Carrie Beneš
@cebenes.bsky.social
1.6K followers 440 following 220 posts
Medievalist, typography nerd, data wrangler, and occasional costume designer. Secret superpower = toasting the perfect marshmallow. Sfera Project co-PI. Would rather be in Rome.
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cebenes.bsky.social
Due October 10th >> The New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies returns 5-7 March 2026! Accepting abstracts on all topics in European & Mediterranean history, literature, art, music & religion (4c-17c): www.newcollegeconference.org/cfp

#medievalsky #earlymodern #renaissance #CfP
cebenes.bsky.social
It was great to have you in class, and to hear about your work, Lari! Stay in touch.
cebenes.bsky.social
Medieval Rome: The two best to start with are Richard Krautheimer’s “Portrait of a City” (2nd ed) and Hendrik Dey’s recent “New Portrait”. But I’ll also plug James Palmer’s Virtues of Economy and his translation of the Anonimo Romano chronicle. 🙂
cebenes.bsky.social
The New College Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Studies returns 5-7 March 2026! Abstracts on all topics in European & Mediterranean history, literature, art, music & religion (4c-17c) are due 1 October 2025: www.newcollegeconference.org/cfp

#medievalsky #earlymodern #renaissance #CfP
cebenes.bsky.social
I have had everything from $0 to $80 quotes for a single image reproduction in a small-run scholarly publication. The $80 was the Marciana.
cebenes.bsky.social
From the trenches: Italian law is supposedly nationally consistent on these policies, and all state institutions are subject to it. In reality, each institution makes its own calls, e.g. on what constitutes a "scientific publication."
cebenes.bsky.social
In my experience this creates a L hand/R hand problem where the library decides what you pay (depending on use) but they don't tell *you*, they only tell the processor, and if you dispute the amount the processor tells you to take it up with the library, which refuses to answer further emails.
cebenes.bsky.social
Marciana: There is a fee, there are forms, and there is a 3rd-party payment processor that you pay the fee to.
cebenes.bsky.social
TBR.
sonjadrimmer.bsky.social
This article by my friend Nick Herman is one of my favorite works of scholarship from the last 5 years, which I'm revisiting this morning. It concerns tiny complaints about labor written by artists into the miniatures they painted in 15th-century manuscripts. doi.org/10.1086/715117
While more recent analyses have tended to complicate the
clear delineation between the roles of masters and assistants
(and between journeymen and apprentices), it remains clear
that the two principal groups were frequently at loggerheads,
as they shared obviously divergent goals: the former wanted
to maximize profit in an increasingly integrated European
economy, while the latter sought to preserve a system in
which workers dictated the terms of their labor.119 A key
source of conflict between masters and journeymen in particular
was the regulation of time, and specifically the lengthening
and horological objectification of the working day.
cebenes.bsky.social
Yep, me too. 👇
homophonous.bsky.social
👇 Absolutely true for me.
chloermckenzie.bsky.social
Success in academia often has more to do with luck, patronage and the job market than “hard work”.
Good academics acknowledge this.
I worked hard, but I was in the right place at the right time on occasion. Historians far more talented than I have fallen between the cracks.
cebenes.bsky.social
I handled this book in the Schoenbergs' flat here in SRQ once! It's really gorgeous. 🤩
cebenes.bsky.social
Yesterday my 9yo gave Albuquerque a beautifully precise Romance lilt ("Al-boo-kwair-kway") and I had to admit to her that Americans call it "Alba-kerky".
Reposted by Carrie Beneš
jonbecker.bsky.social
Higher education faculty members should read two new articles and discuss them deeply as a department/unit/etc. The NYMag article about AI and cheating + the NYT article by the professor at U. of Florida about working under the DeSantis regime. They are connected; discuss those connections.
cebenes.bsky.social
*One week from today* On behalf of @medievalacademy.bsky.social, Alison Perchuk and I are hosting an informal Community Hour for premodernists affected by recent federal cuts. Please join us—and share this announcement widely!

#medievalsky #earlymodern #lateantiquity
MAA to Host Community Discussion on Cuts to Federal Funding
MAA to Host Community Discussion on Cuts to Federal Funding Tuesday May 6th, 1 pm EDT Many of us have been shocked and appalled by the recent termination of
www.themedievalacademyblog.org
Reposted by Carrie Beneš
homophonous.bsky.social
Starting point, this time, was “No way this guy is Cardinal Pizza Can Dance.”
cebenes.bsky.social
Thank you, Elizabeth Warren.
nehafge3403.bsky.social
Read the entire letter here, which includes concerns regarding staff reductions, highlights the importance of #NEH #humanities projects in #Massachusetts, and asks ten critical accountability and clarifying questions, with a response requested by 5/12/25:

www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/do...
cebenes.bsky.social
Detail:
(Painting, btw, is in the Maritime Museum in Genoa, which is amazing.)
cebenes.bsky.social
Lest anyone think that life in the Middle Ages was provincial, isolated, and rural... (Medieval Mediterranean port cities like this often had pop. densities ca. 100K/sqmi, which is more than Manhattan or Mumbai today [60-75K].) —Cristoforo de' Grassi, 1597 copy of Genoa in 1481.
cebenes.bsky.social
Happy Earth Day from the #sferaproject!
#medievalsky #earlymodern #maphistory #bookhistory
(G. Dati, La sfera/The Globe, early 15c; BNCF Magl. XI.83, f. 7r)
Reposted by Carrie Beneš
nytpitchbot.bsky.social
Kind, decent, and compassionate, Pope Francis was badly out of step with contemporary western culture.
cebenes.bsky.social
Thank you, Seb! 🫶 Toujours Equipe France!
cebenes.bsky.social
Yes! Like a broccoli haircut for camels. 😁