Shannon McSheffrey
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medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Shannon McSheffrey
@medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
4.7K followers 3.9K following 370 posts
Professor of Medieval History, Concordia U, Montreal; president of the Canadian Society of Medievalists, 2024-26. Spend most waking hours thinking about London riots early 16thc., Dutch immigrants, sex, gender, and the like. Knitster. She/her.
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medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Making sure everything is on the up and up
Photo of a small white, brown, and black terrier looking intently out the window
October 25, 2025 at 8:11 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Note to @theguardian.com : the Ontario legislature in Toronto is not the Parliament of Canada and Doug Ford is not the Prime Minister of Canada so his provincial government cannot pass federal legislation. Kind of embarrassing, tbh.

And boo hiss Bill C5

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...
Screen shot of Guardian article with the alt text for the photo reading “People outside of Queens Park after Doug Ford’s government passed Bill C-5 to fast-track development of mines and infrastructure on 3 June 2025. Photograph: Nick Lachance/Toronto Star/Getty Images.”
June 20, 2025 at 10:26 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
These images on the King's Bench plea rolls never get old.

Trinity 1515 roll -- on the right, a phoenix as emblem for Sir John Fyneux, chief justice.

aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT3/H8/KB2...
highly decorated record of the court of King's Bench; on the left, the name Teste [? that doesn't seem right but I can't see what else it could be] with a Tudor rose and three other flowers winding around the letters; on the right, the name Fyneux, with a phoenix bursting into flame.
May 15, 2025 at 8:31 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
I see @theguardian.com has upgraded Leo to the XVI model. Must have installed the update.
May 8, 2025 at 6:36 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Non Habs Non
Screenshot taken from fnomtl on instagram of the Montreal Gazette post, with headline “No Habs No: Quebec orders STM to drop ‘Go’ from bus messages because it’s an English word.” A picture of an STM bus is superimposed by fnomtl with an avatar looking embarrassed, and the words “an embarrassing day.”
April 24, 2025 at 3:49 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
New shrine in Montreal: St Rocket, pray for us

(Courtesy fnomtl)
A crude wooden figure of a hockey player dressed in the jersey of a Montreal Canadiens player, holding a hockey stick in one hand and a very small Stanley cup trophy in the other, with a plaque at the bottom on which is written (in French): “ St Maurice, accept our offerings, protect our Habs and bring us the Cup.” (St Maurice is the great golden-age Habs player of the 1940s and 50s, Maurice “Rocket” Richard.)
April 18, 2025 at 1:11 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
This sounds like a position in Trump's cabinet:

"Edmund Brysley, yeoman of the poultry for the king's mouth"

It's his assessment of taxable worth, c1523 -- and it's quite high at £100. Keeping those chicken fingers safe for royal consumption was apparently lucrative.

TNA, E 179/251/15B, fol 52r
close-up excerpt from an early 16th-century tax roll, the entry reading "Edmund Brysley, yeoman of the poultry for the king's mouth, £100."
April 4, 2025 at 2:01 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Glad/sad the BL has made much better known this amazing image of Elizabeth Woodville. I’ve seen it as my personal discovery (tho ofc it’s not!) because I came upon entirely unexpectedly as I was reading the register at the Guildhall Library for its mundane contents. Still stuns me!
Highly decorated manuscript painting of Queen Elizabeth Woodville. She has golden hair topped with a crown, a red gown trimmed with ermine and a sapphire-blue cloak lined also with ermine. She holds an orb in one hand and a sceptre in the other. Surrounding her is a profusion of flowers (I can identify roses but won’t hazard a guess on the others). This image is opposite entries dated July 1471, and comes from Guildhall Library MS 31692, the Register of the Fraternity of the Assumption, fol. 32v. (Personal photo)
February 16, 2025 at 6:53 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
AI is so helpful. Just received a voicemail, the caller speaking in French, and this is the transcription:
Voicemail transcription that reads: “We wanna bonjour I'm Shannon sis Sophie the skirt come on the main come on the lamb of pastel that makes your show just a cat and a cat cat sniff sis Catherine Catherine sniff next time…”
February 11, 2025 at 4:11 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Lots of bad things happening but at least it’s #SuperbOwl Sunday
Medieval manuscript image of an owl, with blue feathers on its breast and brown on its back, looking at the viewer with an intense yellow-eyed gaze.
February 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
If you see this post, quote with a bridge from your gallery
Night-time scene in Montpelier, Vermont, looking up a small river at a small bridge illuminated by strings of lights.
January 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
New University Motto: "Embrace Mediocrity! Avoid Over-Quality!"
Screenshot showing an excerpt of an email from the university, headed "Winter/spring training and professional development offerings." The text invites employees to sign up for a range of Human Resource courses, featuring as the top option, "Avoid the trap of over-quality at work. Register by Jan. 22." Dear colleagues, It's time to explore the winter/spring offerings from Human Resources, including popular returning courses and self-paced training - available at no cost. View the full list of available course ogtions on Carrefour. Featured winter/spring 2025 courses For all employees: • Avoid the trap of over-quality at work - Register by Jan. 22
January 9, 2025 at 3:55 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Into the sunset
January 3, 2025 at 10:18 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Freddie posing with his beloved stick, uncovered after snow melt
Small and scruffy terrier, white body and brownish face, posing next to a stick.
January 2, 2025 at 5:34 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
A white, black and brown terrier in a snowy field, with the boards of an outdoor hockey rink in the background, dawn breaking on the horizon
December 25, 2024 at 1:18 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Photo of a small white and brown terrier with a Christmas tree in the background
December 25, 2024 at 11:04 AM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Are we still doing #shitmanicules? Or #kindofcutemanicules? Here are a few!

