Sign in

Clare Downham

@downham.bsky.social
5.5K followers 2.9K following 2.1K posts

Medievalist. She/Her. All DMs are blocked (Bluesky ID issue)

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Clare Downham
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 1h
Please watch this. Sex ed doesn't stop rapists, but it helps *everyone else* understand that they need to intervene, and how. Sex ed is crucial for ending rape culture and keeping more people safe. I'm a proud member of the @educateusaction.bsky.social advisory board for a reason.
010424
Reposted by Clare Downham
phoenixrising @mmcarthur.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Isabel Miramontes (Spanish/Belgian) : Edge of the Sea, 2021 Bronze sculpture 23-3/5 × 17-7/10 × 14-3/5 in
15414
Reposted by Clare Downham
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig @sabhalmorostaig.bsky.social · 1h
Tha na Cùrsaichean Goirid Air-loidhne againn a' tòiseachadh an-ath-sheachdain 🧑‍💻 An do ghlèidh thu àite fhathast? uhi.pulse.ly/ixyufrlabx _____ Our Online Short Courses start next week 🧑‍💻 Have you booked your place yet? uhi.pulse.ly/mus0t5itxt
042
Reposted by Clare Downham
M a r c u s 🏳️‍🌈🇧🇧 @marcusjdl.bsky.social · 11h
Will a government minister be making a statement and visiting? Of course not - not MANLY jobs in STEEL or CHEMICALS or CARS
414143
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 1h
Scottish society for Northern Studies day conference #medievalsky www.ssns.org.uk/events/ssns-...
ssns.org.uk
SSNS 2026 Day Conference - Scottish Society for Northern Studies
SSNS's next Annual Conference will take place in Darnick on 28 Nov. 2026.
011
Reposted by Clare Downham
Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Other work by the Ladybird artists Llangollen Valley Artist: SR Badmin
A view over a green, lightly- wooded valley at Sunset or dawn 
852261
Reposted by Clare Downham
Johnny 🫧 Cowlick @jefferycowlick.bsky.social · 2h
#BannedBooksWeek
144
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 4h
Commiserations!
010
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 9h
😂
010
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 9h
Reposted for @profgbarrett.bsky.social 🙂
5163
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 9h
Yes they are split between British Museum and National Museum of Scotland (currently) and the Queen illustrated is down in London. It is not a single chess set but something like 4 incomplete sets so there are a few kings and queens to go around. The shield biting wardens (rooks) are also fun
110
Reposted by Clare Downham
Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 03/10/2026
Farage is a sitting MP and yet he is allowed to have his own show on GB News. More than 8,000 people have signed the petition to demand that Ofcom take immediate action. Help us reach 10,000 signatures. 📊
bestforbritain.org
Farage on GB News: Demand that Ofcom takes immediate action - Best for Britain
38963505
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Been to Ashmolean Oxford a few times but never the roof top cafe before. Gorgeous day
Rooftop view. Flowers and sunshine
1300
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
So expressive aren’t they? He looks kind of traumatized!
100
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
In London today filming for a short stint on a documentary. Another lovely drawing by J. Robert Travis of the runestone from St Paul’s Cathedral #London commemorating Ginna and Toki, early 11th Century. Museum of London #medievalsky Imagine how different London looked when this stone was raised!
0306
Reposted by Clare Downham
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
A gold dinar minted in the reign of Offa of #Mercia, emulating #coins from the Abbasid Caliphate #medievalsky #britishmuseum (it’s really small)
2499
Reposted by Clare Downham
Tom Booker @tbooker1.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
19089122782
Reposted by Clare Downham
Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
A few thoughts on this. 1. More than 2/3 of full-time students *already* do paid work in termtime - to an extent that already shrinks what we can realistically ask them to do. Just adding more (unpaid?) employment risks further squeezing the space for what they're actually at university to do.
413036
Reposted by Clare Downham
Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is almost certainly true, and the UK fails women refugees in multiple ways, including by refusing safe routes to come here, wrongly rejecting asylum claims, barring family reunion & not recognising trafficking victims promptly or at all. If only Mahmood had the power to do something about this
theguardian.com
Nearly all women arriving on small boats have been raped, says Shabana Mahmood
Home secretary warns people traffickers will exploit asylum seekers because they decide who comes to the UK
10450156
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
#medievalsky may esp be of interest to @archaeodeathprof.bsky.social nice meditation on the walk along Offa’s Dyke by Andy Marshall @fotofacade.bsky.social www.digest.andymarshall.co/harmonyonoff...
digest.andymarshall.co
Finding Harmony on Offa's Dyke
Walking Offa’s Dyke, I set out to understand a landscape of division - and found something that brings us together.
2125
Reposted by Clare Downham
The Observer @theobserveruk.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
“It’s like my degree is now unimportant,” said Nahla Smyth-Daly, 19, a third-year student at Edinburgh University. “It makes me worried for my future career.” Read more as Edinburgh lecturers strike as more than 90 arts and humanities courses are dropped bit.ly/3VmJ2RW
bit.ly
Edinburgh lecturers strike as more than 90 arts and human...
Vice-chancellor says £140m of cuts are necessary, but critics claim the university has been on a ‘spending binge’
097
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Agree 100 percent!
010
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
That's a really thoughtful piece and I do find it interesting how we feel more at home with some languages more than others regardless of heritage.
110
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Great stuff. I am trying to brush up the Gaelic I learnt when was teaching in Aberdeen just now, but I'm a much slower learner than I'd like to be! Some of my Mum's family spoke Gaelic but she grew up in Devon without a word of it so the chain was broken.
100
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Helpful to have your insights, always interesting to track meanings over time
110
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Yes that usage 2 was new to me, I wondered it anyone had encountered it, thank you!
101
