Sara M. Butler | Lightnews

Sara M. Butler 🇨🇦

@sarabutler.bsky.social

1.6K followers 840 following 190 posts

Medievalist, fond of juries, writes about violence, dog-lover, crochet enthusiast, reads Canadian fiction. Professor of medieval history at Ohio State University.

Videos

History 40%

Political science 23%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall

Sara M. Butler 🇨🇦 @sarabutler.bsky.social · 2d

Its Miscellany Monday! Here's Cassie Watson, "Vitriol to Corrosive Fluid: 'Acid' Assault in the Twentieth Century" (2021):

legalhistorymiscellany.com/2021/09/26/v...

Vitriol to Corrosive Fluid: ‘Acid’ Assault in the Twentieth Century

By Cassie Watson; posted 26 September 2021. With recent posts having examined the eighteenth-century origins of acid throwing and some of its main nineteenth-century characteristics, this one consi…

legalhistorymiscellany.com

Sara M. Butler 🇨🇦 @sarabutler.bsky.social · 5d

Tom McSweeney saying such lovely things about my L&HR article "Context Matters":

legalhist.jotwell.com/unbroken-tra....

Unbroken Tradition" or Broken Chain? Contextualizing Medieval Abortion Law - Legal History

Sara M. Butler, Context Matters: Understanding Why Medieval Legislators Chose to Regulate Women's Pregnant Bodies, Law & Hist. Rev. (2024).Thomas J. McSweeneyIn Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organiz...

legalhist.jotwell.com

Sara M. Butler 🇨🇦 @sarabutler.bsky.social · 5d

Fantastic guest post by Susannah Wilson (Warwick) about murder, Munchausen Syndrome and the history of morphine!

legalhistorymiscellany.com/2025/11/20/t...

The Body by the Canal: The Abduction and Murder of Henriette Barbey in 1882

In this guest post, Susannah Wilson gives a snapshot of the killing and trial at the centre of her new book on forensic psychology and female violence: ‘A Most Quiet Murder: Maternity, Afflic…

legalhistorymiscellany.com

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Daniel F Gosling @thegozfather.bsky.social · 17d

These catalogue updates allow me, a serious historian, to search for "fart" and find the case where the accused allegedly said he "cared not a fart for the Lord Mayor of London." What will you find? discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_a...

Sara M. Butler 🇨🇦 @sarabutler.bsky.social · 23d

Its Miscellany Monday! Here's Butler, "'Horys, strumppettes and fyssenagges': Defamation in the Court of Later Medieval England" (2021)

legalhistorymiscellany.com/2021/08/23/h...

“Horys, strumppettes and fyssenagges”: Defamation in the Courts of Later Medieval England

Posted by Sara M. Butler, 23 Aug. 2021. Like many other teenagers, the only reason I enjoyed leafing through the occasional Shakespearean play in high school was that they provided me with a glorio…

legalhistorymiscellany.com

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Premodern Healthscaping @prosanitate.bsky.social · 27d

Just published online: Lola Digard's investigation of the expanding role of surgeons and medical professionals in legal proceedings in late medieval Ghent, and its relevance to public health, governmentality, and medical authority.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Forensic Knowledge, Labour, and the Medical Market in the Peace Procedures of Ghent, 1350–1400

Focusing on forensic practices, this article investigates the process of professionalisation of medical knowledge in late medieval Ghent. It reconstructs how Ghent’s aldermen used biopolitical stra...

www.tandfonline.com

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Laury Sarti @laurysarti.bsky.social · 29d

CfP: Small Worlds, Big Worlds: Medieval Mediterranean Perspectives, Ninth International Conference of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean, Instituto de Estudos Medievais (IEM) – NOVA, FCSH, Lisbon, June 22–26, 2026 maryjahariscenter.org/blog/small-w...

Small Worlds, Big Worlds: Medieval Mediterranean Perspectives | Mary Jaharis Center

maryjahariscenter.org

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Medievalist.net @medievalists.bsky.social · 29d

Medieval Bread Discovered in Turkey www.medievalists.net/2025/10/medi... #archaeology #bread

Medieval Bread Discovered in Turkey - Medievalists.net

Archaeologists in southern Turkey have uncovered five carbonised loaves of bread dating to the 7th–8th centuries AD, offering a rare glimpse into early medieval Christian life and worship.

www.medievalists.net

Reposted by Sara M. Butler, Raúl Pacheco-Vega

Adam Rothman enjoys a good sandwich @adamrothman.bsky.social · 29d

Genuinely laughing to keep from crying at this instant classic from @mcsweeneys.net
www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/hi-...

Hi, It’s Me, Wikipedia, and I Am Ready for Your Apology

“Wikipedia, the constantly changing knowledge base created by a global free-for-all of anonymous users, now stands as the leading force for the dum...

www.mcsweeneys.net

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Sara M. Butler

Institute of Historical Research @ihr.bsky.social · 29d

Are you studying, researching or teaching the histories of race and ethnicity? Try using the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH). It contains 670,000+ resources from 55 BCE to today! Find out how to use BBIH buff.ly/yD11954 @brepols.net

Using BBIH online: a help pack for students and lecturers

For the academic year, we've a help pack offering guides to BBIH in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. With embeddable content for VLEs.

www.history.ac.uk

Reposted by Lesley A. Hall, Sara M. Butler

ianVisits @ianvisits.co.uk · 29d

Rarely seen due to its age and rarity, a 500-year-old birthing girdle is currently on display at the Wellcome Collection.

www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/a-m...

