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Catherine Swift

@bewattled.bsky.social
389 followers 338 following 179 posts

Medievalist based in Limerick with interests in Ireland and the Irish church in a European context - St Patrick through to King John and all folk in between.

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Catherine Swift @bewattled.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
For those interested in earliest days of Christian church in Ireland, I’m speaking on the baptism of the king of Tara’s daughters at the site symbolising Queen Medb’s authority over Connacht (Rathcroghan) at TCD Long Hub 28th Jan at 6:30 as part of St Brigit celebrations.
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
🦷 “analysis of tooth enamel samples collected from the remains of people buried in England b/w the end of Roman rule in Britain around A.D. 400 & the arrival of the Normans around 1100 indicates that migration to the island was continuous throughout the period” 🦷 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
archaeology.org
News - Medieval Migration to England Tracked in Tooth Enamel Study - Archaeology Magazine
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND—According to a statement released by the University of Edinburgh, analysis of tooth enamel […]
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Catherine Swift @bewattled.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
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Catherine Swift @bewattled.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Cathy Swift's Fundraising Page www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/c...
idonate.ie
Support Cathy Swift's Fundraising Page on iDonate.ie
Cathy Swift's Fundraising Page for Barnardos, created by Catherine Swift | iDonate.ie
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Fiona Campbell-Howes @fortrenn.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Elgin Museum's archaeology conference has an excellent line-up of speakers and papers, including @northernpicts.bsky.social's Burghead update, Loch Spynie through time, Covesea caves, metalwork and Celtic art, iron production in Agricolan-era Moray... In-person and online, tickets from £5.
elginmuseum.org.uk
Breaking New Ground: sharing archaeological discoveries from Moray - Elgin Museum
When: September 13, 2025 @ 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Where: Alexander Graham Bell Centre for Digital Health (AGBC) at UHI Moray, Hay Street, Elgin, IV30 1JJ Breaking New Ground: sharing archaeological...
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Royal Irish Academy @ria.ie · 03/07/2025
Applications are invited for two positions of Lexicographer in the Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge (FNG), a research programme of the Royal Irish Academy. Find out more: www.ria.ie/about/careers/vacancy-two-lexicographer-posts-with-focloir-stairiuil-na-gaeilge/ #DublinJobs #JobFairy #IrishJobs
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Willem Huiskamp @willemh.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Hope someone takes a crack at ChatGPT next. These companies are fundamentally built on theft.
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Christian Breyer @christianonre.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
@bnenews.bsky.socialBirds thriving, breeding successfully in Germany’s solar parks www.pv-magazine.com/2025/06/05/b...
pv-magazine.com
Birds thriving, breeding successfully in Germany’s solar parks
Larks and other bird species are flourishing in Germany’s solar parks, where breeding success exceeds that of many other habitats. These PV project sites are becoming valuable refuges, benefiting both...
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Fraser McNair @ralphtorta.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
This week's source translation: a tenth-century Carolingian sermon gives advice for life and politics to... well, everyone. salutemmundo.wordpress.com/2025/04/01/t...
salutemmundo.wordpress.com
Translated Text: Pseudo-Eligius, Homilies, no. I
A charter, I always say, is like a legal document crossed with a sermon. (Sometimes, it actually is a sermon.) As you might imagine, I’d like to do more with actual sermons; but political sermonisi…
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Christian Cooijmans @ccooijmans.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
In honour of Simon's #FindsFriday post, I managed to excavate my 🧵 from the bad site: In 1865, in a field outside the village of Pîtres, a road worker stumbled on a pair of Viking Age oval brooches (type R.657, c. 850-900 CE), typically used as shoulder clasps on Scandinavian-style dresses. 1/11
Two Scandinavian-style oval brooches, type R.657, c. 850-900 CE.
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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
initial 'F'(uit) at the beginning of 1 Kings (1 Samuel) depicting the fight between the youth David and Goliath. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 003; The Dover Bible, Volume I; 12th century; f.115v @parkerlibcccc.bsky.social @corpuscambridge.bsky.social
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Rachel Pope @prehistorian.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
The Melsonby assemblage (not a hoard). 28 (smallish) wheels and 14 harnesses, so potentially seven 4-wheeled carts (2 ponies each). If right then Early Iron Age tradition, as vessel might suggest. Out of fashion in Gaul by 450 BC, slightly later here perhaps. www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
theguardian.com
Iron age hoard found in North Yorkshire could change Britain’s history
More than 800 objects unearthed near Melsonby show the north was ‘definitely not a backwater’ 2,000 years ago
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James Eogan @jameseogan.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
This is a great opportunity for younger archaeologist to present their research during National Heritage Week 2025
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Adam Chapman @adamchapman.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
An important question (and not only for the Middle Ages - government, and no end of communities struggle to get their heads around this, today, too).
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James T Palmer @jtpmedieval.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Chair in Divinity at St Andrews... with door open for #medieval (I think) #medievalsky www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk
Professor of Divinity (Divinity Chair) - AC1281LS
Professor of Divinity (Divinity Chair) - AC1281LS, Divinity Salary: Competitive Start Date: January 2026 , <p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;">We wish to appoint a Professor of...
