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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 3h

I spoke about ‘Fairies: A History’ with Jo Hickey-Hall of The Modern Fairy Sightings podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... 🧚‍♀️

podcasts.apple.com

Ep 144: Dr Francis Young 'A History of Fairies'

Podcast Episode · The Modern Fairy Sightings Podcast · 16 October · 1hr 19min

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Reposted by Dr Francis Young

History Rage Podcast @historyrage.bsky.social · 23h

📅 #onthisday 16 Oct 1384 👑 Jadwiga crowned first female monarch of Poland and last hereditary ruler. Her reign paved the way for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth! @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social shows why Eastern Europe’s roots run far before 1914. 🎧 Listen 👉 pod.fo/e/344d9f #History #Podcast #otd

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I've just finished indexing 'Girolamo Zanchi’s (1516–1590) Doctrine of the Unity of the Church' by Thom Bull, a fascinating book about the most important Reformer you've never heard of: brill.com/display/titl...

brill.com

Girolamo Zanchi’s (1516–1590) Doctrine of the Unity of the Church

"Girolamo Zanchi’s (1516–1590) Doctrine of the Unity of the Church" published on 01 Jan 2027 by Brill.

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

I’ve got different reviewers claiming a poem I’ve written about is in different meters - elegiac couplets or dactylic hexameters - and here was me thinking the one thing we could say with certainty about Latin poetry is what meter it’s in!

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

A book like this is only ever going to be in a library, no sane person would buy it

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

The sad irony is that it actually *could* work as a pun, given the subject of the chapter

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

(Yes, I too hoped it was just a pun on ‘beed’ as an old word for prayer but sadly it is a typo…)

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

OUP really does seem to be struggling at the moment, and recent books are poorly proofread - here the same typo crops up in both the contents page AND the chapter title. In-text typos are one thing, typos in chapter titles are something a publisher should probably, um, avoid 😳

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Reposted by Dr Francis Young

The Folklore Society @folkloresociety.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Next week: in our next online talk, Ann Schmiesing will speak about her book 'The Brothers Grimm: A Biography', winner of our Katharine Briggs Award 2025! Tuesday 20 October, 19:00-20:30 BST on Zoom. Tickets £6.00 (£4 for members with promo code) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-brothe...

eventbrite.co.uk

The Brothers Grimm: A Biography

In this talk, Ann Schmiesing speaks on The Brothers Grimm, the first English-language biography in fifty years of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

The Royal Prayer Book has 'diabulus ælfæ', which I read as 'a devil of an elf', implying 1st decl. fem. 'ælfa', so 'for the elves' should probably be 'ælfis'

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I have a clear memory of walking down the street aged about 5 thinking all *other* children were weird because they didn’t dress properly (I.e. dungarees with a tie). The thought that I was the weird one did not occur.

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

To celebrate its shortlisting for the Wolfson History Prize you can now get special signed copies of ‘Silence of the Gods’ from @cambridgebookshop.bsky.social at the reduced price of £20, or online with free UK delivery! www.cambridgebookshop.co.uk/products/sil... 📚

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

The Psalm settings of Mikołaj Gomółka are my new musical obsession; there's volumes and volumes of them, hours and hours recorded by the Polish Radio Choir. Early modern Polish music is a whole world...

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Come for the ghosts, stay for the fairies: this week on ‘All Old Strange Things’ I explore M. R. James’s overlooked interest in fairies 🧚‍ drfrancisyoung.substack.com/p/the-small-...

drfrancisyoung.substack.com

The Small People

M. R. James and fairies

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

My review of David G. Pedersen's 'Conceiving Heroic Christianity in Early Medieval England' is out in the Irish Theological Quarterly - highly recommended! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

It’s been an honour to index the @catholicrs.bsky.social volume in memory of Michael Hodgetts, ‘Narratives of Tradition and Truth’ – ed. William Sheils and Hannah Thomas, out in 2027; the essays make important contributions to the biography of Robert Persons boydellandbrewer.com/book/narrati... 📚

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Thank you to Warwick Words History Festival for hosting a great event on the history of fairies - excellent audience questions, and all my books sold out! 📚🧚‍♀️

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Just got this to review - yet another history of fairies, just published 🧚‍♀️

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

We are actively looking for new proposals for Elements in Folklore so if you have an idea for a shorter book (max 30k words) on ANY aspect of folklore, please do get in touch with me or Tabitha

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I’m thrilled that the first Element in my new series for @universitypress.cambridge.org (co-edited with Tabitha Stanmore) is PUBLISHED! And free to read for the first few weeks. It’s by top folklorist (and now @folkloresociety.bsky.social President) Jeremy Harte! www.cambridge.org/core/element... 📚🥳

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Forcing myself to read a book I’m supposed to be reviewing (but which I think is dross and don’t want to waste my life reading) by bringing it as my only reading matter on a long train journey 😩

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Reposted by Dr Francis Young

Dr Sophie Michell @sophiemhistory.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I am reading the wonderful Peterborough Folklore by @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social and confirming some of the mad stories in there. Yes, there WAS an inquest in Castor Church in April 1840, John Hales did not pull that out of his arse.