And if anyone knows about how to date manicules – I'm struck by the apparently frilly sleeves? – then pls let me know. Possibilities 1450s-1550s. This is Westminster Abbey Muniments Book 5, btw

#medievalsky #medievalMSS
A manicule or ink drawing on a medieval manuscript of a pointing hand, pointing at a bit of Latin text (the word 'venella' or lane). It has a bunch of scribbles at the wrist that might be meant to denote frills at the bottom of the sleeve?? Similar to first image. Another manicule or ink drawing of a hand pointing with a VERY large pointer finger at a bit of Latin text (the word Beverley). There are scribbles again around the wrist. A rare double manicule (haha I don't know if it's actually rare): a larger hand with an outsized pointer finger pointing generally at the passage, and a smaller more delicate hand pointing at a single word (out of frame).
December 13, 2024 at 3:40 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Maybe I'm easily shocked (OK, so I am), but I can't get over how early 20th-c archivists wrote notes right onto medieval manuscripts: this is Westminster Abbey Muniments Bk 5; the hand here is the same as recorded a collation of the manuscript on the endpaper, dated 1915. #medievalsky #MedievalMSS
Manuscript page dating from about 1440, with lovely decorated capitals in blue with red filigree pattern; this is a table of contents for the rest of the manuscript. A twentieth-century hand has added, quite messily, pencil notations of which folios the specific entries can be found below.
December 10, 2024 at 2:58 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Current scene: floor show as I eat my lunch
December 3, 2024 at 5:21 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Oh, yeah, Times of London, that’s definitely a fifteenth-century print of the princes in the Tower. Good eye.
Image attached to a Times story of the princes in the tower, clearly 19th- or even 20th-century, labelled as coming from the fifteenth century. The image is of two boys sleeping curled up together in a canopy bed with two bearded men menacingly hanging over them.
December 2, 2024 at 3:12 AM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Beautiful! Less impressive but still pretty, my current work in progress:
November 27, 2024 at 11:44 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Poster downtown Montreal: politicians without soul or heart, plus ça change. #LouisRiel
Mockup of a 19th-century poster taped to a marble wall (of a café), with an engraving of Louis Riel and this text: « Louis Riel, Chef Métis. Exécuté le 16 Novembre 1885. Martyr Politique ! Coupable d’avoir aimé ses compatriotes opprimés. Victime du fanatisme orangiste, sacrifié des politiciens sans âmes et sans cœur. Que les vrais patriotes s’en souviennent !! »
November 19, 2024 at 9:28 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
OK, as Bluesky begins a-poppin', a few posts about the things I do! I'm a historian of England c1370-1550. Some former bird-siters might remember me for my posts on sanctuary seekers (subject of 2017 OUP book): those posts formed the core of a website that tells their stories. sanctuaryseekers.ca
Screenshot of Sanctuary Seekers website, showing its main image, with the text "Between the early Middle Ages and the sixteenth century, thousands of people sought sanctuary in English churches to escape execution for crime or treason or to evade their creditors. Below are some of their stories."
November 8, 2024 at 1:46 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Returning to his lair after his morning expedition, the hunter eviscerates his kill, a once mighty brown bear.
A small white dog with a brownish face chews on a ragged bear toy. A bear toy (meant for dogs) lies with its innards splayed next to it, its face completely torn off. The dog who did this (Freddie) is a member of the Dogs who eat bears’ faces party. And see, he did what he promised.
November 8, 2024 at 1:20 PM
medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
First time in 6+ decades that I’ve heard that having small breasts is “an impossible beauty standard.” Would have been helpful to know of my stupendous natural advantage in high school
New York times headline about breast reduction surgery asking if women do this to assert their independence or to capitulate to beauty standards
September 28, 2024 at 9:26 PM