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Tuatha @tuatha.ie · 19/03/2025
The King's Fort • Derry This is one of the best preserved ringforts in Ulster. It likely dates to some time between the 6th-11th century. It is situated on the southern slopes of Benbradagh, commanding spectacular views over Drumsurn in County Derry. #SpéirGhorm #Archaeology 🏺
an early medieval ringfort, looking over green countryside towards distant mountains
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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
Historiated initial 'L'(ibrum) at the beginning of the preface to the book of Esther. BnF MS Latin 116; Biblia Latina, pars II; 12th century; Chartres; f.65v @gallicabnf.bsky.social
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Arash Zeini @arashzeini.com · 13/03/2025
New paperbacks in the 'Classical Islamic History and Culture' series, published by the good folks at @edinburghup.bsky.social 👇🏻
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
I'm convinced *far* more prehistoric forest loss was due to livestock preventing regrowth than people cutting down trees. But because a tree seedling getting eaten by a sheep goes unnoticed, so does the resulting deforestation, over 100s of years.
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Leonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
I'm drafting my inuaugral lecture today and have a section on the penitential ordinance, a very interesting document from 170 that deals with the aftermath of conquest. You can read about it here from an old post 1/ #medievalsky #https://normanlandscapes.wordpress.com/2023/11/12/remembrance/
normanlandscapes.wordpress.com
Remembrance
I’m writing this on Remembrance Sunday while it pours with rain, all very reminiscent of the numerous church parades of my youth (just how many layers could you get under a Brownie dress? How…
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Larry Neufeld @larryneufeldsk.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Trump's tariffs threaten Canada's food security. It's time to go local #foodsecurity #Canada #tariffs #DonaldTrump #shoplocal www.corporateknights.com/food-beverag...
corporateknights.com
Trump's tariffs threaten Canada's food security. It's time to go local.
OPINION | Canada has the land, the farmers and the resources to build thriving local food economies. What’s missing is the political will.
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Aidan O'Sullivan @aidanosullivan.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
The RIA is on Bluesky
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Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
The approach to Dunadd Fort at the southern end of Kilmartin Glen in Argyll. Occupied since the Iron Age, the fort was a major centre for the Gaelic kings of Dál Riata from around AD 500 to AD 800. 📸 My own. #HillfortsWednesday #IronAge #Medieval #Dunadd #Argyll
The approach to Dunadd Fort at the southern end of Kilmartin Glen in Argyll.
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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
A Latin-English-Gaelic dictionary begun in 1712 by Father Francis Walsh of Dublin. It was purchased by Marsh's around 1743 for £20. We went with the entry on trees as it's #NationalTreeWeek as well as #SeachtainnaGaeilge! See the full manuscript on ISOS: www.isos.dias.ie/MARSH/MS_Z_3...
Detail from Latin-English-Gaelic dictionary, compiled c.1712-1730
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Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
In 'Cogadh Gaedel re Gallaib' (12th century saga about Battle of Clontarf) the word scelbocodech is a compound from scell 'shield boss' loaned from Old Norse skjöldr 'shield' + boccóitech meaning embossed. So I take it to refer to ornamented shield bosses used in battle #medievalsky 1/2
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
"The image of the painter and illuminator of this work. Hugh the painter" Hugh, the 11th century artist of Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 717, goes meta and paints himself at work on the manuscript itself.
A zoom in on a manuscript page. On the left some text is visible and on the right, in a geometric and floral frame there is a monk at a writing desk. The tones are green and red with a blue robe of the monk.
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European Association of Archaeologists @archaeologyeaa.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
*** WARNING CONTENT: HUMAN REMAINS *** 🏺 In 1998 the burial of a child was found in a shelter in Lagar Velho (#Portugal). A decade before the first Neanderthal genome was sequenced, its skeleton was thought to be evidence for a Neanderthal/Sapiens hybrid.. Image: Nuno Farinha / Museu de Leiria 1/
Reconstruction of a Gravettian burial of a Child - Lapedo Child, found in Portugal in 1998. It was the first individual ever to be thought as a Neanderthal / Sapiens hybrid due to its anatomical features. A theory that was not fully accepted at the time, 10 years before the first Neanderthal genome was sequenced.
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North Ages @northages.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
A 6ft Pictish stone engraved with an axe-wielding figure was ploughed up by farmer Kevin Alston at Barflat, near Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, #OTD in 1978. ‘Rhynie Man’ is believed to date from the 5/6thC.
Rhynie Man carries an axe over his shoulder, has a large nose and sharp teeth bared in a grimace.
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Arthur Westwell @arthurwestwell.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
The fresco of Saints Gallus and Magnus in the crypt of the monastery of St Mang in Füssen shows the two peripatetic monks and monastery founders on a journey together. Dating to around 1000, it lay hidden in the Romanesque crypt under the baroque church until 1950.
