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Dr. Barry Torch

@barrytorch.bsky.social
2.9K followers 1.4K following 521 posts

He/Him. Medieval and Renaissance Historian, Skeptical Optimist, Purveyor of Puns, and lover of Books, Fountain Pens, and Dogs. Settler on Treaty 13 Territory. Jewish. Queer.

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Reposted by Dr. Barry Torch
Celeste McNamara @celestemcnamara.bsky.social · 10h
Would you like to learn about the strange and scandalous way some 18th-century Venetians got out of dysfunctional marriages? Read my new article (open access!) about annulments for affinity by fornication! #earlymodern #18thcentury doi.org/10.1017/S073...
doi.org
Keeping It (Too Much) in the Family: Annulment by Reason of Affinity in Eighteenth-Century Venice | Law and History Review | Cambridge Core
Keeping It (Too Much) in the Family: Annulment by Reason of Affinity in Eighteenth-Century Venice
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Reposted by Dr. Barry Torch
Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The Plan of Saint Gall in black and white. I couldn't find one that I thought was good for students to write on, so I made this. I took some liberties with the size of some spaces (to allow for text) and few descriptions, but overall I'm happy with the result.
A plan for the layout of a monastic community that was never built. The document is a copy of the famous Plan of Saint Gall. It shows what buildings would be in a monastic community and the layout of the community.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
1) Prof Drimmer does amazing work on art history and AI, and among dozens of other reasons, is worth following for her studies and thoughts on AI and the humanities 2) To quote her, “EVERY FIELD NEEDS TO ENGAGE IN CRITICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY OF ITSELF!!!”
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Reposted by Dr. Barry Torch
Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
New Beforecast episode us up! More Machiavelli, this time zooming in on philosophy: youtu.be/YjvxKd-sORs
youtu.be
We're all Machiavellian. We Just Don't Realize it. | Beforecast Episode 5 with Ada Palmer
YouTube video by Beforecast
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Reposted by Dr. Barry Torch
Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
In today's @theguardian.com, an article about the #Voynich work Colin Layfield and I have been doing: www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
theguardian.com
A medieval manuscript has confounded scholars for centuries. Have they been reading it wrong all this time?
Researchers argue incorrect binding of Voynich manuscript radically changes ideas about its drawings and indecipherable text
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I still can’t watch “The Little Shop of Horrors” because of a very effective theatre production I ran out of when I was six. 😂😂😂
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Thank you!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Thank you so much- I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Thank you!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Thank you so much Steven! I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Thank you so much!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Hi Roland! Thanks for the message - I just opened my DMs properly! Try to message with your email and I’ll forward you a copy!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Hi Anna! Thanks for the post! I just changed my settings to allow DMs from everyone (mea culpa!) - try to DM again with your email address and I’d love to send you a copy!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
!!! Thanks for sharing, Colin!!!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Adding hashtags here because I don't know where else to add them. #earlymodern #medievalsky #Renaissance #bookhistory #newarticle
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
If anyone wants my article, my DM's are open! Let me know if you don't have access, and I'll forward you my article. Thank you for reading this far, and if you read my little piece on a minor bishop and his social world from the 1460s, I hope you enjoy it!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Ren/Ref is a great journal, OA after a year of publication, and has consistently done some amazing stuff with an amazing editorial board. Please make sure to check them out and read their issues here! jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/re...
jps.library.utoronto.ca
Renaissance and Reformation
Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, bilingual quarterly. The journal publishes articles and reviews on all aspects of the Renaissance, Reformati...
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I ALSO cannot stress enough how good the rest of the papers are! There are articles by Denise Brazzale, Ann Blair, Marius Zhao, Ellen Siebel-Achenbach, Dylan Reid, Ariana Ellis, Caliesha Harris, Gabrielle M. Hamelin, and Thea Lindquist/Eetu Makela/Narges Azizifard/Julius Arnold
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Lord knows I miss all of my American friends (when I refuse to go to the US during this quite frankly dangerous administration). I think of all of you constantly, and many of you have had a huge impact on how my scholarship has developed over the years. I hope you see that in this article!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Both 500 years ago, when popes were jailing scholars for perceived crimes/being upset with them, and now, when many in the Republic of Letters are distanced from family, friends, and can only share friendships digitally or at conferences 1-5 times per year.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
And, in coordination with my research into scholarly friendships, I need to state quite firmly how collective scholarship really is. This article was helped and aided by so many people - many of whom are on BlueSky! - and I cannot stress enough how important scholarly friendships and communities are
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This article reflects my research into the social bonds, rituals of friendship and rivalry, and concepts of reputation seen in how scholars behaved in 1400s Rome, and is hopefully going to lead into my book on Bussi's prefaces and this topic. It was a wonderful article to research and write!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Amazingly, the Toronto Public Library and Toronto Reference Library Special Collections *HAS A COPY* of Bussi's preface, and almost to show off how wonderful Toronto is as a place for scholars to study, I used their copy of the text in my article. Isn't it fabulously gorgeous!?
A photograph of an aged, cream-colored page from a fifteenth-century printed book, densely set in black humanist type with a large decorative initial “B” at the beginning. The caption identifies it as the first page of Giovanni Andrea Bussi’s preface to Lucii Apuleii platonici madaurensis philosophi metamorphoseos liber: (Rome: Sweynheym and Pannartz, 1469), held by the Toronto Public Library.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This article came out in a Special Issue edited by Nicholas Terpstra and Megan C. Armstrong, and is in honour of Natalie Zemon Davis and James McConica, both scholars who cared about book history, reputation, and agency in different ways. I hope I did both of them a service with my paper!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Bussi was on the outskirts of intellectual life in 1460s Rome, and he wanted to be considered a Scholar. So he tried to tie his own reputation to that of more important scholars in his world - Nicholas of Cusa and Cardinal Bessarion. It did not work, but his attempt is interesting to study!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
In this article, I look at Giovanni Bussi's preface to the printed Opera of Apuleius, published in 1469 in Rome, and how Bussi's preface participated in and reveals social dynamics - rivalries, reputation, and collective ideas of authority - in the Plato-Aristotle controversies of 1460s Italy.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
I will always feel weird doing self promotion, but my latest article has been officially published in "Renaissance and Reformation/Renaissance et Reforme," titled "Jockeying for Printed Reputation: Giovanni Bussi and the Apuleius of 1469." jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/re...
A screenshot of a journal article page titled “Jockeying for Printed Reputation: Giovanni Bussi and the Apuleius of 1469,” by Barry Torch, with an abstract in English and Italian, followed by the section heading “Premise” and the opening paragraph. The page is from Renaissance and Reformation, Winter 2026.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Does that mean we get to use the Rothschild parking spots at the Grand Casino in Monaco? They’re Mediterranean facing!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I really didn’t want to learn that factoid though. 😂😂😂
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Reposted by Dr. Barry Torch
Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
We spent a generation telling students the humanities are moribund, and they should all study STEM, only for the greatest advances in STEM in recent years to raise fundamental questions about the nature of personhood and identity that require the humanities to answer. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/u...
nytimes.com
Religious Scholars Met With Anthropic. What They Heard Stunned Them.
In a series of private meetings, the company consulted religious scholars to help instill morality into its A.I. models — and make the case that Claude could be conscious.
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Reposted by Dr. Barry Torch
Paul Cohen @paulecohen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
what's puzzling is that they are desperate to win approval from the Papacy -- to obtain a Papal imprimatur, as it were They basically want to convince the pope to entertain the notion that AI might be conscious (and, implicitly, might have a soul)
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Users hate AI. So tech made it mandatory. Even if you don't use it, it pollutes what you read and how systems make decisions. The computer's hallucinated word is final. And it needs all of your data to do it. In the age of no consent, UX exists to normalized complete acquiescence to surveillance:
productpicnic.beehiiv.com
The AI age is the "age of no consent"
"Inevitability" means design decisions are no longer informed by user needs; now they are unilaterally imposed. The users are the ones being designed.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
One of my pipe dreams is to open a coffee shop and book store that does this - more for the humanities and humanists than for science!
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Kenneth F. Duggan 🇨🇦 @kfduggan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Jedi knights existed in the Middle Ages. Here's one with a lightsaber depicted in the 14th-century Luttrell Psalter. 🧵1/2
A person is standing at the front of a wagon with a stick/whip to drive the horses. The wagon is loaded with hay and two people are behind the wagon pushing it.
Reference: BL, MS Additional 42130.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Cake! Congratulations!
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Reposted by Dr. Barry Torch
Jews For Racial & Economic Justice Action @jfrejnyc.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
PSA: Stop being weird about the Talmud, folks. Being weird about the Talmud is Nazi garbage.
static.klipy.com
The More You Know
Alt: The More You Know
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Forgot the hashtags for circulation! #earlymodern #ancientssky #classicssky #medievalsky #bookhistory #classicaltradition #museumsky
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Information about the exhibit can be found here: library.utoronto.ca/exhibit/aere.... Admission is free, so go go go! Especially #Toronto based scholars!
library.utoronto.ca
Aere Perennius: The Classical Traditions of Homer, Cicero, Plutarch, and Apuleius - Exhibits | University of Toronto Libraries
Exhibition explores how their works survived and influenced writers, thinkers, and artists.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The Fisher has a small but wonderful exhibition space located in Robarts Library at the U of T, and has always been such a wonderful resource library to work at, and visit exhibits at (I've been to 5+ so far, and they always are wonderful!) It's a BEAUTIFUL library, so it's always worth a visit
Two portrait posters of Plutarch and Apuleius stand before towering library shelves, their classical faces warmly lit in a quiet, scholarly setting.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
For those in the General Toronto/Hamilton area, *PLEASE* go see this exhibit! It presents documents from across time/place on how Homer, Plutarch, Cicero, and Apuleius were received/understood by other authors - not just the humanists of early modernity, but also contemporary artists and authors!
Open antique Latin manuscript with cream parchment, handwritten text, a blue illuminated initial, and a heraldic shield framed by red-and-blue knots.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
There is nothing like going to a museum exhibition that feels catered to you! That was my experience going to the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library to go see the special exhibition, "Aere Perennius: The Classical Traditions of Homer, Cicero, Plutarch, and Apuleius," curated by Dr. Timothy Perry.
Exterior window display featuring large black-and-white illustrated portraits of classical figures and an exhibition poster reading “Aere Perennius: The Classical Traditions of Homer, Cicero, Plutarch, and Apuleius,” with dates and library information.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I know I'm screaming into the void here. But I still maintain my Academia account to download papers on my topic (I currently lack institutional library access), and accessing it on a computer now, I discovered their new UI. And the homepage is now completely useless.
Screenshot of the Academia.edu webpage dated Tuesday, September 29, 2026. It reports 550 papers published in the last 24 hours across 25 disciplines, highlights three new papers in European Intellectual and Cultural History, and shows a “The conversation” section with a prompt to share a paper, thought, or question.
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Every single South African from FIFA with a vuvuzela is raising a glass to this man.
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Reposted by Dr. Barry Torch
Noel Blanco Mourelle @mourelle.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Coming to a bookstore near you this summer! Thanks to everyone who made this possible. [Link in comments 👇]
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Update - it’s more on the entire Vatican stanze than just the SoA, but it might still work! Also, tagging @flaviadenicola.substack.com for any more recommendations on the SoA for undergrads!
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Dr. Barry Torch @barrytorch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I think Ingrid Rowland has a chapter in this volume that addresses Raphael’s SoA that is VERY good. The image pops up a bit in my work, and that’s what I keep going to!
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ertruitt.bsky.social @ertruitt.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Unboxing day! Over a decade in the making, NECESSARY INVENTIONS: ROGER BACON, THE MIDDLE AGES, AND THE MAKING OF MODERN SCIENCE (PENN Press) is a material object. Thank you to everyone who helped along the way. For sale on October 20. @pennpress.bsky.social
Photo of a box filled with multiple copies of the book. The cover is ochre, and has different images of Bacon, from manuscripts and printed books.
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S.J. Pearce @homophonous.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Germany: No, let’s please forget.
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Kathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
It! Is! Live! (A friend sent me the heads-up bc I have The Best Friends!) English. Illuminated. Printed. Parchment. Bibliographical nerdery abounds. Read on!
liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk
Colouring in the Lines of Early Tudor Printed Parchment | The Library
While scholars have mined English printed books of hours for decades as sources for important research, a small proportion remain almost without study. Neither manuscript nor standard print, the present article examines books of hours that were printed ...
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Erika Gaffney @erikagaffney.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I am happy to see that this book is now published! At Home in the Early Modern Dutch Dollhouse Gender, Materiality, and Collecting in the Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Netherlands by Michelle Moseley-Christian www.routledge.com/At-Home-in-t...
A book cover, of which the background image is an 18th-century dollhouse on a stand, open to show 9 rooms on 3 floors.
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