Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026It's related to the German 'trennan' and it's fitting that the only context in which my brain knows that word is the Rammstein lyric 'Willst du das Eisen trennen / sollst mit Liebe es zerbrennen — if you want to separate the iron, you should burn it apart with love.' 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Part of the delight here is that the opening uses quite formal, and at points ritual, language. And then 'getrent' is a word connected etymologically to English 'rend', so it suggests tearing open in an almost destructive way, like ripping something open along a seam. 100
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I retract every self-hating joke I have ever made about the impossibility of being sexy in Yiddish: 110
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Doing my part to ensure the 'what did you get up to over the summer' conversation stays fresh 010
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 16/08/2026I got into sport to deal with academic job-market stress and it's rather telling that I now hold a European record and am competing internationally for two different countries in two different sports 💀 Catch me in Kyrgyzstan 6 Sep racing horses at the Nomad Games worldnomadgames.orgworldnomadgames.org 020
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 13/08/2026June 6, 1922, from a British military advisor. 'In the opinion of a great many people well qualified to judge the Cumann-na-mBan is the most dangerous organisation with which we have to deal.' 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 12/08/2026‘internment was carried out to a very large extent in Ireland and especially outside Ulster in 1920-21.There were in all some 4000 internees. No woman was however interned. It was considered that the supply of fanatical women was practically inexhaustible.' 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 27/07/2026Just described Cyclops by saying ‘bro is just sheepmaxing’ and i am very pleased with this synopsis 0106
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 05/07/2026Reading the medieval law text Críth Gablach, as one does on a Sunday morning, and came across this interesting bit on women's weapons. 011
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 11/06/2026Also: Let's have a moment of silence for everyone who hated doing sport, ended up in an internment camp, and then had to participate in internment camp Sport Day 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 11/06/2026Michael Collins seems to have been one to trash talk during sports, commenting 'ah, you wh*re, you can't run' during a 100 meter dash in Frongoch internment camp, 1916. [Source: _Frongoch: University of Revolution_] 100
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 01/06/2026Only counts as a true horse experience if the apple is hand-fed by a girl so obsessed with you she is brought nearly to tears by your majestic beauty as you munch it. Also you need to look unimpressed and drop half of it on the floor. 060
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 01/06/2026Does this precedent mean I can do crimes? Y/N 010
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 31/05/2026TL:DR You don't need two working legs or fully functioning lungs to overthrow a government. 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 31/05/2026Whilst the treatment of people who are older/chronically ill/disabled must be a practical and ethical consideration in discussions of internment and it's right for an author to draw attention to this, such people were *very much* a threat. 110
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 31/05/2026Mary MacSwiney lived with limb loss after a foot amputation. Margaret Skinnider took 3 gunshot wounds in the Rising and her life as a teacher was impeded by the physical effects. 100
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 31/05/2026Cathal Brugh survived 20 wounds in 1916 and when he died fighting in 1922 he was 47. Constance Markievicz was around 50 at the start of the War of Independence. 100
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 31/05/2026Pre-war, we've got 2 men who had to DRIVE TO THE EASTER RISING BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT WALK EASILY. Seán MacDermott had limited use of his leg from polio and Joseph Plunkett was terminally ill from tuberculosis. 100
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 31/05/2026Just read a book which evidences British wastefulness/bad intel in the War of Independence by noting the many Irish detainees who were disabled/chronically ill/over 40. There are points to be made here--but also, my guy, have you SEEN who the revolutionaries were? 100
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 27/05/2026During the Irish Civil War, the C-wing of Mountjoy Prison produced a prison paper called 'The Book of Cells' and I am in awe of how people in prison retained such top-tier wit. 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 08/05/2026I hate when dead animal are given a different name (eg. sheep/mutton) as though their lives and suffering are erased, their bodies reimagined as a simple product for human pleasure--But I think 'mairteoil' ('beef') gets a pass--It may come from latin mortuus ('dead'). dil.ie/search?searc...dil.ieeDIL - Irish Language DictionaryThe electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (eDIL) is a digital dictionary of medieval Irish. It is based on the ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY’S Dictionary of the Irish Language based mainly on Old and Midd... 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 06/05/2026Put these pictures side to side for an article pitch and the family resemblance between myself and Daniel Mendoza (in 1788) is actually *uncanny* . 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 05/05/2026If you could introduce any historical figures to one another and either join the conversation or just watch them interact, who would you pick? 111
