bsky.social and @cathamclarke.bsky.social at the 'Chaucer our Contemporary' event 👇
‘Creativity in the Classroom’ workshop: GuMM at ‘Chaucer our Contemporary’ event 4/10/25 — The Guild of Medievalist Makers
Write-up of activities from the ‘Creativity in the Classroom’ workshop at the ‘Chaucer our Contemporary’ colloquium (Laura Varnam and Catherine Clarke).
www.guildmedmak.com
November 23, 2025 at 11:52 AM
eleanormaybaker.bsky.social
I just watched a female sparrowhawk descend on a pigeon, dispatch it, and begin to imperiously pick it apart in the centre of Oxford. Entirely unbothered by passers by.
November 19, 2025 at 4:07 PM
eleanormaybaker.bsky.social
Despite being in the warm and claggy grip of a horrible cold, I have completed my two medieval mummers masks. They are distinctly unnerving.
November 16, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
mediumaevum.bsky.social
Our past Medium Ævum Essay Prize winners have written on subjects ranging from acrostics to affectivity, and fertility myths to finger counting!

There's still time to review your work for submission to the Medium Ævum Essay Prize 2026. For more information, visit mediumaevum.org.uk/essayprize
mediumaevum.bsky.social Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literatures @mediumaevum.bsky.social · Oct 19
🎺Calling graduate students and those who have completed a higher degree in the last three years🎺

We want to read your new ideas and fresh perspectives! Consider submitting your work to the Medium Ævum Essay Prize 2026.
November 14, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
helengittos.bsky.social
The @ihr.bsky.social History of Liturgy Seminar is on tour! Our next session is in Oxford next Monday 17 Nov, 17.30.

Cosima Gillhammer on writing about liturgy for public audiences & Molly Bray on statue dresses, reuse of mss fragments & nuns' kinship networks. @oxmedstud.bsky.social #medievalsky
November 13, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
saracharles.bsky.social
Still time to register for this free online talk tomorrow on making medieval manuscripts #bookhistory #medievalsky
saracharles.bsky.social Sara Charles @saracharles.bsky.social · Oct 24
I'll be talking to the Caxton Club next month on The Medieval Scriptorium - going through all the stages of making manuscripts, including demonstration videos. There may be cats in the background. Fri 14 Nov 12:00PM CT (5.00PM GMT) #medievalsky #bookhistory
www.caxtonclub.org/event-6296386
Medieval manuscript miniature of a seated scribe holding a quill and knife over ruled parchment inside a decorated initial (GKS 4 folio III, fol. 165r)
November 13, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
britishacademy.bsky.social
The British Academy invite applications for the Neil Ker Memorial Fund 2026. The scheme aims to promote the study of Western medieval manuscripts, particularly those of British interest: https://bit.ly/4hO0Oo1
November 12, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
richove.bsky.social
There is still time to apply for one of our 50+ Visiting Fellowships @bodleian.ox.ac.uk for the 2026-27 academic year! A vibrant interdisciplinary research centre in the heart of one of the world’s great libraries!
bodleian.ox.ac.uk Bodleian Libraries @bodleian.ox.ac.uk · 14d
VISITING FELLOWSHIPS: Applications are now open for 2026-27!

The deadline for applications is Friday 28 November 2025.

For more information on how to apply: https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/csb/fellowships/bodleian-visiting-fellowships
Promotional banner inviting applications for Visiting Fellowships at the Bodleian Libraries for 2026-27, featuring an interior view of the library.
November 12, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
dannybate.bsky.social
It's some fairly well known etymology that we owe some everyday words to Martin of Tours (d. 397).

The most famous episode of his life is when he selflessly cut his cloak (in Latin: 'cappa') in two. That cloak was later venerated in Frankish lands, from which come the words 'chapel' and 'chaplain'.
dannybate.bsky.social Dr Danny Bate @dannybate.bsky.social · 15d
Since today is Saint Martin's Day, here's a humble image of the popular saint that I recently encountered on Veliki Brijun, Croatia. Carved for a church in Senj c. 1330, it has "Sveti Marъtinъ" written in Glagolitic letters around the saint's head – part of Croatia's long tradition of Glagolitic.
A stone carving, mounted on a white wall, showing a bishop, with two words in the Glagolitic script on either side of his head
November 11, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
guildmedmak.bsky.social
'Translating Chaucer is a strange and humbling act. It’s like listening through centuries of static to a voice that is both foreign and familiar, comic and solemn, earnest and ironic.'

Jonathan Fruoco writes about his experience translating Chaucer for our Meet a Medievalist Maker blogpost series👇
Meet a Medievalist Maker: Jonathan Fruoco — The Guild of Medievalist Makers
“ Meet a Medievalist Maker ” is an ongoing series of blog posts introducing our members and the work they are doing. Each post is organized around our Four P’s: a project they are working on...
www.guildmedmak.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
oldfortunatus.bsky.social
Senior Librarian role in Oxford👇 www.asc.ox.ac.uk/fellow-libra...
Fellow Librarian | All Souls College
www.asc.ox.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 5:51 PM
eleanormaybaker.bsky.social
Better lit photos of the hare mask, which is now complete! Next up is the stag...
November 10, 2025 at 12:01 PM
eleanormaybaker.bsky.social
@leahveronese.bsky.social and I have been teaching at @queenscollegeox.bsky.social this term, and so we have been invited to their Yule Feast! As our 'medieval accessory' I will be making us hare and stag masks inspired by the mummer illustrations from Bodley MS. 264, fol. 21v.
November 8, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
parkerlibcccc.bsky.social
We're delighted to digitally contribute to @theul.bsky.social Curious Cures project

Curator James Freeman highlights some of way Middle English medical writings have survived to us:
specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk?p=30906

One more month to catch the physcial exhibition, do not miss it!
In their own words: medical writings in Middle English – Cambridge University Library Special Collections
specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk
November 7, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Somewhat astonishingly, here it is, a book, a thing in the world... More, including acknowledgements, soon❤️
The cover of a book. Text reads TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE. The illustration is of black and white embroidery of flowers, fruit, and animals; it's sitting on a blue and white William Morris print cushion. The table of contents of a book. The chapter titles read Stuff, Linen, Leather/Wool, Silk, Inky Cloak, Sew, Cut, Fold, Ruff.
October 31, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
jdmccafferty.bsky.social
St Anne teaching the Virgin to read, carved stone, France, Troyes, ca. 1500-1530

(V&A Museum, London)
November 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Dr Eleanor Baker
willwyeth.bsky.social
Call for Papers for an excellent series. The editors are great and the journal open access. #CfP

“The Public Curatorship of the Medieval Past”

olh.openlibhums.org/news/863/
Second Call for Articles: The Public Curatorship of the Medieval Past
The Public Curatorship of the Medieval Past Special Collection explores how the medieval past is ‘curated’, that is, collected, interpreted, and communicated, across both professional and popular soci...
olh.openlibhums.org
October 28, 2025 at 2:50 PM