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Matthew Fisher

@bookhand.bsky.social
1.4K followers 366 following 64 posts

Medievalist, geek, Associate Professor of English at UCLA. Editor, Viator.

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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 13h
STOP using “medieval” to describe the atrocities people commit today. “Evil” and “morally repugnant” will suffice.
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PiersBot @piersbot.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
¶ Ac kynde loue shal come ȝit · and conscience togideres And make of lawe a laborere · suche loue shal arise And such pees amonge þe peple · and a parfit trewthe — Piers B, III.304–306
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Popebot @popebot.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Morality, by her false guardians drawn, Chicane in furs, and Casuistry in lawn,
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PiersBot @piersbot.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
In marchandise is no mede · I may it wel avowe It is a permutacioun apertly · a penyworth for an othre ¶ Ac reddestow neuere Regum · þow recrayed Mede — Piers B, III.262–264
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
I cannot express how much I love this non-preface that explains why an unfinished book is published but not complete, but will later be complete when publication of the unfinished parts is finished .
A page bearing an 1872 excuse for a publishing an unfinished book.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
A periodic reminder that through coffee I am going to live forever. m.slashdot.org/story/456406
m.slashdot.org
Slashdot
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Gabriel Roth @gabrielroth.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
My gastroenterologist's office is admirably accommodating to time travelers from the Middle Ages, many of whom probably do have gastroenterological issues
A dropdown menu from a website allowing visitors to select their preferred language. "ENGL" has been typed in the selection field. Available options include "English," "English, middle (1100-1500)," and "English, old (ca. 450-1100)"
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Jed Brown @jedbrown.org · 19/07/2026
Lawmakers and gov officials need to understand the anatomy of these white supremacist tech scams: "external researcher" conflates correlation with causation, makes evidence-free claims of accuracy, the government adopts the tech without audits or public scrutiny despite disparities greater than 7x.
The ministry document says SAFER was created by an external researcher using 10 years of historical prisoner data, including criminal charges and misconduct reports. The ministry says the researcher “identified the predictive factors for violent and/or frequent misconducts among inmates.” The document claims, without providing evidence, that SAFER’s ability to predict these incidents is as accurate for Indigenous and racialized prisoners as it is for other groups. A chart from Dr. Scot Wortley’s data analysis on Ontario’s jails shows racial disparities in security classifications.

The class action lawsuit, filed in 2025 by Koskie Minsky LLP, is based on the unequal detention outcomes the SAFER assessments have produced. Black people are the most likely group to be placed in maximum security. While Black people make up only 5.4 per cent of Ontario’s population, they represent nearly 27 per cent of all prisoners housed in maximum security detention from 2022 to 2025, according to government data analyzed by University of Toronto criminologist and professor Scot Wortley. By contrast, white people comprise 63.3 per cent of Ontarians, but only about 41 per cent of prisoners held in maximum security are white.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Just added 107 British Library Charters and Rolls (including the always-amazing Guthlac Roll) to my site aggregating #IIIF #medieval #manuscripts: oldbooks.humspace.ucla.edu/browse.html?...
oldbooks.humspace.ucla.edu
Browse - Compilatio
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Gasp. I do love a #medieval wax tablet. www.zmescience.com/science/arch...
zmescience.com
This Medieval Wax Notebook Survived 800 Years in a Latrine and It's Perfectly Preserved
An airtight medieval latrine preserved a pocket-sized wax ledger, complete with an unpleasant odor.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Oh the temptation.
