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John Sabapathy

@jwwsabapathy.bsky.social

390 followers 520 following 300 posts

Professor of history @uclhistory.bsky.social + co-convenor @anthropoceneucl.bsky.social. Editor at @enghistrev.bsky.social. Institutions, rationalities, environments, mostly medieval. https://tinyurl.com/2p8r9yeh + https://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropocene/.

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John Sabapathy @jwwsabapathy.bsky.social · Feb 3

I'm delighted & proud to join @enghistrev.bsky.social as an editor and am very excited to play a role in its life at a literal milestone in its work.

UCL History @uclhistory.bsky.social · Feb 3

Exciting news! 🎉

Prof John Sabapathy joins The English Historical Review (EHR) as an editor! As the oldest journal of historical scholarship in the English-speaking world, EHR has shaped the field since 1886, recently celebrating its 600th issue.

Congratulations @jwwsabapathy.bsky.social ! 👏📖

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John Sabapathy @jwwsabapathy.bsky.social · 17h

Ouch.

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Institute of Historical Research Wohl Library @ihrlibrary.bsky.social · 1d

We've updated our new books displays on the 1st and 2nd floors. There's a wide range of subjects spanning from the medieval to the 21st century.

If this interests you and you're not a member, membership to the library is open and free to everyone - www.history.ac.uk/library-digi...

Image showing some new acquisitions to the Institute of Historical Research Library - October 2025

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Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 1d

Should anyone find themselves in central London on Weds 19 November, consider yourself invited to a book launch! @earliermiddleages.bsky.social www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Book Launch: Local Priests in the Latin West, 900-1050

Earlier Middle Ages Seminar- Session 3

www.history.ac.uk

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Richard Ovenden @richove.bsky.social · 1d

MLGB is back!! Delighted that Medieval Libraries of Great Britain @bodleian.ox.ac.uk is now back online. We are also working had on plans for the next phase of the resource, enhancing & adding data & functionality. HUGE thanks to my colleagues for their hard & clever work mlgb.bodleian.ox.ac.uk

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will o’the wisp pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 1d

The night is dark and full of terrors! As the days grow shorter+ the darkness creeps in, grab yourself some pilfered firewood, slaughter a sheep, and read more about seasonal work patterns from @markhailwood.bsky.social +others’ new book on experiences of work
🗃️
manyheadedmonster.com/2025/10/07/t...

The Experience of Work in Early Modern England I: Winter is Coming

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

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Dr Lynton Lees @lyntonlees.bsky.social · 1d

In case you missed it — our cold spots research was covered in a panel discussion on Radio 4’s Front Row programme yesterday! Listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 1d

'Whatever the cause, deregulated competition has created a tragedy of the commons, whereby individual universities pursue short-term gains while the sector as a whole bears the cost when international confidence is shaken.'

The UCL admissions chaos will damage UK HE’s global reputation

Future crises can be averted if government and universities share data and plans in a more timely and transparent fashion, says Doug Sprecht

www.timeshighereducation.com

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IHR Earlier Middle Ages Seminar @earliermiddleages.bsky.social · 2d

THIS WEEK: Please join us and @uclioabmmedieval.bsky.social for the Sir David Wilson lecture, with @rorynaismith.bsky.social on 'From Mesoamerica to Early Medieval England: Money, Materiality and Society'. Weds 8 Oct, 6.15pm, Archaeology Lecture Theatre G6. All welcome! www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo...

The Sir David Wilson Lecture in Medieval Studies 2025

The Sir David Wilson Lecture, the first event in the 2025-26 UCL Institute of Archaeology/British Museum Medieval Seminar Series, will be given by Rory Naismith (University of Cambridge) on 8 October.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 6d

“I think it’s bananas,” Anthony Finkelstein, president of City St George’s University...told Research Professional News. Adding that the policy is “thoughtless, ill coordinated, poorly aligned to the government’s missions and intent, and a serious blow to the sector when it wasn’t needed”. 1/2

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 6d

‘It’s bananas’: why student fee levy spells trouble for research.

Funding maintenance grants through money raised from international fees leaves universities facing “awkward questions”.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...

‘It’s bananas’: why student fee levy spells trouble for research - Research Professional News

Funding maintenance grants through money raised from international fees leaves universities facing “awkward questions”

www.researchprofessionalnews.com

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Jack Stilgoe @jackstilgoe.bsky.social · 12d

We need an associate lecturer in history of modern science @stsucl.bsky.social www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

www.ucl.ac.uk

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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 6d

Hwæt! 🐉

Ever wondered what the epic poem Beowulf sounds like spoken in Old English?

#NationalPoetryDay

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Royal Historical Society @royalhistsoc.org · 6d

Dame Janet Nelson was the first female President @royalhistsoc.org (2000-04) and is the subject of 'Jinty Nelson in Thirteen Articles', also edited by Alice Rio, and published in 'Transactions of the RHS' earlier this year.

