Natasha Bradley
@natashaamberjo.bsky.social
700 followers 330 following 17 posts
AHRC DPhil Student at Lincoln College, Oxford | women in Old Norse translations, hagiographies, and religious texts | Clarendon Scholar | she/her
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Reposted by Natasha Bradley
networknorse.bsky.social
Deadline extended to September 15! There is still time to send us your abstracts, & we look forward to hearing from you.

[Alt text can be found in the replies to the quoted post]
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
I tried to add the text of the CFP to alt text, but Blueksy kept glitching and wouldn't let me post with it. Thankfully, @networknorse.bsky.social recently posted a text-only version of both CFPs, so please do check out their posts. Apologies for the lack of alt text!
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
A reminder of the upcoming deadlines for the TWO Norse Hagiography Network panels, one joint with the Celtic Hagiography Network, and the other with the Viking Society

Please note the different deadlines:
24th August (for the joint Viking Society panel) and 31st August (for the joint CHN panel)
Reposted by Natasha Bradley
networknorse.bsky.social
CfP for @imc-leeds.bsky.social 2026, organised together with @celtichagiography.bsky.social.

Deadline: August 31.

[Alt text in thread]
Reposted by Natasha Bradley
networknorse.bsky.social
CfP @imc-leeds.bsky.social 2026:

New Studies in Old Norse Hagiography

Session Jointly Sponsored by the Norse Hagiography Network and the Viking Society for Northern Research

Deadline: August 24.

[Alt text in thread]
Reposted by Natasha Bradley
networknorse.bsky.social
Today is the feast of SS Faith, Hope & Charity (Fides, Spes & Caritas). They may well have been real martyrs, but no one has yet been able to connect them to historical figures. An Old Norse-Icelandic saga tells their story & notes their feast day, but no cult is known in the North. (1/n)
AM 235 fol, f23v (handrit.is), containing the start of the Saga af Fídes, Spes, ok Karítas. The picture shows a dark manuscript page with two columns of text written in black ink. A large red magiscule thorn (þ), with some decoration, begins the seventh line of the right-hand column.
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
Thank you! But not quite yet - still have to get through the viva!!
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
Thank you! Haven't had a chance to celebrate properly yet, but there was many a lie down over the weekend!
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
On Friday, I submitted my doctoral thesis - 'Incite, Seduce, Martyr: Female Verbal Power in the Texts of AM 226 fol.'

It still hasn't sunk in. Thanks to everyone who has supported me throughout this process.
Thesis title page. The text reads:
Incite, Seduce, Martyr: Female Verbal Power in the Texts of AM 226 fol.
Natasha A. J. Bradley
Lincoln College, University of Oxford
Faculty of English
A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 
Trinity Term 2025
Word count: 102,885 (including 4,506 words of translations)
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
Thank you! It was lovely to meet you!
Reposted by Natasha Bradley
ebermichael.bsky.social
Excited to finally share the program for "Trans Sainthood in Translation, ca. 400-1500" at @ghilondon.bsky.social on 22-23 May 🏳️‍⚧️🌈 If you are interested in trans saints anywhere from late antique Egypt to late medieval Iceland, join us on zoom! Registration at wwwghil.ac.uk/events/confe...
Poster for the conference "Trans Sainthood in Translation, ca. 400-1500", 22-23 May 2025 at German Historical Institute London. More information at www.ghil.ac.uk.
In the background behin the title, there is a 13th century depiction of a child looking at a monk (Saint Marina/Marinus) from the manuscript Zwettl, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. 13, with an added visual effect that makes it look like white light is coming from the child's eyes and being refracted into rainbow colors by the saint's halo.
At the bottom, the logos of the sponsors of the conference: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, German Historical Institute London, the Hagiography Society, and the Past&Present Society. Program for Day 1 of the conference "Trans Sainthood in Translation":
22 May
Welcome and Introduction: 9:00–9:30
Stephan Bruhn (German Historical Institute, London)
Session 1: 9:30–11:00
Jenny Albani (Greek Ministry of Culture, Athens): The Holy Memory of a Transgender Saint in the Christian East: The Cult and Image of Pelagia the Penitent
Julie Van Pelt (Universiteit Gent): Trans Sainthood and Metaphrasis: Re-writing Gender in the Metaphrastic
Life of Theodora/-us of Alexandria (BHG 1730)
Charles Kuper (University of Tennessee, Knoxville): Translating the Lives of Trans Saints. Crossing Time and Space in the Greek, Latin, and Syriac Lives of Euphrosyne/Smaragdos
Coffee Break: 11:00–11:30
Session 2: 11:30–12:30
Michael Eber (Universität zu Köln): Lost in Translation? Defusing the Lives of Trans Saints in Latin Translation
Mariana Bodnaruk (Masarykova Univerzita, Brno): Pelagia*us’ Gender Performance in Church Slavonic Versions of the Life
Lunch Break: 12:30–14:00
Session 3: 14:00–15:30
Gabrielle Bychowski (Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland): Imago Transvesti: St. Marinos, the Images of a Transgender God
Arietta Papaconstantinou (Aix-Marseille Université): Authorial authority. Who defines the gender of Marina/Marinos (and others)?
Luis Josué Salés (Scripps College, Claremont): Exporting Greco-Roman Androprimacy? Perils of Translating Trans Saints Lives into Ethiopian and Syrian Contexts
Coffee Break: 15:30–16:00
Keynote 1: 16:00–17:00
Roland Betancourt (University of California Irvine): Trans In/visibility in Byzantium: Resistance, Resilience, Refusal
Conference Dinner: 19:00 Program for Day 2 of the conference "Trans Sainthood in Translation":
23 May
Session 4: 09:00–10:30
Juliette Vuille (Université de Lausanne): “We are Family”: Familial Ties as Gender Correction in Old English Trans Lives
Clovis Maillet (Villa Medici, Rome): Eugeni/e, Hiacynth and Prothus between Genders: Images and Texts in Latin, Greek and Old English
James Davison (University of Liverpool): Ælfric, Eugenia*us, and Euphrosyne*Smaragdus: Trans saints in early Medieval England
Coffee Break: 10:30–11:00
Session 5: 11:00–12:00
Robert Mills (University College London): Eugenia*us in Translation: Art, Liturgy, and Landscape in Iberia
Leticia Ding (Université de Lausanne): Dieudonnée, Marine and Eufrosine: Three Shades of Gender Crossing
Lunch Break: 12:00–13:00
Session 6: 13:00–14:00
Johannes Traulsen (Freie Universität Berlin): Age and Asceticism in the Medieval German Vitae of Trans Saints
Natasha Bradley (Lincoln College, University of Oxford): Cross-Dressing Saints in Old Norse Translation: Marina the Monk and Pelagia the Penitent
Keynote 2: 14:00–15:00
Alicia Spencer-Hall (University College London): Trans Monasticism and the Trans Hagiographic Impulse: Genders, Texts, Lives
Concluding Remarks: 15:00–15:15
Michael Eber (Universität zu Köln)
Reposted by Natasha Bradley
networknorse.bsky.social
The Norse Hagiography Network has now arrived at Bluesky, just in time for the feast of the three holy kings. We look forward to connecting with fellow enthusiasts, & to provide informative insights into the Nordic medieval cult of saints.