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Carin Ruff @carinr.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
🚨 #medievalsky 🚨 Middle English Dictionary update via FB: "In its 100-year history, MED has enjoyed periods of support, and periods when that support was lacking. It is about to enter on one of the latter. After this year...UMich will no longer fund ongoing editorial work and maintenance." 🧵
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
retractionwatch.com/2026/05/05/c...
retractionwatch.com
Court orders historian to repay grant funding for “pattern of plagiarism” in books
A federal court has ordered a “romance philologist” to repay the Swiss National Science Foundation roughly $51,000 after the group found the author responsible for “massive” scientific misconduct i…
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
My manuscript notes, now an occasional series: "the article -claims- the scribe of the tipped in markers and organizing stuff with his humanist hand is likely Pieter Meghan, whom I believe is the one-eyed drunken Fleming." #medievalmanuscripts
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Ah, nothing like seeing my past self make devastatingly smart observations about a manuscript, "WHY IS THERE AN ILLUMINATED BLACK GOAT on fol. 52r?" #medievalmanuscripts
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Real sympathy for the Pope on this one. www.irishstar.com/news/us-news...
irishstar.com
Pope Leo demands priests stop using AI to write sermons over TikTok panic
In an address to the clergy of the Diocese of Rome on Thursday, Pope Leo had a few warnings about the internet and AI when it comes to religion
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Go student journalists! #dailybruin on a roll recently. Also, shame on #UCLA . dailybruin.com/2026/02/26/u...
dailybruin.com
UCPD keeps 40 mm projectiles, launchers despite LAPD crowd-control ban - Daily Bruin
This post was updated Feb. 27 at 2:27 p.m. UCPD will keep 40 mm projectiles and launchers in its arsenal of military equipment, though LAPD is banned from using them for crowd control.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Little things. www.latimes.com/california/s...
latimes.com
Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Hey, #medievalsky - I just launched Compilatio ( oldbooks.humspace.ucla.edu/index.html ), a quick-and-dirty site that assembles completely digitized #medieval #manuscripts (mostly from UK repositories) in one convenient location. Check it out, and do let me know what you think.
oldbooks.humspace.ucla.edu
Compilatio - Medieval Manuscripts
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Toby Higbie @thigbie.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Big anti-ICE rally at UCLA today. Students, staff, faculty in solidarity with the Minnesota fight back, connecting the dots btw many causes
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
“Then there’s the hippopotamus.” RNA in printed Renaissance books is quite an adventure. phys.org/news/2025-12...
phys.org
What Renaissance readers left behind in haircare books
What if the pages of an old book could tell us who touched them, what medicines they made, and even how their bodies responded to treatment?
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
This is a polite “fuck you” in medievalist.
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Matt Barnum @mattbarnum.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
College costs are soaring! www.brookings.edu/articles/wha...
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Teaching #Milton today (to a likely empty room). Christopher Ricks in 1966, "A more telling exposé of the cruel falsities of a dictatorial heroism has never been written. As many critics have said, Satan’s rally is a fascist rally. But fascism will never be a thing of the past."
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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 15/11/2025
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Spent a lovely hour making boxes for the #UCLA turkey foodbox program for UCLA community members in need. Volunteering alongside students is always a joy.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Anyone have a spare few million? I’ve got my eye on a 10th C gospel written by women. news.artnet.com/art-world/me...
news.artnet.com
Rare Gospel Written by Medieval Women Could Fetch More Than $1 Million at Auction
A recently discovered gospel likely written by women at the abbey of Essen in the 10th century could sell for more than $1 million.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Furry seal skin AND tiny Icelandic manuscripts! www.sciencenorway.no/cultural-his... www.icelandreview.com/news/rare-15...
sciencenorway.no
Eight pages bound in furry seal skin may be Norway's oldest book
The little book is so rare that the National Library of Norway is bringing in experts from around the world to learn more.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Damns straight. UC faculty, UC Faculty Associations (hi @UCLAFA ), and #AAUP pushing back against #UCOP. Universities are not corporations. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
University of California faculty push back against Big Brother cybersecurity mandate
School officials defend software as bulwark against ransomware, but professors fear potential surveillance of their devices
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Can’t believe we have to fight these fights. But here we are. dailybruin.com/2025/10/14/j...
dailybruin.com
Judge rules UC must publicize Trump administration settlement demands - Daily Bruin
This post was updated Oct. 14 at 11:30 p.m. A judge ruled Tuesday that the UC Board of Regents must publicize the Trump administration’s proposed settlement demands to UCLA.
