iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Excited to take part in the "Night of the Witch" at Delft University on Friday 23 October! Tickets are free and open to everyone. 😊 www.tudelft.nl/evenementen/... #hextag #earlymodern

tudelft.nl

Night of the Witch

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Sarah Wride @srwride.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

There’s got to be a second best bed joke in this somewhere. #earlymodern #Shakespeare @srsrensoc.bsky.social

A white lorry with "SHAKESPEARE Beds", "POCKET SPRUNG BEDS", and various contact details in blue on the side; the stem of the "K" in "SHAKESPEARE" is a quill.

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Dutchies! I recently discovered this excellent (Dutch) #hextag podcast on the last witches of Schiedam whose trial brought the #earlymodern witch-hunt to an earlier end in the Dutch Republic. Definitely worth a listen! stedelijkmuseumschiedam.nl/podcast/podc...

stedelijkmuseumschiedam.nl

Heksen in Schiedam - Stedelijk Museum Schiedam

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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Gang, who’s coming? Three of us are proposing a panel on mobility & paperwork (VERY excited!) and we’re curious who we can suggest as possible chairs. #histarchives #yayarchives #movinghistory #earlymodern

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

He really should be the patron saint of basket ball players!

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Today is the feast day of Joseph of Copertino (one of my current projects). Patron saint of pilots and astronauts for the obvious reason; and of students passing exams, because he qualified for the priesthood despite being considered extremely simple (which he clearly wasn't!). #earlymodern 🗃️

Felice Biscaratti, "San Giuseppe da Copertino", Chiesa di San Lorenzo, Vicenza

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

For a second, I thought there was a halo hovering above his head. 😅

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Perhaps we should put signs like this up at Cardiff airport about sheep? Watch out when you hear "meh"? 😅

Welcome to the Netherlands
We have more bicycles than people

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Exciting times ahead for those of us working in the Vatican Archives and Library. It looks like they're expanding into the parking in front? infovaticana.com/en/2026/09/1... Just, please, please, keep these places open during the building work. That 3-year closure of the BAV was deeply traumatic.

infovaticana.com

The Vatican Library and Apostolic Archive will have a new building inside Vatican City – INFOVATICANA

Pope Leo XIV has ordered the construction of a new building within Vatican City primarily intended to expand the spaces of the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Vatican Apostolic Archive, after the gr...

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Paul Webster 🌈 @webstermedieval.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Delighted to hear that @janmachielsen.bsky.social and I have been awarded a Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowship by @royalhistsoc.org for a student led project further developing the Cardiff Supernatural blog linked our co-taught History of the Supernatural module: www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?u...

linkedin.com

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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

i wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the RNLI

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Lewis Wade 🗃️ @wadehistory.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

So... the higher education sector is so lacking in value that it doesn't deserve even basic government support in the face of an existential crisis, yet it also offers students such "significant financial and career benefits" that they *also* don't deserve any support

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Dr Eva Johanna Holmberg @evajohannaholmberg.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Honoured to be chairing the Hakluyt Society essay prize committee for the second time, do consider submitting an essay and/or advertise to your PhD students/ECR colleagues. 🗃️ #earlymodern included!

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

In Durham for work, but wandered to the Palace Green last night after dinner and a day of meetings. Feeling privileged to having this view of Durham's cathedral all to myself for a few minutes. (Stunning and one of a kind, but God, it must have been spooky before electric lighting.) #medievalsky

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Paul Webster 🌈 @webstermedieval.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

This, outside Colchester castle, reminded me of the excellent work of the @witchmapproject.bsky.social team last year. @janmachielsen.bsky.social

Witch trial memorial plaque outside Colchester castle.

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The other delight of Sunday's visit to Great Bedwyn was the post office which was bedecked with rescued #earlymodern tomb stones. Loved this list of repairs to monuments, including corrected the ten commandments, washed the moon, mended the devil's left hoof, and put fresh rock in David's sling.