[Ål stave church; Museum of Cultural History, Oslo]
Detail from a thirteenth-century wooden ciborium, with scenes from the Nativity story. On the left-hand side is the Nativity with Mary lying in bed and attended by a maid, with Joseph sitting at the foot end. Beside the bed is the swaddled Christ-child in a manger, with an ox and an ass inspecting. Above the scene is a drawn curtain with a lamp hanging from its midpoint. On the right-hand side we see Mary enthroned and crowned, with the Christ-child on her left knee. From the right comes an angel holding a thurifer, and on the ground are two of the three holy kings bearing gifts.
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
So I went for a walk and I can't see any local buildings missing a head. Will resume the search tomorrow...
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
That's really useful info - thank you!
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
Yeah could be. Unfortunately in this city that's like finding a needle in a haystack. I'll go for a walk in a bit to see if any of the decorations on the nearby churches and colleges are looking a bit decapitated
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
I'm just as surprised as you are
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
Hmm it doesn't say where the photo is from, but based on the others it doesn't look like it was taken in Oxford...
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
Anyone recognise this head? Esp. Oxford folks. It has suddenly appeared in the communal area of my building... if I can figure out where it's from I can try to return it?
Reposted by Natasha Bradley
thecelticist.bsky.social
Petition to try to save Celtic Studies at Utrecht University. Funding cuts by the right wing Dutch government are leading to proposals for the decimation of language & cultural studies programmes in the Netherlands, & Celtic at Utrecht is one such department under severe threat:

chng.it/8KwKPSXwSh
Sign the Petition
Red de Opleiding Keltisch/Save the Bachelor Celtic!
chng.it
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
The Northern Lights in Oxford last night were quite something!
Red and green northern lights above a tree stump Red and green Northern Lights above a black, white, and brown horse Red and purple Northern Lights  above a white horse A purple sky over two dark trees. A road is visible with the silhouttes of people walking.
natashaamberjo.bsky.social
I had a fantastic time in the Master Class at the Summer School in Icelandic and Scandinavian Manuscripts, researching the literary tradition(s) of St Mark. A great way to round off three years of the summer school! Thanks to the Viking Society for part funding my attendance
I am speaking at a lectern in front of a slide showing a picture of a postmedieval manuscript The Master Class attendees are stood in front of the title slide 'Mark my Words: The Tradition(s) of Mark the Evangelist in Iceland and Scandinavia'
Reposted by Natasha Bradley
heliuspirus.bsky.social
For those of you interested, the Norse Hagiography Network has put out a call for papers for Leeds IMC 2025.

#medievalsky
Reposted by Natasha Bradley
jonasza4.bsky.social
Latin in Medieval Scandinavia! Please share freely.

#MedievalSky #IMCLeeds #imc2025
International Medieval Congress
University of Leeds, 7-10 Jul 2025
Call for Papers
Latin in the Scandinavian Middle Ages
The Latin language formed the basis for written culture and learning in the medieval North much like anywhere else on the continent. Classical and early medieval authors were employed as models to shape new works and as authorities to back up the claims thereby contained. Nonetheless, the impact of Latin literacy and its tradition in Scandinavia continues to be understudied.
For this strand, we invite 20-minute papers on any of the topics below and beyond. We especially encourage creativity and diverse perspectives. 

Please submit abstracts of approximately 250 words and a short bio including name, pronouns, and affiliations to Adrián Rodríguez Avila (air27@cam.ac.uk) or Jonas Zeit-Altpeter (zeitaltpeter@uni-bonn.de) by the 5th of September.