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Mark Walters @mark-walters.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Caer Penrhos nr. Llanrhystud,Ceredigion is the only recorded Welsh ringwork castle. It was built by Owain Gwynedd's son Cadwaladr in 1149 & was much fought over up to 1327 when it was possibly the country seat of Sir Gruffudd Llwyd. It lies within a hillfort & has many intriguing earthworks outside.
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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
The Holy Land in the margins St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 621; Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII; 9th century (before 883 CE); St. Gall; p.37 (www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...)
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Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
I'm sorry, WHAT?! A new piece of the Bayeux Embroidery has been found?! OMG!
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
The early medieval burial from Gammertingen, 6th c. AD. The high-ranking warrior died in his early 30s and was buried with a Byzantine helmet (a so-called Spangenhelm), his weapons, and his mail armour – which consisted of about 45,000 iron rings! 📷Landesmuseum Württemberg 🏺 #archaeology
A display of the grave goods, featuring a he
chainmail shirt, a helmet on a stand, a long sword, small gold ornaments, and various metal, glass, and ceramic objects, all arranged against a dark background.
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Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Clatterbridge, Wirral - silver dirham. Issued by Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi dating to 159 AH (=AD 775-776), minted in Baghdad. A wide range of #coins and finds have been recovered by metal detectors from this area dating from Roman to Modern times suggesting an important routeway #medievalsky #cheshire
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Deborah Hayden @dhaydenceltic.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Proofs!! 😀🎉 @sarahbaccianti.bsky.social
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Niamh Wycherley @niamhwycherley.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
This week we bring you our very own @tiagoovsilva.bsky.social! On ‘soft power’, what is patronage, the #nuntastic Agnes, ‘An Caillech Mór’ (d.1196), St Mary’s monastery, Clonard, & the study of medieval Ireland. Tiago's work is funded by @researchireland.bsky.social open.spotify.com/episode/1eEq...
open.spotify.com
Women's Power and Patronage with Tiago Veloso Silva
The Medieval Irish History Podcast · Episode
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Judith Jesch @judithjesch.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Please spread the word @orkneylibrary.bsky.social @theorkneynews.bsky.social @orkneycom.bsky.social Thanks!
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Charles West @pseudo-isidore.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Thrilled to see our forthcoming book now has a website! www.cambridge.org/core/books/l...
cambridge.org
Local Priests in the Latin West, 900–1050
Cambridge Core - European Studies - Local Priests in the Latin West, 900–1050
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Dr Nina Cnockaert-Guillou @ninacnock.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Really excited to see this out in the world, open-access ✨ I argue that coloured/enlarged letters (litterae notabiliores) and paragraphs are used in the manuscripts to mark dialogue and the textual structure of Acallam na Senórach. MS pictures and direct links to @dias-isos.bsky.social are provided!
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Susan G @susangriff.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Let there be light. Let there be hope. #AGrandStretch #Speirgorm
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Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 25/02/2025
”Vikings in the Mediterranean” , a great collection of papers on… Vikings in the Mediterranean! Download it as a free PDF here 👇 bora.uib.no/bora-xmlui/h...
bora.uib.no
Bergen Open Research Archive: Vikings in the Mediterranean: Proceedings of an international conference co-organized by the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish Institutes at Athens, Athens, 27-30 November 2...
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RTÉ Brainstorm @rtebrainstorm.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
From póg to obair, Irish freely adopted Latin vocabulary during the Christianisation of the country, especially to describe religion, education and daily life. By Pádraic Moran @uniofgalway.bsky.social @researchireland.bsky.social www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...
rte.ie
From póg to obair, how Gaeilge borrowed everyday words from Latin
Irish freely adopted Latin vocabulary during the Christianisation of the country, especially to describe religion, education and daily life
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Catherine Swift @bewattled.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Recent lecture to Loyola Institute TCD on St Brigit’s early female followers -now on Loyola Institute YouTube channel www.youtube.com/watch?v=44eyeQGHUBU. Argument is that abbess fostered young girls and had lord/client relations with many of their mothers & other female Christians outside Kildare
youtube.com
Loyola Institute St Brigit's Annual Lecture 2025 delivered by Dr Catherine Swift
YouTube video by Loyola Institute
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
Since childhood, one of my very favourite places on earth. Byland Abbey. Founded as a Savigniac abbey in 1135 before being absorbed by the Cistercian order in 1147. The community were nomadic for a while moving five times before settling at Byland around 1177.
Byland Abbey North Transept
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John Marshall @jmarshallmed.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I was delighted to record this with Niamh and Tiago, hope you all enjoy!
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Deborah Hayden @dhaydenceltic.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
A Date for the Diary!📆 Hugely looking forward to hosting this workshop in Cambridge next June in collaboration with the excellent eDIL project (www.dil.ie). Bringing together research on medical terminology in medieval Irish, Welsh, English, French, German & more. All welcome! Details to follow...
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Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
#Ingleton #Ribblehead remains of 3 farm buildings around a courtyard. Only the foundations survive today. Finds include 4 ninth century coins, spearhead & knives, suggested early site of #Viking settlement, or just economic links with York #medievalsky (coin image not from site but of type found)
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