@ProfShakespeare
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profshakespeare.bsky.social
@ProfShakespeare
@profshakespeare.bsky.social
120 followers 54 following 200 posts
Professor Emerita, University of Reading; Founder & Director https://henslowe-alleyn.org.uk; Shakespeare, drama, theatre history, literature and manuscripts expert.
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northages.bsky.social
The Vale of York Viking Hoard was found by detectorists David and Andrew Whelan in a North Yorkshire field #OTD in 2007. A Frankish gilt silver cup brimming with coins was the focal point, and the objects range in origin from Ireland to Afghanistan. 📸Portable Antiquities Scheme #medievalsky
The hoard laid out for display.
January 6, 2026 at 8:31 AM
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enniusredloeb.bsky.social
6th January is the feast of the Epiphany
#Epiphany
BL Add MS 49598; 963 CE-984 CE; The Benedictional of St Æthelwold; England, S.; f.24v
January 3, 2026 at 8:59 AM
profshakespeare.bsky.social
“Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?”
(#Shakespeare, Twelfth Night).

Happy #TwelfthNight. 🎂🎂🍺🍺
Title page of Twelfth Night
January 5, 2026 at 9:16 PM
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social
Mary Shelley (1797-1851), English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel known as 'Frankenstein' (1818). She was the daughter of early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft who died due to complications after Mary's birth. Her father was political philosopher Williams Godwin. #WomensArt
Painting, a portrait of a white woman in a low cut dress with hair tied back, all against a dark background
January 5, 2026 at 8:06 AM
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sebfalk.com
JOB ALERT!

3-year postdoc at @girtoncollege.bsky.social - research anything you like in History, Archaeology or Anthropology in a wonderful, welcoming scholarly community.

PLEASE SHARE! Closes 12 January

www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...
Here's what it looked like on my return to work this morning - beautiful red brick gabled building of Girton's Hall, with a dusting of snow on the grass in front.
January 5, 2026 at 9:00 AM
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tomgauld.bsky.social
A new year cartoon for @theguardian.com books
Title: The five stages of coming to terms with an over ambitious reading resolution. A couple sit up in bed reading. The woman speaks and her partner is silent. 1. Denial. "No, Finishing a book every 2.75 days is not absurd!" She scowls. 2. Anger. "Why are these books all so long!!!" She looks fuirious. 3. Bargaining. "If you read a book and tell me about it, that counts right?" She looks at her partner pleadingly. 4. Depression. "All joy has fled yet my failure persists!" She is sunk in the covers. 5. Acceptance "Being at one with the art is all that matters" she says as she reads. Then adds "And next year I'm going to be at one with so much more art!"
January 4, 2026 at 11:27 AM
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norfolkro.bsky.social
Places still available for for our FREE Quick Guide on Settlement Papers. this Friday 9 Jan 2026 Book your place here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1829442233... #FamlyHistory #Ancestry
Quick Guides-Settlement Papers
This session looks at how you can find out about individuals through settlement certificates, settlement examinations and removal orders.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
January 4, 2026 at 11:50 AM
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juleshumphrys.bsky.social
In Cambridge where a combination of an early start and freezing cold weather meant that I just about had King's College Chapel to myself this morning.
January 3, 2026 at 9:11 PM
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alisonfisk.bsky.social
Something lovely for the weekend!

The Dorestad Brooch, c. AD 800.

This beautiful Carolingian brooch was found at the bottom of a well in the Netherlands in 1969!

Gold inlaid with almandines, pearls, glass, and enamel. Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden 📷 AlexanderVanLoon www.rmo.nl/en/collectio...
A large Carolingian gilded disc brooch intricately decorated with cloisonné inlay; that is tiny gold cells inlaid with semi-precious red almandine stones, white pearls, and red, white, green, and blue glass and enamel. The inlay is arranged to form a cross. At the centre of the brooch is a large oval red almandine in a gold fitting. Around the rim are four smaller almandines (one missing), four relatively large pearls, and sixteen smaller pearls. The brooch measures 8.5 centimetres in diameter. Large brooches like this were used to fasten a cloak, so this one was both functional and decorative. Analysis shows that the brooch was modified in antiquity. The remains of the attachment pin on the reverse was hammered flat to take small nails to attach the brooch to another object, perhaps a book or casket
January 3, 2026 at 6:49 PM
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social
Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait with Cropped Hair, 1943, Frida cut her hair after her divorce from Diego Rivera due to his infidelity as an act of defiance, here she wears her ex husband's suit and is holding scissors-symbolically at castration level #UnlockingWomensArt
Painting of a woman with short hair wearing an over large dark suit sitting on a chair in a room with long locks of dark hair all over the floor, the subject holds scissors
January 3, 2026 at 12:17 PM
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sheepdaily.bsky.social
:)
A white lamb standing on dark brown dirt, looking up at the camera with a smile
January 2, 2026 at 3:57 AM
profshakespeare.bsky.social
Several years ago, I stood next to Tom Stoppard at a TLS party for 15 minutes and didn’t have the courage to speak to him. He was smoking cigarettes and watching people go by, and I didn’t want to bother him. I was teaching his plays at the time…@illuminations.bsky.social
illuminations.bsky.social Illuminations @illuminations.bsky.social · 7d
I saw Raymond Williams (a celebrity in my world) standing alone with a half of bitter in a London pub; I’ve always regretted not offering to buy him the other half.
bolt451.bsky.social Deck the Halls with Bolt451 @bolt451.bsky.social · Jun 13
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie

Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
December 30, 2025 at 1:07 PM
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sheepdaily.bsky.social
???
Three white lambs standing in a line with their heads perked to the side, looking at the camera. Setting is a grassy field
December 30, 2025 at 4:23 AM
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social
'I didn’t have time to be anyone’s muse... I was too busy rebelling"
-Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington
Photograph by Lee Miller in 1939 #WomensArt
Monochrome photograph featuring the upper half of a white woman with dark hair, hands behind her head looking directly outwards wearing a top with buttons or bells as trim
December 30, 2025 at 6:19 AM
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drnwillburger.bsky.social
#Caturday is every day 🐈😻😼
Meme image divided into a text section on top and four medieval-style cat paintings below. The text reads: “I'd like you to paint me a cat.” “A what?” “A cat. You do know what a cat is, right?” “Uh yeah, of course.” The four paintings each show an oddly drawn, somewhat clumsy, whimsical, or distorted cat.
December 29, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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fotofacade.bsky.social
**Top Ten Images of the Year · #6 of 10**

Hodge the cathedral cat at Southwark Cathedral 🐈
December 29, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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drnwillburger.bsky.social
This funerary wreath is made of everlasting flowers (Helichrysum stoechas) and is more than 1,700 years old!
It was found in a tomb of the #Roman period in Hawara/#Egypt and has survived due to Egypt's dry climate.
Dating 2nd/3rd c. AD.

On display at British Museum

📷 me
A wreath made from a variety of 'everlasting' flowers, tied with fibre.
December 30, 2025 at 8:16 AM
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social
US artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) turned her car into a mobile art studio so she could paint out in the New Mexico wilderness #WomensArt
Monochrome photograph of a white woman in a black wide brimmed hat with white cloth covering the back of her neck, head and shoulders, inside a car holding the steerjng wheel while driving
December 28, 2025 at 7:29 AM
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enniusredloeb.bsky.social
King Arthur setting adrift in a boat all those infants born on the same day as Mordred

BL Add MS 38117; 'the Huth Manuscript'; 14th century; f.97v
December 27, 2025 at 9:08 PM
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drnwillburger.bsky.social
The most adorable chess piece ever!
A knight, made of antler.
Dating 11/12th century
Found at the Burgstein, Lichtenstein-Holzelfingen.

📷 me

#archaeology
A carved chess piece representing a knight, depicted in an abstract, stylized form with a triangular head, amd wide circular eyes,. The figure has a hunched, cylindrical body and is displayed on a dark surface with an other game pieces and a die nearby.
December 28, 2025 at 10:23 AM
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enniusredloeb.bsky.social
29th December is the feast of St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in 1170 CE in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights. Here is the earliest known depiction of the murder.

BL Cotton MS Claudius B II; f.341r
December 28, 2025 at 10:44 AM
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westminsterabbey.bsky.social
'Praise God for the merry year'
- Henry IV, Part II (V, 3)

Thank you for following us throughout this year, and we're looking forward to bringing you all the news from the Abbey in 2026!

#ShakespeareSunday
December 28, 2025 at 12:05 PM
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number10cat.bsky.social
You don't know what day it is.
You're eating countless meals a day with lots of snacks in between.
You're napping throughout they day.
Either it's the time between Christmas and New Year or you're a cat.
December 27, 2025 at 9:55 AM
profshakespeare.bsky.social
On December 26, 1606, the King’s Men performed #Shakespeare’s play “King Lear” for their patron James I and his guests at Whitehall Palace on “St Stephen’s Night in the Christmas Holidays”, as its Quarto 1 title page proudly advertises:
#BoxingDay #StStephensDay
Title page of King Lear
December 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
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barackobama.bsky.social
Merry Christmas! Michelle and I hope you have a wonderful holiday filled with light and joy.
December 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM