Sean Spencer
@cicerocantabridgi.bsky.social
Byzantine worlds, aristocratic hegemony, and the rituals of power.
Half my life’s in libraries, the other in coffee queues.
Eternally optimistic Everton fan.
Half my life’s in libraries, the other in coffee queues.
Eternally optimistic Everton fan.
Reposted by Sean Spencer
I feel like actually access to knowledge and learning is a universal good which shouldn't be available only to the rich, to the 'time rich', to the 'clever', or to the 'hard-working'. It should literally be available to everyone to engage with, for enrichment, for knowledge, for a better world.
I wish there was more emphasis on access to education disentangled from employability and focusing instead on enrichment because people who engage with education (or have the ability to) as enrichment interact with it differently. (And that's a whole society thing, not an in-uni thing) 7/7
November 29, 2025 at 5:09 PM
I feel like actually access to knowledge and learning is a universal good which shouldn't be available only to the rich, to the 'time rich', to the 'clever', or to the 'hard-working'. It should literally be available to everyone to engage with, for enrichment, for knowledge, for a better world.
Reposted by Sean Spencer
👇🏾
The Royal Historical Society is a membership organisation of 7000+ historians, UK and RoW. We welcome historians to join us at any time: our next closing date is 15 December.
We offer membership categories for all kinds of historians and at all stages of research: bit.ly/46V8WOQ #Skystorians 1/2
We offer membership categories for all kinds of historians and at all stages of research: bit.ly/46V8WOQ #Skystorians 1/2
November 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
👇🏾
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Useful ideas for teaching students how to read history.
“Scholarly effort is in decline everywhere as never before. Indeed, cleverness is shunned at home and abroad. What does reading offer to pupils except tears?”
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
this guy has his finger on the pulse amirite
www.history-uk.ac.uk/history-in-p... 🗃️
‘Doing the Readings’
Dr Will Pooley (Associate Professor in Modern History), University of Bristol The students, we often grumble, don’t read the secondary readings we set for class. Every year, we find ourselves press…
www.history-uk.ac.uk
November 29, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Useful ideas for teaching students how to read history.
Reposted by Sean Spencer
I wrote a book on where the idea of blood being thicker than water comes from (and doesn’t come from) www.bloomsbury.com/us/early-chr...
Early Christian and Greco-Roman Conceptions of Blood Difference
This book interrogates the historical contingency of the common idiom “blood is thicker than water,” asking what the role of Christianity is in the development…
www.bloomsbury.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:13 AM
I wrote a book on where the idea of blood being thicker than water comes from (and doesn’t come from) www.bloomsbury.com/us/early-chr...
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Excited to announce my first ever panel at #IMC2026! 🎉 Our session, 'Negotiating Masculinity in Eastern Orthodoxy', brings together papers from @nick-mayhew.bsky.social, Orlen Crawford (co-organiser) and myself, with @maroulix.bsky.social as moderator. @imc-leeds.bsky.social @leedsims.bsky.social
November 29, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Excited to announce my first ever panel at #IMC2026! 🎉 Our session, 'Negotiating Masculinity in Eastern Orthodoxy', brings together papers from @nick-mayhew.bsky.social, Orlen Crawford (co-organiser) and myself, with @maroulix.bsky.social as moderator. @imc-leeds.bsky.social @leedsims.bsky.social
Reposted by Sean Spencer
📚 The Viking Age in Scotland: Studies in Scottish Scandinavian Archaeology 📚
5️⃣0️⃣ % off - SALE on NOW!
Get FIFTY PERCENT off:
FRIDAY 28th
SATURDAY 29th
SUNDAY 30th
➡️ 09:00 MON 1st
Link in next post ⤵️
5️⃣0️⃣ % off - SALE on NOW!
Get FIFTY PERCENT off:
FRIDAY 28th
SATURDAY 29th
SUNDAY 30th
➡️ 09:00 MON 1st
Link in next post ⤵️
November 28, 2025 at 1:56 PM
📚 The Viking Age in Scotland: Studies in Scottish Scandinavian Archaeology 📚
5️⃣0️⃣ % off - SALE on NOW!
Get FIFTY PERCENT off:
FRIDAY 28th
SATURDAY 29th
SUNDAY 30th
➡️ 09:00 MON 1st
Link in next post ⤵️
5️⃣0️⃣ % off - SALE on NOW!
