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pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West
@pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
4.4K followers 440 following 2.1K posts

Professor of History

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Charles West (1816–1898) was a British physician, specialized in pediatrics and obstetrics, especially known as the founder of the first children's hospital in Great Britain, the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street, London. .. more

History 43%
Philosophy 19%
Posts Replies Media Videos

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 23m
Cuthbert in merry mood.
Spaniel on hill

Reposted by Charles West, Margot C. Finn, James Connelly , and 1 more

timothysnyder.bsky.social
Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 1d
We are told that, under stress, the humanities must be sacrificed. But amidst a war of aggression scholars in Ukraine have undertaken one of the most ambitious knowledge projects of our time. It's a privilege to be involved with Ukrainian History Global Initiative
snyder.substack.com/p/ukrainian-...
Ukrainian History Global Initiative
The Creative Humanities During a War of Destruction
snyder.substack.com

Reposted by Charles West

paulwaldman.bsky.social
Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 1d
Read this NYT piece by Sam Kriss about AI's distinctive writing style - especially "It's not X - it's Y" - and then look at this horror of an AI-generated article, which uses all the tropes he identifies, over and over again.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/m...

Reposted by Charles West, Lesley A. Hall, Margot C. Finn

benpatrickwill.bsky.social
Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 1d
"This seems the best bang for your buck; it’s less per year than private school.” 🤢 www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
UK IVF couples use legal loophole to rank embryos based on potential IQ, height and health
British fertility clinics raise scientific and ethical objections over patients sending embryos’ genetic data abroad for analysis
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Charles West

daveaddison.bsky.social
Dave Addison @daveaddison.bsky.social · 2d
I'm very happy to see that my new article on the martyrs of Zaragoza is out in this year's Traditio. Many thanks to the Traditio team, who were wonderful to work with! doi.org/10.1017/tdo....
THE ‘INNUMERABLE’ OF ZARAGOZA: A MARTYR CULT BETWEEN CITY AND MONASTERY | Traditio | Cambridge Core
THE ‘INNUMERABLE’ OF ZARAGOZA: A MARTYR CULT BETWEEN CITY AND MONASTERY - Volume 80
doi.org

Reposted by Rory Naismith, Pauline Stafford

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 2d
Enmeshed in marking, but just thought I'd point out that this article is now out, open access: Simon MacLean, arguing that the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious could be rather later than historians have assumed: might 'the Astronomer' be Jonas of Orleans?
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The date and context of the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious
The Astronomer's Life of the emperor Louis the Pious (814–40) is a canonical source for scholars of Frankish history. It sits at the centre of recent debates about the nature and tone of Carolingian ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by Charles West, Pauline Stafford, Julia Hillner

francescatinti.bsky.social
Francesca Tinti @francescatinti.bsky.social · 2d
Looking forward to giving a paper next week in Rome with the archaeologists who excavated parts of the Schola Saxonum, just opposite the church built over Sancta Maria scola Anglorum, as Archbishop Sigeric called it. Lots of interesting 10th-cent evidence attesting to life in the English quarter

Reposted by Charles West, Adrian Vickers, David Underdown

timhitchcock.bsky.social
Tim Hitchcock @timhitchcock.bsky.social · 2d
The results that @marinelives.bsky.social is getting using Gemini 3 Pro, transcribing and translating Armenian ms materials are stunning. Historians, teachers and archivists really need to be discussing where we want to be with this stuff. open.substack.com/pub/generati...
A New Lens into the Archive
You are in an archive. You find a document in a language you don't understand. You take a photo, input it into Gemini 3 Pro. 60 seconds later you have a transcription, transliteration, and translation
open.substack.com