A rare medieval scroll to protect mothers during chilldbirth has gone on display

Rarely seen due to its age and rarity, a 500-year-old birthing girdle is currently on display at the Wellcome Collection.

www.ianvisits.co.uk

Sara M. Butler 🇨🇦 @sarabutler.bsky.social · Oct 27

Fantastic new post by Krista Kesselring!

legalhistorymiscellany.com/2025/10/27/c...

Crime, Culpability, and the Devil in the Details

Did claims of having fallen for the devil’s seductions heighten or lessen perceptions of a person’s guilt in early modern English legal processes?

legalhistorymiscellany.com

Reposted by Sara M. Butler, Gwen Seabourne

Legal History Miscellany @legalmiscellany.bsky.social · Oct 27

What if the Devil made them do it? A new post by
@kjkesselring.bsky.social
'Crime, Culpability, and the Devil in the Details'.
legalhistorymiscellany.com/2025/10/27/c...

Crime, Culpability, and the Devil in the Details

Did claims of having fallen for the devil’s seductions heighten or lessen perceptions of a person’s guilt in early modern English legal processes?

legalhistorymiscellany.com

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Dr Kate Farrant Shaw @katefarrantshaw.bsky.social · Oct 23

A treasure of English medieval legal history – A Doom of Ine, King of Wessex. (This version is contained in an appendix of Alfred the Great’s dōmbōc – “book of judgments”, a 9th-century juridical text) (Image of Laws of King Ine, British Library) #medievalsky

Sara M. Butler 🇨🇦 @sarabutler.bsky.social · Oct 20

It’s Miscellany Monday! Here’s Tim Streeton, “Mary Hockmore’s Lawyer,” (2021) legalhistorymiscellany.com/2021/08/14/m...

Mary Hockmore’s Lawyer: Marriage Breakdown and Women’s Rights in Seventeenth-Century England

In this guest post, Tim Stretton explores the efforts of a 17th-century woman to secure a lawyer to help extricate her from a broken marriage.

legalhistorymiscellany.com

Sara M. Butler 🇨🇦 @sarabutler.bsky.social · Oct 17

This looks fantastic!

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Amanda Madden @amandamadden.bsky.social · Oct 17

While not an exploding box (you'll have to read the book ;-)), something equally exciting was waiting for me on my doorstep today. My advance copies for Civil Blood arrived! A hearfelt thanks to my wonderful editor at @cornellupress.bsky.social @bethanywasik.bsky.social for making this day possible!

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

The Sewanee Medieval Colloquium @sewaneemedieval.bsky.social · Oct 17

Reminder: Abstracts are due Nov 1st for the 51st Sewanee Medieval Colloquium! (4/10-11)

Help us think collectively about "Refuge and Resistance," and get inspired by subthemes organized by some amazing collaborators.

For more on submission, format and funding, see www.sewaneemedievalcolloquium.com

The Sewanee Medieval Colloquium

The Sewanee Medieval Colloquium is an interdisciplinary conference of medieval studies, held each year at the University of the South, in Sewanee TN.

www.sewaneemedievalcolloquium.com

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland @virtualtreasury.bsky.social · Oct 16

#WomeninRebellion Only one woman appears as the primary defendant in the court martial records of 1798–1801. Catharine Kelly’s trial in Clonmel was brief — but it shows how suspicion reached even into women’s lives.

Read her case here: virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-CSO...

Detail from 'The Battle of Wexford in Ireland fought June 20th 1798'
Coloured line engraving, published by G Thompson, August 1798. National Army Museum, Study collection, 1971-02-33-471-1

NAI CSO/REB/620/6/69/5 - Account of Court Martial of Catherine Kelly, Co. Tipperary [Thursday, 28 March 1799]

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Mark Hailwood @markhailwood.bsky.social · Oct 16

Final post in my series on 'The Experience of Work in Early Modern England'. It focuses on the heartbeat of the premodern economy.... the harvest.

manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/16/t...

The Experience of Work in Early Modern England IV: Harvesters

This post is part of a series that marks the publication of The Experience of Work in Early Modern England. The book is co-authored by monster head Mark Hailwood, along with Jane Whittle, Hannah Ro…

manyheadedmonster.com

Reposted by Charles West, Sara M. Butler, Kathleen Kennedy

Ticia Verveer @ticiaverveer.bsky.social · Oct 16

A man digging for worms in southeastern Sweden discovered a medieval hoard containing pearls, pendants, silver rings, and an estimated 20,000 coins. Archaeologists determined that most of the silver coins date to the 12th century.

Up to 20,000 coins from Early Middle Ages discovered by man digging for worms near Stockholm

A man digging for worms at his summer house in Sweden has unearthed a stupendous treasure: a silver hoard of up to 20,000 coins from the Early Middle Ages.

www.livescience.com

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Susan Abernethy @susanabernethy2.bsky.social · Oct 16

Article: Elizabeth I and the Smallpox Epidemic

www.thedudleywomen.com/post/elizabe...

Elizabeth I and the Smallpox Epidemic of 1562

In October 1562, less than three years after her accession to the throne, Elizabeth I contracted the highly-infectious smallpox virus, which led to her becoming critically ill, and subsequently…

www.thedudleywomen.com

Reposted by Sara M. Butler

Boydell & Brewer @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social · Oct 16

Read about Conan Doyle's research into early medieval Latin medical texts for his book, The Reception of Latin Medicine in Early Medieval England in his Q&A blog > buff.ly/CHVeRqU #medievalsky @conandoyle.bsky.social

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