Get FIFTY PERCENT off:
FRIDAY 28th
SATURDAY 29th
SUNDAY 30th
➡️ 09:00 MON 1st
Link in next post ⤵️
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Huge respect to the papers for finding both an 88 year old worried about the tax bill on her 6 bedroom Kensington house and a 20 year old fretting about only being able to save £12k a year tax free.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
November 29, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Huge respect to the papers for finding both an 88 year old worried about the tax bill on her 6 bedroom Kensington house and a 20 year old fretting about only being able to save £12k a year tax free.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Voting open - #Latin Word of the Year contest - Thesaurus linguae Latinae - parerga.hypotheses.org/4098
LATIN WORD OF THE YEAR 2025 – VOX ANNI MMXXV
With the Vox Anni contest now in its fourth season, the Thesaurus linguae Latinae community is excited to share with you the contestants for Latin Word of the Year 2025. (Learn more about the previous...
parerga.hypotheses.org
November 29, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Voting open - #Latin Word of the Year contest - Thesaurus linguae Latinae - parerga.hypotheses.org/4098
Reposted by Sean Spencer
My nan bought her house for £10k 50 years ago and now it’s work £2.5m it’s unfair to ask her to pay money for her tax free £2450000 profit
November 27, 2025 at 7:39 PM
My nan bought her house for £10k 50 years ago and now it’s work £2.5m it’s unfair to ask her to pay money for her tax free £2450000 profit
Reposted by Sean Spencer
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
November 27, 2025 at 6:09 PM
The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?
Reposted by Sean Spencer
It's #PhallusThursday and time to party! I'm wearing my party outfit of a cloak, a wreath crown, and absolutely nothing else; I'm bringing an #amphora and an enormous #Roman sausage! From c. 50 BCE, in a fresco possibly from the #necropolis of #VillaPamphili. #AncientBluesky 🏺
November 27, 2025 at 6:45 PM
It's #PhallusThursday and time to party! I'm wearing my party outfit of a cloak, a wreath crown, and absolutely nothing else; I'm bringing an #amphora and an enormous #Roman sausage! From c. 50 BCE, in a fresco possibly from the #necropolis of #VillaPamphili. #AncientBluesky 🏺
Reposted by Sean Spencer
University of Helsinki is hiring:
Postdoctoral Researcher in History of Ethics
Postdoctoral Researcher in History of Ethics
November 27, 2025 at 1:25 PM
University of Helsinki is hiring:
Postdoctoral Researcher in History of Ethics
Postdoctoral Researcher in History of Ethics
Reposted by Sean Spencer
At last a modern, comprehensive study of the Third Crusade! The crusade that was so wide-ranging that it needs a team to write the book and two scholars to edit it ...
(You'll have guessed that I was one of the team. I wrote the chapter on the written sources and how unreliable they are.)
(You'll have guessed that I was one of the team. I wrote the chapter on the written sources and how unreliable they are.)
📘 #newrelease — John D. Hosler & Stephen Bennett (eds.)
The Third Crusade (1189–1192): New Interpretations
(Boydell Press, 2025)
The Third Crusade (1189–1192): New Interpretations
(Boydell Press, 2025)
November 27, 2025 at 7:51 PM
At last a modern, comprehensive study of the Third Crusade! The crusade that was so wide-ranging that it needs a team to write the book and two scholars to edit it ...
(You'll have guessed that I was one of the team. I wrote the chapter on the written sources and how unreliable they are.)
(You'll have guessed that I was one of the team. I wrote the chapter on the written sources and how unreliable they are.)
Reposted by Sean Spencer
For anyone interested in vikings: a symposium on the impact of the viking Great Army, to be held at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on 24 April 2026.
November 27, 2025 at 3:29 PM
For anyone interested in vikings: a symposium on the impact of the viking Great Army, to be held at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on 24 April 2026.
Reposted by Sean Spencer
The Times’ reporting on employment tribunals is routinely awful. The headlines are clickbait claims which the body copy often contradicts. In this case the issue was not the use of the word “fireman” but failing to challenge a campaign of persistent offensive behaviour. And he wasn’t fired. He left
November 27, 2025 at 7:04 PM
The Times’ reporting on employment tribunals is routinely awful. The headlines are clickbait claims which the body copy often contradicts. In this case the issue was not the use of the word “fireman” but failing to challenge a campaign of persistent offensive behaviour. And he wasn’t fired. He left
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Life on Rome’s northern frontier: a 1,900-year-old military memo in which a Roman soldier records the combat tactics of the Britons, who he refers to as ‘Brittunculi’ — ‘wretched Brits’! 😳
From Vindolanda, Northumberland, 📷 by me
#RomanFortThursday
#Archaeology
From Vindolanda, Northumberland, 📷 by me
#RomanFortThursday
#Archaeology
![My photo shows a thin, rectangular, dark brown leaf of wood, which is broken in places. Across the surface are six lines of cursive Latin handwriting. The text is written in black ink which appears faded and faint. The Latin reads:
nenụ ...[.]n. Brittoneṣ
nimium multi ‣ equites
gladis ‣ non ụtụṇtur equi-
tes ‣ nec residunt
Brittunculi ‣ ụt ‣ iaculos
mittant
Translated as:
… the Britons are unprotected by armour (?). There are very many cavalry. The cavalry do not use swords nor do the wretched Britons mount in order to throw javelins.
