Katherine CM Cross
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kcross.bsky.social
Katherine CM Cross
@kcross.bsky.social
1.6K followers 720 following 490 posts
Historian of the Early Middle Ages based in York.
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Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
parishchurches.org
Figurative Norman fonts in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Unwrapped.
December 7, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
kcross.bsky.social
Reading this with my students tomorrow.

'The writer of history is a walking anachronism… He must try to work authentically, hearing the words of the past, but communicating in a language the present understands.'

It’s all just so good!
www.theguardian.com/books/2017/j...
Hilary Mantel: why I became a historical novelist
‘Is this story true?’ readers invevitably ask. In the first of her BBC Reith Lectures, the double Man Booker prize-winning author explores the complicated relationship between history, fact and fictio...
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 9:29 PM
kcross.bsky.social
Reading this with my students tomorrow.

'The writer of history is a walking anachronism… He must try to work authentically, hearing the words of the past, but communicating in a language the present understands.'

It’s all just so good!
www.theguardian.com/books/2017/j...
Hilary Mantel: why I became a historical novelist
‘Is this story true?’ readers invevitably ask. In the first of her BBC Reith Lectures, the double Man Booker prize-winning author explores the complicated relationship between history, fact and fictio...
www.theguardian.com
December 2, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
yorkmedieval.bsky.social
📣 2026/7 MA in Medieval Studies scholarships 📣
We are delighted to announce that we will be awarding two MA scholarships for the 2026/7 MA in Medieval Studies cohort. Full details can be found on the CMS website: www.york.ac.uk/medieval-stu...
Spread the news!
December 1, 2025 at 5:53 PM
kcross.bsky.social
Astounded to learn that York’s statue of Constantine was commissioned because York was apparently suffering from ‘a dearth of great men’ in statue form…

castinstone.exeter.ac.uk/database/s/e...
Statue of Constantine the Great outside York Minster
December 1, 2025 at 9:39 AM
kcross.bsky.social
Brilliant drama-history thread
bfletcherwatson.bsky.social Ben Fletcher-Watson @bfletcherwatson.bsky.social · 7d
Eleven years ago, I wrote to Tom Stoppard to ask about this coup de théâtre from 1949. It took me down an unexpected rabbit hole - in memory of Stoppard, here's what I found.
"Years and years ago, there was a production of The Tempest, out of doors, at an Oxford college on a lawn, which was the stage, and the lawn went back towards the lake in the grounds of the college, and the play began in natural light. But as it developed, and as it became time for Ariel to say his farewell to the world of The Tempest, the evening had started to close in and there was some artificial lighting coming on. And as Ariel uttered his last speech, he turned and he ran across the grass, and he got to the edge of the lake and he just kept running across the top of the water — the producer having thoughtfully provided a kind of walkway an inch beneath the water. And you could see and you could hear the plish, plash as he ran away from you across the top of the lake, until the gloom enveloped him and he disappeared from your view. And as he did so, from the further shore, a firework rocket was ignited, and it went whoosh into the air, and high up there it burst into lots of sparks, and all the sparks went out, and he had gone. "When you look up the stage directions, it says, 'Exit Ariel.”
November 30, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
beapichel.bsky.social
This might be hard to grasp for British people, but the damage that this and Brexit are doing to the international reputation of British universities is huge. When I moved here 11 years ago, coming to the UK was basically the dream. Now I would never advise international colleagues to come here
eicathomefinn.bsky.social Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 11d
Chief exec of OfS 'said the OfS believes there are 24 institutions at risk of exiting the market in the next 12 months, seven of which are large providers with more than 3,000 students. There are another 25 or so institutions of various sizes at risk over a two- to three-year period, she added.'
Seven ‘large providers’ at risk of going under in the next year
Skills minister says no higher education institutions are at imminent risk of collapse this year but OfS confirms more than 20 providers are being closely monitored
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:28 AM
kcross.bsky.social
I just read Ali Smith’s How to be Both. Absolutely astounded to discover that different copies have the story in the opposite order!
November 23, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
komldsp.bsky.social
And the news is... We're recruiting! Applications are now open for our 2026 @leverhulme.ac.uk Doctoral Scholarships. So, if you want to study at PhD level pre-modern handwritten cultures and the organisation of knowledge and power within them, do investigate our refreshed website.
November 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
kcross.bsky.social
2-year position for a woman - could be a medievalist!
November 21, 2025 at 4:44 PM
kcross.bsky.social
Wonderful (if chilly) morning celebrating with our graduates in York Minster.
November 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
kcross.bsky.social
My review of Tomás Mario Kalmar’s King Alfred the Great, his Hagiographers and his Cult: A Childhood Remembered