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Current view on Gaelic spreading through Pictland is not so much that it was an imposition but it was adopted through the influence of the church. Pictland took over Dál Riata e.g. 741 smiting of Dál Riata, old narratives of Kenneth Mac Alpin being a Gael who slaughtered Pictish nobles debunked.
100
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Gallgódil - the second element is subject to grammatical declination which indicates that the first element is used as a qualifier (as per Jennings and Kruse 2009, 124) thus the meaning appears to be Scandinavianised Gaels (not Gaelicised Scandinavians) attested from 850s.
110
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Sorry should have said I lectured Scottish history to AD 1200 in Cambridge during my PhD then in Celtic dept at Aberdeen as lecturer - no need for Wikipedia! We can think beyond it! I was asking about contemporary use by Gaelic speakers and wondering about usage of terms in 9th century.
210
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
ah okay, I just wondered if Gaelic settlement in lowlands or common national identity (Gaelic speaking Alba including lowland areas, Pictish being eclipsed) could be a factor in usage. We can forget how widely it was once spoken
100
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Thanks so much, yes, had encountered the usage before, and it’s interesting - so whether the lowlanders were seen as outsiders/incomers or fellow country people who adopted alien ways/ language. I assumed the former but is the latter part possible too?
100
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Reading book proofs and enjoying this grumpy queen from the Lewis Chessmen. She’s just spent a day at war surrounded by less competent courtiers, no other woman to bitch to & a husband with no sense of urgency to move anywhere fast. Strong drink in hand, she’s so done with this week #medievalsky
Image of Queen chess piece drawn by J. Robert Travis
2685
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Really enjoyed day 1, looking forward to day 2!
140
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
#gaeilge #gàidhlig speakers - how familiar is usage 2? gall 1. foreigner 2. (derogatory) Anglified Gael, interesting for insight into the gall-góidil of the Viking Age (there is some debate if they are Gaelicised vikings or Scandinavianised Gaels). Mòran taing/ Go raibh maith agat :)
101
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Enjoyed reading this. Great work that helps challenge a few stereotypes.
020
Reposted by Clare Downham
Dr Kate Farrant Shaw @katefarrantshaw.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Amazing treasures of legal history - an illustrated early medieval statutes book containing the 1225 Magna Carta (Weston Library, Oxford) #medievalsky
0239
Reposted by Clare Downham
Lorraine Mulholland @lorraineelizab6.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
My St Brigid book here! Perfect if you live in the USA! #medievalsky 😍
063
Reposted by Clare Downham
Prof Ben Pohl @benpohl.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Now that I’ve actually written this damn lecture—one of the hardest ones yet!—I feel obliged to give it another push #medievalsky #skystorians #bookhistory
0143
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Maybe it’s the sheer inconvenience for such people to have to think about other perspectives. If one sees one’s views as the ‘default’ and the ‘norm’ it feels like a waste of energy (and not feel good) to think outside that. A reason why the term ‘global majority’ is better than ‘ethnic minority’?
100
Reposted by Clare Downham
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Dean #Cumbria early 10th century coin hoard discovered in a lead vessel prior to 1790 (when a cow stood on the spot where they were hidden!) Now lost, the hoard of 34 or more coins was mix of English, Anglo-Scandinavia, Arabic, and an Italian issue. #medievalsky #vikingsky #coins
1266
Reposted by Clare Downham
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)
0288
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
www.which.co.uk/news/article...
which.co.uk
How to remove AI from your life - Which?
AI is becoming increasingly tricky to avoid, but you may not want or use the features it offers. Find out how to switch off or limit AI on Android, Apple devices, and Windows computers
083
Reposted by Clare Downham
Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It's hard to tell which is weirder: the fact that these guys seriously suggest that models like Claude have consciousness/sentience or that they actually invest time and money (weird!) trying to convince the Pope as well as theologians and legal scholars of this belief.
821017242
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Thanks, appreciate the input. Seems this is a good way to go!
000
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Nice to see Táin bó Cuailnge among the images in the ’St Brigit’s Arms’ exhibition in the Victoria Gallery and Museums #Liverpool #Irish #migration #herstory
071
Reposted by Clare Downham
Jake Stattel @jakestattel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
An idea on medieval 'Law and Love' that's been on my mind for a few years now, very happy that my first proper foray into legal history is now out OA in @lawandhistrev.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S073... #MedievalSky
doi.org
Love or Law: Viking Foundations of Medieval English Dispute Settlement | Law and History Review | Cambridge Core
Love or Law: Viking Foundations of Medieval English Dispute Settlement
42713
Reposted by Clare Downham
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 08/02/2025
The fantastic #Viking Age finds at the Grosvenor Museum #Chester include two gold finger rings, displayed here with commentary by @archaeodeathprof.bsky.social #medievalsky howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2020/02/13/t...
0589
Reposted by Clare Downham
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
St John’s #Chester - an ancient church by a Roman amphitheatre and possible location of #Viking Age sculpture workshop mixing Hiberno-Scandinavian influences. 5 ringed cross heads and other fragments can be seen in the church #churchcrawling #medievalsky
04313
Reposted by Clare Downham
North Ages @northages.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Scottish journalist George Buist, who brought the Norrie’s Law Hoard to public attention, died #OTD in 1860. Found near Largo, Fife, in 1819, much of the Pictish silver was illegally sold and the rest kept secret for 20 years until Buist investigated. 📸National Museums Scotland
The Norrie’s Law Hoard spread out for display.
04512
Clare Downham @downham.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
#archaeology theconversation.com/how-fireligh...
theconversation.com
How firelight may have shaped the origins of spoken language
New study suggests ancient campfires may have encouraged our ancestors to develop language.
041