Available Open Access bit.ly/4nyYx2k #Skystorians

First page of the journal article: 'Jinty Nelson in Thirteen Articles' with full abstract: "This collection gathers thirteen contributions by a number of historians, friends, colleagues and/or students of Jinty’s, who were asked to pick their favourite article by her and say a few words about it for an event held in her memory on 15 January 2025 at King’s College London. We offer this collection in print now for a wider audience not so much because it has any claim to be exhaustive or authoritative, but because taken all together these pieces seemed to add up to a useful retrospective on Jinty’s work, its wider context, and its impact on the
field over the decades. We hope that, for those who know her work well already, this may be an opportunity to remember some of her classic (and a few less classic) articles, while at the same time serving as an accessible introduction to her research for anyone who knew her without necessarily knowing about her field, as well as for a new and younger generation of readers."

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John Sabapathy @jwwsabapathy.bsky.social · 8d

Brilliant @benansell.bsky.social 🧵 on the self-defeating effects of UK parties ghosting (or worse) their voting base. 👇

Ben Ansell @benansell.bsky.social · 8d

Very online people will know about a memo circulating among Labour MPs, written anonymously but by someone in the Unherd / Jason Cowley New Statesman world. It is, to be kind, pretty execrable writing. But for our purposes its main problem is an obsession with the PMC. 2/n

bsky.app/profile/greg...

Gregk Foley @gregk.co.uk · 9d

This 'anonymous memo' has Glassman and Walney's fingerprints all over it and is laden with swivel-eyed conspiracism and paranoiac blade-sharpening. If this is what passes for political insight in the Labour Party, they are beyond saving.

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IHR Earlier Middle Ages Seminar @earliermiddleages.bsky.social · 9d

📣 The Earlier Middle Ages seminar @ihr.bsky.social is now on Bluesky! Here's our autumn term schedule. First up is @rorynaismith.bsky.social on 8 October, giving the annual David Wilson Lecture (with @uclarchaeology.bsky.social). All welcome! Please sign up here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Autumn 2025 schedule for the Institute of Historical Research's Earlier Middle Ages seminar. Full information available at https://www.history.ac.uk/news-events/seminars/earlier-middle-ages

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Adrián Maldonado @archaeonado.bsky.social · 9d

Cool colleagues doing cool stuff again - that's Dr Blackwell @earlymedieval.bsky.social nearly blurred out back there in this story of cool medieval finds from excavations at Eliean Donan Castle www.thenational.scot/news/2550068...

Rare medieval hair-styling tool found during Highland castle excavation

A RARE 13th-century tool for styling hair has been acquired by a museum after it was discovered in an excavation ...

www.thenational.scot

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Brodie Waddell @brodiewaddell.bsky.social · 9d

We've got a stellar set of speakers this term at @ihr.bsky.social. Come along an immerse yourself in the latest early modern history research! #EarlyModern 🗃️

IHR Society, Culture & Belief, 1500-1800 @ihrscb.bsky.social · 13d

We're back! 🎉 And we're thrilled to announce our term card for Autumn 2025! Our first event is on Thursday 16 October at 5.30 pm. Lyndal Roper will be discussing 'Turbulence and the German Peasants' War of 1524-6'. You can register to attend the event at: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

To attend, please register at the event of your choice here. If you have signed up but suddenly find yourself unable to make it, you can relinquish your spot by emailing: ihr.events@sas.ac.uk. If you would like to attend in-person and the event reads as fully booked, please do drop by anyway as we can always find some extra chairs!

Thursday 16 October, 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm
Lyndal Roper (University of Oxford), Turbulence and the German Peasants’ War of 1524-6
Please register here if you would like to attend.
Hybrid. Online-via Zoom & Room 243, Second Floor, Senate House

Thursday 30 October, 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm
Emily Vine (University of Exeter), Birth, Death and Domestic Religion in Early Modern London
Please register here if you would like to attend.
Hybrid | Online-via Zoom & IHR Wolfson Room NB02, Basement, IHR, Senate House

Thursday 27 November, 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm
Nailya Shamgunova (University of East Anglia), ‘English and Scottish Scholars at the Global Library, c. 1500-1700’
Please register here if you would like to attend.
Hybrid | Online-via Zoom & IHR Wolfson Room NB02, Basement, IHR, Senate House

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Europe & the World at the IHR @ihreurope1500.bsky.social · 11d

NEW PROGRAMME! What an exciting one it is!
We're looking forward to thinking with @eicathomefinn.bsky.social, Sari Nauman, @rogerleejesus.bsky.social & @araujohistorian.bsky.social

Mondays, 17:30 @ihr.bsky.social & zoom. All very welcome! www.history.ac.uk/news-events/... #EarlyModern #SkyStorians