On display at the British Museum.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:j56ydp325adovobhwpkzc6sp/bafkreiepntyce43pmmptw3xewwjw46tha2u4sqm7mptegttx5u2mqj527a@jpeg)
November 27, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Life on Rome’s northern frontier: a 1,900-year-old military memo in which a Roman soldier records the combat tactics of the Britons, who he refers to as ‘Brittunculi’ — ‘wretched Brits’! 😳
From Vindolanda, Northumberland, 📷 by me
#RomanFortThursday
#Archaeology
From Vindolanda, Northumberland, 📷 by me
#RomanFortThursday
#Archaeology
Reposted by Sean Spencer
If you’re interested, here’s a handy tool from the IFS. The results may well surprise you.
ifs.org.uk/tools_and_re...
ifs.org.uk/tools_and_re...
Your household's income : Where do you fit in? | Institute for Fiscal Studies
When you think about your income, do you feel rich, poor, or just plain average? Find out where you lie in the UK income distribution.
ifs.org.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:29 AM
If you’re interested, here’s a handy tool from the IFS. The results may well surprise you.
ifs.org.uk/tools_and_re...
ifs.org.uk/tools_and_re...
Reposted by Sean Spencer
I know people love to dunk on modern architecture, but citing a house’s age, over the fact that it’s worth over £2 million pounds, as a reason not to pay a fairer share of tax is not a winning argument. People really need a better sense of where they sit in terms of their wealth to others.
‘I don’t live in a mansion. It’s a 1930s house’: Richmond residents react to council tax rise
‘I don’t live in a mansion. It’s a 1930s house’: Richmond residents react to council tax rise
Rachel Reeves’s new council tax surcharge on homes worth £2m or more earns mixed reception in well-heeled London borough
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:25 AM
I know people love to dunk on modern architecture, but citing a house’s age, over the fact that it’s worth over £2 million pounds, as a reason not to pay a fairer share of tax is not a winning argument. People really need a better sense of where they sit in terms of their wealth to others.
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Interested to see how Telegraph report the actual fall by two-thirds
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11...
Access Restricted
www.telegraph.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Interested to see how Telegraph report the actual fall by two-thirds
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Sean Spencer
This may be of interest to #literacies.
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
November 26, 2025 at 5:50 PM
This may be of interest to #literacies.
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Ach, I’ve written most of the other stuff I need to and I’m about half an hour off being able to send it. So I’ll share…
Shall I share reminiscences about racism in my school in the 1970s and 1980s or shall I do what I’m supposed to and write other stuff?
November 26, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Ach, I’ve written most of the other stuff I need to and I’m about half an hour off being able to send it. So I’ll share…
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Recent studies have uncovered the vibrant colours that once covered ancient Assyrian palace reliefs.
Sandals were often red and black, two predominant colours in the reliefs of king Ashurnasirpal II’s palace at Nimrud.
Source: antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/sou...
Sandals were often red and black, two predominant colours in the reliefs of king Ashurnasirpal II’s palace at Nimrud.
Source: antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/sou...
November 26, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Recent studies have uncovered the vibrant colours that once covered ancient Assyrian palace reliefs.
Sandals were often red and black, two predominant colours in the reliefs of king Ashurnasirpal II’s palace at Nimrud.
Source: antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/sou...
Sandals were often red and black, two predominant colours in the reliefs of king Ashurnasirpal II’s palace at Nimrud.
Source: antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/sou...
Reposted by Sean Spencer
"Bus Pass Libertarians" as my Dad would call them.
Politicians wailing about the welfare budget need to end the triple lock on pensions and benefits for elderly or else sit back down and STFU …
November 26, 2025 at 7:11 PM
"Bus Pass Libertarians" as my Dad would call them.
Reposted by Sean Spencer
Right now, of course, the only "Tory voters" left are the ones who'd enthusiastically endorse snacking on the bodies of the poor if the Daily Mail said it was the latest trend...
#UKBudget BadEnoch’s reaction to the budget - taxpayers pay more to fund welfare.
it’s a fair enough description of the budget - which can be redescribed as ‘Tories say we should put 450,000 kids into poverty’.
I just wonder how many Tory voters would be content with that. I’d hope none.
it’s a fair enough description of the budget - which can be redescribed as ‘Tories say we should put 450,000 kids into poverty’.
I just wonder how many Tory voters would be content with that. I’d hope none.
November 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Right now, of course, the only "Tory voters" left are the ones who'd enthusiastically endorse snacking on the bodies of the poor if the Daily Mail said it was the latest trend...