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Yes, that's true in the UK too - although the turnover and fragmentation of such churches is often quite rapid, leading to suspicions that it's often the same people moving around from church to church

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

There's some of this in the RC Church in the UK but not so much in the CofE, as it's very difficult administratively for priests from other jurisdictions to get permission to officiate in the CofE

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We've had exactly the same thing in the CofE - people being nominated as bishops then pulling out, dioceses being unable to appoint etc. People are realising it's a completely impossible role no normal person would want to do

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Yes, this is a specifically US issue I think - churches in the UK (unless they’re some minuscule sect) are seldom politically aligned, and clergy generally are broadly left-wing

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I don’t think there’s much difference in the UK, at least among mainline Methodists, Baptists, Presbys etc - indeed, they’re usually further advanced in decline than the Anglicans and Catholics

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

If anyone happens to be around in Warwick on Thursday evening for the history festival (or indeed for any other reason...) and wants to meet up, let me know

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Reposted by Dr Francis Young

Rev Peter W Nimmo @peternimmo.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The high watermark of secular optimism has long since passed, and nothing has replaced it. And the institutional decline of the church shows no sign of slowing down. What now for Christianity in Europe? Whether you are a believer or not, this- from a historian of belief- is well worth a read.

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Tomorrow! There are still tickets left:

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Today's Substack: what if everyone is wrong about religious decline in modern Britain? drfrancisyoung.substack.com/p/religion-a...

drfrancisyoung.substack.com

Religion and structural collapse

Why everyone is wrong about religious decline

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I'm afraid it's not something I've examined beyond Bury St Edmunds, I'm afraid, although I suspect iconography of St Francis may have been largely confined to Franciscan churches and thus now lost by definition

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

You may think you're cool, but you'll never be as cool as Lithuanian folk art St Francis doing stigmata kung fu (via limis.lt)

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Reposted by Dr Francis Young

Simon Knott @simonknott.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

St Francis reads a sermon to birds who flock to a tree to listen. A wallpainting at Wissington, Suffolk. Today's the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis in 1226. The Wissington paintings are dated c1280, so it's just possible the artist was alive in the saint's lifetime.

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

One of the joys of accumulating old books (‘collecting’ would be too grand a word) is that they often belonged to interesting people. This copy of ‘The Five Jars’ by M. R. James once belonged to the naturalist Ian Heslop en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Hes... 📚

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Reposted by Dr Francis Young

Dr Ann Kennedy Smith @akennedysmith.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

'It has been a long time coming, and eagerly awaited by many, and in this year of the 90th anniversary of James’s death, it does justice to the man and does not disappoint.' @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social on FOR THE DEAD REMEMBER: THE LIFE OF M.R.JAMES by Darryl Jones @oxfordunipress.bsky.social

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thank you. There are editions currently in preparation in Polish, French and Japanese - if I hear of a Portuguese one I’ll let you know

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Reposted by Dr Francis Young

Julia Lundman 🩵🧚🦄🧌 @paintkatt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Picked up @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social books at the Cambridge Bookstore just now. Magic in Merlin’s Realm, Twilight of the Godlings, and Silence of the Gods. Essentials. Looking forward to reading these soon.

Books: Magic in Merlin’s Realm, Twilight of the Godlings, and Silence of the Gods

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Reposted by Dr Francis Young

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

29th September is the Feast of St Michael and All Angels. Here is a prayer to St Michael BL Egerton MS 1139; The 'Melisende Psalter'; 1131 CE-1143 CE; Eastern Mediterranean (Jerusalem); f.205r @blmedieval.bsky.social

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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The British-Lithuanian Society’s next event will be an online talk from Sandra Petrukonytė, Chief Curator at the Lost Shtetl Museum on 22 October. Please email blssecretary@hotmail.com if you would like to receive a Zoom link

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Reposted by Dr Francis Young

Darryl Jones @profdarryljones.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Hem hem. A seriously gratifying review from someone who really knows what they’re talking about.

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