Reposted by Charles West

jmharland.bsky.social
James Harland @jmharland.bsky.social · 2d
My new article has now been published in the 2025 volume of Traditio. I use a little examined episode on the lower Rhine in the late 350s with the aid of agricultural archaeology to reveal fiscal dependency relations between the Empire & Barbaricum, & the consequences of their rupture. #medievalsky
JULIAN’S BATAVIAN CAMPAIGN, AN EMBEZZLEMENT TRIAL IN BRITAIN, AND BARBARIAN ACCESS TO THE ANNONA MILITARIS | Traditio | Cambridge Core
JULIAN’S BATAVIAN CAMPAIGN, AN EMBEZZLEMENT TRIAL IN BRITAIN, AND BARBARIAN ACCESS TO THE ANNONA MILITARIS - Volume 80
doi.org

Reposted by Charles West

monicamedhist.bsky.social
Monica H Green @monicamedhist.bsky.social · 2d
Problem solved, right? Well, that's what it seemed like for quite a while. But errors can have long lives. And today, like clockwork, when a new study came out on the Black Death, somebody resurrected the leprosy image: www.newscientist.com/article/2507...
Volcano eruption may have led to the Black Death coming to Europe
Climate data and historical accounts suggest that crop failures in the 1340s prompted Italian officials to import grain from eastern Europe, and this may have carried in the plague bacterium
www.newscientist.com

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 2d
Carolingian vibes!

Reposted by Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Charles West

karlgalle.bsky.social
Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 3d
New OA article linking the timing of the Black Death's arrival in Europe to a volcanically induced climate downturn in 1345-1347 that brought famine & desperation among Italian city-states to import additional grain from Black Sea regions already impacted by plague: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Climate-driven changes in Mediterranean grain trade mitigated famine but introduced the Black Death to medieval Europe - Communications Earth & Environment
Post-volcanic climate downtown in southern Europe around 1345–1347 CE caused widespread famine, leading to Italian maritime republics importing grain from the Black Sea region and introducing fleas ca...
www.nature.com

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, John R. Hutchinson, Charles West , and 8 more

nvondarza.bsky.social
Nicolai von Ondarza @nvondarza.bsky.social · 3d
Quite breathtaking story - military grade drones at Dublin airport which flew on the path Zelensky's plane took. The drones reached the flight path of his plane exactly the time it should have been there, but just missed it because Zelensky arrived ahead of schedule:
Four unidentified military-style drones breached no-fly zone to target Zelenskyy's arrival in Dublin
Gardaí are investigating whether the drones took off from land in Dublin or from an undetected ship.
www.thejournal.ie

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d
hope it went OK for all concerned! (at least it definitely went better than it did for Lothar ;)
a man in a black shirt is sitting in front of a microphone with a sign that says things on it
ALT: a man in a black shirt is sitting in front of a microphone with a sign that says things on it
media.tenor.com

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d
yes, for smaller classes I do this (and have a gobbet/short-source-commentary focused exam at the end, to give it meaning/focus) - it's probably the teaching I enjoy the most.

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d
sounds interesting... look forward to hearing how it goes! I think exams can be very valuable as a course anchor.

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d
Yes, I do that too! I like it, though it's not foolproof since you can, after all, get AI to critique itself (so I don't use it as a summative assessment, only as formative). www.history.org.uk/higher-ed/ca...
Using Large Learning Models in the History Classroom: practical perspectives
www.history.org.uk

Reposted by British Library, Charles West

miaout.bsky.social
mia ridge @miaout.bsky.social · 3d
comparia.beta.gouv.fr is so awesome for AI literacy - it makes it so easy to get a sense of different models, rate their responses on accuracy etc, then see what the models were and how they compare, plus the carbon footprint of your queries (as on the screenshot) #FF2025

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d
Works best imo when they reflect on something they have themselves *done*, linking/contrasting that practical experience to theoretical/abstract issues. I usually peg it to editing Wikipedia.

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d
As part of my attempts to come to terms with students' use of AI, I'm making much more use of reflective writing assignments, rather than conventional essays. I love reading them because they are all different - but goodness, they do take longer to mark!

Reposted by Simon L. Lewis, Patrick Dunleavy, Andrew Scott , and 2 more

realcaptainhaddock.bsky.social
Captain Haddock @realcaptainhaddock.bsky.social · 3d
Reform gets largest ever political donation by an individual in UK history from a crypto baron living in Thailand

This is not normal

www.ft.com/content/db73...
Reform UK gets £9mn donation from Christopher Harborne
Nigel Farage’s party attracts far more funding than both Labour and the Conservatives
www.ft.com

Reposted by Charles West

rogueclassicist.bsky.social
rogueclassicist ~ david meadows @rogueclassicist.bsky.social · 3d
New Study Shows How Felines Conquered Europe Thanks to the Roman Army – La Voce di New York
lavocedinewyork.com/en/news/2025...
New Study Shows How Felines Conquered Europe Thanks to the Roman Army
"Always like sphinxes, cats reveal their secrets reluctantly. More ancient DNA is needed to uncover these mysteries from so long
lavocedinewyork.com

Reposted by Charles West

medievaljay.bsky.social
Jay Rubenstein @medievaljay.bsky.social · 3d
My employer just laid off 1000 people
Email announcements: Announcing USC's Adoption of ChatGPT Edu

Reposted by Pauline Stafford

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 3d
Does the concept of a 'shatter zone' help us understand 11th-c. Normandy? Looking forward to reading this by @ralphtorta.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/jinh/article...
Carolingian Normandies: Shatter Zones, Small Polities, and Continuity in Maritime Neustria (c. 800–1050)
Abstract. The “continuity” of the eleventh-century duchy of Normandy with the ninth-century Frankish world is examined through the concept of a “shatter zone,” as developed in Southeast Asian anthropo...
direct.mit.edu

Reposted by Charles West, Sara M. Butler, James A. Benn

saracharles.bsky.social
Sara Charles @saracharles.bsky.social · 4d
Booking is now open for Making Medieval Manuscripts! A practice-based course where we make ink, cut quills, illuminate, make pigments and bookbind, using #medieval techniques and materials. We also explore early medieval art. No experience necessary! #bookhistory ies.sas.ac.uk/study-traini...
Introduction to Making Medieval Manuscripts (Practice Based)
This course introduces students to the complicated and messy processes of production through which pre-modern manuscripts were created
ies.sas.ac.uk

Reposted by Charles West

glosoc.bsky.social
Global Socio-Economic Rights, Local Contexts @glosoc.bsky.social · 4d
In our latest guest blog post, Stefan Berger points out that Germany's Ruhr area has a thriving industrial heritage sector, but one which reveals little about how the region's workers have fought to improve their conditions. A new initiative seeks to change this. Well worth a read! 👩‍🏭⛏️ bit.ly/3Y4NYZC
Commemorating Economic and Social Rights in the Ruhr Area of Germany
Stefan Berger sheds light on a new project to inform tourists about local workers’ struggles in a key region of Europe’s industrial past.
medium.com

Reposted by Charles West

martindbbrown.bsky.social
Martin D.B. Brown @martindbbrown.bsky.social · 4d
Expanding applied higher education at the expense of academic higher education would be a strategic mistake, says TalTech Rector Tiit Land

news.err.ee/1609873563/t...
Tiit Land: What kind of higher education will leapfrog the Estonian economy?
Expanding applied higher education at the expense of academic higher education would be a strategic mistake, says TalTech Rector Tiit Land. Applied higher education focuses on using existing…
news.err.ee

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 4d
That was a very interesting discussion: thanks @rorynaismith.bsky.social for such a stimulating text.

Reposted by Martin Wattenberg, Charles West, Beatrice de Graaf , and 4 more

globalmuseum.bsky.social
Global Museum @globalmuseum.bsky.social · 4d
A book from the 19th century that depicts the Rhine Valley by creating an impression of three-dimensionality and spatial distance.
@MasayukiTsuda2 #globalmuseum #books #travel #19thcentury

pseudo-isidore.bsky.social
Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 5d
Academics: hmm, I wonder if AI means we have to make greater use of vivas for our students?
AI enthusiasts: brilliant, and here's how we can help! kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/pu...
Automated Viva Voce Using Generative AI for Student Coursework Authentication
T1 - Automated Viva Voce Using Generative AI for Student Coursework Authentication
kclpure.kcl.ac.uk