Repairs to a monument

REPAIRS TO A MONUMENT

S
D
CORRECTED THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

EMBELLISHED PONTIUS PILATE AND PUT NEW

RIBBON IN HIS BONNET. -
20: 0
PUT NEW TAIL ON ROOSTER OF ST. PETER

AND MENDED HIS COMB. -
25
: O
REPLUMED AND REGILDED THE WAY OF

THE GUARDIAN ANGEL. -
155:0
WASHED THE SERVENT OF THE HIGH PRIEST.

AND PUT
CARMINE ON HIS CHEEKS. -
i0: 0
RENEWED HEAVEN. ADJUSTED THE STARS.

AND THOROUGHLY CLEANED THE MOON. -
65: 0
RE-ANIMATED THE FLAMES OF PURGATORY.

AND RESTORED SOULS. -
27: 6
REVIVED FLAMES OF HELL. PUT NEW TAIL

ON THE DEVIL MENDED HIS LEFT HOOF. AND DID SEVERAL ODD JOBS FOR THE DAMMED.
98 : 6
PUT NEW SPOTTED DASHES ON SON OF

TEBIAS AND DRESSING ON HIS SACK. -
108: 0
CLEANED THE EARS OF BALAAMS ASS.

AND SHOD HIM. -
14 = 0
PUT EARINGS IN THE EARS OF SARAH. -
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PUT NEW STONE IN DAVIDS SLING. ENLARGED

THE HEAD OF GOLIATH AND-EXTENDED

HIS LEGS.
- 45
DECORATED NOAHS ARK. -

MENDED THE SHIRT OF THE PRODIGAL SON.

AND CLEANED HIS NOSE. -
15: 8
TOTAL - £ 38 : 15 : 6

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Prof Laurie Stras @lauriestras.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Really enjoying this #hextag discussion. Wanted to ask @janmachielsen.bsky.social a propos this ep, does the coincidence between the renewed publication of the MM and the resurgence of the plague in Italy and Eastern Europe in the 1570s mean anything? podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/w...

podcasts.apple.com

4. Who Invented Witches?

Podcast Episode · Witches - Truth, Trials and Terrors · 29 August · 45min

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

You could write a #reformazing history of the English Reformation around this tomb in St Mary's, Great Bedwyn. Sir John Seymour passed away in 1536, shortly after his daughter Jane married Henry VIII. His eldest surviving son became Lord Protector of the grandchild, Edward VI, whom he never met...

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Professor KPA 🗃️😷 @kpanyc.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Has anyone written about carbon monoxide poisoning from a historical perspective? How people understood what was happening, how common it was, how people avoided it? #skystorians 🗃️

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Christine Kooi @christinekooi.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

LSU History is hiring! 2 T-T jobs, one in 20th-cen US history and the other in East Asian history. These are great jobs at an R1 school with lovely colleagues. Deadline for applications is October 15. 🗃️ lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/LSU/jo...

lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

Assistant Professor - 20th Century U.S. History

All Job Postings will close at 12:01a.m. CST (1:01a.m. EST) on the specified Closing Date (if designated). If you close the browser or exit your application prior to submitting, the application progre...

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Emilie K. M. Murphy @emiliekmmurphy.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

🚨 🚨 A reminder to @royalhistsoc.org Fellows to make sure to vote for two new councillors. The email was sent from getinvolved@choicevoting.co.uk at ~2pm BST on Thurs 20 August 2026, with a list of candidates and details of how to cast your vote. 🗃️ (1/2)

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

It doesn't happen very often but it feels quite special when it does: a face-to-face encounter with something ALIVE from the #earlymodern period This tree in Mallorca is reputedly 400 years old. I hope I never tie myself in knots quite as thoroughly as it does. Last of the holiday pics, I promise!

Olive tree with no touch sign explaining its longevity.

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Christine Kooi @christinekooi.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

These are two amazing places to work in, as I can attest. #earlymodern 🗃️

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

For the #hextag crowd. We're here for another day so do let me know if I need to bring one back for anyone? 😅

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I really hope Ramon Llull doesn't suffer from vertigo. I missed the grave the first time around, because I forgot to look up. 😅 #medievalsky

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Nice statue of St Benedict of Palermo in the Franciscan church of Palma, though neither the signs nor the information make any effort to identify him. One for @erinkathleenrowe.bsky.social ? #earlymodern

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

An #18c silver reliquary of St Peter’s. It looks like the relic is just unceremoniously thrust into his chest. Can’t say I’ve ever seen worse art.

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Hard to miss him at that distance, I should think. 😅 (1486 panel in Palma cathedral)

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Some of the more bizarre offerings at Bristol Airport. Not sure I can confront the big dreams of either Anne Frank or "little person" King Charles.

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Crosscountry's ridiculously poor service would never have been tolerated if it's network included London -- and politicians and civil servants had to ever face traveling on its trains.

bbc.co.uk

CrossCountry cancels 'almost all' UK services after power cut

Customers say the disruption to virtually all UK CrossCountry services is the "worst case scenario".

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 20/08/2026

To put it in perspective: the ACLS (and god bless them, this is not a criticism!) in its last two award cycles for individual fellowships, spent $3.5 million, less than 1/2 of what just one right-wing foundation - Templeton - spent on humanities research. finance.yahoo.com/economy/poli...

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Dr Cath Feely @cathfeely.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Fellows of @royalhistsoc.org - check your emails to vote in Council elections!

Thank you for voting screen for Royal Historical Society council elections.

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Anna Cusack @annacusack.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If anyone needs an early modernist for lecturing, consultation, copy editing, or freelance work. I have a lot of experience and would appreciate any work sent my way for the next academic year! #EarlyModern Things are looking a little grim!

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If the devil appears as a horrible deformed black person to Europeans then he must appear to the Moors as a lily white Englishman - or they wouldn't be scared of him! So argues Cornelius Loos in his delightfully sarcastic 1592 anti-witchcraft treatise De Vera er Falsa Magia. #earlymodern #hextag 🗃️

CAP. LIX.
Porro quod malus spiritus, cum sit deformis et ferox, nigra delectetur forma: quis aethiopum, quos medium orbis clima tenet, solis aestu torridos, nigredine candicantes illud crediderit? Ubi diaboli effigies eo depingitur pulchrior, quo albore fulgenti, et candore splendenti, oculis illorum obicitur deformior. Quin iam chamaeleontis in modum pro diverso solo, pellem commutare, asserunt diabolum. Ut qui S. Machario in specie nigri Mauri apparuit, idem Mauris in specie albicantis Angli compareat. Ab huius enim coloris pulchritudine, prae ceteris notatam esse gentem Anglicanam,

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

So who is ready for :: cough :: Halloween?

Shelves at Home Bargain showing Halloween items

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Christine Kooi @christinekooi.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

What a remarkable portrait. #earlymodern

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Elizabeth (Liz) Lehfeldt (she/her/hers) @lizlehfeldt.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Super-niche question: I'm looking for descriptions/insight into how #earlymodern people would have crafted sheets of paper into provisional "notebooks" for the purposes, say, or record keeping/accounting. Not formal, bound books, but spaces for jotting things down, etc.

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Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele @drdragases.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Haven't laughed this hard over a comic in ages.

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Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Today is a day for remembering that you don’t know all the facts and that every story involves real human beings, and acknowledging as much whenever you choose to share your opinions.

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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Does anyone remember when, in 2023, Rachel Reeves, soon to become chancellor, was found to have plagiarised multiple parts of a book she published about economics from Wikipedia and it was barely a news story?

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The first copies have arrived!!! The second, updated edition of the Science of Demons has arrived, featuring two new chapters and a fresh epilogue that together continue the history of demonology from its heyday to its demise. www.routledge.com/The-Science-... #hextag #earlymodern #medievalsky 🗃️

Editor holding a physical copy of his book

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Jan Machielsen @janmachielsen.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

OH needed to improve his step count, so we went on a 23k hike along the late #18c early #19c Brecon and Monmouthshire canal. A good place to be in the current heat!

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ERC PARISH @erc-parish.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

We're recruiting a postdoctoral researcher for our ERC #ERCCoG project PARISH to study #earlymodern parish communities, confraternities and poor relief in the Archdiocese of Vienna & the Viennese Officialate of Passau. Please share with your colleagues! www.abtk.hu/images/allas...

abtk.hu

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