Reposted by Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-SchwartzMaurice J. Casey @mauricejcasey.com · 20/04/2026I have GONE WILD on the 1926 Irish census and have made some fun discoveries: Trinidadian medical students, a Baháʼí couple in Donegal, the Irish widow of an emigré Cossack, and Egyptian sailors in Cork city - among many others. 1134698
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 21/04/2026Teaching a history course that covers British involvement in the slave trade and this is an interesting infographic of compensation payouts when Britain abolishes slavery throughout the empire in 1833. [Heblich, Redding and Voth, 'Slavery and the British industrial Revolution'] 001
Reposted by Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-SchwartzRhys Kaminski-Jones @rhyskamjones.bsky.social · 12/04/2026I do like how obvious it is that academics say "the ____ Turn" to avoid saying "the ____ trend" 68314
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 12/04/2026Circa 1800, David Ochterlony of Boston MA used to promenade around Delhi each evening with his mistresses. Each mistress rode her very own elephant. So, babe, if he wanted to—he would. [source: Shashi Tharoor, Inglorious Empire] 000
Reposted by Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartzderek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 23/03/2026The proliferation of this quote is so interesting to me. It's often posted by right wing chuds who use it to defend conventional aesthetic ideas — such as the importance of having a lean, athletic body — but they don't really understand Owens's work. Let's talk about it. 🧵 574089745
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 22/03/2026If you’re texting after 1am you’d best be providing me with niche history facts 010
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 05/03/2026I have become aware of the 2025 Eurovision sing called 'Serving Kant'. Whilst the concept is undeniably clever, I was dismayed to discover this song is not, in fact, about Kantian dialectics :-( 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 22/02/2026Me: Of course I'll cut down on my footnotes. Also me: It is vital that I tell you about this salmon 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 19/02/2026Someone on this train just described a friend as ‘naturally avant garde’, which manages to be simultaneously damning and the highest praise 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Oh, was there a dog in that photo? Sorry, I was too busy admiring the sigil of Lilith 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Chaucer famously asserts that what women want is sovereignty. However, I believe that what women want is to be asked *whether they have sufficient ponies* (and, when the answer is a woebegone negative, offered more ponies). In this essay, I will-- 010
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 25/01/2026If you send me a photo of your pet, I will be unable to resist replying with what I infer to be your pet’s political opinions 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 24/01/2026How did it take 5 years of teaching medieval lit for me to finally receive an essay titled ‘Slay, Queen’ 😂 120
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 13/01/202619th century pearl-clutching about terrorists become less classy is the funniest thing I’ve read today 010
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 07/01/2026Love that my friend sent me this as a vacation idea for us 😂 news.artnet.com/art-world/br...news.artnet.comBritish Museum Seeks Treasure Hunter to Recover Stolen AntiquitiesThe British Museum is stepping up the search for hundreds of antiquities, stolen in 2023, by hiring a dedicated treasure hunter. 020
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 28/12/2025Your paintings also reminded me of that book! 120
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 27/12/2025Sadly unsuccessful in convincing any children that Santa Claus is short for ‘Santa Von Clausewitz’ and that he is not merely judging one’s naughtiness/niceness but one’s grand strategy for the year. 001
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 26/12/2025My dad just approvingly commented, 'Sometimes cvilisation advances at a jump, rather than a crawl'. 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 25/12/2025Christmas has me thinking about trends in the use of gold in Christian iconography 010
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 05/12/2025Well that’s the ‘whose historical dinner party’ question answered. Despite years of fangirling, I had no idea the famous bellydancer Tahiyya Carioca was so politically active! 020
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 29/11/2025I’ve been lifting to deal with the stress of the academic job market and now I’m fairly likely to represent GB in 2026 so I think that tells you all you need to know 050
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 24/11/2025This is just to say— I have fucked up some fadhas that were in the book manuscript and which Reviewer 2 was exasperated to see Forgive me they were coimpléasc so duaisiúil and so aimrhéateach 020
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 24/11/2025Note-to-self to use this Irish recolutionary handbill as an article title. 000
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 21/11/2025I think this is the same royal visit to Ireland in 1903 in which Maud Gonne hung half a black petticoat from a broomstick as a flag outside her home. When the police removed it, she replaced it with a new black flag made from the petticoat's other half. 020
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 15/11/2025I’m in rural Wales on a journey to a portal to the Otherworld (as you do). My friend has used half his luggage to bring a rice cooker because, even if we end up at an Otherworldly banquet, this man isn’t convinced there will be correctly-made rice. 030
Dr. Caitlyn Brinkman-Schwartz @caitlynbbs.bsky.social · 12/11/2025'Late 20th c. machines have made thoroughly ambiguous the difference between natural and artifical...self-developing and externally designed...Our machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert.' -Donna Haraway, A Cyborg Manifesto 000