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Robert Mahon @bedform.org · 09/10/2025
4 out of the 9 Nobel laureates in Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine are University of California faculty (2 UCSB, 2 Cal) and one other received all their degrees from the UC system (UCLA and UCSD). So those highly funded woke liberal universities are clearly failing, eh?
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Brian Soucek @brsoucek.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Strong statement today from UC's Academic Senate:
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
First day of instruction at #UCLA. Amidst fucking everything, I take strength, courage, and even joy from our students. We shall see if it lasts the day, but for now, on a gray Los Angeles morning, the year begins with sharp glimmers of hope.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Not waiting for #UC leadership to sell us out.
theguardian.com
University of California students and faculty sue the Trump administration
White House using civil rights laws to wage campaign against school system to undermine free speech, says suit
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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 15/09/2025
Tomorrow the UC regents are meeting at UCSF to discuss Trump's extortion attempt. This is a defining moment for the UC system, for public education, and for the university as an institution. We demand no concession, no capitulation, no cuts.
No Concessions, No Capitulation, No Cuts
On September 16 at 2pm, we are joining the AAUP and CUCFA for a rally at the William J. Rutter Center at UCSF, 1675 Owens Street, San Francisco, to demand No Concessions, No Capitulation, and No Cuts to our University of California. Please join us!
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
My former student won an Emmy! Well done, Jui!
english.ucla.edu
UCLA English alum Jui Sarwate receives Emmy Award - Department of English UCLA
UCLA English Department - News
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
It is, I will admit, a very small relief to see the University of California making very small gestures in the right direction. #StandUpForUC t.co/7ovP018f2q
t.co
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/get-involved/stand-up-for-uc
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
“It's like we all know, way down in our souls, that our generation is gonna witness the end of everything.”
latimes.com
Trump freezes $200 million in UCLA science and medical research funding, citing antisemitism
The Trump administration has frozen roughly $200 million in National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and other federal agency-funded research at UCLA, citing allegations the school d...
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
I love my work. It may not feel the same way about me. #medieval #manuscripts
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
Snipers on the roof last year. My rage at #UCLA ‘s failure to protect students, and indeed how they were endangered, will never fade.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Not now, people. Never now. Shame on President Drake.
mailchi.mp
Statement condemning faculty member removal from commencement
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The Nation Magazine @thenation.com · 15/05/2025
A police attack on a film screening is just one of the assaults on student freedoms that have turned UCLA into more of a fortress than a place of higher learning, write four UCLA faculty members.
thenation.com
UCLA Is Now Nearly Unrecognizable as a University
A police attack on a documentary film screening is just one of the assaults on student freedoms that have turned UCLA into more of a fortress than a place of higher learning.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Joshua Clover died. I was so very young when i met him in 1996. As was he.
versobooks.com
Value Theory for the End of the World
Poet, communist, cat-lover, teacher, music critic, roadrunner, critical theorist, Marxist: though not necessarily in this order, Joshua Clover was all those things--and more. To me, however, he was fi...
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
And I wonder, are they one of my students? One of my friends’ students? Obviously they’re one of my colleagues’ students. How many steps removed does it take for people not to see the fucking outrage?
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Jaweed Kaleem @jaweedkaleem.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
UPDATED: At least 83 students -- at campuses for University of California, California State University and Stanford -- have had their visas revoked as of Monday evening.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
dailybruin.com/2025/04/04/t...
dailybruin.com
Trump administration revokes visas of multiple UCLA, UC students - Daily Bruin
This post was updated April 5 at 10:20 a.m. The United States government has revoked the visas of multiple students across the UC, including at UCLA.
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Quinn Daedal @quinnanya.me · 04/04/2025
Need a project tonight and tomorrow? Check out the instructions here and consider adopting a site at risk.
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Jo @whatsjo.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Remember the 90s when everybody only hurt sometimes.
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Matthew Fisher @bookhand.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Fab work. #scribes #medieval
nature.com
How many medieval and early modern manuscripts were copied by female scribes? A bibliometric analysis based on colophons - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - How many medieval and early modern manuscripts were copied by female scribes? A bibliometric analysis based on colophons
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