doi.org/10.1017/jbr....
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:05 PM
kcross.bsky.social
My review of Tomás Mario Kalmar’s King Alfred the Great, his Hagiographers and his Cult: A Childhood Remembered

doi.org/10.1017/jbr....
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
petertarras.bsky.social
If you're looking for illustrations for "AI", don't use robots, glowing disembodied brains, or computer code in empty space. Here are a some alternative suggestions:
Baotou tailings dam, Inner Mongolia: Brown sludge shoots out of a pipe into a grey-brown wasteland stretching to the horizon, where tiny industrial buildings can be seen. Source: Liam Young/BBC, URL: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth Lithium mining fields, Silver Peak, Nevada: An aerial photograph of a desert landscape, with what looks like a chessboard made up of swimming pools, the fields where lithium is mined, contrasting turquoise with the surrounding desert. Source: Doc Searly, Wikimedia, URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Peak,_Nevada#/media/File:Chemetall_Foote_Lithium_Operation.jpg. Differently coloured cargo containers in the port of Barcelona, stacked on top of each other like Lego bricks. Source: OneLoneClone/Wikimedia, URL: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO-Container#/media/Datei:Puertobarcelona2.jpg. Meta’s Stanton Springs data center in Georgia: An industrial complex illuminated in blue and yellow at night, separated from a neighbouring forest by fences. Source: Peter Essick/Fast Company, URL: https://www.fastcompany.com/91396678/meta-georgia-data-center-stanton-springs.
November 17, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
alexharvv.bsky.social
FORGOTTEN VIKINGS releases in paperback today, although, of course, a few early sightings have already been noted from the wildlands!
10 copies of Forgotten Vikings’ paperback edition (in red) and 1 black hardback.
November 15, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
Clear out toys now!
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
johnmkuhn.bsky.social
If you know anyone who works on medieval Judaism, please send them this! Binghamton is hiring a Talmud/Rabbinics assistant prof: half in Judaic Studies, half in the Med/Ren center. A killer R1 job for the right person, and not a ton of applicants so far....
binghamton.interviewexchange.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
roxanneshirazi.bsky.social
A thing about AI in higher ed right now is that half of us are scrambling to deal with the implosion of our information environment that broke reading/writing/source verification, while the other half is trying to achieve a massive institutional buy-in of the very thing that's causing the implosion
November 7, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
cathfletcher.bsky.social
ICYMI yesterday afternoon a fantastic new digital resource pulling together data on the Roman road network has just launched. Explore at:
itiner-e
itiner-e.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
tracynovick.bsky.social
“They didn’t just walk in chasing one person, they went into multiple rooms asking and looking for teachers while children were present,” Ramirez said. “This is an agency that has gone rogue and it an agency that believes that as long as they can cover their face, they can get away with anything.”
Families "horrified" after daycare teacher pulled out of school by federal agents.
The incident happened in front of parents and children at Rayito de Sol in North Center, a parent said. They believe the employee, who cares for infants, is legally allowed to work in the United State...
www.chalkbeat.org
November 6, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
americasvoice.bsky.social
“How did you receive the foreigner? And did you receive him and welcome him or not?”

Pope Leo XIV challenges us to reflect on the moral cost of policies that target deeply-root immigrants and families.
November 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
kcross.bsky.social
Today in my Viking Age module we read Ibn Fadlan’s account of a Rus’ funeral, with this article in particular prompting some great discussion. Always find something new to talk about in this text!

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Agents of Death: Reassessing Social Agency and Gendered Narratives of Human Sacrifice in the Viking Age | Cambridge Archaeological Journal | Cambridge Core
Agents of Death: Reassessing Social Agency and Gendered Narratives of Human Sacrifice in the Viking Age - Volume 31 Issue 4
www.cambridge.org
November 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Katherine CM Cross
ihrmedievalism.bsky.social
This Wednesday (5/11/25) 17.30 UTC, we're delighted to welcome Dr Peter Jones (Plymouth), who will be speaking on William Morris's travel in Iceland. Free to attend in person in the IHR or online, but please register in advance. Details, abstract and registration:
www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...
A black-and-white photograph of William Morris with an old-fashioned relief map superimposed and the paper title in Icelandic.
November 3, 2025 at 11:44 AM
kcross.bsky.social
Discovery that one of my maternal ancestors was a shot putter led me down a rabbit hole to this great article by @hpsvanessa.bsky.social

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Testing sex and gender in sports; reinventing, reimagining and reconstructing histories
Most international sports organisations work on the premise that human beings come in one of two genders: male or female. Consequently, all athletes, including intersex and transgender individuals, must be assigned to compete in one or other ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 2, 2025 at 9:53 AM