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Dr Rory MacLellan

@rorymaclellan.bsky.social

1K followers 440 following 200 posts

Historian of the Hospitallers, Templars, crusades, and Jews in medieval England. rorymaclellan.com

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 13d

Publication day! My book on the Knights Hospitaller, 'Warrior Monks: Politics and Power in Medieval Britain' is now out. Available in all good and evil bookshops: www.amazon.co.uk/Warrior-Monk...

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 11h

Seal showing St Margaret of Antioch bursting out from the dragon that ate her and driving a staff into its mouth. LFC Ch XXVIII 2. #medievalsky

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 12h

Thanks, Nic, hope you enjoy it!

Reposted by Dr Rory MacLellan

Nic Morton @nicmorton.bsky.social · 1d

New arrival...

"Warrior Monks: Politics and Power in Medieval Britain"

Author: Rory MacLellan
Publisher: The History Press

Rory's last book was excellent so I'm looking forward to getting started!

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 1d

People have an amazing ability to put fiction and its messages into a box entirely separate from their beliefs, like those who complain about Star Trek suddenly 'getting political'.

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 1d

13th century seal showing a hand holding a sprig of foliage. LFC Ch XXVII 15. #medievalsky

Reposted by Dr Rory MacLellan

Maia Blumberg @maiablumberg.bsky.social · 5d

*Call for Contributors* The Medieval in Museums
@archumanities.bsky.social

Check out the full CfP via link ➡️ bit.ly/CfPMiM

Welcoming chapters/dialogues/critical-creative texts from scholars, museum professionals, creative practitioners

deadline: Mon 3 Nov (5pm GMT)

#MedievalSky #MuseumSky #CfP

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 7d

Seal of Henry of Winchelsea, with an impression from an intaglio gem of a lobster. LFC Ch XXVI 17. #medievalsky

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 13d

Spotted in the wild at Foyle's.

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 13d

Yes, the museum said they would have some for sale and me to sign after the talk

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 13d

Publication day! My book on the Knights Hospitaller, 'Warrior Monks: Politics and Power in Medieval Britain' is now out. Available in all good and evil bookshops: www.amazon.co.uk/Warrior-Monk...

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 14d

And that the surviving medieval corpus is massive in comparison but still extremely patchy

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 14d

It's the bit I find most difficult conveying to the public is how big the gaps in sources are and how much we just won't ever know

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 14d

A strolling eagle looking at the stars. LFC Ch XXV 12. #medievalsky

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 16d

Interpreted less charitably by Thomas Astle, its former owner, who drew it as a horned devil holding a baby and two brands. Stowe MS 665, f. 86r.

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 19d

Grant of Margaret Neville to her son in 1315 of her London mansion called 'la Sale de Plum', the Hall of Lead. The area is still called Leadenhall today. LFC Ch XXIII 16. #medievalsky

Image of a charter with 'la Sale de Plum' highlighted

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 20d

The back of the seal of Hubert de Burgh, a key figure in the governments of John and Henry III. An ancient intaglio gem was used showing Mercury holding a caduceus, a staff entwined with serpents. LFC Ch XXIII 3.

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 20d

One week until publication of my book on the Knights Hospitaller in Britain and Ireland! #medievalsky

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · Apr 24

My book on the Knights Hospitaller is now up for preorder, releasing in September. Featuring witchcraft, assassinations, feuds, and battles, it follows the order's history in British politics from the 12th century to the Reformation and beyond: thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/...

Warrior Monks - The History Press

1298: Alexander of Wells watches William Wallace’s army across the field at Falkirk. Hours later, he would be dead, cut down by the Scots. 1381: Hated collector of the Poll Tax, Robert Hales is dragge...

thehistorypress.co.uk

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 21d

Tiny grotesque on this 1292 charter granting the manor of Sheet near Ludlow. LFC Ch XXIII 1. #medievalsky

A small grotesque in red ink with a hood and wings, sitting on a foliate border

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 22d

Rather than the title of some steamy lycanthrope romantasy...

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 22d

Stephen of Werehorn. LFC Ch XXII 5. Bit concerning when googling the name to have the safe search option come up. Werehorn thankfully turned out to be the name of a village.

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 22d

I'm not sure. They're not very well documented elsewhere. They weren't knightly, maybe relatively well off free peasants, not serfs. I've found quite a lot of them have seals, but they don't get talked about much in the older literature as they're quite basic, normally just a flower and a legend.

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 23d

Haven't seen this before. A husband and wife stamped a different side of the same piece of wax with their seal. LFC Ch XXV 14. #medievalsky

Seal of Emma, daughter of Bald..., with a snowflake or stylised flower

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Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 26d

Seal of Baldwin, count of Flanders and Hainault, later 1st Latin Emperor of Constantinople following the Fourth Crusade. LFC Ch XXII 4. #medievalsky

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · 28d

Seal with a ship with furled sails. LFC Ch XXV 16. #medievalsky

Dr Rory MacLellan @rorymaclellan.bsky.social · Sep 8

Another great medieval name: Dudeman. LFC Ch XXV 1. #medievalsky

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