Europe and the world, 1500-1800, IHR seminar, Mondays, 17:30.
6 October: Margot Finn: At the Cusp of the Modern? Tipu Sultan, the Family & East India Company Rule
10 November: Sari Nauman: Between Categories: Migration, War, and Refuge in the Early Modern Baltic Sea
17 November Roger Lee Jesus: Colonialism and Land: Rethinking Imperial and Local Agency in the Portuguese Empire in Asia
1 December: Ana Lucia Araujo: Dahomey: A West African Kingdom in the Centre of the World During the Eighteenth Century

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Yale Classics Library @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social · 10d

New issue of Mélanges de l’École française de Rome - Moyen Âge Vol. 137, No. 1 (2025) #openaccess journals.openedition.org/mefrm/15996 @ef-rome.bsky.social @openedition.bsky.social

137/1 | 2025 Varia

Revue d'histoire, archéologie et sciences sociales sur l’Italie et la Méditerranée, du haut Moyen Âge à la Renaissance

journals.openedition.org

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Gabriele Passabì @gabpassabi.bsky.social · 15d

The much-anticipated news is now here. I am very excited to announce that my book, soon out with York Medieval Press, is now available for pre-order! Hats off to @boydellandbrewer.bsky.social and the awesome Mont-Saint-Michel design team for the cover!

boydellandbrewer.com/book/robert-...

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Jon Agar @jonagar.bsky.social · Jul 30

Preparing my notes for an interview on history of identity cards, back in the news because of proposals such as Labour Together’s Britcard (left). There’s a long history (see WW2 poster, right)

Here’s a thread on recent (1980s-2010s) UK ID card history, showing how Tony Blair became keen on them

Front cover of Labour Together’s Britcard proposal. It is red and promises a ‘progressive digital identity for Britain’. The abstract imagery suggests progress (arrows) and immigration borders (the arrows are partially interrupted)

WW2 poster- a policeman’s hand takes a National Registration ID card from a plain, citizen’s hand. Text says a citizen may be asked for the card at any time

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D. A. Powell @dapowell.bsky.social · 13d

I want to live on a planet that rains fried chicken and cognac.

WIRED @wired.com · 13d

From lava worlds to gas giants, NASA says the variety of these worlds is staggering—and that signs of a further 8,000 distant planets are awaiting confirmation. www.wired.com/story/6000-p...

6,000 Planets Have Been Found Outside the Solar System

From lava worlds to gas giants, NASA says the variety of these worlds is staggering—and that signs of a further 8,000 distant planets are awaiting confirmation.

www.wired.com

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Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 14d

This is wonderful.

Gabriele Passabì @gabpassabi.bsky.social · 14d

Marc Bloch will be admitted to the Pantheon in Paris! The date for the "Panthéonisation" is set for 16 June 2026. Meanwhile, @sorbonneparis1.bsky.social has launched a website to keep track of the many conferences to celebrate the event. Some of them start this month.

marcbloch.pantheonsorbonne.fr

Marc Bloch | Marc Bloch

marcbloch.pantheonsorbonne.fr

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Marianne O'Doherty @marianneodoherty.bsky.social · 14d

This is also why teaching history even at school needs to deal with questions of source bias. I show my first years the classic image of Jeanne de Montbaston illuminating manuscripts in the family Paris workshop in the 14c and point out that we only know about her work because her husband died...

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 14d

'Even when women were mentioned, the report found they were more often victims than protagonists, with the women murdered by Jack the Ripper more likely to be taught in lessons than the female code breakers at Bletchley Park during the second world war 1/2

School history lessons minimise the role of women, report finds

Campaigners say key stage 3 curriculum plays to misogny and teaches a ‘false version of the past’

www.theguardian.com

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Andrew Seaton @andrewseaton.bsky.social · 15d

I'm looking forward to presenting some new work at the Oxford TORCH Enviro Humanities Research Hub on 4 December and discussing it with Danny Dorling. My talk will feature state planners, population anxieties, and photographs of smiling men in wheat fields

EnvHumsOxford.bsky.social @envhumsoxford.bsky.social · 15d

Happy to announce our fall programme! Pleased to be hosting @brdemuth.bsky.social for our annual flagship lecture on Nov 6. We'll also welcome @andrewseaton.bsky.social and @dannydorling.bsky.social on Dec 4 for a discussion of Andrew's new work on coal. For more info, see the web link in our bio.

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Claire Langhamer @clairelanghamer.bsky.social · 16d

Very much this. The IHR really is open to everyone and this includes our common room and our library as well as our wonderful seminars. All free, all welcome!

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 16d

History curious? You don't need to be in London (or the UK) to attend many Institute of Historical Research seminars, although if you're in Bloomsbury you'll enjoy doing so. Most are hybrid (online/in person). They're free, usually fortnightly and open to the public.

Starting this week:

Events

Stay up to date with the upcoming events organised or hosted by the Institute of Historical Research

www.history.ac.uk

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